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

[Mathmagicland]

I just got my email with the link to the post D23 Expo survey. *cracks knuckles*

Same here & I have already Completed it. Interesting set of questions this time,

 

[CarolynFH]

I just got my email with the link to the post D23 Expo survey. *cracks knuckles*

Same here & I have already Completed it. Interesting set of questions this time,

Any opportunity for free text, or is it all multiple choice? Examples of the "interesting questions"?

 

[ImDMous]

There was one general "anything else you want to tell us about your experience" empty box.

I can't remember them all (even though I just filled it out, should have taken notes). It was pretty long, lots if different questions about panels, pavilions, etc, specific "did the advance reservation process enhance your experience" or something like that. What advance reservations did you get... Rate your experiences at past Expos, Did your opinion of this or that get better, get worse, or stay the same after the Expo...

 

[Mathmagicland]

Any opportunity for free text, or is it all multiple choice? Examples of the "interesting questions"?

A few opportunities for freeform text with no apparent character limitations. Some freeform fields may depend on responses - ie I did not give one question the highest mark and it then gave me a box to provide info as to why I rated it as I did.

Questions - @ImDMous noted some of them above. I found it interesting there were a couple comparing to 2017. They asked to rate each panel, booth, and Disney or Disney partner shopping experience. They also ask why I did not get any advance reservations after I answered No to whether I did,

The Are you a parent question is not written correctly as it asks if you are a parent without any age restrictions, which I am, then next question wants ages but only accepts value up to 17 & mine is older. No way to go back and change the responses along the way, so my older kid is now 1 in the survey which will not make sense. I was afraid to hit the Back button and risk not being able to complete the survey.

 

[dina444444]

Same here & I have already Completed it. Interesting set of questions this time,

That was a long survey

 

[CarolynFH]

The Are you a parent question is not written correctly as it asks if you are a parent without any age restrictions, which I am, then next question wants ages but only accepts value up to 17 & mine is older. No way to go back and change the responses along the way, so my older kid is now 1 in the survey which will not make sense. I was afraid to hit the Back button and risk not being able to complete the survey.

Thanks - I would have answered the same way you did and had the same frustration!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

We had a gold family membership. The problem was the stagepass - we had a stagepass for two of us, because they only let you get for two. So we had stagepass for two, and then I got in the gold member line. But they still wouldn't let us sit together. There was no reason for DW and DD to get to the panel three hours ahead when they had a stagepass (and got there like 75 minutes ahead.)

I guess I don't understand using SP and splitting up when you could have sat together as Gold Members. (It's not as if the option to sit together didn't exist -- may not have been convenient, but it did exist.) Gold Members got seated first and in better sections -- I've read more than one comment that SP guests got seated late, behind the GM sections -- so we chose to forego SP (not that we had many in the first place) and stick with the GM or stand by lines. It will be interesting to see what changes D23 makes to the line rules regarding families waiting/sitting together based on the feedback they get from this year.

 

[Jason_V]

I just got my email with the link to the post D23 Expo survey. *cracks knuckles*

I did mine yesterday. I made it a point in all the free-form boxes to emphasize I was disappointed in the management of the Expo and the issues I had before getting to Anaheim, but I was NOT disappointed in any of the cast members I talked to at Expo. I doubt anything will come of the comments, frankly. But they wanted honest opinions.

 

[bethwc101]

Reading about all these lines is crazy! DH and I are the type of people who think standby 30 min for an E ticket ride is pushing it. I know they have the Sorcer's Package or something. Does the sorcerer's package allow you to skip these crazy lines. I've been interested in D23, but I don't think I would be able to do 3 days of these lines.

 

[GeneralTso]

And you know what....despite all this angst and frustration (right down to the evaluation system!!!) people will register and relive this entire experience again in 2 years. I did not have an ounce of FOMO, at all. I saw the highlights and announcements online as hundreds of people were posting constantly. I don't feel like I missed a thing, except the nightmare that is the D23 convention. One and done for us.

 

[dina444444]

Reading about all these lines is crazy! DH and I are the type of people who think standby 30 min for an E ticket ride is pushing it. I know they have the Sorcer's Package or something. Does the sorcerer's package allow you to skip these crazy lines. I've been interested in D23, but I don't think I would be able to do 3 days of these lines.

It allows you reserved seating at panels, like any convention of this magnitude even with the vip package there is still waiting in line.

 

[msteddom]

I never got a survey. Did it only go out to the folks who purchased a 3 day badge? Or is it just sent to a random sample of attendees?

 

[wnwardii]

Reading about all these lines is crazy! DH and I are the type of people who think standby 30 min for an E ticket ride is pushing it. I know they have the Sorcer's Package or something. Does the sorcerer's package allow you to skip these crazy lines. I've been interested in D23, but I don't think I would be able to do 3 days of these lines.

I was fortunate to have the Sorcerer's pass for the Expo last week. Yes, we still had lines that we waited in. For the main 4 Hall D23 panels, if you wanted a front row seat, you were lining up several hours before being let in. I actually got in line at 7:30am on Sunday for the Parks & Resort panel. With the other 3 main panels, I think I got in line around 90 or 2 hours prior to the start of the panel. But I know some Sorcerer's walked in about 30 minutes or less before the panel and had a seat. For the smaller panels, like in the Archives stage, we just needed to be there about 15-20 minutes before hand to claim a seat. But if we didn't get there then, we could lose out on seeing the panel if it was full because they would start filling all available seats even those reserved for the Sorcerer's.

Outside of our preview shopping day on Thursday, if we wanted to do additional shopping, we either had to do the Stand By queue or try to get the Store Pass during the advanced online reservations. I actually did not get any additional Store Passes and like others I waited in that virtual queue for over an hour to get nothing. Then on the first day of the Expo, while we had a dedicated line to get to the Expo floor and prime spot to get to the stores, the way the D23 staff handled this was maddening. It ended up being unsafe and I had to bail out of trying to get into the Disney Store. It was not even controlled chaos.

If we wanted to do anything on the Expo floor, like the Archives or Marvel, Pixar, etc., we did not have front of the line for any of the booths. We would have to wait in the queue with everyone else. The only thing we had was the ability during our Welcome Reception to see the Archives and to look at some of the big booths prior to Friday morning. But we didn't have access to everything or all of the vendors.

 

[Simba001]

I was fortunate to have the Sorcerer's pass for the Expo last week. Yes, we still had lines that we waited in. For the main 4 Hall D23 panels, if you wanted a front row seat, you were lining up several hours before being let in. I actually got in line at 7:30am on Sunday for the Parks & Resort panel. With the other 3 main panels, I think I got in line around 90 or 2 hours prior to the start of the panel. But I know some Sorcerer's walked in about 30 minutes or less before the panel and had a seat. For the smaller panels, like in the Archives stage, we just needed to be there about 15-20 minutes before hand to claim a seat. But if we didn't get there then, we could lose out on seeing the panel if it was full because they would start filling all available seats even those reserved for the Sorcerer's.

Outside of our preview shopping day on Thursday, if we wanted to do additional shopping, we either had to do the Stand By queue or try to get the Store Pass during the advanced online reservations. I actually did not get any additional Store Passes and like others I waited in that virtual queue for over an hour to get nothing. Then on the first day of the Expo, while we had a dedicated line to get to the Expo floor and prime spot to get to the stores, the way the D23 staff handled this was maddening. It ended up being unsafe and I had to bail out of trying to get into the Disney Store. It was not even controlled chaos.

If we wanted to do anything on the Expo floor, like the Archives or Marvel, Pixar, etc., we did not have front of the line for any of the booths. We would have to wait in the queue with everyone else. The only thing we had was the ability during our Welcome Reception to see the Archives and to look at some of the big booths prior to Friday morning. But we didn't have access to everything or all of the vendors.

It really seems like this year they dropped the ball on giving Sorcerers what they deserved. You paid a premium for those tickets and should have had the premium experience you deserved for that price.

 

[maichan]

I never got a survey. Did it only go out to the folks who purchased a 3 day badge? Or is it just sent to a random sample of attendees?

The survey was for D23 members specifically and covered the expo as well as membership and other D23 events. Are you perchance not a D23 member? And if anyone is checking their spam, the subject line was "We Want to Hear from You!" and the sender was disneytwentythree@em.disneytwentythree.com.

 

[lurkergirl]

Reading about all these lines is crazy! DH and I are the type of people who think standby 30 min for an E ticket ride is pushing it. I know they have the Sorcerer's Package or something. Does the sorcerer's package allow you to skip these crazy lines. I've been interested in D23, but I don't think I would be able to do 3 days of these lines.

Like @wnwardii, I was a Sorcerer. It does give you seats in all four panel spaces, but it is most certainly not a magic pass that lets you by-pass lines. There are restrictions on when you can arrive for panels and if you want front row, you wait for those seats. If simply being in the reserved section is enough, then getting there closer to the time deadline is OK...but they can take away the seats. We still lined up for every panel and every morning for the Show Floor. It doesn't give you anything in terms of seeing anything on the Show Floor Friday through Sunday and what you do access early on Thursday is limited (three main stores with limited merchandise and some of the Pavilions). The perks are nice but we felt that they were not really worth the price this time around - it's a lot for diminishing returns.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Reading about all these lines is crazy! DH and I are the type of people who think standby 30 min for an E ticket ride is pushing it. I know they have the Sorcer's Package or something. Does the sorcerer's package allow you to skip these crazy lines. I've been interested in D23, but I don't think I would be able to do 3 days of these lines.

Just generally, I think it's important for people to remember that going to Expo isn't like going to the parks. Expo is like any other large Con -- so waiting in long lines for just about everything (including the restrooms and drinking fountains/water stations) is part of the game plan. And unlike the parks where you expect to get on the ride after waiting in line, you might wait in a stand by line at Expo and not even get in to the store/panel/giveaway/signing of your choice. It happens. People who attend Expo expecting it to be just like a day at the parks are usually very disappointed.
And waiting in the lines at Expo is part of the whole experience. You meet great people, make new friends, share and learn, and bond through the "hardship"! People who wait overnight do so by choice -- no one is forcing them to do this. But all of us who get into the panels we want do wait for up to several hours or (much) more. It's like WOC -- time invested for a spot = pay off.
But, it is the wise person who knows ahead of time that waiting in lines isn't for them. In that case, Expo may not be the right experience choice. There are many other great Disney experiences out there to choose from, so it is good to know ahead of time that Expo might be better crossed off the list.

 

[ElderWizard75]

We made the best of it but I have no plans to bond over a hardship or any other kind of trauma when I spent thousands to be there. I expect to get what I pay for. That is my expectation and it is appropriate. It is a D23 event with D23 panels, supposedly the biggest fan event for us. Line waiting for hours with a teenager is the expectation? Not for me. I never thought it was a day in the parks though that by itself is a wholly different subject. I am very saddened that all of the issues with expo are seen as expected or the norm and for me they feel brushed over as being the attendees perception or a problem with newbies. If left unaddressed you will not have fans in the future. Expo needs generational attendance to assure future expo success. For me, The expo missed its mark and with that its mission to D23 gold members. My time is valuable. So is my money and the decisions in how I use it are critical to my success. There are many ways to improve expo. Most solutions are already there and just need to be researched, adapted and deployed. Normalized deviance is a very serious problem for The company and it needs outside thinkers to resolve it. It needs to listen to our divergent voices.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

... I expect to get what I pay for. That is my expectation and it is appropriate...

May I ask, sincerely, what you expected for what you paid and how that should have been in any way different from what others in this thread paid for? I'm just curious because others posted throughout this thread their experiences from past Expos and what they expected/hoped for from this one. They posted guidance and suggestions for newcomers to help them know what to expect and how to prepare. So if you expected something different, it would help us understand your perspective going in.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

I never got a survey. Did it only go out to the folks who purchased a 3 day badge? Or is it just sent to a random sample of attendees?

Did you have the privacy settings in the D23 app turned on? Like turning off the analytics? We did that last Expo and never received a survey. Did it again this Expo and have not received a survey. If you don't receive a survey but would like to send in your comments, try sending an email to D23 Guest Services. It can't hurt.