D23 - What to Expect?

[nrhenley]

I will be coming out to California for the D23 Expo this year. I have been to Disneyland 3 times now. My son has been with me on 2 of those vacations. I will be bringing him with me on the D23 adventure. What I am wondering is what I am in for He is 5. He is a "Disney nut" (as he says). How far away will the expo be from the parks? Can we handle going to the parks for a few hours and to the expo for a few hours in the same day? Or would this be a crazy thing to do? I would like to have at least 2 days in the parks. Of course, I work and it would be less days off from work if I could juggle the days in D23 and the parks but CA is "2 planes" (as my son says) from where I live so I do want to make the most of it! One final word, are there places to get tickets to the parks at a discount? I am an AP for WDW. I have not seen any discounts for that in Disneyland but thought you all may know better!

Thanks for your help!

Natalie H.
Meet the Magic

 

[HydroGuy]

Hi Natalie:

Another D23 Expo attendee here!

The Expo will be at the Anaheim Convention Center. I too plan to visit the parks a little during the Expo then a day or two before or after.

Where should one stay? I chose a hotel that will allow me to walk to the Expo and also to DLR - the Candy Cane Inn. Note that there are no entrances to DLR on Katella so even though the Expo is across the street from DLR, there is no easy access to DLR if you are on foot.

This map may help. http://www.wikimapia.org/#lat=33.8025263&lon=-117.9188347&z=16&l=0&m=b

 

[nunzia]

I was there last time and am looking very forward to going again. The Candy Cane is a good choice as a between the two point. They do have some shuttles set up, but I never figured them out. What I underestimated was the time I'd want to be at the Expo..I really had no time for the parks and when we chose to skip something at the Expo and go to the parks we discovered we missed things we wished we hadn't. The Expo ran from morning to after 10 each night.
As far as having a 5 year old..that may be on the young side. You will very probably want to do things that your son will find boring. If you let him play handheld games, I'd sure bring that along. For example..the Legends presentation was wonderful, but it was L O N G. The Imagineers panel was fascinating in every way, but a child would probably doze off or fidget himself off the chair. The events were really planned with adults in mind, but I did see quite a few kids..mainly older than 5, but still. There was also alot of line waiting..we spent 26 hous in lines..hopefully they will have come up with a solution to that this time.
I think you will be torn by all the wonderful things you want to do combined with wanting to make sure your son has a good time at the Expo and the parks.
Really..if this Expo is anything like the last, you will be amazed.

 

[PatMcDuck]

As an adult attending this year's Expo, I hope there are not many young kids at D23. From what I understand, seating is limited, and the young kids would not even understand the presentations anyway. The kids would rather be in the Parks, I am sure.

 

[tinkcollector]

I attended the last Expo and will be attending the one coming up as well. I plan on staying a day on either side of the Expo dates as I do not want to miss anything at the Expo, and that way I will have DL time too. I planned it this way because the Expo is so jammed packed you barely have time to eat much less run over to the park.
As for your 5 year old. The Expo is set-up like a convention, with lectures and seminars. You are the best judge on your Son's level of attention for these kinds of venues. There are booths set-up on the convention floor with things for sale and ABC type TV personalities, etc... The main draw is listening to Disney Legends (Bob Gurr,..) tell you how they designed a ride, wrote the music, personal times with Walt... things that are truly Disney history.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

They have posted the Show Floor hours at the D23 Expo site: 10 - 7 every day, with members and their guests admitted at 9. Based on past experience, the presentations will run later in the evening than the Show Floor is open. The 50 & Fabulous showings ended at Midnight each of the first 3 nights and the Toy Story 3D double feature ended at 11!

We never went to the Parks on the days we went to the Expo. We attended about 4 seminars/presentations a day, plus saw the Show Floor exhibits and Archives and grabbed a quick lunch (sometimes while waiting in line) and that equalled 4 full days, usually from 8 (it opened earlier in 2009) to about 7.

While there are certainly some things that a young child can appreciate at the D23 Expo, there is a lot of waiting in lines. With a child that age, the best you will get is probably a taste of the Expo (maybe 1 presentation/seminar and some exhibits each day), mixed with the Parks and some pool time. You can take the ART bus directly from DLR to the Convention Center, so you can begin or end your day at the Parks.

-- Suzanne

 

[nrhenley]

It is getting closer to the D23 event! Anyone know if there is information available about what to expect yet?

 

[nunzia]

It is getting closer to the D23 event! Anyone know if there is information available about what to expect yet?

They have listed the Arena schedule, which is only a very small part of the Expo..I don't know if they will have the evening movie showings this year as that venue is not listed, so if the Expo actually ends at 7 this could impact the parks at night.