D23 Expo September 9-11, 2022 Superthread **Updates in Posts 2 & 3**

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

only panels I was wanting were hall 23 but seems like need to queue up 5 hours before so means nothing gets done. Again as said before doing anything Disney is not as fun as it was. Why should i have to have a strategic plan to have fun? All I will say at this point my expectations are not being met.

I think with most things it's all what you make of it. The Expos have been crowded for a while from what I've read. There are a lot of super fans!

 

[brightlined]

only panels I was wanting were hall 23 but seems like need to queue up 5 hours before so means nothing gets done. Again as said before doing anything Disney is not as fun as it was. Why should i have to have a strategic plan to have fun? All I will say at this point my expectations are not being met.

The problem is that is D23 Expo is basically always like this. This isn't a new thing. If you read up on 2017 or 2019, it's the same story. Any complaints about Chapek don't really apply here.

That's partly why I've never been, and why I only got a ticket for Sunday this year. I knew I'd be in the area, and figured it was worth a try. But I also hate waiting in multi-hour lines for anything.

That's one of the reasons that a lot of people prefer Destination D at WDW. There's one schedule, and everything is in one room - you can choose to be in the room or not in the room, but you're guaranteed to get in if you have a ticket. (That ticket is a lot harder to get, though.) I went in 2014 and 2016, and they were absolutely amazing weekends, maybe my favorites as a Disney parks fan.

Honestly, as ridiculous as it sounds, I'm actually considering rope-dropping DL and wandering over to the Expo in the late morning. (If I miss the shopping VQs, I'll probably do that.) I'm expecting that the environment will be worth spending some time in, even without the big ticket stuff. I feel like there's going to be something in there I'll be glad I saw.

 

[micknstang]

I think with most things it's all what you make of it. The Expos have been crowded for a while from what I've read. There are a lot of super fans!

And why are they crowded is cause of corporations put profits over quality and experience. Oh and 5% of those super fans are greedy cause they will go to these events buy everything in sight and take and put it on eBay. experienced this first hand at the wdw 50th day 1. Greed is taking the fun out of everything.

 

[micknstang]

The problem is that is D23 Expo is basically always like this. This isn't a new thing. If you read up on 2017 or 2019, it's the same story. Any complaints about Chapek don't really apply here.

That's partly why I've never been, and why I only got a ticket for Sunday this year. I knew I'd be in the area, and figured it was worth a try. But I also hate waiting in multi-hour lines for anything.

That's one of the reasons that a lot of people prefer Destination D at WDW. There's one schedule, and everything is in one room - you can choose to be in the room or not in the room, but you're guaranteed to get in if you have a ticket. (That ticket is a lot harder to get, though.) I went in 2014 and 2016, and they were absolutely amazing weekends, maybe my favorites as a Disney parks fan.

Honestly, as ridiculous as it sounds, I'm actually considering rope-dropping DL and wandering over to the Expo in the late morning. (If I miss the shopping VQs, I'll probably do that.) I'm expecting that the environment will be worth spending some time in, even without the big ticket stuff. I feel like there's going to be something in there I'll be glad I saw.

Oh you don’t have to be at the expo to get in a virtual queue for shopping for the event they open at 6am and 1pm where is that fair

seriously I might just do that go to the parks, watch the panels virtually, get into the shopping queue virtually and go to event when my time to shop. I am only shopping for myself, buying 1 of the item and not selling it. Being a responsible Disney fan.

 

[brightlined]

And why are they crowded is cause of corporations put profits over quality and experience. Oh and 5% of those super fans are greedy cause they will go to these events buy everything in sight and take and put it on eBay. experienced this first hand at the wdw 50th day 1. Greed is taking the fun out of everything.

Honestly, only if you let it.

I was there for MK 50th Day 1. I intentionally got there at 9am (literally no lines at parking or the monorail at that point). I met up with a couple of friends who got there early, and we rode a bunch of rides that had no wait because everybody was in line for popcorn buckets. I left MK right before 2pm when the parkhoppers arrived. It was awesome.

Oh you don’t have to be at the expo to get in a virtual queue for shopping for the event they open at 6am and 1pm where is that fair

I mean, give me a 5% chance at not having to wait in line for something, and I'll take it. I'm sure it'll be a mess (typical for the VQ), but I'm down for it.

 

[Sakura1017]

For anyone staying at the Westin, have you all had a chance to look at your room reservation under your mariott account? I saw the room charges and I booked only for a room to include myself and one other person. The summary charged showed that 4 guests were going to be in the room. It charged me $100 for extra guests. Apparently when information transferred from orchid when you listed your guest's name to the hotel it listed each person having 2 guests. So you might want to call to get that fixed up. I had to call the group department sales and they are only open till 5:30 pacific time.

Also if you stay at the Westin can u get amazon packages delivered?

 

[tobikaye]

For anyone staying at the Westin, have you all had a chance to look at your room reservation under your mariott account? I saw the room charges and I booked only for a room to include myself and one other person. The summary charged showed that 4 guests were going to be in the room. Apparently when information transferred from orchid when you listed your guest's name to the hotel it listed each person having 2 guests. So you might want to call to get that fixed up. I had to call the group department sales and they are only open till 5:30 pacific time.

Wow, that could be interesting for those that don’t check. I booked solo so it shows correctly for me.

 

[HeadNerd]

So is there a point to standby if they have the StagePass? Like am I going to get there at 4:30am or whatever and wait in line for five hours and not get into the Marvel panelV

 

[FrozenCrown]

So if you are standing in line for panels when do you have time do other things?

So I went to every single hall d23 panel last time no reservations. My schedule was wait in line hall d23 wait in line again hall d23 go home so i can get some sleep to wait in line again.On Sunday I stayed later and made time to look through the showfloor which can be done in one day. It was easy since Sunday is a slow day and there are less people. The only thing I missed out on was shopping but I wasnt interested in shopping at the time.

 

[ajh88]

So does anyone know if the shops open at 9 am with the rest of the show floor or if they do not open until 10 am? We are going to try for the virtual queue but since it doesn't open until 6, we would go line up at 5 if there is a chance we would get in prior to 10 am. It looks like they have said virtual queue return times would begin around 10 am, which kind of made me think it would be standby for the first hour...or am I dreaming? LOL

Do the giveaways have standby lines too? There were a couple I was really wanting but we got other assignments instead...wasn't sure if it was worth the effort to check or if they were pretty much all spoken for.

Also, this lottery system was way sus - I hate that when you made your selections it seemed like you would be in the running for something from all 4 categories and not just one single thing for the day...plus, my husband and I - who registered completely separately - got the EXACT same assignments.

Thanks for the insights - its not our first Con but def our first D23!!

 

[soniam]

So is there a point to standby if they have the StagePass? Like am I going to get there at 4:30am or whatever and wait in line for five hours and not get into the Marvel panelV

We didn't reservations for Parks last time. We got in the overnight queue and made it in. Last time, they said there wouldn't be any standby queues. So, this year they are saying there will be, and I think there will be space. Also, looking at what people are posting on SM (social media or whatever other nefarious term it could stand for), I don't think they gave a ton of reservations. Maybe a good sign for openings. Also, if everyone did the +1, and they don't need it, then there's that space too.

 

[dina444444]

So does anyone know if the shops open at 9 am with the rest of the show floor or if they do not open until 10 am? We are going to try for the virtual queue but since it doesn't open until 6, we would go line up at 5 if there is a chance we would get in prior to 10 am. It looks like they have said virtual queue return times would begin around 10 am, which kind of made me think it would be standby for the first hour...or am I dreaming? LOL

Do the giveaways have standby lines too? There were a couple I was really wanting but we got other assignments instead...wasn't sure if it was worth the effort to check or if they were pretty much all spoken for.

Also, this lottery system was way sus - I hate that when you made your selections it seemed like you would be in the running for something from all 4 categories and not just one single thing for the day...plus, my husband and I - who registered completely separately - got the EXACT same assignments.

Thanks for the insights - its not our first Con but def our first D23!!

Last time around everything on the show floor opened when the floor opened. Also, last time the giveaways were only for the people who had gotten them in the pre registration.

 

[fenrir58]

only panels I was wanting were hall 23 but seems like need to queue up 5 hours before so means nothing gets done. Again as said before doing anything Disney is not as fun as it was. Why should i have to have a strategic plan to have fun? All I will say at this point my expectations are not being met.

If you only wanted to do one thing/get into only the big panels, then yes you have to strategically plan, and that’s nothing new to the convention circuit period(have done a bunch small and large for literally decades). If it’s something that’s on a schedule, yes you have to plan. And who says you aren’t going to have fun. At this point you are deciding you aren’t going to have fun, that’s on you. Perhaps in the future do more research before deciding if this was really something you’d want to do- d23 has a ton of verbiage saying you were not guaranteed the big panels so how they are not meeting your expectations, they are providing exactly what they said they would.

 

[FrozenCrown]

So is there a point to standby if they have the StagePass? Like am I going to get there at 4:30am or whatever and wait in line for five hours and not get into the Marvel panelV

Good chance you will get in if you arrive early.

 

[ashley0139]

only panels I was wanting were hall 23 but seems like need to queue up 5 hours before so means nothing gets done. Again as said before doing anything Disney is not as fun as it was. Why should i have to have a strategic plan to have fun? All I will say at this point my expectations are not being met.

This is not a regular event. This is a convention. This is how they work.

So is there a point to standby if they have the StagePass? Like am I going to get there at 4:30am or whatever and wait in line for five hours and not get into the Marvel panelV

There will be standby lines for the panels.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Every year some pretty awesome celebs pop up at the vendor booths for signing. One year I got to meet Marty Sklar and have him sign his book. I know Margaret Kerry has also been there in the past. If anyone hears of any for this year, can you please share that in this thread?

 

[Sakura1017]

than So is there a point to standby if they have the StagePass? Like am I going to get there at 4:30am or whatever and wait in line for five hours and not get into the Marvel panelV

Be grateful that if you stand in line that early it's still lesser time than standing in hours or days for sdcc for Marvel. With the lines queuing at 5 am everyone has an equal chance at panels since no one is staying overnight and having buddies save spots.

 

[Wookiecookie]

You're going to the Disney Family Museum yes ? Also stay in SF. Rest of the Bay has several 100+ days coming up, but SF should be downright fantastic weather wise.

Edit: just saw you aren't! Noooo, it's REALLY a good museum. There's still time to change plans!

Sounds good. I live in SF and we are experiencing a “heat wave” this weekend of mid 70s but should be fine after Tuesday.

 

[Wookiecookie]

Myself and two other friends are going for the first time and tried to coordinate our RSPs. For the ones we didn’t get together, the 3rd person will go shopping while the other 2 go to the panels. We got mousequerade, princess concert, imagineering, vets, and legends. Weirdly none of us got giveaways or signings. We are going to skip Legends since it’s live streamed and go to our BoxLunch reservation at the time time.

 

[IAmElsan]

Ooof that’s a lot of emotion…

This will be my first D23 as well and I am beyond exited to go.
Yah we didn’t get all our selections but still got some good ones too, but hey that’s the name of the game and the risk you take, and was made very clear you may or may not get what you want. You need to understand that’s just how these cons are, sometimes it really is the luck of the draw.
Im hoping to make a VQ for some pins and dolls I really want but totally understand it’s a small window of opportunity to make it in for the shops and I’m already prepared for the worst that I don’t get a VQ but I’m sure there’s so much more to see, do, and buy that it’ll be just fine.
Mindset is everything… if you think you are going to have a crappy time and already feel you’re going to be miserable then that is exactly the time you’re going to have.
Im a cosplayer so I’m beyond stoked to see all the other awesome Disney cosplays, and take photos and have fun, everything else with panels and shopping and experiences is all an extra bonus, I can’t wait for it to be here!!