Official D23 Expo schedule thread; August 19-21, Anaheim (Updated 8/17, post #179)

[HydroGuy]

I'm trying to understand why people think that it's OK to wait for hours to see a panel discussion?

If you really want to understand then my answer would be because these were unique opportunities to hear what is happening now and what is planned directly from respected people at Walt Disney Company. I have never heard John Lasseter in person and he is immensely interesting.

Also I have no idea why Disney didn't have overflow rooms with the content on close-circuit video. I believe they did have this availability in 2009.

I agree this would have been a good idea.

Also why did they not have Stage 28 programming on Sunday?

They ran out of things to talk about?

 

[Disney Dreams]

Yes, you are right Allison that this Expo was improved over the last one....

You really think so??? I have to disagree.

We exited one presentation to not only see a line (that was already cut off due to it already being full) for the next presentation, but a line next to it for the next NEXT presentation, which was also closed due to being full.

So.... the result?

Saturday at 2pm we exited one presentation:

There was a queue for the very same room for the 2:45pm presentation that was cut off due to being full. The stand-by line for it was also full.

There was another queue for the very same room for the 4:30pm presentation that was cut off due to being full. The staff did not set up this line. Attendees did. The person in front even had her ipad with the event name and time on it. There was a stand-by crowd for that, the people of which were asked not to yet form an official line (though they were all standing gathered around).

And people were asking where they could start a queue for the 6:30pm presentation. At 2:00pm.

That is ridiculous. That is not improvement.

The Dick Van (why does DIS identify his last name as an inappropriate word?!?!) presentation was in one of the smallest rooms. Someone decided at 2:30pm that she was going to wait outside the room until Dick Van (name is not a inappropriate word). By 6/6:30pm the line was cut because the "room" was full. For an 8:15pm show.

Now... if you had a special pass, you probably had no idea of any of this because you were not in it. The reason for the stand by lines was that they HAD TO hold 300 seats in the Arena until 10 minutes prior to showtime. They HAD TO hold 50 seats in ALL presentations until 10 minutes prior to showtime.

The irony there was that if you waited in line for 3 hours to be almost guaranteed a spot, you sat towards the middle to back of the room. If you were in the stand by line (probably an hour - two hour wait) you got front of the house seats because you were filling in the seats reserved for those with "Passes" that didn't show up.

One last specific example: We waited 2.5 hours for the Studios presentation. We are D23 members. We did not get in. And we heard there were empty seats.

Just the facts.

Now, the things we DID get in to --- They were AMAZING. I was in tears several times during the Legends ceremony. I enjoyed Marvel (which was only open to D23 members). I enjoyed the Music of Pixar. The list goes on. However, waiting 2.5 hours to not be able to see something? Not even a video feed? Hmmm.....

- Dreams

P.S. Dick VanDyke (Yay! The man's name lives on!)

 

[mvf-m11c]

You really think so??? I have to disagree.

That is just my opinion of the 2009 Expo and this past weekend. The 2009 Expo was great but I knew that they could have made bigger improvement during this past weekend. I do admit that this Expo wasn't fully improved over the last one and the D23 staff could have made improvements. It was nice to have the extra shopping areas at the Expo after only having the Dream Store the last time. The one thing in my opinion that they could have improved at the Expo is the extra seating capacity to the Stage rooms which only carries a few hundred people. I could just keep going on and on with a lot of more improvements at the Expo but this is my opinion about it. There are a lot of people have their own opinions about the Expo. I am not being disrespectful to you or the other people of having their opinions about the Expo, I thought the D23 staff would improve the whole event after the 2009 Expo.

 

[MrsWendy]

Whoever was responsible for the lanyards on Friday should be tarred and feathered. Piles of lanyards were dumped into each bin and they all got completely tangled. So there was a jam trying to get into the expo because it was taking many people several minutes to untangle a single lanyard.

 

[carebee21]

We went to the expo on Friday and Saturday. We were going solely to get the exclusive merchandise (Pins, vinyls, etc)

I never found the lines to be disorganized, whether it be to get into the convention center in the morning or for merchandise, though I did find them to be long. We waited an hour to get in the Dream store and then an hour and fifteen minutes to check out.

The only things we found to be disorganized/poorly run were the pin and vinyl trading events. People were lining up 90-120 mins early because there were special cast member only pins/vinyls being put out. However, one person would save the spot of 5-6 people and the cast members didn't care. They basically said too bad, we can't watch everyone.

I was hoping we could catch at least one or two of the presentations but the lines were too long and with a 7 year old, it just wasn't going to happen. I must say we were so happy we decided to stay at the Hilton. It worked out perfectly where one of us could sit with him at the pool or take him to the food court while the other was in the convention and then easily being able to swap places. It was also wonderful to run up to the room, drop off merchandise bags and go back.

On another side note, I kept running into one of the managers from Florida, who was here to help oversee the event. On Sunday evening, he was in the spa the same time as I was and we had a nice, long discussion. He asked what we thought etc. He said a lot of people complained about the lines and they're looking at doing things differently next time. He said there's already been discussion of giving out wristbands/tickets for a show as people line up so there's no cutting or holding spots (and if they don't care about their seat, they can leave the line and still be guaranteed a seat if they come back 30 mins prior to the show start.) He said there's been discussion of doing the closed circuit viewing for people who don't make it in a room; there's been discussion of adding a second showing of some of the popular events or videotaping say the legends event and showing it on video somewhere on Saturday and again on Sunday, for people who want to watch it. There's been discussion of adding more events so there's more to do in case you don't make it in to a group/show that you wanted to see (Some of the events they are talking about are bringing out older, hard to find characters and possibly charging for the photo op, something similar to the animation studios where you draw along with the artist, and having more signing/photo ops with legends, animators, character voices, etc) There's discussion about opening up a kids club so parents can drop off the kids instead of dragging them to things they may not even care about and taking up room (I don't know if this is a big deal though, we didn't see too many kids) And there's discussion of spreading out merchandise releases. For example, on Friday morning, about 95% of all the exclusive Dreams store merchandise was for sale. There's talk of staggering the releases, say Friday at 9 is pins, Friday at 11 is vinyls, Friday at 1 is lithos, etc so not everyone is line at once for different stuff. He said some of what they learned here is going to be used/tested at the Florida Project coming up in the next few weeks at Disney World. So, imo, they are well aware of the issues they experienced at this years D23 and it looks like they're looking to make changes, or at least it sounded like it to me.

 

[MyMuse]

Hi all!

I ill come back in here after I read up but I wanted to beg for help to find my camera bag. I left it behind in the Vintage Disneyland presentation (figures it would be the last night Aug 21 and last panel, ending at 6:15pm). I had my tote bag on the floor and I'm thinking I left my camera case on top and when I went to leave I didn't place it in my bag and it must have dropped to the floor. It is a tiny black bag for my point and shoot Olympus.

It was empty of my camera but it had all my memeory cards - 6 of them in a plastic case plus my extra battery. Those memory cards have all my first trip to Disneyland photos! as well as the Expo.

Please please please if anyone saw it or knows anyone who works in the Convention Center or has a contact within D23, please let them know!!! I'm desparate!!

I've have talke dwith the Convention Center a few times and as of yesterday, nothing has turned up, though they have said several things are still in their lost and found that has not been claimed.


Thank you!!

 

[HydroGuy]

You really think so??? I have to disagree.

I did not go to the 2009 Expo, but was surprised by some of your comments as they did not line up with what I experienced at the 2011 Expo.

It was bad. OK? I agree.

But it looked to me that you heaped bad on top of bad which made it sound sound worse than it actually was - maybe/probably because you got some misinformation from the staff - or maybe because we are talking about two different venues.

We exited one presentation to not only see a line (that was already cut off due to it already being full) for the next presentation, but a line next to it for the next NEXT presentation, which was also closed due to being full.

So.... the result?

Saturday at 1:30pm we exited one presentation:

There was a queue for the very same room for the 2:30pm presentation that was cut off due to being full. The stand-by line for it was also full.

There was another queue for the very same room for the 4:30pm presentation that was cut off due to being full. The staff did not set up this line. Attendees did. The person in front even had her ipad with the event name and time on it. There was a stand-by crowd for that, the people of which were asked not to yet form an official line (though they were all standing gathered around).

And people were asking where they could start a queue for the 6:30pm presentation. At 1:30pm.

That is ridiculous. That is not improvement.

I looked back at the schedule and cannot quite figure out which presentation you exited at 1:30. I do not see any that ended then.

However, I exited the WD Studio presentation after it ended at 1:00 and was able to get a good spot in line for Sneak Peak at Buena Vista Street at 2:45 on Stage 28 on the second floor.

Then we exited that at 3:45/4:00 and I wanted to see the Legends of Imagineering at 4:30 but guessed correctly that queue was full and went to get in line for the 6:30 "Imagineering's Guide to Creativity...". Which I did successfully and was able to see.

I do not see any other venues than Stage 28 for Saturday that lined up with your descriptions and assume you are talking about that. If so I think your description was not as bad as what actually happened.

The Dick Van (why does DIS identify his last name as an inappropriate word?!?!) presentation was in one of the smallest rooms. Someone decided at 2:30pm that she was going to wait outside the room since nothing else was happening in it until Dick Van (name is not a inappropriate word). By 4:30pm the line was cut because the "room" was full. For an 8:15pm show.

The line for DVD (how is that for avoiding the unprintable word?) was not cut off at 4:30. I got in like for DVD at 5:50PM. In the regular line. Not the standby. I saw DVD and it was ton of fun. And it was awfully early to line up. But the line was not cut at 4:30. I am not sure when they cut the line but it was well after 6PM.

And further, a ton of the standby people got in to see the show. So people who showed up much later than I did were able to get in.

Now... if you had a special pass, you probably had no idea of any of this because you were not in it. The reason for the stand by lines was that they HAD TO hold 300 seats in the Arena until 10 minutes prior to showtime. They HAD TO hold 50 seats in ALL presentations until 10 minutes prior to showtime.

The irony there was that if you waited in line for 3 hours to be almost guaranteed a spot, you sat towards the middle to back of the room. If you were in the stand by line (probably an hour - two hour wait) you got front of the house seats because you were filling in the seats reserved for those with "Passes" that didn't show up.

This I agree with and it was not fair. Since I was solo I learned to grab a seat and then wait until they took the standby folks all the way up front and jump in line with them. With this technique I got in row 4 for the Buena Vista Street and Imagineering's Guide presentations.

I also got far forward for Radiator Springs Reality in Stage 23 (like row 6).

I was also able to - surprise, surprise! - leave Radiator Springs Reality presentation at Sunday 2:30/2:45 and get in the standby line for Star Tours which happened at 3:30. I was only about 25th in the standby line and easily made it into maybe the 10th row. It looked like almost all the standby line got in and they may have had extra seats.

One last specific example: We waited 2.5 hours for the Studios presentation. We are D23 members. We did not get in. And we heard there were empty seats.

Just the facts.

I did not see empty seats for the Studios presentation. I arrived at ACC at around 7:20-7:30 for the 10:30 studios presentation and made it in easily. There were lot and lots of people who came in behind me. I was in the very front row of the second section up. Good enough to get a good view of Scarlett Johanson when she came out.

But if I had waited for 2.5 hours like you did and did not get in, that would have really upset me too.

Now, the things we DID get in to --- They were AMAZING. I was in tears several times during the Legends ceremony. I enjoyed Marvel (which was only open to D23 members). I enjoyed the Music of Pixar. The list goes on. However, waiting 2.5 hours to not be able to see something? Not even a video feed? Hmmm.....

OK, I admit it. I got teary eyed at Legends when the princesses sang. And with four boys I am not even into princesses. But that was amazing.

The Studios presentation was the most amazing of all though and I am sorry you missed it.

In summary, the lines were bad. Disney needs to add video to alternate rooms or create large viewing venues or hold popular sessions more than once.

I still have to write up my Expo report but I spent basically from 7:30AM (outside the ACC) until at least 9PM on both Friday and Saturday in a line or in a presentation (DVD ended at 10PM because it started so late). I never made it to the show floor until Sunday morning. I skipped the Sunday 11:30 "The Art of Brave" Pixar presentation so as not to risk the 1:30 Radiator Springs presentation - and got in line for RS at about 10:30/10:45.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

I did not go to the 2009 Expo, but was surprised by some of your comments as they did not line up with what I experienced at the 2011 Expo.

It was bad. OK? I agree.

But it looked to me that you heaped bad on top of bad which made it sound sound worse than it actually was - maybe/probably because you got some misinformation from the staff - or maybe because we are talking about two different venues.


I looked back at the schedule and cannot quite figure out which presentation you exited at 1:30. I do not see any that ended then.

However, I exited the WD Studio presentation after it ended at 1:00 and was able to get a good spot in line for Sneak Peak at Buena Vista Street at 2:45 on Stage 28 on the second floor.

Then we exited that at 3:45/4:00 and I wanted to see the Legends of Imagineering at 4:30 but guessed correctly that queue was full and went to get in line for the 6:30 "Imagineering's Guide to Creativity...". Which I did successfully and was able to see.

I do not see any other venues than Stage 28 for Saturday that lined up with your descriptions and assume you are talking about that. If so I think your description was not as bad as what actually happened.

The line for DVD (how is that for avoiding the unprintable word?) was not cut off at 4:30. I got in like for DVD at 5:50PM. In the regular line. Not the standby. I saw DVD and it was ton of fun. And it was awfully early to line up. But the line was not cut at 4:30. I am not sure when they cut the line but it was well after 6PM.

And further, a ton of the standby people got in to see the show. So people who showed up much later than I did were able to get in.

This I agree with and it was not fair. Since I was solo I learned to grab a seat and then wait until they took the standby folks all the way up front and jump in line with them. With this technique I got in row 4 for the Buena Vista Street and Imagineering's Guide presentations.

I also got far forward for Radiator Springs Reality in Stage 23 (like row 6).

I was also able to - surprise, surprise! - leave Radiator Springs Reality presentation at Sunday 2:30/2:45 and get in the standby line for Star Tours which happened at 3:30. I was only about 25th in the standby line and easily made it into maybe the 10th row. It looked like almost all the standby line got in and they may have had extra seats.

I did not see empty seats for the Studios presentation. I arrived at ACC at around 7:20-7:30 for the 10:30 studios presentation and made it in easily.... [snip].

Our expereince was similar to yours. We also left the Studios presentation and were told that Pixar was at standby and we were not likely to get in. But we had no problem heading back downstairs to the Buena Vista Street presentation and getting in line for that.

Our success rate for presentations was exactly the same as in 2009: at least 3 a day and only turned away for one and that only after a short wait. In 2009, the average waits we experienced were 1 to 1.5 hours. In 2011, they were 1.5 to 2 hours.

We also found the lines better organized in 2011 and even the outside line got better every day. We never waited to get in to the ACC in 2009, so D23 ws not the only one surprised at the outside queues. Like D23, we learned after arriving at 8:30 on Friday, and arrived earlier at 8 am on Saturday and Sunday. As D23 members, we were able to attend the 9:30 am presentation on Friday, the 10:30 am presentation on Saturday and the 9 am presentation on Sunday.

There were no live video feeds in 2009 either. There was also no notice by twitter or loudspeaker when queues were fulll or moving to standby as there was in 2011. That was a nice improvement.

If you liked the presentations at the Expo, the Destination D events have a big advantage over the Expo: you have admission to all of them. The lines are only to determine where you sit and for those like me where it doesn't matter, the lines are irrelevant.

We'll see you at the next Expo. -- Suzanne

 

[franandaj]

I'm trying to understand why people think that it's OK to wait for hours to see a panel discussion? I've been to other fandom expos and haven't had to wait at all. Also I have no idea why Disney didn't have overflow rooms with the content on close-circuit video. I believe they did have this availability in 2009. Also why did they not have Stage 28 programming on Sunday?

They did not have the closed-circuit video in 2009, but this is an excellent idea. I really wish they would have just repeated the panels from Saturday in Stage 28 on Sunday. It would have relieved some of the lines in Stage 23 and perhaps I could have attended one of those (although I did spend the whole day queued up for 3 events at Stage 23.

You really think so??? I have to disagree.

I'm not trying to argue, but the addition of the rooms for the queues was a monumental improvement. In 2009 they had two stages on the second floor. One was more popular than the other, but both had queues that snaked all around the second floor. It was a nightmare to navigate through there and no one could keep track of who was cutting in line, much less which line you were in once it snaked around the edge of the room and started to double back on itself.

The Dick Van (why does DIS identify his last name as an inappropriate word?!?!) presentation was in one of the smallest rooms. Someone decided at 2:30pm that she was going to wait outside the room since nothing else was happening in it until Dick Van (name is not a inappropriate word). By 4:30pm the line was cut because the "room" was full. For an 8:15pm show.

Now... if you had a special pass, you probably had no idea of any of this because you were not in it. The reason for the stand by lines was that they HAD TO hold 300 seats in the Arena until 10 minutes prior to showtime. They HAD TO hold 50 seats in ALL presentations until 10 minutes prior to showtime.

I did not get into the Dick VanDyke queue until about 5:15 and there was still plenty of space left until well after 6PM. Believe me even the people with the "special passes" were well aware of the lines that others had to wait in.

We exited one presentation to not only see a line (that was already cut off due to it already being full) for the next presentation, but a line next to it for the next NEXT presentation, which was also closed due to being full.

So.... the result?

Saturday at 1:30pm we exited one presentation:

There was a queue for the very same room for the 2:30pm presentation that was cut off due to being full. The stand-by line for it was also full.

There was another queue for the very same room for the 4:30pm presentation that was cut off due to being full. The staff did not set up this line. Attendees did. The person in front even had her ipad with the event name and time on it. There was a stand-by crowd for that, the people of which were asked not to yet form an official line (though they were all standing gathered around).

And people were asking where they could start a queue for the 6:30pm presentation. At 1:30pm.

That is ridiculous. That is not improvement.

The reason this was such a problem is that the 2009 Event was such a success. It went virtually unnoticed two years ago, until all the attendees started to blab about how wonderful it was. Pretty soon EVERYONE wanted to go. The event was completely sold out on Saturday and Sunday which NEVER happened in 2009. There were tickets still available on the day of two years ago. Many people were so disgusted with the lines that they just didn't bother to come back on Sunday.

The biggest problem with D23 is their modesty. They continually understimate the exuberhance of the fans. The reason people don't wait like this at other conventions is because it's not Disney. Disney can get away with almost anything, look at the costs to get into the parks, look at the prices they charge us for food, for lodging! Can any other company get away with that? No, Disney knows that fans will pay prices, wait in lines, and do whatever it takes. As a result you have people queueing up for a 6:30 presentation at 1:30PM.

One last specific example: We waited 2.5 hours for the Studios presentation. We are D23 members. We did not get in. And we heard there were empty seats.

Just the facts.

Now, the things we DID get in to --- They were AMAZING. I was in tears several times during the Legends ceremony. I enjoyed Marvel (which was only open to D23 members). I enjoyed the Music of Pixar. The list goes on. However, waiting 2.5 hours to not be able to see something? Not even a video feed? Hmmm.....

- Dreams

There were no empty seats in the Studios Presentation. There were sections that were left empty on purpose because they had an obstructed view, but D23 chose not to fill those seats for any presentation. I asked the "ushers" about this and he explained to me why they weren't using those seats for anything.

One of the problems with Saturday was that anyone who did not get into the Studios presentation went right up and began queues for all the others, thus blocking out the people (except for Sorcerers) who were at the Studios presentation.

The waits were a little longer than 2009, but I remember showing up an hour early the first day and finding the line so long that we almost didn't get in. From then on we chose the strategy of pick your event, and be ready to queue up. Same thing as we did this time only I appreciated the fact that they had the rooms for us (even if they were as cold as a meatlocker), instead of just sitting on the floor in the corridors.

And further, a ton of the standby people got in to see the show. So people who showed up much later than I did were able to get in.

This I agree with and it was not fair. Since I was solo I learned to grab a seat and then wait until they took the standby folks all the way up front and jump in line with them. With this technique I got in row 4 for the Buena Vista Street and Imagineering's Guide presentations.

I also got far forward for Radiator Springs Reality in Stage 23 (like row 6).

I was also able to - surprise, surprise! - leave Radiator Springs Reality presentation at Sunday 2:30/2:45 and get in the standby line for Star Tours which happened at 3:30. I was only about 25th in the standby line and easily made it into maybe the 10th row. It looked like almost all the standby line got in and they may have had extra seats.

In summary, the lines were bad. Disney needs to add video to alternate rooms or create large viewing venues or hold popular sessions more than once.

I still have to write up my Expo report but I spent basically from 7:30AM (outside the ACC) until at least 9PM on both Friday and Saturday in a line or in a presentation (DVD ended at 10PM because it started so late). I never made it to the show floor until Sunday morning. I skipped the Sunday 11:30 "The Art of Brave" Pixar presentation so as not to risk the 1:30 Radiator Springs presentation - and got in line for RS at about 10:30/10:45.

I'm looking forward to reading your Expo report. I think you made the best of the situation. The lines were long and it was a drag, but the presentations were amazing, and if you wanted to see them, you waited and played the game. Otherwise just join the pity party! Going into this Expo I knew that I would be spending Sunday morning waiting for the Radiator Springs Reality, I was just glad that we squeezed in the Cruise line presentation beforehand. Luckily we were able to catch the Vintage DL, even though I have seen similar presentations at the three previous D23 events I've been to, this one was different. I especially liked that they ended it with the Western River Expedition that never happened and we could take pictures! At the D40 event in Florida that part of the presentation we were asked to put away the cameras.

If you liked the presentations at the Expo, the Destination D events have a big advantage over the Expo: you have admission to all of them. The lines are only to determine where you sit and for those like me where it doesn't matter, the lines are irrelevant.

We'll see you at the next Expo. -- Suzanne

You're right it is nice that you have a guaranteed seat at these events. Steven Clark said they would be doing another one in a little over a year from now. He didn't know where it would be, I think he alluded to Southern California. Nice to know that they are thinking of Spring 2013 for the next Expo because I had another trip in the works. Plus I'm crossing my fingers and toes that the F&W Festival comes back that year, so I'll have to keep my schedule open until more concrete details are announced!

 

[AStamm]

There were no empty seats in the Studios Presentation.

Lots of empty seats near me which was a shame considering how many people wanted to get in and were turned away.

What happened to filling in every available seat???

 

[franandaj]

Lots of empty seats near me which was a shame considering how many people wanted to get in and were turned away.

What happened to filling in every available seat???

Were you in the middle of the room or near the seats that they weren't using? I couldn't see anything up in the stands as I was on the floor in the handicapped seating area.

 

[tinkcollector]

“Legends”. When I look back now on the Expo the “Legends” ceremony was one of my favorites. The acceptance speeches brought tears to my eyes, especially the Princesses. Then getting to hear these women sing, then sing together was a once in a lifetime experience. The history that encompasses these gals is remarkable.
Since I attended one day of the 2009 Expo I expected lines. I knew I would have to pick and choose, and wait in lines.
Another one of my favorite performances was “Dick Van ****”. I was so happy to get to watch him perform and listen to his little stories. I knew this was going to be a popular venue so I headed up early.
D23 went way above and beyond (IMHO) to try and satisfy the crowds. I went up to get in line for the Dick Van **** performance 2 hours before it’s scheduled time, only to find the line closed and filled to capacity. They had a stand by line forming and I thought I would gamble with getting in. The “Trivia Contest” (which I tried out for, I made it into the third round) was running late. Then a CM came by and told us that they were going to try and re-configure the room and add 200 chairs. Well, my gamble paid off and I got in. I actually waited in line for 3 hours, but I would do it again. What a show!
I was a Premiere Package holder.
My suggestion for the Sorcerer/Premier lounge would be. It was a great size and location, when ever I came in I always could find a seat. I thought the offerings were fine. But, I would have centrally located them, with a server. People were a mess in serving their own plates. From taking way more than a tapas size, to dropping food on the table (wasting) and the worst thing I saw was a lady eating right from the serving tray with her fingers. A server would have eliminated these problems. Also, the offerings ran dry often.
I would like to encourage the D23 Team to maybe tier the package levels even more for future events. That would help on the line issues, as well as giving D23 a pre-attendance count. I don’t know how they pull off an event without an R.S.V.P. of sorts. With that said I would also say tickets sold at the door would be for the showroom floor only. Publishing the schedule sooner with a R.S.V.P. list from each attendee of the venues they want to attend would help. Then a deadline of each wish-list is accepted much like the R.S.P. for merchandise, and level of package. So you pay for a “plan” with all presentation being ticketed events.
I had a terrific time and can’t wait for the next event. I saw many of the D23 Team on the Show Room Floor and they were very approachable. Thank you, that was nice! Another funny thing I witnessed and I only wish I had video. John Lasseter was walking out with his body guards around him and it appeared that he would zigzag just to give them a run for their money. And if he wasn’t really zigzagging I want to believe that he was as his personality was shinny through. He appears to be a hoot to hang out with.

 

[AStamm]

Were you in the middle of the room or near the seats that they weren't using? I couldn't see anything up in the stands as I was on the floor in the handicapped seating area.

I was in the center of the arena up in the 3rd section, front row. Can't remember the exact section number, but in addition to the seats right around me, I could see plenty of empty seats off to the far right.

 

[tinkcollector]

Lots of empty seats near me which was a shame considering how many people wanted to get in and were turned away.

What happened to filling in every available seat???

It is really strange how people will enter a venue and leave a seat between them and the next guest. I don't know why...but, the D23 Team was really getting on top of this. At the "Dick Van ****" performance they asked if you had an empty seat next to you, to please raise your hand. This worked wonderfully!!! D23 might be a work in progress, but I give them for all their efforts.

 

[AStamm]

It is really strange how people will enter a venue and leave a seat between them and the next guest. I don't know why...but, the D23 Team was really getting on top of this. At the "Dick Van ****" performance they asked if you had an empty seat next to you, to please raise your hand. This worked wonderfully!!! D23 might be a work in progress, but I give them for all their efforts.

They did a great job of filling every seat in Stage 28, but the four presentations I went to in the Arena I had empty seats around me each time.

 

[FozzieFan]

I was in the center of the arena up in the 3rd section, front row. Can't remember the exact section number, but in addition to the seats right around me, I could see plenty of empty seats off to the far right.

I think at a certain point due to there being people other than just WDO people involved (ie: celebs on a schedule) they just HAD to start and stop seating people.

I think that there should have been a d23 cast member per section or two to help seat people. Once it was "full" they should have gone back and made people move in and fill all available seats. It sucks to be shut out of an event especially if it's just because someone else wants a buffer seat.

Were those seats to the right in the closed off section maybe?

 

[pinksand]

I'll agree that getting a D23 Membership is the way to go next time around.

One major problem that I'm surprised no one has mentioned is the fact that D23 cleared rooms between panels. I've been to many, many conventions, some at the Anaheim Convention Center, and never seen that before. And I'm not sure the rationale behind it. Especially because it makes attending back-to-back panels impossible. I would have really liked to see the "Once Upon A Time" Panel, but it was before the "25 Years of Pixar" Panel, so I had to skip it and just sit in a line in the room next door for 3 hours, when I could have been in a chair watching programming. I know that leads to people who "camp out" in rooms, but I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with that, and in fact it gives more people a chance to be exposed to things they might not otherwise.

An overflow room would have been a great idea too. I hope they send the survey to people who bought GA tickets.

 

[FozzieFan]

I'll agree that getting a D23 Membership is the way to go next time around.

One major problem that I'm surprised no one has mentioned is the fact that D23 cleared rooms between panels. I've been to many, many conventions, some at the Anaheim Convention Center, and never seen that before. And I'm not sure the rationale behind it. Especially because it makes attending back-to-back panels impossible. I would have really liked to see the "Once Upon A Time" Panel, but it was before the "25 Years of Pixar" Panel, so I had to skip it and just sit in a line in the room next door for 3 hours, when I could have been in a chair watching programming. I know that leads to people who "camp out" in rooms, but I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with that, and in fact it gives more people a chance to be exposed to things they might not otherwise.

An overflow room would have been a great idea too. I hope they send the survey to people who bought GA tickets.

I have NO problem with the clearing of rooms. The problem is with the Expo there weren't enough events to go around. They force you into an either or decision simply because of the size and number of events. You obviously wanted to see 25 years of Pixar more than Once Upon a Time. If EVERYONE in the room for once upon a time chose to stay and see 25 years of pixar and you waited 3 hours not knowing how many people would leave at the end, wouldn't you be more upset?

I was upset I didn't see Prep and Landing or Once Upon a Time, I found people who saw the panels and asked them a bunch of questions. They both sounded like fun and I can't wait to see the shows.

 

[D23Ry]

dang, so not in two years time again. oh well....yeah i had a great time, but some people i know were just complaining complaining. I understand where they are coming from, but its like CHILL! What did you expect? It wasn't going to be empty!!

 

[Disney Dreams]

Wow, okay, so talk about feeling doubted, dissected, and interrogated. I have never shared my viewpoints on a personal experience only to be questioned and examined as if I were on trial. Nice. To answer the harsh comments and questionings (so much for sharing my point of view comfortably):

...It was bad. OK? I agree.

Ummm, the ONLY thing I think was bad was the presentation queueing issues. Everything else I thought was wonderful and I had a great time. Just to not be misquoted.

But it looked to me that you heaped bad on top of bad which made it sound sound worse than it actually was.

No. It was my experience. First-hand. Not heaping anything on top of anything. Walking out of one presentation and seeing not one, but two future presentations full, including one stand by line is pretty difficult to process. It was bad. Plain and simple. Nothing heaped. Thank you.

...maybe/probably because you got some misinformation from the staff - or maybe because we are talking about two different venues.

Well, the specific venues I mentioned, I identified. Otherwise, everything was my first-hand experience.

I looked back at the schedule and cannot quite figure out which presentation you exited at 1:30. I do not see any that ended then.

Forgive me. 2:00pm, not 1:30pm. I was off by 30 minutes because I was going by memory. I have now taken out my book since I seemingly need to defend every part of my post.

2:00pm Exited Music of Pixar. Outside of the room there were two lines.

1. 2:45pm Buena Vista St. It was full. Stand by was full.
2. 4:30pm Legends of Imagineering had a queue next to the BVS queue. It was cut off because it was full, with a stand by line being held back from forming due to crowd issues.

We ultimately went to the 6:30pm "Imagineering's Guide to Creativity and Innovation" (LOVED IT!).

I do not see any other venues than Stage 28 for Saturday that lined up with your descriptions and assume you are talking about that. If so I think your description was not as bad as what actually happened.

With the exception of the time being 1:30pm and not 2:00pm, Saturday was exactly as I outlined it, and explained it a second time above. Thank you for questioning my credibility. Nothing in my description was "heaped bad on top of bad which made it sound sound worse than it actually was" as you falsely accused me of above. Sigh.

The line for DVD (how is that for avoiding the unprintable word?) was not cut off at 4:30....

I just looked at the book on this and I was mistaken. We heard at approx. 6/6:30pm that it was full and the stand by was cut off. My error on the times in my post above. (I tend to do that with 6:00 and 1600 all the time for some reason. At work we use military time and that particular set I substitute for one another all the time. It's a dyslexia of sort and I apologize for the error.)

...I was also able to - surprise, surprise! - leave Radiator Springs Reality presentation at Sunday 2:30/2:45 and get in the standby line for Star Tours which happened at 3:30. I was only about 25th in the standby line and easily made it into maybe the 10th row. It looked like almost all the standby line got in and they may have had extra seats.

Are you talking about the "Imagineering Cars Land" presentation? I was in that as well. I was not interested in attending the Star Tours one. I do know that the line for it started around 1pm. From those I know who were in it, they said it was pretty packed full. Good for you to get in via stand by line. I would have thought that one would have been cut off way early given that the line started forming (pretty lengthly too) at approx. 1pm.

I did not see empty seats for the Studios presentation. I arrived at ACC at around 7:20-7:30 for the 10:30 studios presentation and made it in easily.

So you waited 3 hours for it. We got to the CC at 8:20am. We went straight to the Studios queue. We were in the stand by line. At some point, someone announced that anyone beyond - this point - was very unlikely to get in. We were well behind that point. Again, not sure why you are questioning my reporting of my experiences.

...The Studios presentation was the most amazing of all though and I am sorry you missed it....

Eh, don't be. From what I have heard about it, I am not upset to have missed it -- other than the 2.5 hours invested. I absolutely loved the Legends ceremony, really enjoyed the Pixar music, and found the Imagineering's Guide to Creativity and Innovation to be fantastic, amongst others. There was not one presentation that we were disappointed by. It was getting into them (or not) that was the frustrating part. The presentations were fantastic.

...I spent basically from 7:30AM (outside the ACC) until at least 9PM on both Friday and Saturday in a line or in a presentation (DVD ended at 10PM because it started so late). I never made it to the show floor until Sunday morning.

You and I had a very different Expo experience. Over the entire weekend we went to several presentations, wandered the show floor, went in to Parks and Resorts exhibit, shopped, got artwork signed, had collectibles autographed, met artists whose artwork we collect, and watched fireworks from our hotel room. It was a great weekend. The lines just got frustrating. DH would like me to add: And shopped some more.

I skipped the Sunday 11:30 "The Art of Brave" Pixar presentation so as not to risk the 1:30 Radiator Springs presentation - and got in line for RS at about 10:30/10:45.

I went to 10:15-11:45am Marvel (after attending the 9am DCL presentation) and got into Cars Land Imagineering from the stand by line. Worked out perfectly. I apologize about the error of 2pm vs. 1:30pm and the 6:30pm for Dick VanDyke, they were simply reporting errors. But everything you questioned in my post is as it occurred. I was not combining scenarios or making things sound worse than they were. I was reporting my experience. You'll note I did not question your report. Not once. I trust that people are telling what they experienced and enjoy reading about other people's adventures.

The reason this was such a problem is that the 2009 Event was such a success. It went virtually unnoticed two years ago, until all the attendees started to blab about how wonderful it was. Pretty soon EVERYONE wanted to go. The event was completely sold out on Saturday and Sunday which NEVER happened in 2009. There were tickets still available on the day of two years ago. Many people were so disgusted with the lines that they just didn't bother to come back on Sunday....

Agreed.

The biggest problem with D23 is their modesty. They continually underestimate the exuberhance of the fans. The reason people don't wait like this at other conventions is because it's not Disney....

Completely agree. Disney fans are, well, fanatical (self included).

Lots of empty seats near me which was a shame considering how many people wanted to get in and were turned away. What happened to filling in every available seat???

Yep, that's what we heard from people that were in there. They couldn't believe people were turned away because they saw so many empty seats.

...The “Trivia Contest” (which I tried out for, I made it into the third round)...

Congrats! I heard there were some really quick, knowledgable people. Well done!

- Dreams