D23 Expo Recap & Giveaway
Another D23 Expo is over. Star Wars Land & Toy Story Land were announced. Details for Pandora were released. Shanghai Disneyland was showcased. Many other Disney Parks future plans were unveiled, or at least hinted. The (largely impressive) future film slates for the live action studios of Marvel, Lucasfilm, and Disney were shown, with appearances by many prolific actors. Pixar and the Walt Disney Animation Studios showed off what looks like another impressive (albeit sequel-heavy) run. Disney Interactive discussed future plans and its further evolution.
While there was a lot to hear in those other panels, since this is primarily a Disney Parks fan-blog, let’s take a closer look at the announcements for Walt Disney World and Disneyland. First, it was a pretty big deal when Star Wars Land was announced for Walt Disney World & Disneyland by Bob Iger at the end of the Star Wars live action panel. We have all of the details in that blog post, but it’s really exciting that there’s both a short term and long term plan. Then, in the Parks & Resorts panel, Toy Story Land was announced for Walt Disney World. As the comments in that post bear out, this was a more divisive announcement. After giving it more thought, I’m slightly more optimistic, but my overall stance remains more or less “necessary evil.”
In this panel, Soarin’ Over the World, Iron Man Experience (in a really awkward segment), Shanghai Disneyland, and other vague plans for the international parks were also discussed. It was probably the best Parks & Resorts panel yet, and I felt like there was a palpable energy in the audience. It’s going to be fun watching all of these announcements take shape over the next several years, and I feel like we fans are going to be like kids on Christmas Eve for a while (Do I smell a blockbuster sequel to Groundhog Day?!) The panel ended with a cast choir singing an excellent medley of parks’ songs, which was icing on the cake.
Then, on the show floor, Parks & Resorts was represented with a two-part booth: one featuring new details about Pandora — World of Avatar at Animal Kingdom and the other really giving a closer look to the Shanghai Disneyland project. Suffice to say, I cannot wait to see Shanghai Disneyland.
That’s it for the main Disney Parks stuff, and overall I felt it was a solid showing, especially after the lack of announcements at the last D23 Expo. Not all of the predictions in my recent Disney news & rumor posts were announced, but that doesn’t mean those rumors are dead, either.
Beyond that, the Expo Floor provided a hands-on look at things in some really well-done and elaborate booths, while also giving third parties a chance to show what they are doing with Disney. Smaller sessions from the Archives, Walt Disney Imagineering, and Animation–just to name a few–delved into more granular topics, both past and future. This was the 2015 D23 Expo in its broadest terms.
In reflecting upon the 2015 D23 Expo, more specifically, I think it’s important to take a look at both the good and bad. If you go by just the sheer amount of content, announcements, and confirmed rumors, I think it’s pretty easy to view this year’s D23 Expo as an unmitigated success. The floor show was arguably the best it has ever been in terms of variety and booths that were really worth visiting.
For theme park fans, these booths were anchored by ‘Disneyland: The Exhibit’ (we featured a lot of photos of this booth in our D23 Expo Live Updates post) and the Parks & Resorts booths. From my perspective, these were the two best booths, but I was also impressed by Disney Interactive and Consumer Products. (I cannot wait to get my hands on some of those The Good Dinosaur prototype toys they had…30 isn’t too old to play with dinosaur toys, right? Asking for a friend.)
One disappointment on this front was that there was no Imagineering booth that covered some of the interesting behind the scenes stuff, but clearly WDI’s presence was at the Parks & Resorts booth, so no major complaints there. I’d also love to see a more imaginative Pixar booth; these folks are some of the smartest people on the planet, and lifting the curtain on the creative process or any kind of analytical look at what they do would be excellent. Largely, though, the Expo Floor was solid, and a place you could spend a full day just wandering.
The panels and sessions were also largely good, and offering a great deal of variety. As someone who focuses primarily on theme parks, the ones put on by the Archives and Imagineering are go-to stops for me. I was pleased to see variety in these, and not simply the same people saying the same things as at previous D23 events.
Beyond these, I was blown away by the Silly Symphony Concert and The Muppets panel, which were two of the highlights of the Expo for me. My personal favorite session was Disneyland Home Movies, as the footage they found for that was unique and impressive.
Then there’s the bad and ugly. Crowd control and communication…or the utter lack thereof. This is something Disney normally does really well, but when D23 is involved, all bets are off. I’ve been to 8 D23 events of varying size, and at every single one, crowd control was poor at best and abysmal at worst.
The retort I’ve heard with regard to the D23 Expo is that this is how all large conventions are. That is absolutely not true.
It is true that large conventions like Comic Con and Gen Con draw large crowds, and often have long waits. Heck, even lines to purchase merchandise can measure in hours. That’s the nature of the beast. What differentiates those conventions from this is that the D23 Expo is like “Clue: Convention Edition.” Try to figure out which line goes where or what the protocol is for this or that, and it’s a veritable whodunit, with each staff person having nuggets of (conflicting) information that ultimately might lead you to the right answer.
Here’s an snapshot of the chaos: ten thousand-plus guests line up to enter the Anaheim Convention Center each morning, and on hand at the door there are 4 staffers who start attempting to scan temperamental QR codes on attendee badges about 30 minutes before the morning panels start.
There are a few things wrong with this picture: 1) 4 staffers for 10,000+ guests?!; 2) why scan a QR code at all? Use more efficient tech (a la other large conventions) to verify guests and get them inside quicker; and, 3) why start a process that is known to take 2+ hours only 30 minutes before the panels start for the day?
This is the most frustrating aspect of the day at the D23 Expo, and it is a recurring problem about which attendees complain, and D23 never fixes. It’s just one of several crowd control and communication issues, but certainly the most frustrating. My assumption is that D23 looks back at how many tickets were sold and how much money was made, and judges success or failure on those grounds only. Disney, you’re better than this.
At this point, it’s one of those things I’ve come to accept as inherent in any D23 event. I certainly don’t like it, and will complain about it every time because these are fixable problems, but I enjoy the content of the D23 events so much that I’m willing to tolerate these recurrent, frustrating issues.
For those looking ahead to the 2017 D23 Expo, a question I’ve been asked a lot is whether I recommend going. My answer, as with just about anything, is “it depends.” If you’re planning your first family trip to Disneyland and only have a week to spend in California, absolutely no way. If you’re a single dude or gal living in Utah, wanting to meet some internet friends in real life, absolutely.
If D23 and Disney have demonstrated anything with these Expos, it’s that they do not learn from their mistakes. Because of that, I would not go if any of the above issues are things that would ruin your day. Do not go with the optimistic (and misguided) notion that “things will be better this time.” Do not go if you are not able to handle long lines. Do not go if you have small children that won’t be able to handle long lines.
Meeting internet friends and seeing a diverse and interesting mix of what’s going on with The Walt Disney Company is why I go to the D23 Expo, and why I love it, warts and all. Irrespective of those issues, I had an absolute blast at this year’s Expo, and I hope my words above do not scare you away from going. I stayed until the bitter end last night, and had a feeling of sadness that I’d have to wait 2 years to do it again as things wound down.
Rather, my words above are, in the infinite wisdom of Sallah, so that you “take heed.” The Expo definitely isn’t for everyone, but if you think it might be for you, you should go in with appropriate expectations and a relaxed attitude. Don’t simply look at the schedule and think you’ll be skipping from panel to panel without a care in the world while effortlessly scoring swag from vendors who want to hype you up on their products. You will see a lot of panels and score some swag, but you will also wait in lines (lots of them), while becoming frustrated by the utter confusion of the event. If you’re fully prepared and know what you’re getting yourself into, it can be a ton of fun, and an enjoyable way to kick off a Disneyland vacation.
GIVEAWAY!
This is another giveaway sponsored by Harveys, and provides you with a chance to win their Disney Mini Messenger / Forest Mickey bag. Harveys has a huge line of Disney bags, which you can check out here.
As one of the foremost authorities on messenger bag fashions, I’d have to say that…yep, this is a messenger bag! Actually, I know nothing about messenger bags. I do know this particular one is camo print, so if you’re trying on your invisibility cloak, a bag like this is a must. I also know that Harveys is a trendy brand with some cool styles…because Sarah told me so.
Anyway, on with the giveaway…
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YOUR THOUGHTS…
What do you think of the D23 Expo announcements? If you attended the Expo, what did you think of the experience? Are you thinking of attending in the future? If you have other ideas, questions, or thoughts, please share in the comments!
We wish we had been able to go to D23, it just wasn’t in the cards this year. Maybe in 2.
So many awesome things to look forward to!
Wonderful recap of D23. It’s exciting to find out how Disney is expanding its universe in new and innovative ways, bringing the magic to a new level that will surely thrill Guests yound and old alike.
Thank you for the insight. Its always great to be able to live vicariously through your reports and stay up to date with the comings and goings of disney. Although I am still surprised Pandora is going forward.
I purchased a three day pass to D23 and was so enraged by the experience I had on Friday that I did not go back. I found it to be overpriced, overhyped and so hideously and poorly organized, with almost non-existent staffing that I have to conclude the D23 people in charge of staging the event are completely incompetent, or extrordinarily greedy, or some combination of the two.
I have gone to San Diego Comic-con since 1999, Comikaze since its inception, and Wondercon (which is of a similar size to D23) since it moved to Anaheim, and I have never, ever, seen such amateurish organization. And it is not like D23 has to invent the wheel, all they have to do is copy what the other big conventions do. It is not rocket science, unless you are D23.
I had dental work done at 8 Am that morning and the Novocain wore off completely around 11:20, a full 20 minutes before I got to the door, and a full 40 minutes before I got into the main hall – due to about 3 people working to hand out badge holders, lanyards, etc. Not until I was ready to get my badge scanned did I see any D23 personnel and the only security I saw was probably convention center security in the underground walkway from the center to the garage.
I did not even get a cigarette and a kiss on the cheek after all this, but the folks who really got hosed were the Gold and Silver members who were there at dawn to get in at 9 AM for the first panel, as a lot of them were still outside at 11 AM. That’s some mighty fine conventioneering there Lou.
Most events, to prevent confusion, no longer sell tickets the day of the event and do not have a will call window. Professionally run events send you a confirmation by e-mail. Once you arrive at the event signs and staff, and volunteers, get you to the check in area, where 40, 50, or more people are on hand to scan your confirmation, check your ID, give you your badge, holder, and lanyard. Then you are moved to an area where people hand you your bag and guide. Then, if the main floor is not open, you are led to a series of chutes, which are let in one by one when the main floor opens.
And for anyone wondering why you could not find any exclusives, or found they were almost out, the answer may lie with the folks who spent $2,000 to be “Sorcerers.” They got to shop Thursday, and they must have bought too much, because at Friday 6 PM, using the search term “D23 Expo 2015 exclusive” on e-bay I came up with over 1,800 items for sale. Nice. Hose the actual fans, and reward the business operators and profiteers.
Since I am on a roll, I saw 4 or 5 places selling Disney pins, yet the mental midgets running D23 had no place set up for pin traders to gather and trade pins – and it seems like a logical thing to do. Also, what convention like this worth its weight in salt hold the costume competition at 1 PM on the first day of the event? Really? All other -cons hold theirs Saturday evening, after the main hall closes – which also gives people 2 days to show their stuff before the costume contest.
And if anyone thinks D23 is doing the best they can, I guarantee you they are not. They are pure amateur hour and will not make any changes until someone is hurt in a brawl outside, or hurt as a crowd rushes for an exclusive suddenly announced. I will stick with my egalitarian events that are professionally run, and which know how to handle crowds.
The crowd control was abysmal. I really enjoyed the show floor and the panels. I hope they work on the flow for 2017!
They won’t. There is absolutely no impetus for D23 to change. They can hide the truth, new media will not cover the problems, because D23 is a huge PR bonanza for Disney, and D23 benefits three groups – Disney, the folks who run D23, and the holders of “Sorcerers” badges who buy vast amounts of exclusives and then immediate sel them on e-bay. Everyone else can go hang. Once they have your money, they do not care, because even if 20,000 attendees this year do not come back in 2017, they will be replaced by 25,000 who do. Not until somebody is seriously hurt, or an ugly brawl erupts wil D23 even consider expanded security, and expanded personnel. Want to see organization done right? Go to any major comics convention. Heck, I have seen more and better Disney themed costumes at Comic-con this year and last than I saw at D23. A plague on D23’s house.
I always look forward to your posts and pictures. Great work!
I am so excited for Star Wars land, i want to eat at the cantina
Thanks for all the updates, Tom!
Definitely the most excited for Star Wars Land and Pandora; it’ll be interesting to see if SWL is eventually billed as whatever planet / atmosphere they build, much like Pandora is. Glad to see that change from Avatar Land.
Also, it’ll be interesting to see what happens once the Toy Story stuff is built. Frozen has reached its diminished returns rate in themed events for me; as groundbreaking as the Toy Story franchise is, Toy Story 3 seemed like a nice ending. I wonder if diminishing returns will start to take effect once the new Land and film come out.
Thanks for all your hard work and effort in the blog!
And this is the best Disney can come up with in response to Harry Potter at Universal. I have been going to Disneyworld since the week after it opened and am very close to giving up. All I see (for WDW) is crowds getting larger and larger and the rides getting older, not maintained over time and more and more generic.
As far as I can tell this pushes a fifth gate announcement back at least five years.
I’m really excited about the Toy Story land. However, I am not a fan of Star Wars. I don’t mind them having their own land, but why do they have to mess with Space Mountain??!? it’s a classic and should stay unadulterated.
And even though I’m not an Avatar fan, I am kind of excited about Pandora. It’ll be nice to have animal Kingdom open later in the evening.
“Hyperspace Mountain” overlay is only at DL, not MK, so good news for you I think.
Lots of awesome news, and I’m very jealous you got to go to D23! We’ve got a toddler and a baby on the way, but I’m hoping we’ll be able to make the trip in a few years! I was really hoping for more Marvel information, but with all the hype over the new Star Wars film coming out this year, I can see why that’s what they chose to focus on.
The star wars announcements sound great. I’m looking forward to another trip to WDW in a few years and continue to read your blog just to keep up to date with what’s happening!
As someone who will most likely never go to a D23 Expo (I live in Hawaii and try to take my family to DLR every other year) I absolutely love and appreciate posts like this. Really excited about the WDW plans (along with all the other announcements for the other parks) since our goal is to take a trip there in a few years.
can’t wait to see what they’ve got for STAR WARS!
Love the updates. Kept up with all the news by reading your blog! THANKS!
Thanks for this. Thought we saw you at McDonald’s on Harbor Blvd. a few weeks ago. Or maybe your twin!! 🙂
I’m super excited about all of the announcements! I think most of the changes will be good. I’m anxious to see how they’re all implemented.
Awesome updates! Thanks a lot and keep up the good work! 🙂
Thanks for the updates! My comments will be limited to Disneyland/DCA as that is the only park I am familiar with.
On the one hand, I am excited to see how Star Wars will be incorporated into Disneyland and how it will fit within the overall park.
If I had any disappointments about the expansion news, it’s the lack of anything …Disney.
I mean, I get that Pixar and Star Wars are now apart of the big Disney machine. But what about themes related to *actual* Disney films, especially in Disneyland? No permanent Frozen area in Disneyland? No Tangled? No Brave? No Princess & The Frog? Etc…
Given the limited space at Disneyland, I thought Star Wars would have been better suited either as a part of a revamped DCA or in the area where Innovations is currently located (as a compliment to Tomorrowland).