Every two years, D23 Expo, the “ultimate Disney fan event” is held at the Anaheim Convention Center, which is right across the street from Disneyland. This started back in 2009, making this year’s expo the sixth one. D23 Expo 2019 took place August 23-25, 2019.
This was our fourth D23 Expo, having started attending in 2013. We’ve seen the convention go through quite a few changes over the years. This year’s most notable change was the implementation of an advance online reservation system. To make a long story short, there were some technical difficulties on Disney’s part, causing them to move it forward an hour, and then a day, from the originally scheduled time that the reservations were supposed to become available, as well as making a last minute change to make it be a virtual queue. Some people got lucky and got into the reservation system quickly, securing reservations for everything they wanted for panels (“StagePass”), stores (“StorePass”), and autographs/photo ops (“Talent Pass”). Unfortunately, we didn’t get so lucky, and were unable to obtain reservations for our desired panels. This meant we would have to either arrive early enough to secure Gold Member priority seating, or otherwise have to rely on the Standby line for anything we wanted to attend.
Josh was unable to take the day off from work on Friday, August 23, so I took the bus, which took about 20 minutes and was a straight shot down Harbor. I arrived at the Clarion Hotel shortly before 7am and met up with my friends Rachel, Jenine, and Madi, who were staying at that hotel. Our plan was to get in the Standby line for the first Hall D23 panel of the day (as we had seen on Twitter that the Gold Member queue had already been capped earlier that morning), the Disney Legends Ceremony, which was scheduled to begin at 10:30am. We were going to wait on another friend, @CorgiKohmander, but he told us he was running late and to go ahead and get in line, and he’d catch up to us later.
So we headed toward the Anaheim Convention Center shortly after 7am, thinking we would enter at the security checkpoint on Convention Way, just a half a block from the Clarion Hotel. However, they wouldn’t let us in there, and instead waved us to go all the way to the Katella security checkpoint, about a 10 minute walk.
It was around 7:30am once we got through security, and they put us into a holding area in the basement of North Hall, where there were columns taped on the floor, but no signage anywhere to indicate what each section was for. We saw maybe two staff members, both of whom were being swarmed with people asking them questions. Eventually, we found out that Standby for the Legends panel had already been capped, and were directed to the other side of the basement to line up for general entry into the convention center. There was a separate section for those who had acquired StagePasses during the reservation process.
It was surprising to learn that Standby had already been capped, considering that I had been able to walk into the Legends panel in 2017 just minutes before it began. But our backup plan was to do the Show Floor for a bit and then get in the Gold Member queue for the Disney Plus panel that would take place in Hall D23 at 3:30pm that day. Besides, the Legends panel was going to be livestreamed anyway, so we would be able to watch it while in line for Disney Plus.
It turned out that our friend we had been waiting on, Corgi, who had parked at the Clarion Hotel, had been directed to go though the security checkpoint that we had been waved past. This was probably about half an hour after we passed by there. It was unclear what the difference was between that queue (we’ll call it the “fountain” area) and the holding area where we were. In any case, Corgi made his way over to us, and we waited for the Show Floor to open at 9am. While waiting, Jen, Corgi, and I were able to go upstairs and get our Gold Member gift, which was already nicely packaged in a poster tube.
However, at 9am, there was no movement. It soon became apparent that the fountain area had been let in before us. A friend of Rachel and Jenine’s had gotten into that line around 7:40am and was posting photos from the Show Floor by 9:15am. Meanwhile, we were just sitting there, waiting, with no communication whatsoever. There were several columns of people who had arrived much earlier than us who were also still waiting. But why? No one seemed to have any answers.
Finally, around 9:40am or so, we saw some movement, as they began letting the columns of people out.
When we made our way out of the building, we were directed to go to Hall D if we had a StagePass, and if not, then go to Hall B. We were also told that we could use any door, as all were unlocked. It was 9:55am by the time we set foot onto the Show Floor. We had inexplicably missed 55 minutes of the show already. I felt a little bad for Corgi, who would have entered the Show Floor over half an hour earlier if he had just stayed where he was instead of coming to find us. But I also felt bad for all the people who had gone through security much earlier than us and been held in the basement for who knows how long, and got in much later than others who had shown up much later than them and been directed to the fountain area, which apparently got in before the basement area.
At D23 2017, the security checkpoint had been located at the convention center doors, so it was understandable why the wait was so long to get into the convention then. But this year, the security checkpoints were well before the convention center doors (which, as noted above, were all available to use for entry), so we had all already gone through security, and we had all already had our badges scanned. It didn’t make sense what took so long to let everyone in when all we had to do was walk a few hundred feet and go inside. To add to that, the lack of communication, as well as the unfairness of the order of entry, was frustrating to say the least.
In any case, we were in, and decided to stop by the Disney Plus booth to take advantage of the sweet exclusive deal they were offering: a $23 per year discount on a 3-year subscription. The regular annual price for a subscription is $69.99, so this would bring the total price to $140.97 – that’s less than $4 per month! The normal price would have been $209.97! Sold! We also got a free Founders Circle pin for signing up. In case you’re wondering, yes, they did immediately charge us the entire amount. Looking forward to when it becomes available on November 12! Unfortunately, Rachel, Jen, and Madi were unable to get the deal because they are from Canada, and this deal was only available in the U.S.
We browsed a few other booths and picked up the Gold Member gifts that were offered, which were very nice pins from the Steiff booth and the Walt Disney Family Museum booth. We also checked out the RockLove booth, which had beautiful Disney themed jewelry.
Then a little Disney magic happened. A couple of Jen’s friends had +1 StagePasses for the Legends panel and didn’t have anyone to give their +1s to! Madi and I ended up going to the Legends panel, while the others went and got in line for the Disney Plus panel, and livestreamed the Legends panel from the line.
Click here for our recap and photos of the Disney Legends Awards Ceremony, and stay tuned for much more coverage from D23 Expo 2019!
