D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event 8/9/24-8/11/24 **Tickets on sale 3/26** **Sold Out on 3/29**

[nalababybear]

As a Con; this was pretty solid. The morning line management isn't the best with keeping regular goers outside well past 930AM and then funneling them in so slowly.

They need to pull the early holders in much faster and earlier for a 900AM entry into the convention floor like they do at SDCC.

As for exclusives: that's part of the con experience. For Disney; it's all about pins. That's fine; just manage the lines better. Same for the premiere arena line management was just way too slow. orderly was nice, but too often folk being loaded when the panel started. --no real excuse for that with so much time between panels.

Loved the most: Honda center and not sitting in the basement for 4+ hours. Assigned seat, orderly entry and exit in a place designed to bring people in and disgorge them efficiently was a godsend. BOTH nights were insane and kudos for Disney in packing the parks and rec with nonstop music -- and that orchestra!

Most memorable: 3 of Hearts trick. Just wow.

Most unexpected surprise: walking into the North 200 with Bob Weis walking behind us to his book signing. Didn't notice him until the camera person caught my side vision. Wowser's!!!

Best pixie dusting: CM recognizing my son's desire for the claw when we were exiting Disney publishing, but he's has ASD and no tolerance for a queue like that -- she let him in on the side. Made his day!

 

[LKing]

It looks like the Dress Shop in DTD has all of the Marketplace clothing in a full range of sizes. I guess I should look at it from a positive perspective. Being out of my size saved me a decent amount of money.

 

[Sakura1017]

Did anyone hear of any of the panels shutting people out at all? I think the Grey’s panel did, was in Backlot and I got in on standby but I think the room completely filled after me and they turned some folks away.

But definitely for some reason felt a lot easier to get into panels. I suspect the extra show floor attractions with queues/etc gobbled up many of the attendees.

Wolverine panel standby line queueing cut off was at 130 pm. So if you were at marvel animation you couldn’t go to it. Wolverine panel gave out 2 comics which was why it was full

 

[LKing]

Wolverine panel standby line queueing cut off was at 130 pm. So if you were at marvel animation you couldn’t go to it. Wolverine panel gave out 2 comics which was why it was full

Did people know that in advance? Percy Jackson gave out t-shirts. Did any other panels give out things?

 

[LKing]

This expo is kind of turning into a bummer. No little swags from either panel either and entertainment just had the pack of playing cards.

Following up on the previous post, is there normally more swag? What types of things did they give out in the past?

 

[dina444444]

Following up on the previous post, is there normally more swag? What types of things did they give out in the past?

They usually give out posters at the movie panel. Last year at the parks panel we each got a little box of Porto’s, year before was a target gift card as part of a target collab with Disney store.

 

[dina444444]

On the floor, I enjoyed the Imagineering booth and how passionate and proud the Imagineers were about their work. Granted, I went through it Friday morning. They may have burnt out after that. I also thought that the Voluntear thing was cool. Do they always do that? I would love to see stats of how many bags they filled each day.

We were really lucky with our panel seating. The first day I was tired so lined up for our Toy Story RSP early. We ended up sitting in the 2nd row. I enjoyed the candid rapport between the panel members. I thought it was cool that Jonas Rivera went from being a first day intern on the original Toy Story to EVP of Pixar.

I like Pete Doctor so, the second day we tried to do a last minute standby for Directing Disney. We walked in just as it was starting and were ushered to fill seats that had been reserved for VIPs. I sat next to Zsolt Hormay. I had no idea who he was, but he looked like a creative type. It wasn't until he was in the intro for Joe Rohde's Legend award (in the same clothes he was wearing when I sat next to him) that I learned who he is.

For Inside Out a Dreamy Surprise. It had already started so they quietly ushered us to seats in the 2nd row. Jason Deamer showed some of the images that were proposed for the different Inside Out characters and why they chose the character they did. For example, they thought of Embarassment as a big football player. After a half hour of that, Jaclyn Smith and Mike Jones came out showed us the first episode of Dream Productions. I thought it was great and it was really fun to watch with other Disney fans.

I had RSP to Dream Chasing with Bob Weis and Leslie Iwerks. It was interesting and I would have bought the book if they had it in stock. Story of D23... everything was sold out!

Finally, we went to Character Voices which was fun. I didn't think it was as informative as some of the other panels, other than the fact that Jim Hanks does the voice of his brother, Tom. It was still good entertainment.

My daughter and her friend got to do the meet with Auli'i which they loved. They also really enjoyed the panel with Corbin Bleu.

Wolverine was a full audience. They allowed some standby but then closed the line.

Did you go through the imagineering pavilion again yesterday after the unveiled the two behind the tarp rooms? I lucked out that I got in there right away when the show floor opened before they sent the line outside.

They always have a voluntears booth.

 

[Sakura1017]

Did people know that in advance? Percy Jackson gave out t-shirts. Did any other panels give out things?

Yes it was in the panel description that something was going to be handed which is why everyone wanted in that panel. Only at the end they made an announcement that 2 were going to be given instead of 1.

 

[brightlined]

Anecdotally, it felt like they gave out more schwag in 2022. I felt like I came home with more posters (etc) - plus a slice of a Disneyland tree from the Ambasadors panel - back then than this year, and I only went one day in 2022.

(Side note - I always wondered if they ever sold those tree slices anywhere, and only this morning discovered that there's a giant $6500 slice of one of the Pirates trees in Disneyana.)

 

[LKing]

Did you go through the imagineering pavilion again yesterday after the unveiled the two behind the tarp rooms? I lucked out that I got in there right away when the show floor opened before they sent the line outside.

No, and to be honest, I didn't really care. I know about Avatar and I'm not into Marvel or CoCo.

 

[HeadNerd]

Yes it was in the panel description that something was going to be handed which is why everyone wanted in that panel. Only at the end they made an announcement that 2 were going to be given instead of 1.

Were they exclusive? Oh geez, are they the Donald Duck and Wolverine covers? That people have on eBay for $150 - $700?

This sort of BS of people forcing into a panel or booth just to get something free to immediately put on eBay is ridiculous. If I was Disney or a company there I would seriously think about stopping.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Was there a booth for Disney Movie Insiders (movie Rewards)? I don’t remember seeing them as they usually are. We even went to the special party for their renaming in 2019. If they weren’t represented there, should we be worried about that program?

 

[dina444444]

Was there a booth for Disney Movie Insiders (movie Rewards)? I don’t remember seeing them as they usually are. We even went to the special party for their renaming in 2019. If they weren’t represented there, should we be worried about that program?

There was not. They did have a booth in 2022. I know that they have discontinued the studio tour awards and I also have not seen any 5 or 10 point codes since early spring. They also discontinued the newsletter points. I’ve been slowly dumping my several thousand points on gift cards. I had enough points for the top tier studio tour, but it hadn’t been in stock at all since I got to the amount of points that were required to redeem for it.

 

[soniam]

Well, Jolly Holiday was very moving

It was definitely a several Kleenex panel. It was by far my favorite, but Mary Poppins is one of my favorite Disney movies. I wish my son would have been there. That panel would have made the whole weekend worth it for him.

For those who attended, what was your favorite panel or presentation?

For me: a tie between Jolly Holiday: A Celebration of Richard Sherman (made me cry) and the Disney Experiences Showcase

Sleeper hit: Once Upon a Costume: Fashion and Design and Disney Animation

World’s Fair was excellent too!

I was searching so much on my phone during panels for books that were referenced or new music I wanted to buy

My friend and I agree that this year was the smoothest for us and allowed us to see the most panels. We had HC tickets. The TWDC Pin Store was a poop show. Luckily, my son wasn’t too upset that I couldn’t get him the pins he wanted. He said the selection of pins was really limited and he didn’t really like much of anything.

 

[AquaDame]

It looks like the Dress Shop in DTD has all of the Marketplace clothing in a full range of sizes. I guess I should look at it from a positive perspective. Being out of my size saved me a decent amount of money.

I felt the same way though I did find one shirt I liked. I had tried on a medium of a different style and it fit, so I grabbed a medium of the one I liked more. Lo and behold I get home and the shirt is actually a small that was on a medium hanger. I sent an email asking if there is anyway to do an exchange or refund but not feeling lucky. It's not a limited edition or anything but it was from MoG so we'll see what they say.

Were they exclusive? Oh geez, are they the Donald Duck and Wolverine covers? That people have on eBay for $150 - $700?

This sort of BS of people forcing into a panel or booth just to get something free to immediately put on eBay is ridiculous. If I was Disney or a company there I would seriously think about stopping.

People were openly talking about it while shopping; definitely puts a damper on things. I'd rather talk to folk about how cool something is than how much money they're gonna make off it.

 

[nalababybear]

I felt the same way though I did find one shirt I liked. I had tried on a medium of a different style and it fit, so I grabbed a medium of the one I liked more. Lo and behold I get home and the shirt is actually a small that was on a medium hanger. I sent an email asking if there is anyway to do an exchange or refund but not feeling lucky. It's not a limited edition or anything but it was from MoG so we'll see what they say.


People were openly talking about it while shopping; definitely puts a damper on things. I'd rather talk to folk about how cool something is than how much money they're gonna make off it.

Was that the reason for that huge line in the lobby hall on Saturday? Crazy.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

From my understanding standby was also easy for most panels. The 2 panels I went to on the premiere stage didn’t fill more than half the room.

We had good luck going from panel to panel even if there were only like 15 min in between. That was a nice change. My theory is that a lot of panels would fill with people seeking consolation after the big presentations would close their standby queue. But now everyone's either got a seat for the HC or processed their disappointment months ago, lol

 

[LKing]

We got frustrated trying to navigate the booths. The queue would wrap down the side, and across the back of the booth, I would ask the last person, "Are you the end of the line?" to which they would reply, "No, the line starts over there" and point to a long winding queue across the aisle. On Saturday they started having someone stand at the end of the line with a sign. That helped a bit. Still, there were booths where it wasn't clear if I needed to wait in line or if I could just walk in (ex. Imagineering, Pixar).

We were initially disappointed in not getting the RSPs we wanted. We aren't pin collectors so, when the queues at the booths got to be so long, we decided we would rather spend that time in line for a panel. For most panels, as soon as we got the push notification, there was no line. It was great!

For those who went to the voices panel, did anyone hear the new Mark Twain narration about Bayou Country? It sounds like they got Mark Page (voice of Oogie Boogie) to do it.

And Brett Iwan posted this picture on social media. Can anyone help me identify who the different voice artists are?

 

[dina444444]

For those who went to the voices panel, did anyone hear the new Mark Twain narration about Bayou Country? It sounds like they got Mark Page (voice of Oogie Boogie) to do it.

And Brett Iwan posted this picture on social media. Can anyone help me identify who the different voice artists are?

View attachment 885778

Mark Page only did Oogie and sang Pour Unfortunate Souls.

Bill Farmer is to Brett’s left. The woman bounding as Minnie is the voice of Minnie. To the left of her is Debra Wilson. In the back row all the way to the left is Jim Hanks.

 

[daneenm]

There is Muppets stuff at Mickeys of Glendales. If you want some older stuff I saw a few Muppet collectibles at some vendors in the Emporium.

As for the chatter about snack, security didn’t say anything to me but I didn’t have anything excessive and I am type 1 diabetic so I do. Red snacks. Maybe I will put my insulin pens next to them tomorrow. Weird question for any other diabetics…. Did anyone have problems with their continuous glucose monitors? My Dexcom kept losing signal throughout the day as soon as I entered the convention center. That never happens. Just wondering if it was something with all the electronics and signals in here.

Yes, me! My CGM lost signal every time I was in a big crowd...panels, Honda center every night, etc! I could not figure it out. Glad to know it was not just me! I thought I got a bad sensor!