D23 Events

[cutebaton101]

Hi everyone! I wasn't sure if this is the correct place to post this, as I view MousePad frequently but do not actually post. If this is in the incorrect spot, I apologize...

Anyway, I was wondering 2 things:

1.) Are any San Francisco area D23 members planning on going to the Cars 2 screening on June 25th?

2.) Whose going to the D23 expo? And if you are going where are you staying, what are your plans etc? I am going but I am a pretty new D23 member and I was hoping to get some insight on where I should stay, how many days I should plan to stay etc.

Thanks!

[AnotherJenny]

The D23 topics seem to be in "Business of Magic" but I'll post here anyway.

I went to the last Expo. Being local I didn't have to get a room, but since I always wanted to stay at the Alpine Inn and it's across the street from the Convention Center, we stayed one night.

Last time you could see all of the exhibits in one day. Fortunately we didn't really feel like we had to see any of the panels or presentations, so we just picked Friday figuring it would be less crowded. We did end up going to Dick Cook's presentation.

That being said, it will probably be more crowded this time (August vs. September, it's been two years, and now people know what to expect) and there will hopefully be more exhibits, so you may want to go for two days. If your main focus is the expo, get a room near the convention center. If your main focus is the park, you might want to get a room on Harbor near the main gate.

I'm probably not going to go this time, and definitely not getting a room, so I can't say what availability is like at this point, but... hurry!

[KarenW2]

Hi cutebaton101,
Welcome to the land of posting. Yes, we usually discuss D23 things in the other "land", so we'll see if this gets moved there by the mods.

We went to the first D23 Expo 2 years ago, really enjoyed it and are going again! Our experience was the total opposite of the previous poster's. We went each day and had several times where we wanted to do more than one thing that was scheduled at the same time, so we had to choose which ones we wanted to go to more and do those.

The panels and other presentations were great, seeing Johnny Depp, John Travolta, Nick Cage and the others (Miley Cyrus, not so much!) were all total surprises to us, since we had no idea going into it what to expect. This time, we also have no idea what to expect exactly, so we're both looking forward to being surprised again, by whatever they present to us.

Last time, we stayed at the DLH and the Candy Cane Inn, since rooms were scarce, so we had to split our time between the 2 places, to have a room for the whole time we needed them. This time, we're staying the whole time at the Hilton, next door to the Convention Center, since last time there was way too much time and money wasted, driving to and from the CC and paying their ridiculous parking fees!! If you stay at the Hilton, they have a special D23 Expo rate, so be sure to ask for it, to see if they still have rooms available at that rate.

Do you already have your D23 Expo ticket? If so, you'll be getting, or they'll be posting, a schedule of events for each day of the Expo before the Expo starts, so that would be the best judge of how long you should stay for, depending on what you want to see and do.

Here's a link to the accommodations and other info on the Expo page: http://d23.disney.go.com/expo/book-a-trip.html

Hope you have a great time!!

[cutebaton101]

Thanks so much Karen! I will definetly look into the Hilton thing. I have NOT purchased my expo ticket yet as I am waiting to see what the schedule looks like.

Do you by any chance know how close the Jolly Roger hotel is from the parks/convention center? I was also looking in to staying there since I can get a really good rate with AAA and I hear it is close to both the convention center and the parks but I am not sure... I haven't been to DL in a while and I would like to attend the expo and the parks... Do you think this is possible? Do expo activities usually go ALL day, or could we go to the expo and then the parks?

Thanks!

[KarenW2]

Hi again, cutebaton101,
The Jolly Roger Hotel is within walking distance of both the parks and the convention center. If you go on the JRH's site, it may even tell you how close it is to both of them, as a selling point for their rooms. Or maybe, someone here who's stayed there before, can give you the info. We've never stayed there, so I have no idea. We've only driven past by it before.

Last time, there were things going on all day, a break for dinner, then movies were shown at night. So, it would depend on whether or not you were interested in seeing those movies. I know one of them will be the pre-re-release of The Lion King, now in 3D (isn't every movie nowadays?!).

As we experienced last time, hotel rooms fill up fast, probably not just from D23 Expo, but other things too, like conventions being held elsewhere, vacationing tourists, kid school trips to DL, etc. That's why we booked the Hilton as soon as the dates were announced, then had them change the rates on our stay, when they recently announced the D23 rate.

Hope this helps!

[cutebaton101]

Oh I see so the expo events usually last all day...Would you happen to know how far in advance they usually post the schedule? I would like to be able to make dinner reservations in the parks but I don't want to if there is a movie or exhibit we might want to go to... hmmm

[KarenW2]

Hi cutebaton101,
We have no idea when they'll post the schedule, unfortunately! Last time, it seemed to take them forever to post it! You could try doing a search here and see if they have any of the posts here left from 2 years ago. I don't know how long they keep those things around.

I'm very much of a list maker and a planner, since I don't want to risk missing anything I want to see/do for sure, so, for me, it wasn't soon enough. I'd say your best bet would be to keep checking the D23 Expo page often! I'll post as soon as I know anything and if you see something, please post too!

[MermaidHair]

cutebaton101,

I am planning on going to the Cars screening on the 25th with my 8 year old son. He is very psyched. Do you think any of the Pixar folks will be there?

[cutebaton101]

Hey MermaidHair,

I wonder if I saw you at the Cars 2 screening yesterday and didn't know it! Hehe! Unfortunately none of the Pixar people were there, but I thought it was a great event don't you? I love how Jeffrey, the Disney geek from D23, was our host and before the show there was a little trivia contest and there were prizes and everthing. I also loved how everyone who attended was given a Cars 2 poster as well as a D23 pin.

The movie itself was GREAT and I thought it definetly did the first Cars justice.

It was so great to get together with D23 members from the San Francisco area. I really hope D23 considers doing more events around here!

[MermaidHair]

Hey Cutebaton

Yes I was there - I was the one with the Cars 2 poster! Just kidding. My son and I enjoyed it immensely. There is nothing like seeing a much-anticipated movie with a crowd so excited it claps at the previews! And I thought the movie was really fun. Plbbtt to all the critics.

It was so fun to meet Jeffery and I loved how he had the "what are you waiting for?" trivia question. I also won brownie points with DS by answering one of the questions. Guess all my Mouseplanet reading came in handy...

Next time we will have to meet and say hi (because there will be a next time...)

[KarenW2]

Well, we finally received our Sorcerer tickets for the D23 Expo today!! We've heard some people had received some tickets recently, but they were other tickets, not those in our package.

Both of ours came in the same envelope and at first I thought only mine had come and not my husband's. When I took out my ticket, I found that both of the tickets were there, but his was still attached to mine, so I separated them where they were perforated.

It says to bring the envelope and its contents to the Expo to gain admission and to avoid long lines at registration. We'll be able to pick up our plastic badge holder onsite at kiosks that'll be set-up within the registration area. The barcode on the credentials contains our info, so we're to present it at participating booths and pavilions to receive additional info about what they have to offer.

Now that we have the tickets, I hope they start posting more info on the seminars and things going on at the Expo soon!

[cutebaton101]

My boyfriend and I recieved our tickets a few days ago and I am soooo excited! We bought the three-day tickets and there is one with his name and one with my name. Same as Karen, ours came with instructions to register when we get in in order to gain admission.

I also paid off my hotel deposit this week and made reservations for the restaurants we want to eat at in the park. All thats left to do now is buy my plane ticket.

Is it August yet?!

[SJF510]

We got our tickets too! If you see a "Glenn", "Sharon" and "Nathan" together, please come up and say hi.

We booked our hotel last night and got a $99 per night rate for the Friday and Saturday night for the onsite Marriott if anyone still needed a hotel. The parking is wildly expensive, but we thought it was a good rate. Just wanted to pass that along if it helped anyone.

[Maus]

Yes, that's a good rate. I tried to book them months ago and was told that they were totally booked. Fortunately I had a connection at the hotel and was able to book a room. Interesting. Don't know what changed, unless another group cancelled or released a room block.

[julierika]

We bought the max Expo tickets allowed (4) with D23 membership but we'd really like to bring our 12 yr old daughter. I could buy a general/non-member ticket but she'd be stranded since membership offers early entry. Any kind D23 member who hasn't already bought 4 tickets who would be willing to buy a child's 3-day Expo ticket for my daughter? I will pay you immediately. Thank you!