This weekend, I attended my fourth D23 Expo. The convention for all things Disney.
My boyfriend Adam has been to all six D23 Expos, which are held every other year, and I started tagging along in 2013, not sure what to expect other than lots of enthusiastic Mickey fans and grown men dressed like Gadget from the Rescue Rangers.
Well, I got all that and more, and over the years, I've experienced the peaks and valleys of a fan convention, but at least the valleys come with Dole Whips.
This was, by far, my most successful D23--depending on what you consider success to be--and so I thought I'd give a brief rundown of all the highlights.
For me, success is always going to be about getting in the big presentations. Usually that means the animation and live action presentations, but this year, those were combined, and Disney dedicated an entire chunk of the schedule to the launch of its new streaming service--Disney+. The legends ceremony has also grown in popularity, as has the parks presentation. To be fair, it's possible the parks presentation was always popular, but this is where I admit that while Adam is a diehard Disney fan, I'm more of a fan-by-association, so listening to all the updates on the Disney cruiseline just doesn't excite me the way it might if I were one of the truly devoted.
This year, however, Adam really wanted to hit up legends, I really wanted to find out all about the new streaming service, and we both wanted to make it to the parks presentation after going last year and finding out that it's where you hear about new rides. (Apparently if I have a soft spot, it's for the words "roller" and "coaster.")
That meant trying to get into four very popular presentations, and by very popular, I mean--every single person at the convention was going to want to get into those presentations as well.
I don't know if it's like this at other cons, but try as Disney might to schedule interesting stuff opposite the top tier events to try and draw attention away from them, it seems like everybody is always aiming for the same thing.
In the past, Adam and I have gotten lucky when it comes to getting into presentations.
The first year we went together, two very nice bears charged past the line of thousands of people and invited us to follow along behind them. If karma exists, and I'm sure it does, I will burn forever for cutting ahead of a seven-year-old dressed as Snow White while following a three-hundred pound man wearing Minnie Mouse ears.
Two years ago, that karma came back around when we both decided we really couldn't stand sleeping in the convention waiting room overnight (on concrete) like we had two years earlier.
That meant we were not in the main hall when Oprah Winfrey, the entire cast of The Avengers and Star Wars, and the very first trailer for Infinity Wars and The Lion King were all trotted out months ahead of time. Reader, if you want to know what hell is, it's hearing Oprah's voice behind a closed door that you can't open. I still hear it in my nightmares.
This year, we decided sleeping over was the only way to go, but because the legends presentation was happening before the streaming presentation, it seemed like Adam's chance to see Christina Aguilera inducted as a Disney legend was up in the air, whereas I might have a better shot at getting a first look at The Mandalorian.
Two years ago, the placement was similar when the powers that be scheduled the legends ceremony before the animation presentation, and people who felt entitled to see both, charged the waiting room and pandemonium broke out (allegedly, I wasn't there for any of it, but a favorite activity of people at D23 is talking about past D23 horror stories).
This is where I tell you that, as I'm sure many cons are, D23 is not the best organized event in the world. It seems as though it should be since, you know, it's a Disney event, and lines are kind of their thing, but for some reason, they can never seem to get it together. Nobody ever seems to know what's going on, lines have no beginning and no end, and this year when they tried to offer online reservations, their system crashed, they rescheduled the launch, everybody had trouble logging in (rumors say hackers might have been involved--Damn you, Moscow), and those who did get reservations still found themselves down in the muck with the rest of us when directions weren't communicated effectively.
In other words, it's not pretty.
Our 2019 D23 Expo seemed like it was going to be more heartbreak when Adam got into a line at 4am certain he would get into the presentation, only to have me show up at 7am, somehow get into a different line, and be told I would be getting in, but his group (somewhere in another building) wouldn't.
Coincidentally, this was when I made friends with two lovely women, who promised to hide the fact that I didn't have the gold bracelet I needed to be in the section I was in. Say what you want about Disney fans, but I've found them to be some of the nicest people you'll ever meet in some of the most trying situations. Just these past few days, I've met a hilarious lawyer from New York, a salt-of-the-earth former Disney World worker, and Adam met a mom named Karen who pretty much adopted him and went full-on "I'd like to see the manager" when their group was told they wouldn't be going to legends. Bands of allies are formed at D23. Like the kids from the High School Musical: The Musical: The Series sang onstage to kick off the streaming event--
We're all in this together.
After sitting down in the main hall for Legends, Adam messaged me to let me know that his group had gotten in shortly after the presentation started. I have to hand it to Disney, whatever they lack in convention organization, they certainly make up for in award-giving.
Twelve people were inducted as legends, and they all had taped segments along with speeches, yet somehow we weren't there for five hours. My only gripe was that Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau received standing ovations while Diane Sawyer and Robin Roberts didn't. Um...something's wrong there. RDJ and Favreau--sure. Hell, let's stand for everyone. But we should DEFINITELY be standing for Diane Sawyer.
The best moment of the Legends ceremony was when Barnette Ricci was inducted and was clearly very emotional. This is the woman who directed the Main Street Electrical Parade (I know!) and Fantasmic (I KNOW!) and I can't believe we didn't stand for her either. Something must be done. Surprisingly, my second favorite speech of the day belonged to Aguilera, who I stan, don't get me wrong, but who was not at all blase about becoming a legend. In fact, she was gushing about it, and now I feel even less shame for loving Lotus.
She also opened the ceremony with "Reflection" because it's going to be a very big Mulan year, and she sounded fantastic. Ming Na was also inducted, and she talked about her single mother as a warrior, and that might have been the third or fourth time I cried. The fifth, sixth, and seventh times were during Robin Roberts' speech, but I dare you to judge me for that.
After the hullabaloo that was the Legends line, we found ourselves having a relatively easy time getting into the streaming presentation. I ended up behind a girl dressed as Tony Stark and her friend (who she had just met the night before--Expo friends are a thing), who told me that she had slept over to get into Legends, and that after the Disney+ presentation, she'd be running back to her hotel to shower, and then she'd be coming back to sleep over again to guarantee entry into the film presentation. As the former DisneyWorld worker I met later exclaimed after telling me this was her first Expo, "How the hell is this a vacation?"
The streaming was the best presentation by far. It was clear that Disney is putting their all into this one, and in addition to the excellent trailer for The Mandalorian, Marvel had a great showing by announcing three new series (although I was a little mad that the Ms. Marvel news leaked five minutes before the presentation started). Leaks also took some of the air out of the announcement that Ewan McGregor would be reprising his role as Obi Wan in a new series, but people still went ballistic.
We also got a trailer for Lady & The Tramp, that HSM performance, and Jeff Goldblum, it was a resounding success.
I had a suspicion the film presentation wouldn't be quite as fulfilling. The expo being every other year means that some years are off-years, and since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker already released a trailer and Marvel had brought a ton of great news to Comic Con, I felt like we weren't in for anything all that special. That lead me to tell Adam to sleep in--saying we'd just go to the convention in the morning and hope that we'd get into the presentation, which filled up at 3am the year before.
It turns out that when you're in a chaotic situation, two rules apply:
1. Feed Into The Chaos.
2. There Are No Rules.
The bears taught me that last one.
When we arrived at 7am, the only people they were letting in were people who said they had online reservations or "stage passes," soooo we said we did, walked into the hall, and joined a line that had formed out of literally nothing but a group of people who can't be told "No." This was when I met the lawyer from New York, and she seemed so tough that I was certain if they didn't let us upstairs to the main hall, she'd sue everybody in sight.
We ended up just making it in even though we had absolutely no right to, and I promise you, I will never sleep on concrete again.
My apologies to everyone who did, including Woman Dressed as Tony Stark, but this was the year I learned that the expo is the Wild Wild West and sometimes you just have to stand tall and hope a nice Disney castmember named Victoria takes pity on you.
After the sheer exhilaration of getting into the presentation, I ended up being most ticked off at Marvel's contribution. Yes, by combining the animation and live action presentation, it was necessary for one company to talk a little less, but Marvel announcing Phase 4 at Comic Con makes no sense when they knew D23 was coming up. I get that they're a comics company, but D23 is a major event, and all they brought with them was the announcement that Black Panther 2 is happening (We already knew that) and some footage from Black Widow but no actors from it. They also brought out the cast of The Eternals--a cast they already announced at Comic Con--and that was it. Come on, Marvel, that's pitiful. That should have been what you gave to Comic Con, and we should have gotten the bigger presentation. It was so frustrating.
Also, most of the stuff we saw at the film and streaming presentations ended up being available online seconds later. Now, not to get too exclusive about it, because I know not everyone can afford to go to D23, but why are people waiting in line for over twelve hours (or in my case, risking their lives by sneaking in) if it's all going to be on Twitter moments later anyway? This year, they were way to lenient about leakers, probably because organization was at an all-time low anyway.
The parks presentation was leagues better than film, which is really saying something. There were whole movies that weren't even covered (Artemis Fowl for one, although I doubt anybody's excited about a series of books that went out of fashion back when I was a teen) and having Tom Holland there was lovely but also super awkward considering nobody could address the elephant in the room, until Holland himself said "It’s been a crazy week, but I want you to know I am grateful from the bottom of my heart, and I love you 3,000."
I know, I got misty-eyed too. Just let us keep him, Sony!
The awkwardness returned during the parks presentation when it was revealed that a new Spiderman ride would be the anchor of a Marvel area in Disneyland. Um...are we sure about this?
The most exciting part of the parks presentation was the fact that they're basically throwing out Epcot and building a new one. Everything from a renovated Spaceship earth to a Guardians coaster to bringing out Dick Van Dyke to help announce a Mary Poppins ride (literally no other information other than "We're doing it!"). It was pretty awesome.
So here are my bullet points for D23 2021, and I realize nobody is listening, because it's not like these events are becoming less popular over time, but here it goes anyway:
- Figure out a way to get real fans into these presentations. Adam is a charter member and a gold star member, and when it comes time to get into the main events, he's at the mercy of luck just like everybody else. That doesn't seem right, and I'm sure I won't always be this good at making friends with people at the front of the line. Plus, bears aren't always easy to find.
- Teach your executives how to talk like real people. I get that it's a corporate event and reading off the teleprompter is necessary at times, but maybe review what you're saying and practice it a few times? The Head of Parks is particularly bad at this, although CEO Bob Iger is a champ, and not hard on the eyes either. (Almost al of Adam's crushes are people who can help him get a Fastpass for Splash Mountain.)
- Conversely, if you're going to bring out A-list celebrities for thirty seconds, can you have a producer go over what you're going to ask them and figure out what their response is going to be? All this time and money, and when it gets to the part everybody goes nuts over (Jamie Foxx! Angelina Jolie! The Rock!) we're suddenly flying by the seat of our pants. Actually I think The Rock was going off the teleprompter, but he's a former wrestler, and they know how to do that and make it look natural. In terms of how The Rock himself looks, he's a snack and always has been, moving on--
- More weird presentations please. In the past, there have been some pretty niche ones, including a Goofy Movie reunion and Whoopi Goldberg talking about Disney musicals of the 1960's with Leslie Ann Warren, but this year, all the good stuff was scheduled opposite the big presentations, and that ended up being a lose-lose. People still wanted to go to the A-level events, and there wasn't much else to offer once those were over. Why not have Marvel be its own (smaller) event? Same with Star Wars? Why not have a whole presentation about what the (albeit embryonic) plans for Fox are? It seems like by shoving everything into one big presentation to make it seem more epic, it's depriving the overall weekend of having more opportunities for people to pick and choose which parts of the expansive Disney empire they want to hear from. Also, does Disney still own ABC? Are we sure? Like, are we really sure?
- Two years ago, there was a Ducktales installation that involved having people jump into Scrooge's money pit. Please have the people who designed that come up with something every year. In fact, just hand the expo over to them.
I get the feeling they know exactly what we want.
My boyfriend Adam has been to all six D23 Expos, which are held every other year, and I started tagging along in 2013, not sure what to expect other than lots of enthusiastic Mickey fans and grown men dressed like Gadget from the Rescue Rangers.
Well, I got all that and more, and over the years, I've experienced the peaks and valleys of a fan convention, but at least the valleys come with Dole Whips.
This was, by far, my most successful D23--depending on what you consider success to be--and so I thought I'd give a brief rundown of all the highlights.
For me, success is always going to be about getting in the big presentations. Usually that means the animation and live action presentations, but this year, those were combined, and Disney dedicated an entire chunk of the schedule to the launch of its new streaming service--Disney+. The legends ceremony has also grown in popularity, as has the parks presentation. To be fair, it's possible the parks presentation was always popular, but this is where I admit that while Adam is a diehard Disney fan, I'm more of a fan-by-association, so listening to all the updates on the Disney cruiseline just doesn't excite me the way it might if I were one of the truly devoted.
This year, however, Adam really wanted to hit up legends, I really wanted to find out all about the new streaming service, and we both wanted to make it to the parks presentation after going last year and finding out that it's where you hear about new rides. (Apparently if I have a soft spot, it's for the words "roller" and "coaster.")
That meant trying to get into four very popular presentations, and by very popular, I mean--every single person at the convention was going to want to get into those presentations as well.
I don't know if it's like this at other cons, but try as Disney might to schedule interesting stuff opposite the top tier events to try and draw attention away from them, it seems like everybody is always aiming for the same thing.
In the past, Adam and I have gotten lucky when it comes to getting into presentations.
The first year we went together, two very nice bears charged past the line of thousands of people and invited us to follow along behind them. If karma exists, and I'm sure it does, I will burn forever for cutting ahead of a seven-year-old dressed as Snow White while following a three-hundred pound man wearing Minnie Mouse ears.
Two years ago, that karma came back around when we both decided we really couldn't stand sleeping in the convention waiting room overnight (on concrete) like we had two years earlier.
That meant we were not in the main hall when Oprah Winfrey, the entire cast of The Avengers and Star Wars, and the very first trailer for Infinity Wars and The Lion King were all trotted out months ahead of time. Reader, if you want to know what hell is, it's hearing Oprah's voice behind a closed door that you can't open. I still hear it in my nightmares.
This year, we decided sleeping over was the only way to go, but because the legends presentation was happening before the streaming presentation, it seemed like Adam's chance to see Christina Aguilera inducted as a Disney legend was up in the air, whereas I might have a better shot at getting a first look at The Mandalorian.
Two years ago, the placement was similar when the powers that be scheduled the legends ceremony before the animation presentation, and people who felt entitled to see both, charged the waiting room and pandemonium broke out (allegedly, I wasn't there for any of it, but a favorite activity of people at D23 is talking about past D23 horror stories).
This is where I tell you that, as I'm sure many cons are, D23 is not the best organized event in the world. It seems as though it should be since, you know, it's a Disney event, and lines are kind of their thing, but for some reason, they can never seem to get it together. Nobody ever seems to know what's going on, lines have no beginning and no end, and this year when they tried to offer online reservations, their system crashed, they rescheduled the launch, everybody had trouble logging in (rumors say hackers might have been involved--Damn you, Moscow), and those who did get reservations still found themselves down in the muck with the rest of us when directions weren't communicated effectively.
In other words, it's not pretty.
Our 2019 D23 Expo seemed like it was going to be more heartbreak when Adam got into a line at 4am certain he would get into the presentation, only to have me show up at 7am, somehow get into a different line, and be told I would be getting in, but his group (somewhere in another building) wouldn't.
Coincidentally, this was when I made friends with two lovely women, who promised to hide the fact that I didn't have the gold bracelet I needed to be in the section I was in. Say what you want about Disney fans, but I've found them to be some of the nicest people you'll ever meet in some of the most trying situations. Just these past few days, I've met a hilarious lawyer from New York, a salt-of-the-earth former Disney World worker, and Adam met a mom named Karen who pretty much adopted him and went full-on "I'd like to see the manager" when their group was told they wouldn't be going to legends. Bands of allies are formed at D23. Like the kids from the High School Musical: The Musical: The Series sang onstage to kick off the streaming event--
We're all in this together.
After sitting down in the main hall for Legends, Adam messaged me to let me know that his group had gotten in shortly after the presentation started. I have to hand it to Disney, whatever they lack in convention organization, they certainly make up for in award-giving.
Twelve people were inducted as legends, and they all had taped segments along with speeches, yet somehow we weren't there for five hours. My only gripe was that Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau received standing ovations while Diane Sawyer and Robin Roberts didn't. Um...something's wrong there. RDJ and Favreau--sure. Hell, let's stand for everyone. But we should DEFINITELY be standing for Diane Sawyer.
The best moment of the Legends ceremony was when Barnette Ricci was inducted and was clearly very emotional. This is the woman who directed the Main Street Electrical Parade (I know!) and Fantasmic (I KNOW!) and I can't believe we didn't stand for her either. Something must be done. Surprisingly, my second favorite speech of the day belonged to Aguilera, who I stan, don't get me wrong, but who was not at all blase about becoming a legend. In fact, she was gushing about it, and now I feel even less shame for loving Lotus.
She also opened the ceremony with "Reflection" because it's going to be a very big Mulan year, and she sounded fantastic. Ming Na was also inducted, and she talked about her single mother as a warrior, and that might have been the third or fourth time I cried. The fifth, sixth, and seventh times were during Robin Roberts' speech, but I dare you to judge me for that.
After the hullabaloo that was the Legends line, we found ourselves having a relatively easy time getting into the streaming presentation. I ended up behind a girl dressed as Tony Stark and her friend (who she had just met the night before--Expo friends are a thing), who told me that she had slept over to get into Legends, and that after the Disney+ presentation, she'd be running back to her hotel to shower, and then she'd be coming back to sleep over again to guarantee entry into the film presentation. As the former DisneyWorld worker I met later exclaimed after telling me this was her first Expo, "How the hell is this a vacation?"
The streaming was the best presentation by far. It was clear that Disney is putting their all into this one, and in addition to the excellent trailer for The Mandalorian, Marvel had a great showing by announcing three new series (although I was a little mad that the Ms. Marvel news leaked five minutes before the presentation started). Leaks also took some of the air out of the announcement that Ewan McGregor would be reprising his role as Obi Wan in a new series, but people still went ballistic.
We also got a trailer for Lady & The Tramp, that HSM performance, and Jeff Goldblum, it was a resounding success.
I had a suspicion the film presentation wouldn't be quite as fulfilling. The expo being every other year means that some years are off-years, and since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker already released a trailer and Marvel had brought a ton of great news to Comic Con, I felt like we weren't in for anything all that special. That lead me to tell Adam to sleep in--saying we'd just go to the convention in the morning and hope that we'd get into the presentation, which filled up at 3am the year before.
It turns out that when you're in a chaotic situation, two rules apply:
1. Feed Into The Chaos.
2. There Are No Rules.
The bears taught me that last one.
When we arrived at 7am, the only people they were letting in were people who said they had online reservations or "stage passes," soooo we said we did, walked into the hall, and joined a line that had formed out of literally nothing but a group of people who can't be told "No." This was when I met the lawyer from New York, and she seemed so tough that I was certain if they didn't let us upstairs to the main hall, she'd sue everybody in sight.
We ended up just making it in even though we had absolutely no right to, and I promise you, I will never sleep on concrete again.
My apologies to everyone who did, including Woman Dressed as Tony Stark, but this was the year I learned that the expo is the Wild Wild West and sometimes you just have to stand tall and hope a nice Disney castmember named Victoria takes pity on you.
After the sheer exhilaration of getting into the presentation, I ended up being most ticked off at Marvel's contribution. Yes, by combining the animation and live action presentation, it was necessary for one company to talk a little less, but Marvel announcing Phase 4 at Comic Con makes no sense when they knew D23 was coming up. I get that they're a comics company, but D23 is a major event, and all they brought with them was the announcement that Black Panther 2 is happening (We already knew that) and some footage from Black Widow but no actors from it. They also brought out the cast of The Eternals--a cast they already announced at Comic Con--and that was it. Come on, Marvel, that's pitiful. That should have been what you gave to Comic Con, and we should have gotten the bigger presentation. It was so frustrating.
Also, most of the stuff we saw at the film and streaming presentations ended up being available online seconds later. Now, not to get too exclusive about it, because I know not everyone can afford to go to D23, but why are people waiting in line for over twelve hours (or in my case, risking their lives by sneaking in) if it's all going to be on Twitter moments later anyway? This year, they were way to lenient about leakers, probably because organization was at an all-time low anyway.
The parks presentation was leagues better than film, which is really saying something. There were whole movies that weren't even covered (Artemis Fowl for one, although I doubt anybody's excited about a series of books that went out of fashion back when I was a teen) and having Tom Holland there was lovely but also super awkward considering nobody could address the elephant in the room, until Holland himself said "It’s been a crazy week, but I want you to know I am grateful from the bottom of my heart, and I love you 3,000."
I know, I got misty-eyed too. Just let us keep him, Sony!
The awkwardness returned during the parks presentation when it was revealed that a new Spiderman ride would be the anchor of a Marvel area in Disneyland. Um...are we sure about this?
The most exciting part of the parks presentation was the fact that they're basically throwing out Epcot and building a new one. Everything from a renovated Spaceship earth to a Guardians coaster to bringing out Dick Van Dyke to help announce a Mary Poppins ride (literally no other information other than "We're doing it!"). It was pretty awesome.
So here are my bullet points for D23 2021, and I realize nobody is listening, because it's not like these events are becoming less popular over time, but here it goes anyway:
- Figure out a way to get real fans into these presentations. Adam is a charter member and a gold star member, and when it comes time to get into the main events, he's at the mercy of luck just like everybody else. That doesn't seem right, and I'm sure I won't always be this good at making friends with people at the front of the line. Plus, bears aren't always easy to find.
- Teach your executives how to talk like real people. I get that it's a corporate event and reading off the teleprompter is necessary at times, but maybe review what you're saying and practice it a few times? The Head of Parks is particularly bad at this, although CEO Bob Iger is a champ, and not hard on the eyes either. (Almost al of Adam's crushes are people who can help him get a Fastpass for Splash Mountain.)
- Conversely, if you're going to bring out A-list celebrities for thirty seconds, can you have a producer go over what you're going to ask them and figure out what their response is going to be? All this time and money, and when it gets to the part everybody goes nuts over (Jamie Foxx! Angelina Jolie! The Rock!) we're suddenly flying by the seat of our pants. Actually I think The Rock was going off the teleprompter, but he's a former wrestler, and they know how to do that and make it look natural. In terms of how The Rock himself looks, he's a snack and always has been, moving on--
- More weird presentations please. In the past, there have been some pretty niche ones, including a Goofy Movie reunion and Whoopi Goldberg talking about Disney musicals of the 1960's with Leslie Ann Warren, but this year, all the good stuff was scheduled opposite the big presentations, and that ended up being a lose-lose. People still wanted to go to the A-level events, and there wasn't much else to offer once those were over. Why not have Marvel be its own (smaller) event? Same with Star Wars? Why not have a whole presentation about what the (albeit embryonic) plans for Fox are? It seems like by shoving everything into one big presentation to make it seem more epic, it's depriving the overall weekend of having more opportunities for people to pick and choose which parts of the expansive Disney empire they want to hear from. Also, does Disney still own ABC? Are we sure? Like, are we really sure?
- Two years ago, there was a Ducktales installation that involved having people jump into Scrooge's money pit. Please have the people who designed that come up with something every year. In fact, just hand the expo over to them.
I get the feeling they know exactly what we want.
Thank you for an informative report. I don't know how you track all that detail, but a vivid tableau of what had to involve riveted attention.
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