New D23 Expo Superthread! (6/24/2019)

[keahgirl8]

I have a feeling that the chair rule is more a venue rule imposed by the Anaheim Convention Center and not Disney (just like the food rule is directly related to the Aramark contract that the convention center has for their food). I think the security rule following will be directly connected to who the security providers are. If the security is ACC employees they might enforce the policies, but if the security is a 3rd party that Disney brought in my guess would be that they would be more lenient. We will see in a few short days...

Agreed. This is pretty much how it is every year. We never know until we know, and Friday could be different from Saturday or Sunday.

 

[tinkertoes]

So it's my first expo. My friend and I did not get any panels, stage passes, or store passes not 1. But we are both just excited to be going to our first expo. My questions are:

- if we decide to skip panels all togethere, is there enough to see on the expo floor. We paid the discounted D23 1 day ticket, so I dont feel like a made a major investment.

- I know the expo opens at 9. If we decide to go to Disneyland in the morning, will we have hard time getting in to the expo floor. My friend hasn't been to Star Wars land, so we thought we could head there for a couple hours, and then uber to the convention center. As newbies, are we being completely unrealistic? I think the only thing we will stand in line for is the stores.

 

[maichan]

Ok, for those of you who have waited overnight before. Curious about the lines. I'll be there Friday only. Overnight queue for Friday starts at 2pm Thurs. Could anyone estimate the number of people in line at 2pm? 4pm? 6pm? etc. I see lots of people show up around 1-3 am. Just curious how many people are in front of you if you show up after midnight. Shopping/expo floor line, not panel line.

There's no reliable way to predict how the queues will go this year, but as I will need to head out to Will Call Thursday afternoon, I will report back on the live line situation when I get there.

 

[keahgirl8]

So it's my first expo. My friend and I did not get any panels, stage passes, or store passes not 1. But we are both just excited to be going to our first expo. My questions are:

- if we decide to skip panels all togethere, is there enough to see on the expo floor. We paid the discounted D23 1 day ticket, so I dont feel like a made a major investment.

- I know the expo opens at 9. If we decide to go to Disneyland in the morning, will we have hard time getting in to the expo floor. My friend hasn't been to Star Wars land, so we thought we could head there for a couple hours, and then uber to the convention center. As newbies, are we being completely unrealistic? I think the only thing we will stand in line for is the stores.

1. Yes. You can definitely still have a good time with no panels. I do typically go to a few panels, and don't get to see as much of the show floor as I'd like.

2. Who can say? How late would you be going?

 

[tinkertoes]

Thank you for your help Keahgirl. We have Ogas reservations at 8:15 a.m.and then plan to do Smugglers Run. My guess is at around 11ish we would head to the convention center.

 

[Simba001]

This is from a FaceBook group. Whether or not it is enforced.... we will have to wait and see.

 

[goingtoexpo!!]

Made an account because lurking was making me crazy without commenting !!

I am one of the many who didn't get into their choice of experiences at Expo so I will be winging it.

I am planning on trying to get into Legends and I will be showing up around 4:30-5am. If that doesn't work, oh well, but no earlier for me. In case anyone wanted to know what another potential Legends guest was doing.

 

[HydroGuy]

View attachment 426869This is from a FaceBook group. Whether or not it is enforced.... we will have to wait and see.

Hmphhh. That will suck as I hate sitting on concrete for so long. Plus arriving early AM and waiting outside in the dark. I brought my chair with me through TSA so I am going to hope for the best.

 

[Simba001]

Made an account because lurking was making me crazy without commenting !!

I am one of the many who didn't get into their choice of experiences at Expo so I will be winging it.

I am planning on trying to get into Legends and I will be showing up around 4:30-5am. If that doesn't work, oh well, but no earlier for me. In case anyone wanted to know what another potential Legends guest was doing.

I'm thinking of doing the same.... though trying to convince my DH to arrive that early may be a challenge. Though this is the number one panel he wanted to see.

 

[ashley0139]

I’m not going Friday so I’ll be interested to see reports on what actually happens. Of course then Saturday could be completely different.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

What is the contact email for D23 Expo Guest Relations?

Anyone have an email that they've received a response back from.

 

[keahgirl8]

Thank you for your help Keahgirl. We have Ogas reservations at 8:15 a.m.and then plan to do Smugglers Run. My guess is at around 11ish we would head to the convention center.

Past history would say that you should be okay, but this year could be different. It's hard to say.

View attachment 426869This is from a FaceBook group. Whether or nt it is enforced.... we will have to wait and see.

Thanks for sharing! I knew they were waiting on confirmation, as the rules were contradictory.

 

[maichan]

- I know the expo opens at 9. If we decide to go to Disneyland in the morning, will we have hard time getting in to the expo floor. My friend hasn't been to Star Wars land, so we thought we could head there for a couple hours, and then uber to the convention center. As newbies, are we being completely unrealistic? I think the only thing we will stand in line for is the stores.

After the morning rush, it shouldn't take too much time to get through security. And you could definitely have a great time doing nothing but the show floor. That said, if you only have the one day, I wouldn't waste a couple hours of it standing in line for one of the major stores unless it's for a specific item. And even then, if it's LE it's highly likely to be gone well before you even get to the expo.

I'd see if there was any programming at Center Stage of interest to you since those don't require reservations. Also the Heroes and Villains Disney Costume exhibit sounds amazing. And definitely check out the parade (called D23 Expo Street Party in the app) that goes down Mickey Ave twice a day through the middle of the show floor.

As for shopping, consider all the smaller vendors in the Disney Emporium. They won't have long lines and you never know what kind of booth guests or merchandise you might find there.

 

[Mathmagicland]

What is the contact email for D23 Expo Guest Relations?

Anyone have an email that they've received a response back from.

I’ve emailed GuestRelations@D23.com but the responses come back from d23.guestservices@shopdisney.com. And they are slower than usual timing to respond, takes several days.

 

[goingtoexpo!!]

What is the contact email for D23 Expo Guest Relations?

Anyone have an email that they've received a response back from.

I emailed from the D23 website on the standard form & got a FAQ response, lol

 

[met19]

I totally understand being worried about that and not knowing. I just absolutely don’t believe that the only standby spots are for people who don’t show up. There’s no way they gave away 100% of the seats. Especially since gold members get priority anyway.

Of course D23 should be way more transparent so people actually know what to expect. But par for the course with D23.

I get it. But previously members had to physically queue for separate stage, store and talent passes. So there was a choice to prioritize what someone wanted the most, and then had to even return at a later time for pm stage passes. I think they could've done something similar rather than one queue and if a member got in, they could grab one store, one talent, and 2 stage each day. So by the time people who were in the queue later got in there was nothing interesting left. It would've been reasonable to have separate virtual queues so a member has to decide what's a priority.

 

[met19]

I'm wondering if folding chairs really will not be allowed and why not. How can they do that when people are waiting overnight?

i think previous expos they were allowed

 

[keahgirl8]

i think previous expos they were allowed

Multiple people have been told via email that they will not be allowed.

 

[soniam]

View attachment 426869This is from a FaceBook group. Whether or not it is enforced.... we will have to wait and see.

According to the “stationary“ part, I could bring one of those folding camping rocking chairs or an office chairs on wheels

 

[montreid]

Thank you for your help Keahgirl. We have Ogas reservations at 8:15 a.m.and then plan to do Smugglers Run. My guess is at around 11ish we would head to the convention center.

Eye opener for the AM
If it's anything like 2017, you'll get there with a line still trying to get in. The screening process with bags, food and now chairs will become an extreme bottleneck now.

D23 is 40,000. ComicCon here in San Diego: 150,000. Disney is learning and doing some things right already like allowing talent reservations online, while they can learn a little --- like a waiting room queue and then lottery folk into the reservation portal.

There's ALWAYS going to be lines and waits and disappointed folk. The key to these mega-conventions is this: commit to what you can and accept that you can't do everything on the slate and realize there's YouTube to help you out with the rest of panels.

Hall E holding for D23 Hall is fine. They even have food this year unlike the 3 vending machines last year. Gold queue is LIMITED and caps early. Last year for animation we arrived 5AM and it was capped already and we got into standby -- and barely got in. This year probably will be even harder with stagepass enacted AND both animation and live action combined into a single 2 hour session (boo). D23 planners know roughly the counts for preheld seats and should really be able to tell standby folk how ROUGHLY how many people will be entering from standby and determine if it's worth the wait and commit time.