D23 EXPO THREAD - See you in 2019!

[wilkeliza]

I'll try to do a more extensive report on my sorcerers experience, but first a couple comments on shopping:

The Lasseter shirt seemed to be a trophy purchase, with attendees wearing them at the Expo -- essentially saying "I got one". Surprisingly, I bought the Lasseter shirt from the 2015 expo at Hollywood Studios (WDW) in January 2016.

I never heard about that, just another example of information not being shared with all sorcerers.

Also did not really understand the early show floor entry, but tried it on Sunday (there was no big early panel). The line of sorcerers was surprisingly long, well at least I was surprised. I went to the MOG pin store, and there were about 10 sorcerers ahead of me. CM was only allowing sorcerers in this line, all others (mostly vendors) were not allowed to line up until 9:00.

It was decided on Thursday as a reaction to complaints about the LE stuff being held back at Disney Store. From my understanding they only put out a limited quantity to curb the ebayers.

The announcement was made during the pirate party which I know now everyone attended.

 

[jeffbeardreams]

Am I wrong in thinking that they REALLY need to re-think the Marvel booth signings? Bigger booth, more wrist bands, moving the booth away from other lineup spots to avoid bottlenecks ... something? I really thought that whole area was poorly thought out. The Marvel wrist band lines banging into the lines for the Gold member gift distribution and the Stage Pass queues made that whole sector a mess that could have been avoiding with a more thoughtful layout.

And at this point I just don't understand why staff seem so surprised by people wanted to queue up super early for big afternoon panels. I'm thinking of our experience queueing up for Parks on Saturday when the lobby staff kinda sorta knew what was going on with people that were trying to line up even before Hall E had been fully loaded for Live Action ... but there was still a lot of sorting out and shuffling around and general confusion in the queue. I know they don't have a straight line learning curve with two years in between Expos, but it seems to this Expo rookie that they'd lean more than they do. Especially with how much revenue they have to burn from ticket sales. Do the math on that sometime.

And look ... we had a great time. I feel like this board did a great service by helping to set expectations correctly in place, but even left to my own devices I feel like we'd have had fun. We wanted to do at least one D23 and now that we have I'm not sure I've got any burning desire to go back for a couple of cycles. It's just a LOT of work, both mental a physical. We're big fans of quality cosplay though, and I'm not sure anything will ever top the Mousequerade on Friday. That was an epic cosplay contest.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Am I wrong in thinking that they REALLY need to re-think the Marvel booth signings? Bigger booth, more wrist bands, moving the booth away from other lineup spots to avoid bottlenecks ... something? I really thought that whole area was poorly thought out. The Marvel wrist band lines banging into the lines for the Gold member gift distribution and the Stage Pass queues made that whole sector a mess that could have been avoiding with a more thoughtful layout.

I never experienced the Marvel lines because i knew as soon as I heard there were 100 wrist bands that we wouldn't get close to it.

If we want to talk more line management what about the Disney Animation and Pixar booth signings??

Those were a giant mess. The first day they were giving out signing wrist bands about a half hour before the start. Then Saturday and Sunday they just want to 'we'll give them our randomly to whoever we feel like' because hundreds of people were milling around the booth for hours waiting to meet people like Brad Bird and they wouldn't set a time to give out the bands. Really guys?? You didn't know a Brad Bird signing would be super popular? And your fix for that situation was to give no one any info so people wasted hours hanging out at the booth then never got a wrist band?

That was poorly organized.

I know early morning wrist bands aren't always the most fair, but I feel they needed a different color band for each signing of the day, then everyone can get one and only one first thing in the morning. At least that way people wouldn't waste hours hanging around blocking walkways and never get close to a band.

 

[wilkeliza]

I never experienced the Marvel lines because i knew as soon as I heard there were 100 wrist bands that we wouldn't get close to it.

If we want to talk more line management what about the Disney Animation and Pixar booth signings??

Those were a giant mess. The first day they were giving out signing wrist bands about a half hour before the start. Then Saturday and Sunday they just want to 'we'll give them our randomly to whoever we feel like' because hundreds of people were milling around the booth for hours waiting to meet people like Brad Bird and they wouldn't set a time to give out the bands. Really guys?? You didn't know a Brad Bird signing would be super popular? And your fix for that situation was to give no one any info so people wasted hours hanging out at the booth then never got a wrist band?

That was poorly organized.

I know early morning wrist bands aren't always the most fair, but I feel they needed a different color band for each signing of the day, then everyone can get one and only one first thing in the morning. At least that way people wouldn't waste hours hanging around blocking walkways and never get close to a band.

that booth was pretty badly organized. When they gave out the balls I asked a few people and they were like what balls no clue. I was like you have a pixar shirt on and employee name tag how do you not know. Also again frustrating to see Disney Store employees in costume in those lines again.

As I told someone look I was a Cast Member so I get it but with that said if you are in costume you are working simple as that or if there is something big going on you should not be able to enter from backstage and queue you should have to stand in the long butt line outside like everyone else. Sucks if you can't because your shift starts 30 minutes after opening and that line takes an hour to process and you can't/don't want to over night but it has to be fair for all the paying guests from the 1 day pass guest all the way up to Sorcerer they should get first dibs compared to anyone on a free vendor or CM pass.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

that booth was pretty badly organized. When they gave out the balls I asked a few people and they were like what balls no clue. I was like you have a pixar shirt on and employee name tag how do you not know. Also again frustrating to see Disney Store employees in costume in those lines again.

As I told someone look I was a Cast Member so I get it but with that said if you are in costume you are working simple as that or if there is something big going on you should not be able to enter from backstage and queue you should have to stand in the long butt line outside like everyone else. Sucks if you can't because your shift starts 30 minutes after opening and that line takes an hour to process and you can't/don't want to over night but it has to be fair for all the paying guests from the 1 day pass guest all the way up to Sorcerer they should get first dibs compared to anyone on a free vendor or CM pass.

This could also have been solved by the different booths being nice or more prepared. Maybe bring some extra pixar balls and hand them out to the cast members before hand who are working Pixar or Disney Animation. Nothing wrong with them getting some perks but yeah, they shouldn't be able to get that stuff over customers while on the floor.

 

[wilkeliza]

This could also have been solved by the different booths being nice or more prepared. Maybe bring some extra pixar balls and hand them out to the cast members before hand who are working Pixar or Disney Animation. Nothing wrong with them getting some perks but yeah, they shouldn't be able to get that stuff over customers while on the floor.

I would have to imagine it is based on the fact that so many vendors are not in house to Disney and no clue how many employees they bring. Sure it would be nice to extend some kindness but I see it kind of like the giveaways at baseball games. At our park they are 15,000 lots. Now you show up at 1pm for a 7pm game in hopes to get it and find out that 3,000 of them have already been given out to the employees. Kind of stinks when it is promoted as for the fans.

With the Pixar balls it is a whatever thing not that big of a deal but when you get into the limited merch or the signings it becomes a bigger deal because people did wait hours on the concrete for those.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

I would have to imagine it is based on the fact that so many vendors are not in house to Disney and no clue how many employees they bring. Sure it would be nice to extend some kindness but I see it kind of like the giveaways at baseball games. At our park they are 15,000 lots. Now you show up at 1pm for a 7pm game in hopes to get it and find out that 3,000 of them have already been given out to the employees. Kind of stinks when it is promoted as for the fans.

With the Pixar balls it is a whatever thing not that big of a deal but when you get into the limited merch or the signings it becomes a bigger deal because people did wait hours on the concrete for those.

Oh I thought you meant that just employees from that booth were in line to get them. I didn't realize you meant other booths.

 

[wilkeliza]

Oh I thought you meant that just employees from that booth were in line to get them. I didn't realize you meant other booths.

Oh yeah it was Disney Store employees over at the Pixar booth, Adventures By Disney at Disney Store were the 2 I encountered. I'm sire the people who worked the Pixar booth (and usually worknfor Pixar) have the balls. I'm not talking about 5 people or so for each booth but those from other booths and stores.

 

[Mathmagicland]

I guess I missed all of the drama with cast members & vendors getting into some of the shopping lines early each day.

I do have a question re seating, for Wilkeliza or others who may know.

I noticed in Hall D23, the Expo Arena, and Stage 28, large blocks of seats taped off. I thought they might have been for sorcerers who were no shows, but now am not so sure as these were not the front Center 1-7 rows that wilkeliza mentioned in a response...they were second sections back after an aisle across the seats, center to the stages. I was in several panels where no one sat in those sections, or very few people were less than 10% of the seats were used. Does anyone know for whom they were blocked off? I felt bad in the Pixar Characters session at end of day Saturday, it was full room, there were late comers standing along the walls, & this huge block of about 8-10 rows was taped off with no one there.

 

[Nonsuch]

...I noticed in Hall D23, the Expo Arena, and Stage 28, large blocks of seats taped off. I thought they might have been for sorcerers who were no shows, but now am not so sure as these were not the front Center 1-7 rows that wilkeliza mentioned in a response...they were second sections back after an aisle across the seats, center to the stages. I was in several panels where no one sat in those sections, or very few people were less than 10% of the seats were used. Does anyone know for whom they were blocked off? I felt bad in the Pixar Characters session at end of day Saturday, it was full room, there were late comers standing along the walls, & this huge block of about 8-10 rows was taped off with no one there.

Partial answer: Hall D23 had white "Reserved" signs on the backs of each chair, for Sorcerers and other invited guests. The Sunday Menken shows had blue tape blocking the entrance to every row, removed as each row was loaded with guests -- I suspect this was to prevent guests from just leaving the lines and just grabbing any seat.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

I guess I missed all of the drama with cast members & vendors getting into some of the shopping lines early each day.

I do have a question re seating, for Wilkeliza or others who may know.

I noticed in Hall D23, the Expo Arena, and Stage 28, large blocks of seats taped off. I thought they might have been for sorcerers who were no shows, but now am not so sure as these were not the front Center 1-7 rows that wilkeliza mentioned in a response...they were second sections back after an aisle across the seats, center to the stages. I was in several panels where no one sat in those sections, or very few people were less than 10% of the seats were used. Does anyone know for whom they were blocked off? I felt bad in the Pixar Characters session at end of day Saturday, it was full room, there were late comers standing along the walls, & this huge block of about 8-10 rows was taped off with no one there.

I noticed this too. An entire huge section of seats at the first Menken show remained taped off, but they were not front row. I had a worse seat farther back and was wondering why we couldn't sit there.

 

[Mathmagicland]

I noticed this too. An entire huge section of seats at the first Menken show remained taped off, but they were not front row. I had a worse seat farther back and was wondering why we couldn't sit there.

Yes, this is what I saw too at the first Mencken concert. I was a later arrival close to show time & was way off to the side in section C, rather than closer to center in those blocked seats.

 

[wilkeliza]

I guess I missed all of the drama with cast members & vendors getting into some of the shopping lines early each day.

I do have a question re seating, for Wilkeliza or others who may know.

I noticed in Hall D23, the Expo Arena, and Stage 28, large blocks of seats taped off. I thought they might have been for sorcerers who were no shows, but now am not so sure as these were not the front Center 1-7 rows that wilkeliza mentioned in a response...they were second sections back after an aisle across the seats, center to the stages. I was in several panels where no one sat in those sections, or very few people were less than 10% of the seats were used. Does anyone know for whom they were blocked off? I felt bad in the Pixar Characters session at end of day Saturday, it was full room, there were late comers standing along the walls, & this huge block of about 8-10 rows was taped off with no one there.

Hmm not sure. It is possible it was for recording? Stayed empty so that people didn't stand in front of camera opp? Who knows though.

In the smaller stages Sorcerers were taped off by blue tape but it was 2-5 rows tops.

 

[jeffbeardreams]

If we want to talk more line management what about the Disney Animation and Pixar booth signings??

Those were a giant mess. The first day they were giving out signing wrist bands about a half hour before the start. Then Saturday and Sunday they just want to 'we'll give them our randomly to whoever we feel like' because hundreds of people were milling around the booth for hours waiting to meet people like Brad Bird and they wouldn't set a time to give out the bands. Really guys?? You didn't know a Brad Bird signing would be super popular? And your fix for that situation was to give no one any info so people wasted hours hanging out at the booth then never got a wrist band?

That was poorly organized.

Yeah. I really only noticed the lines at the Pixar booth during the Brad Bird signing and it WAS a complete zoo. I asked somebody near the back and asked what what was going on and the guy was royally tickled off about standing around a long time and not getting a band. Honestly I think some simple baseline rules for distribution would go a long way towards helping. If all the booths distributed bands the same the same way then there would be less complaining if nothing else.
And if I noticed then there was something to notice. Because I didn't care a single little bit about any of the signings. It just isn't my thing.

 

[jeffbeardreams]

Hmm not sure. It is possible it was for recording? Stayed empty so that people didn't stand in front of camera opp? Who knows though.

In the smaller stages Sorcerers were taped off by blue tape but it was 2-5 rows tops.

The only time I noticed anyone being ushered into those roped off sections it was largish group of guests from the Chinese parks. They had plaids herding them around. And I only noticed that because of some semi racist comments from a lady sitting next to me at the Parks panel.

 

[wilkeliza]

The only time I noticed anyone being ushered into those roped off sections it was largish group of guests from the Chinese parks. They had plaids herding them around. And I only noticed that because of some semi racist comments from a lady sitting next to me at the Parks panel.

Oh hmm maybe it was just possible vip them. I know some celebrities just poped by with little warning for live action. I saw Seth Rogan and some kids. So maybe they make a section for thag type of situation.

 

[HydroGuy]

My D23 Expo Report

This was my fourth Expo. I went in 2011, 2013 and 2015.

I had a 3 day regular pass and went with DW who loves Disney but is not really into the Expo or getting up at ungodly hours. She was trying out the Expo to see if she wants to come back next time.

I finally invested in some portable chairs that folded up into a small 13.5 inch long bag and had back support. We used those a lot.

FRIDAY

We did DLR the 3 days before the Expo and stayed at the BWPPI, then switched to the Hilton Friday morning. We were shooting for a 5:00-5:15AM at the Expo line and had to move our luggage from the BWPPI. We got up at 3:30AM, got an Uber around 4:40AM to the Hilton, dropped our bags, and were in line about 5:10AM. I got to meet @PaintsWithAllTheColors, @OhioStateBuckeye and @ashley0139 while in the queue.

Our queue moved in an organized manner to the show floor but I heard later it was not organized properly for folks who arrived around 9AM. That is what happened to us in 2015 and I vowed to never arrive at 9AM again for an Expo. Either before 6AM or after 11AM for me.

We got onto the show floor at 9:20 and went to the Pixar pavilion and attended the Zootopia presentation (9:30-10AM) by two animators, including the one who did Judy Hopps.

We next went to the Disney Parks pavilion and got in line to see the Star Wars Land model. We waited about 20 minutes. We wandered around the show floor a while and then got lunch at 11AM.

We then made our way down to Hall E around Noon to find the queue for Animation scheduled to start at 2:30PM in Hall D23. The goods news is we made it into the Animation session in Hall D23 section C. The bad news is that as was reported by myself and others, the queue management was a series of fiascos in Hall E. Very frustrating and a huge step backwards by the Expo organizers from 2015.

Animation was fun as always, with the highlight being the Princess segment in the Wreck-It Ralph sequel and the nine women that came out who have voiced Disney princesses.

After Animation DW and I left to collect our luggage and check into our hotel room at the Hilton. After I got DW settled, I returned to the Show Floor about 5PM and got in line for the Pirates pavilion. That was a 20-30 minute wait. I spent probably 30 minutes taking in that exhibit. Very cool. A lot of info on the development of the original POTC ride which remains my favorite at DLR.

After Pirates I went to the Lion King Broadway show virtual reality pavilion. I have seen Lion King on Broadway and, while I love the music, the Broadway show is not one of my favorites. But I wanted to see how the VR worked. It was a cool 90 second VR segment.

I left the show floor at 6:45PM. I got to sleep about 9PM.

The fiasco with the Animation queue really soured DW and she decided she did not want anything to do with Hall E on Saturday. Plus she wanted some sleep. She told me to go solo and we would hook up later in the day. She was hoping to attend the Power of the Princess panel.

SATURDAY

Today was Live Action movies day. I was up at 3AM and in line solo in Hall E at 3:45AM in section A. It appears they closed the queue and started a standby queue around 4:30AM. Note that they saved 500-1000 spots of the 7000 available for the attendees who were mistakenly left out of the Animation session on Friday because of one of the many fiascos. So if not for that the queue may have stayed open a bit longer. Live Action started at 10:30AM in Hall D23 and went for about 2 hours. I always like the previews of never-seen-before footage from upcoming movies and frankly found the session disappointing compared to previous years. The management of Hall E was infinitely better today as there were many more Expo staff there including Disney direct staff of which I saw zero for the Animation session yesterday.

I also wanted to attend the Parks and Resorts session that day which was scheduled for 3PM in Hall D23. Near the end of Live Action I got out of my seat and watched the final 5 minutes from the back of Hall D23. When it ended I hightailed it back to Hall E and got in line for the center section B for Parks and Resorts. I ended up being one of the last people they allowed into Section B and was thus in the final row. Once seated in Hall D23 we did not get to sit anywhere near the center and still I was off to the side about as much as I had been for Section A for Live Action. I wished I had gone for Section A this time.

Parks and Resorts was pretty good with lots of very specific announcements about WDW and DLR which I am sure you all have heard by now.

Overall I was feeling disappointed with the Expo at this point and the thought crept into my mind that I myself might skip it in 2019. It just did not feel as exciting as the previous 3 I had attended.

DW did not feel well and never made it to the Expo on Saturday. She was saying that she did not think she would come back to the Expo next time. I had plans to see the 6PM session on Pixar character evolution but with DW not feeling well and me being extremely tired, I left the Expo around 5PM after Parks finished to head back to the hotel.

I got to bed around 8:30PM.

SUNDAY

I had plans to see the Lion King panel on D23 Expo Arena which started at 10AM. I got up solo at 5AM and got into the Show Floor queue in Hall E at 5:45AM.

I got into the show floor right after 9AM and was making my way past the Dream Store and there was no line. I am not a big shopper but I do like to get Expo shirts. Usually by Sunday they are out but this time they had some so I got one.

Then I made my way over the Lion King queue at about 9:25AM. I got a good seat on the arena floor and wow, was this session awesome and exceeded my expectations! I knew DW would have loved it and I suspected if she had seen it she would have been sold on coming back to the Expo next time. When I told her what she missed she was very bummed and regretted not coming with me.

After Lion King I went to Hall E and got my stuff in the Gold member section for the 1:30 Alan Mencken concert, first row for section A. I then went back to the hotel room to help get our luggage to the storage area as we were checking out of the Hilton today. I grabbed lunch with DW at the Hilton and lost track of time. I realized I may have lost my spot for Alan Mencken because it was like 12:40PM and the show was at 1:30. So DW came with me back to the Expo and I went to see Alan Mencken and she went to see a session at the Pixar pavilion by the Moana animators.

I made it back to Hall E with 2 minutes to spare before they moved my row into Hall D23. I got a great seat for Alan Mencken which was awesome and exceeded my expectations.

After Alan Mencken I connected with DW about 3PM. We got StagePasses for the 6PM Imagineering Legends session at about 4PM. Then we went to the Pixar pavilion and saw another animation session at 4:30PM.

We wandered the show floor after that and got in the StagePass line for Imagineering Legends at about 5:40PM. The session was really good and DW especially enjoyed this. I had high expectations for this session which were met.

I would have to say that Sunday was my favorite day of the three. That has never happened before as for past Expos Friday and Saturday always vastly exceeded Sunday. The cool thing after Sunday is that DW enjoyed herself and we both decided to come back in 2019.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Great report, HydroGuy! I have to say that your experience is quite similar to ours. We enjoyed this Expo, but it did not compare to the past 3 we attended. The excitement level and real Disney love just wasn't there. (Heard so many people who were only there for stuff they could sell on the internet. Sigh.) Other people we met in lines said the same thing. The crowd control was poor, as usual. The communication between D23 and security was awful/non-existant, with both sides hurling blame on each other for all mishaps. Friday left a sour taste. Saturday didn't really make up for it. And Sunday was the best day and was what convinced up to try again in 2019. Overall, we did have a good time (Menken concert, Bambi panel, Princess panel!), but we just never felt the "D23 high" that we've gotten from the past Expos. We'll see what happens next time around...

 

[Curlyxz]

Am I wrong in thinking that they REALLY need to re-think the Marvel booth signings? Bigger booth, more wrist bands, moving the booth away from other lineup spots to avoid bottlenecks ... something? I really thought that whole area was poorly thought out. The Marvel wrist band lines banging into the lines for the Gold member gift distribution and the Stage Pass queues made that whole sector a mess that could have been avoiding with a more thoughtful layout.

I never experienced the Marvel lines because i knew as soon as I heard there were 100 wrist bands that we wouldn't get close to it.

If we want to talk more line management what about the Disney Animation and Pixar booth signings??

Those were a giant mess. The first day they were giving out signing wrist bands about a half hour before the start. Then Saturday and Sunday they just want to 'we'll give them our randomly to whoever we feel like' because hundreds of people were milling around the booth for hours waiting to meet people like Brad Bird and they wouldn't set a time to give out the bands. Really guys?? You didn't know a Brad Bird signing would be super popular? And your fix for that situation was to give no one any info so people wasted hours hanging out at the booth then never got a wrist band?

That was poorly organized.

I know early morning wrist bands aren't always the most fair, but I feel they needed a different color band for each signing of the day, then everyone can get one and only one first thing in the morning. At least that way people wouldn't waste hours hanging around blocking walkways and never get close to a band.

Agreed on the Marvel booth, I felt it was way too small for the amount of attention it would be getting throughout the weekend. I knew it would be an issue once I saw the size of the booth on the app as well as the signings they had scheduled. I already mentioned this before, but the Music Emporium also suffered from miscommunication as wristbands were being given out on Friday for signings on Sunday. Overall, everyone needs to get it together with signings and set clear policies. I'm glad I didn't have any signings high on my priority list, but I did see plenty of people who were disappointed with the way the Tangled sessions were handled on Sunday.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

... I finally invested in some portable chairs that folded up into a small 13.5 inch long bag and had back support. We used those a lot...

Can you post a link for where you bought these? Thanks!