This time around, we decided to focus more on the show floor, emporiums, and giveaways. In past Expos we were more concerned with attending as many panel presentations as possible and, as a result, hunted on eBay for the best swag from the various booths. The panels offer guests a chance to listen to Disney Legends and learn more about Disney history. We are lucky and have gotten this opportunity on a monthly basis by having the Walt Disney Family Museum right in our backyard. The panels we did attend were star studded. It was amazing to see Johnny Depp in full character as everyone’s favorite (and guy-liner pioneering) pirate, Captain Jack Sparrow, and Harrison Ford nearly brought down the house with his appearance.
The consistent gem of the entire D23 Expo is the Walt Disney Animation Studios booth. Throughout each day, there are giveaways and autograph sessions with the creative minds of both Pixar and Disney Animation studios. We were not in the right place at the right time to score an official Pixar ball, so we may just have to make our own, but we came away with some beautiful autographed lithographs. This booth knows how to handle lines and crowds. On only one occasion in three days were we unable to make it through a line. Not only do they have amazing giveaways, but they also have instructional presentations and talks - who wouldn’t want to learn how to draw Bing Bong and Rainbow Unicorn from the artist that brought them to life? We also had fun with the green screen photo ops, courtesy of Disney Movies Anywhere.
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| Jedi Master Tina is |
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| Did you see Julia on the App? |
Speaking of photo ops, there were an abundance of them. Green screen, animated, and real-life props were readily available, with a short wait, to make for some truly awesome photos. Julia’s Muppets picture was even featured on the D23 Expo app (they did ask permission before using it). The DBFFShenanigans hashtag was in full force during the Expo as we hopped from one booth to the next. Another surprise hit for us was the Trading Card Quest. Neither of us came away with a complete set, but we did brave the long lines whenever a notification appeared in the app and we ended up with the more elusive cards from the weekend - yes, we got Hattie! What we liked about this feature was also what we didn’t like, it brought people in contact that otherwise wouldn’t have interacted at all. In most cases, it was a good thing (thanks to a very generous trader in the WDAS line), but there were times when we met some rather intense individuals who were not treating it as a fun game, but rather an obsession - which was a turn off.
Because of this game, it was important to have notifications turned on in the Expo app so when they flashed a new release you would know immediately. Which brings us to our next topic, the app. It’s great to have an app to help navigate the Expo, but it’s still a work in progress as it was not especially user friendly. Notifications were hard to find and clear, the map was unusable, and it was hard to keep track of the schedule the way it was presented. Hopefully it will get better in the future. Another feature of the Expo we hope improves in the future is the line situation. We offer you this tip: beware of lines that form when there is no tape on the ground, they will be a mess and result in a headache that could negatively affect your day. We don’t know what the answer is, but there absolutely must be some kind of improvements they could make so lines will move faster and be more organized.
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| Note to Self: Buy stock in tape before the Expo |
There were several shopping opportunities along with the panels and autographs. The most popular stores were Mickey’s of Glendale (normally exclusive for imagineers), The Disney Store and the Dream Store. Lines for Mickey’s of Glendale and The Disney Store started the night before and were already very long by the time the show floor opened. The Dream Store (where you can purchase your exclusive D23 merchandise) had more manageable lines and Tina waited no more than 30 minutes. Even though the other shopping opportunity Tina was interested in was Mickey’s of Glendale, she was not interested waiting in 3 hour lines (at least her budget was happy about this). Neither one of us was interested in visiting The Disney Store and standing in the rumored 5 hour line. Each of these stores distributed exclusive and limited items, which may be the reason for the long lines. Now you could have obtained a StorePass for these three stores, but they went fast. These passes were all distributed before the official opening of the Expo - meaning if you weren't there right at the front of the line you were out of luck. Other shopping opportunities were located in the Emporium. This is where private vendors could sell their Disney (and non-Disney) items. Think eBay without having to wait on the shipping.
Perhaps the fifth time will be the charm, fingers crossed! Even if it’s not we will be there in all our #DBFFShenanigans glory.
