By Debbie Levitt
Q: Where should I stay?
A: Anywhere you like! You do not have to stay near the Convention Center. But since there are events seemingly 24 hours a day, you may want a hotel room that is close. Remember the Anaheim Transit system will help get you from local hotels to the Convention Center and Disneyland. http://rideart.org
Q: What's the busiest day?
A: The event is usually Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Saturday usually sells out and is the craziest. Most people pick Saturday so they don't have to take Friday off work. If you are coming for 1 day, you might want to avoid Saturday unless it has the talks or events you are trying hardest to see.
Q: What's up with people in costumes?
A: I'll let people who wear costumes answer how they want to be treated and what to know. I don't dress up. I am shooting for comfort and other than singing karaoke, I'm happy to fade into the background.
Q: What should I wear or bring?
A: Other than your morning outdoor wait, you are indoors all day. For the outdoor wait, sunblock and a sun hat. For the indoors, I suggest a refillable water bottle, snacks (granola bars, jerky, candy, who knows when you're gonna eat), and anything that helps you be comfy on long, slow lines.
I suggest these for refillable water bottles.
https://smile.amazon.com/Platypus-SoftBottles-Closure-Blue-Stripes/dp/B00ZX1D57G/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1466977046&sr=8-7&keywords=platypus+bottle You'll never find me without one. Take them through airport security empty. Fill at a water fountain.
I bring these:
https://smile.amazon.com/TravelChair-Slacker-Chair-Folding-Tripod/dp/B000FXVAYW/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1466976543&sr=8-6&keywords=camping+seat You CANNOT bring those into Disneyland, so don't even try. You CAN bring them into the Convention Centre (unless they change the rules). These fold up nicely and fit into the sides of my backpack. So I'm very portable and not in anybody's way.
Don't bring anything too big or annoying since you have to carry it all day. I don't remember there being bag check anywhere. Assume if it comes in the building, you're carrying/pulling it.
Wear what you would wear to walk a big convention, expo, or in Vegas (if you're not dressing up). You are on your feet ALL day. There are basically no chairs, benches, or anywhere to rest other than sitting in a talk or presentation. You may or may not find a seat when you go to eat. Imagine you are on your feet literally all day. Aim for comfy.
Q: Is your bag checked on the way in?
A: No. There's basically no security. Your bag isn't checked.
Q: Does the Convention Center have food?
A: Yes. It's right there along side ball park food, quality-wise. The food at my local MLB park blows it away actually. Every D23 I eat that food and am semi-sorry I did. I think in future years I will try to bring more ready-to-eat meals or something I can carry without having to wait on food lines for something I won't be glad I ate.
There are some snack carts around the show floor. You'll find popcorn, cotton candy, and ice cream. But if you want a meal, you're stuck with the burgers, salads, and sandwiches of the concession stands.
If you have any food sensitivities, please bring lots of food for yourself. I don't the Convention Centre is super set up to handle food issues. The staff didn't look like they cared about cross-contamination. And they were usually out of forks. It was all fairly frustrating.
You could leave and eat locally but man that would lose you SO much time. You will want that time back to spend AT D23.
In 2015, they had food trucks outside the centre and some limited seating. This is a GOOD and close option. Consider stepping right outside the door for food if they do that again. It's easy to get back in. There won't be a line by lunch.
Q: Should I buy a Sorcerer pass?
A: IMO it's not worth it. You may decide that for you it is. The very limited, very expensive Sorcerer pass basically means "you don't have to wait on too many lines. You go to the head of the class everywhere you want to go. There are separate Sorcerer lines separate lines for panel with a reserved area and for daily admittance they are let in first but the stores to not have separate lines for sorcerer's so for shopping it is only an advantage for the first store of the day and they get to RSP for Dream Store before the Expo opens." (quote from Diana Vincent) You also get a Sorcerer lounge.
Regular 3-day tickets for D23 members run around $150. A Sorcerer ticket can be around $2000 per person. I'd rather spend a week at WDW for that kind of money than skip some lines at a 3-day expo. But that's me!
Q: How early do I need to line up in the morning?
A: Depends on what you're into. Some people slept out on lines overnight to be the first in the building. This was relevant/possibly necessary if you wanted to be first on the morning lines for limited edition collectibles being sold on in the shops on the show floor.
I tended to line up by 7:30am, which still had me a few hundred people behind getting in the door. Still, that's not bad. The neighboring Hilton has public bathrooms and a Starbucks with a long line. Sometimes a food truck will roll up to feed people waiting.
The staff tape the ground to show how lines snake but the signage is sometimes lacking as to which line you should be on. D23 is about waiting on lines to wait on lines to then get on a line for another line. So please be patient and be prepared to WAIT a lot.
That means be patient with staff. D23 is a volunteer org. Many of the staffers you will meet are Disneyland park cast members and Disney Store cast members. They did NOT organize this event. They don't control it. They may know nothing other than the post they're standing at. Do not pick fights with these people. They are doing their best and if signage stinks or lines are messed up, it's not their fault. Go find high level show people to talk to and please don't take it out on the volunteers.
Q: What kinds of things go on at D23?
A: There are a variety of things to see and do! There are talks throughout the day on various historical, current, and future Disney topics. Many are on parks, resorts, and movies.
There is a "trade show floor," which is mostly booths from various departments at Disney. You might see booths from Imagineering, Investor Relations, various TV shows and movies, housewares, and video gaming (not sure of the future of that). 2015 had a booth just to showcase the new Frozen Karaoke app.
There are a few booths for partners. You might see Build A Bear and Samsonite (showing off their licensed Disney luggage).
There is an entire section of the floor devoted to outside companies selling pretty much whatever they want. It's like a giant flea market. There are small and large booths with historic and current artwork, old guide maps, pins, photos, posters, toys, etc... It's endless. In 2015, one booth had discarded cast member name tags... find your name!
There are big events like singing performances and secret announcements about movies/parks/who knows what. They normally make you check phones and cameras for these because of the secrets. This means expect even longer lines to check and get your stuff back.
There are shops, typically 3 shops. Expect to drop amounts of money you hadn't previously considered. :) Two shops tend to have collectibles and one shop is often Mickey's of Glendale, the Imagineering shop in Southern California. There will also be D23-related merch like shirts and hoodies.
Q: Deb, you keep talking about lines. I'm a Disney fan. I can do lines!
A: Oh you THINK you can do lines until you've been to D23. The lines you're used to are single lines with one goal. Stand here for XYZ minutes to get on Soarin'. Not at D23. You can wait outside the building in the morning for hours to get in. Once you get in, you are probably going STRAIGHT to another line. The line for a shop could be an hour.
You might be getting on a line to wait for the line that'll get you a FastPass-style thing to get into a talk. Let's go there...
Q: What is this FastPass-style thing for getting into talks and shops?
A: They did this in 2013 for talks and 2015 for talks and shops. IMO, it's not really working right. Hopefully they are improving it but I'll talk about how it worked in the past.
At x:00 in the morning, you can get on a line to get a pass to ONE talk you want to go to in the morning. From a separate line (here's where I start crying) you can get a pass to go to ONE shop that day. In the afternoon at X:00, you can get another pass for an afternoon talk.
Like FastPass in the parks, these get you on the shorter line for these things but there will still be a line. So if I get a Pass for an 11am talk, I should still go line up in the passholder line at 10:30am. There will also be a regular line for people who didn't/couldn't get a Pass for that talk. They will take pass people first along with Sorcerers, and if there is room left, non-pass people.
Imagine that by this 11am talk, you have waited on three long lines already. One to get into the building at the start of the day. One to get the Pass to assure your seat at this talk. And one to wait to get into the talk. It's now 11am and you have mostly waited on lines. You haven't seen anything. You haven't bought anything. You may not have eaten much. It's gonna be a long day.
In 2015, there were so many people in attendance that the afternoon "go get your Pass" line stretched through the entire convention centre from Hall C through Hall B into Hall A. This is like 0.75 miles or some crazy line length. That line might have been 2 hours... and then you have another line to wait on. We ended up giving up on afternoon talks because the Pass line was insane.
My advice is have a plan and have a group. You can get as many Passes as you want IF you have everybody's badge with you. So if I'm with 2 friends, they can wander the floor a bit and I can wait on an evil line to get the 3 of us Passes. But since I have everybody's badges, they can't wait on OTHER lines to get something for me. The badge is the key to everything.
So make a plan and work as a team. :)
I should also mention that most rooms where talks and presentations are held hold 500-1000 people. That sounds like a lot but it's nothing when the event has upwards of 45,000 people there. I'm hoping they might sell fewer tickets and make it a more human, less evil, better organized experience. But who knows what they will do each year. The D23 Expo is always a work in progress.
Q: Deb, you sound kinda frustrated with it. Is it worth it?
A: I think it can be for the super fan. You just have to go with the right expectations. You can't look at the scheduled, mark off 5 talks you want to hear each day, and assume you will get into all of them. You will be lucky to get into 2 or 3.
It's like going to Disneyland or WDW on New Year's Eve. You might get on 3 rides that day. :) Go with those sorts of expectations.
I tried to turn waiting on line time into quality time with the friends I went with. I tend to take friends who live far away so it's good catch up/chatting time.
I get pissed off and grumpy each year, often say I won't do it again, and then do it again. The talks, the secrets, the shops, the previews, the Imagineers... it's just too cool. Each year I see things I couldn't have seen anywhere else and I'm glad I went. But each year, I lower my expectations a little bit more to try to be more realistic about what I will get done in those 3 days.
