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Just got back from D23 Expo

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Just got back from D23 Expo

bombardon3

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I think they were a little caught off guard by the popularity of the event this year. Things were very chaotic partly because they weren't prepared for how many people showed up for the first day and also because they staffed the event with DLR & D23 cast members that I'm not sure were trained on how to work a convention. There was really no consequences for anyone that just pushed their way up to the front of a line. In the brief 3 hours that I was at the expo (once again my friends schedule a trip to Las Vegas during a Disney event) I heard several people remark why didn't Disney send someone to Comic Con to see how smoothly they run their much bigger event. So that's my mini rant. I'm sure Saturday and Sunday will be a little smoother as they realize how busy it is going to be. Convention center work crews were expanding several of the areas in the middle of the event today to better accommodate the crowds.

When I left at 1PM the Dream Store was sold out of the framed sets, the small world jumbo, and the Disney Parks boxed set. They were incorrectly telling people in line that the the Dalmatians pins (both the Friday pin and the boxed set) and the Piece of D23 history were sold out. Turns out they were still available at the counter, although they were running low. I believe all the Vinylmations were still available. The cast members working there also said that the Dumbo Anniversary pin will be released Saturday and that Cheshire will be released Sunday. This is the opposite of what was previously announced.

The Treasure Trove store (D23 and Disney archives items) had the usually selection of D23 stuff including lots of Destination D items. They had 5 LE500 D23 Expo pins. The Sorcerer Mickey was sold out when I was there, although I'm not sure if they had more in the back or if they're saving some for Saturday and Sunday (seemed really odd to me that they'd sell out of that pin while there were plenty of others).

I did not wait in line for the Disney Store booth so I don't have any information about that. There was no Marvel Comics booth either. The pin trading area is in front of the Dream Store this year. There is one trading board. The line for the trading board was fairly short since I think a lot of people (myself included) didn't bring any traders. When they opened there were only 10 small tables and 4 of them were being used by the merchandise staff to put stuff on. They added several more tables before I left. Seemed like there were very few pin traders and lots of Vinylmation traders.

Well, I hope some of this information was helpful to someone. If you're going this weekend: have fun!
 
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Hmm...that doesn't sound very good. I've run a booth at Comic-Con and several other shows for the last several years and almost had one at D23 - Curious to see if they get their act together as I go to D23 tomorrow. Running a large show like that is quite difficult though.

Wow...kinda bummed by what you've reported. I was looking forward to buying pins/trading. AND no comic related merchandise? Interesting. Their representatives were speaking to exhibitors at SDCC trying to lure some of them to D23. Guess it didn't work.
 
The D23 expo site says all the marvel revealing will take place on Sunday I'm so bummed by that since I'm going tomorrow but oh well hopefully the pin trading is better tomorrow I got a bunch to trade and I really want some new stitch pins
 
I didn't go to the first expo, but the people I talked to said that this year seemed much busier. I think perhaps they expected crowds similar to the first expo (which was announced less than a year in advance) so they weren't properly prepared for the crowds. Many of the people I spoke to in line came from out of state just for the expo. One of the managers that was trying to manage the line to get in even said that they didn't expect that big of a crowd. People had been camping out since 3AM and they only had one door open and 3 ticket windows, plus they put the will call window inside the convention center. I felt bad for the poor guest research CM assigned to hand out comment cards to the crowd.
 


OMG I'm a HUGE MARVEL FAN! Please Take Pictures if they do release and Marvel Disney Pins as I Will Go Ballistick!!! LoL
 

LOL, because Comic-Con has it quirks too. There were videos this year of fights breaking out when booths were closed at closing time and lines had formed hours ago and no one told them the line was closed!

Please no Marvel pins, I am going broke already, LOL

On a serious note, did they sell out of the Star Wars POH yet? I have asked a couple of people to grab 1 each for me and a few friends, and am worried they might not have any left at this rate
 
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I was so miserably disappointed with the Parks and Resorts announcements =/


Hoping the Studios presentation is redeeming!
 
Thanks for taking the time to share your experience at D23 today. It's unfortunate to hear that Disney wasn't prepared for the amount of people who attended. I find that hard to understand, in that they must know how many tickets were sold...???
Hmm...
I hope you are correct that tomorrow and Sunday they were be better prepared.
If you have time, please stop back by and share your continued experience this weekend.
 
Bombardon3 - Thanks so much for taking the time to give all the info. I've never been to one of these so it's nice to hear about what goes on there.
 
I will be therr tomorrow all day pin trading if anyone wants to stop by and say hi lol.. oh and btw i have alot of good stitch stuff..
 
I hope that you bought your Saturday tickets, because they have already announced that Saturday is sold out.

There will be late coming people going to the front of the line. The top two passholders - Sorcerer and Premeire - are allowed to go to the front of the line for all Arena presentations. The Sorcercer passholders get to enter the Convention Center first and they also get reserved seatings and first entry at all sessions in Stage 23 and 28. Those passholders also got to buy unlimited pins on Thursday from the Dream Store and the Treasure Trove. [You were technically limited to five of each pin, but you could go around and come in as many times as you wanted.]

As far as pin trading, there were a lot of people at the Westward Ho event Thursday night. There are a lot of people buying pins from the vendors in the Collectors Forum. If you are a pin trader do you really want to sit all days at those pin tables, when there are some really great presentations to see, hear and experience? OR lug all those pin binders around the convention center? I had set some trades ahead of time but the traders were not in the pin trading area. Fortunately, I had cell phone numbers and I had to go track down the traders, because they were caught in the various lines. The cast members were very understanding in letting me crash a few lines just to quickly swap pins. I was there from 9 am to 9 pm, and had a great first day at the 2011 D23 Expo.
 
I don't understand the confusion over the release dates of the Dalmatians, Dumbo, and Cheshire Cat pins. Page 83 of the D23 Expo Guide has the picture of the pin and the official release dates. The Guide was posted online last week. However, one of perks of the Sorcerer and Premiere passes was the ability to pre-order all of the D23 merchandise and to pick it up on Thursday. At that time, the Dream Store allowed additional purchases of the D23 pins on Thursday prior to the official start of the Expo.
 
btowndude said:
I don't understand the confusion over the release dates of the Dalmatians, Dumbo, and Cheshire Cat pins. Page 83 of the D23 Expo Guide has the picture of the pin and the official release dates. The Guide was posted online last week.
Click to expand...

I guess it doesn't matter now, but to answer your question ODPT.com had Cheshire coming out on Saturday and many websites reported that information. At the time I made my original post they still had not changed it around and many people at the expo were still expecting the original release order. Hopefully everyone was able to get what they wanted. I wasn't able to go on the other days of the expo, but people I heard things went pretty smoothly and lines were minimal except for the panels and the treasures exhibit.
 
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