2013 D23 Expo: Your Predictions

TP2000

Well-Known Member
Any chance that the next D23 expo will be held at WDW?

Just to help folks understand why it would be so very difficult to host D23 Expo on Walt Disney World property, here's the breakdown on the lack of space at WDW compared to the Anaheim Convention Center (ACC).

For 2011 they scaled the D23 Expo down a bit, and we'll use the footprint of 2011 inside the exhibit halls as a reference, although there's quite a bit of expansion left in the ACC for future Expo's should the concept grow further.

The Anaheim Convention Center is the largest convention center on the West Coast. For 2011 D23 Expo they used roughly half of the space available; the Anaheim Arena, most of the lobby areas for ticketing/reception, Exhibit Halls A & B, and half of Exhibit Hall C. They also used most of the upstairs ballrooms to create two separate 1,000 seat theaters, the Archives exhibit and store, plus some additional presentation rooms, D23 member lounge, a baby care center, etc.

The square footage tallies are as follows;

Anaheim Arena - 10,000 seats, scaled down to a 4,000 seat version for Expo
Exhibit Hall A - 145,000 Square Feet
Exhibit Hall B - 145,000 Square Feet
Half Exhibit Hall C - 75,000 Square Feet
Ticketing Lobby - 50,000 Square Feet
Anaheim Arena and Lobby, 4,000 Seat Configuration - 40,000 Square Feet
Second Floor D28 Theater/Exhibits - 50,000 Square Feet
Third Floor D23 Theater - 40,000 Square Feet


Total ACC Space Used for 2011 D23 Expo - 540,000 Square Feet
Total ACC Space Available - 1.1 Million Square Feet


http://www.anaheimconventioncenter....ain_noflash.cfm&CFID=3429845&CFTOKEN=71393417

Compare that to all the space available across the five main convention and conference facilities at WDW; Coronado Springs, Contemporary Resort, Grand Floridian, Boardwalk, Beach & Yacht Club. First, none of those spaces has an arena like the Anaheim Arena that can seat up to 10,000, but was unwisely scaled down to 4,000 seats for D23 Expo. But they do have various ballrooms and two small exhibit halls to use. Here's how the total space available at these five WDW properties breaks down;

Coronado Springs Resort Convention Center - 220,000 Square Feet
Contemporary Resort Conference Center - 115,000 Square Feet
Yacht & Beach Club Conference Center - 70,000 Square Feet
Grand Floridian Conference Center - 40,000 Square Feet
Boardwalk Conference Center - 20,000 Square Feet


Total WDW Convention Space Available - 465,000 Square Feet

http://www.disneymeetings.com/disneyworld/

But that 465,000 number actually looks better than it is. Much of that square footage is redundant lobby space, or smaller meeting rooms or ballrooms unuseable for a D23 type mega-event. The largest exhibit hall at WDW, and the only full-scale exhibit hall really, is the Veracruz Hall at Coronado Springs, and it's only 86,000 square feet.

By comparison, the Anaheim Convention Center has 825,000 square feet of continuous industry-standard exhibit hall space, of which D23 Expo used 265,000 square feet this year. The larger pavilions like the WDI Carousel of Projects or the Disney Living Pavilion would not even fit in the Veracruz Hall without scaling down, and then you've just maxed out almost all of the space at Coronado Springs with just that one element of the Expo floor.

Even if you convinced the various divisions of the Disney Company to radically scale down the size and scope of their Exhibit Hall presentations, and were then left with a dramatically smaller and decidedly less impressive show, you would still be faced with the logistics nightmare of expecting all the D23 Expo visitors to bus themselves around WDW property to take in the WDI pavilion at Coronado Springs, the Disney Living pavilion at the Contemporary (whose full exhibit space is actually a ballroom of only 44,000 square feet), the Disney Archives exhibit at the Grand Floridian, 1,000 seat theater at the Yacht Club, etc., etc.

And any event planner worth their headset would never try to stage such an event broken up over a half dozen venues, none of them within walking distance of each other. There would be no buzz, no vibe, no excitement, no sense of community and spectacle under such a fractured WDW scenario. And can you imagine the horrors of waiting to get in to the Archives at the Grand Floridian while your 3:00 John Lasseter presentation was filling up across property at Coronado Springs? What a NIGHTMARE! It simply would never work.

As an added bonus at the Anaheim Convention Center, you are literally within walking distance of Disneyland, Disney California Adventure, Downtown Disney, three Disney hotels, in addition to 20,000 other Anaheim hotel rooms, dozens of restaurants, etc.

AnaheimConventionCenterMap.jpg


The ACC is on the southern end of the very walkable, very compact, Anaheim Resort District, and it's the obvious and really the only choice for a big event like the D23 Expo.
 

huntzilla

Active Member
There's not really any chance they'll move D23 Expo to WDW. There's not enough room on WDW property to hold it, even if they took up the entire space in multiple conference facilities around property and split it into smaller exhibits in various locations; Contemporary conference center, Saratoga Springs conference center, Boardwalk, Grand Floridian, Swan & Dolphin, etc.

They could obviously hold D23 Expo at its current size in the Orlando Convention Center on I-Drive, but then you've got the logistics of getting tens of thousands of people per day to and from WDW property on fleets of buses, and Disney would be loathe to let those folks off property or make the I-Drive convention hotels grab the business.

Even with those big obstacles to having it at WDW, you've got the logistics and huge expense of flying out all that equipment and supplies and hundreds of Burbank and Glendale employees. It would never happen, thinking realistically.

For the same reasons why D23 will stay in SoCal, they've never held a big movie premeire at WDW. Disneyland has hosted the last four Pirates movie premieres to huge success, but they've never attempted to do anything like that at WDW.

The next D23 Expo was announced for March, 2013 at the Anaheim Convention Center.

By the way... Hello! I lived in the Palmetto State for several years and was just emailing some old friends there and making fun of them for their reaction to the earthquake. :lol:

They are moving the Expo to March? I did not realize this.
 

TP2000

Well-Known Member
They are moving the Expo to March? I did not realize this.

On Sunday, the day after the Expo sold out of tickets, they were broadcasting announcements through the exhibit halls saying "Join us for the next D23 Expo here in Anaheim in March, 2013!"

The first Expo in '09 was in September, then they moved it to August for 2011, and now it sounds like it's moving to March for '13. Still no exact dates yet though.
 

Thrill Seeker

Well-Known Member
I'm a little surprised they didn't announce the next one for Orlando, but then again, it shouldn't be that surprising... Maybe in 2013 we'll finally get some new stuff...
 

Bairstow

Well-Known Member
I expect the 2013 D23 to have updates on Shanghai Disneyland.

Snow White Mine Coaster will be talked about for WDW for 2013 D23 since it will not open before 2014. It is really too early for predicting anything else at this time.

This is probably quite accurate.
 

Hakunamatata

Le Meh
Premium Member
Just to help folks understand why it would be so very difficult to host D23 Expo on Walt Disney World property, here's the breakdown on the lack of space at WDW compared to the Anaheim Convention Center (ACC).

For 2011 they scaled the D23 Expo down a bit, and we'll use the footprint of 2011 inside the exhibit halls as a reference, although there's quite a bit of expansion left in the ACC for future Expo's should the concept grow further.

The Anaheim Convention Center is the largest convention center on the West Coast. For 2011 D23 Expo they used roughly half of the space available; the Anaheim Arena, most of the lobby areas for ticketing/reception, Exhibit Halls A & B, and half of Exhibit Hall C. They also used most of the upstairs ballrooms to create two separate 1,000 seat theaters, the Archives exhibit and store, plus some additional presentation rooms, D23 member lounge, a baby care center, etc.

The square footage tallies are as follows;

Anaheim Arena - 10,000 seats, scaled down to a 4,000 seat version for Expo
Exhibit Hall A - 145,000 Square Feet
Exhibit Hall B - 145,000 Square Feet
Half Exhibit Hall C - 75,000 Square Feet
Ticketing Lobby - 50,000 Square Feet
Anaheim Arena and Lobby, 4,000 Seat Configuration - 40,000 Square Feet
Second Floor D28 Theater/Exhibits - 50,000 Square Feet
Third Floor D23 Theater - 40,000 Square Feet


Total ACC Space Used for 2011 D23 Expo - 540,000 Square Feet
Total ACC Space Available - 1.1 Million Square Feet


http://www.anaheimconventioncenter....ain_noflash.cfm&CFID=3429845&CFTOKEN=71393417

Compare that to all the space available across the five main convention and conference facilities at WDW; Coronado Springs, Contemporary Resort, Grand Floridian, Boardwalk, Beach & Yacht Club. First, none of those spaces has an arena like the Anaheim Arena that can seat up to 10,000, but was unwisely scaled down to 4,000 seats for D23 Expo. But they do have various ballrooms and two small exhibit halls to use. Here's how the total space available at these five WDW properties breaks down;

Coronado Springs Resort Convention Center - 220,000 Square Feet
Contemporary Resort Conference Center - 115,000 Square Feet
Yacht & Beach Club Conference Center - 70,000 Square Feet
Grand Floridian Conference Center - 40,000 Square Feet
Boardwalk Conference Center - 20,000 Square Feet


Total WDW Convention Space Available - 465,000 Square Feet

http://www.disneymeetings.com/disneyworld/

But that 465,000 number actually looks better than it is. Much of that square footage is redundant lobby space, or smaller meeting rooms or ballrooms unuseable for a D23 type mega-event. The largest exhibit hall at WDW, and the only full-scale exhibit hall really, is the Veracruz Hall at Coronado Springs, and it's only 86,000 square feet.

By comparison, the Anaheim Convention Center has 825,000 square feet of continuous industry-standard exhibit hall space, of which D23 Expo used 265,000 square feet this year. The larger pavilions like the WDI Carousel of Projects or the Disney Living Pavilion would not even fit in the Veracruz Hall without scaling down, and then you've just maxed out almost all of the space at Coronado Springs with just that one element of the Expo floor.

Even if you convinced the various divisions of the Disney Company to radically scale down the size and scope of their Exhibit Hall presentations, and were then left with a dramatically smaller and decidedly less impressive show, you would still be faced with the logistics nightmare of expecting all the D23 Expo visitors to bus themselves around WDW property to take in the WDI pavilion at Coronado Springs, the Disney Living pavilion at the Contemporary (whose full exhibit space is actually a ballroom of only 44,000 square feet), the Disney Archives exhibit at the Grand Floridian, 1,000 seat theater at the Yacht Club, etc., etc.

And any event planner worth their headset would never try to stage such an event broken up over a half dozen venues, none of them within walking distance of each other. There would be no buzz, no vibe, no excitement, no sense of community and spectacle under such a fractured WDW scenario. And can you imagine the horrors of waiting to get in to the Archives at the Grand Floridian while your 3:00 John Lasseter presentation was filling up across property at Coronado Springs? What a NIGHTMARE! It simply would never work.

As an added bonus at the Anaheim Convention Center, you are literally within walking distance of Disneyland, Disney California Adventure, Downtown Disney, three Disney hotels, in addition to 20,000 other Anaheim hotel rooms, dozens of restaurants, etc.

AnaheimConventionCenterMap.jpg


The ACC is on the southern end of the very walkable, very compact, Anaheim Resort District, and it's the obvious and really the only choice for a big event like the D23 Expo.

You forgot that Saratoga Springs Resort has a meeting room.
 

TP2000

Well-Known Member
You forgot that Saratoga Springs Resort has a meeting room.

Ha! I love it! :lol:

You're right, I didn't mention the meeting room at Saratoga Springs! Forget about the lack of space, there's now PLENTY of room for D23 Expo at Walt Disney World!

Pack up the trucks Bob Iger, we're goin' to Florida in 2013! :lookaroun
 

Hakunamatata

Le Meh
Premium Member
Ha! I love it! :lol:

You're right, I didn't mention the meeting room at Saratoga Springs! Forget about the lack of space, there's now PLENTY of room for D23 Expo at Walt Disney World!

Pack up the trucks Bob Iger, we're goin' to Florida in 2013! :lookaroun

Glad I could be of assistance.
 

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
I can't see how the expo made them any money, it had to post a loss-a lot of expenses in that convention center-by 2013 they'll probably be looking at dissolving the whole d23 concept

There were lines for all of the merchandise locations and many things (especially at Mickey's of Glendale) sold out. I for one am disappointed that I couldn't spend more money than I did.

An expo in 2013, if there is one... well, I predict no announcements, Tom Staggs won't be as boring as he was this year, and insomniacs won't have a tool to help them fall asleep during the parks presentation... as for what announcements there will be??? Nothing for the cash cow that is WDW...

Set your expecations low, real low... that way, it will be extreemly hard to become disappointed if nothing new or big is announced, and if they do decide to roll out a big gun, then we can be pleasantly surprised...

Staggs flipped between being personable/amusing to being awkward. The sketch he did around the parks was pretty amusing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEbIltfqdZE

As for announcements, who knows. The focus will be on movies again I'm sure.

I expect 2013 to be just as crowded but with more merchandise opportunities and more "opportunities" to shell out cash.

a) ticket prices will probably go up
b) more merch catering to the die hards, MoG will be back, possibly even a WDS store
c) Opportunities to buy Disney DVDs and get them signed
d) some sort of expansion of the sorcerer package. Maybe a guaranteed seats for certain panels program. A "WDI program" and a "Pixar" program?
e) hopefully all the WDI stuff in the arena as one giant 3 hour presentation.
f) see (e) but for pixar panels
g) more slutty princess costumes

Personally I had a blast, but not being able to get into all the panels I wanted to see is a fundamental problem.

I really hope they open up Mickey's of Glendale again with even more classic Epcot merchandise. I missed out on the pins, and didn't get all the t-shirts I wanted.
 

jengirl824

New Member
I would still love for them to alternate D23 between Fl and CA. I understand WDW itself does not have enough space, but the Orange County Convention Center has 7,000,000 sq ft of total space, with 2,100,000 sq ft being exhibit space. More than enough room and close as its on the south end of I-Drive. There are hotels, shopping, and dining all near the center too. If Disney ran buses back and forth between the OCCC and WDW those people staying on property without cars would have easy access as well.
 

TP2000

Well-Known Member
I would still love for them to alternate D23 between Fl and CA. I understand WDW itself does not have enough space, but the Orange County Convention Center has 7,000,000 sq ft of total space, with 2,100,000 sq ft being exhibit space. More than enough room and close as its on the south end of I-Drive. There are hotels, shopping, and dining all near the center too. If Disney ran buses back and forth between the OCCC and WDW those people staying on property without cars would have easy access as well.

Yes, the Orlando convention center is MASSIVE. It's either the biggest center in the USA, or a very close second to the Las Vegas Convention Center. Either way, there's more than enough room to hold the D23 Expo in the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.

But there's the problem of logistics, both in getting 40,000 people back and forth from the OCCC and WDW per day, and in getting the hundreds of Disney Company employees out to Orlando to begin with.

The full force of the Disney empire is on display at the D23 Expo, and most of the staffers drive the 45 minutes down the freeways from the Los Angeles area where they live and work to the Anaheim area each day of the Expo. The Walt Disney Studios and Animation, Disney Consumer Products, Disney Channel and affiliates, ABC-TV, Walt Disney Internet Group, and Walt Disney Imagineering all drove down to Anaheim for the weekend. Pixar is the only group that would have had to fly down employees and equipment from the Bay Area to John Wayne Airport for the weekend. (Although a truck or two could have driven the Pixar equipment down to Anaheim with a 7 hour drive from Emeryville, California).

Getting all those hundreds of people flown out to Orlando, set up in hotels and with expense accounts for meals, and then all the equipment and exhibits and display materials also shipped out there.... that's a giant expense.

D23 Expo has a gorgeous Anaheim convention facility to use, right down the freeway from all the corporate arms of the Disney empire, and in the place where Walt Disney built and nurtured his own theme park in 1955 where the Disneyland spirit continues to thrive and expand today. If you were Disney executives sitting in Burbank, why would you ever think of not having it down the freeway in Anaheim? :veryconfu
 

llrain

Well-Known Member
one could only hope for this prediction. Although since suckers keep joining this elite subscription based gimmick, they will keep having them..
Was on the fence when this whole d23 thing was in signup process...join, dont join. Glad I didn't. Especially after this years boring and madhouse time.

I predict there won't even BE an Expo in 2013.
 

AEfx

Well-Known Member
I think Shanghai will be a big focus of 2013. As for what WDW-related will be discussed? I think that's impossible to say at this point.

Which would be a huge mistake, since I'd be willing to be 98+% of the people who go to the Expo will never actually experience that park.
 

ScorpionX

Well-Known Member
Walt Disney World
Magic Kingdom
-new daytime parade
-replacement for SGE
EPCOT Center
-SSE descent completion/refurbishment
-something in WOL
-JII overhaul
-new Soarin' film
-Brazil in World Showcase
Disney Studios
-Pixar Place expansion
-B&tB replacement
-VotLM replacement
Animal Kingdom
-new land
-legit Dinoland expansion
Disneyland Resort
Disneyland
-something on the Big Thunder Ranch site
-Fantasyland Theatre replacement
-Tomorrowland overhaul
Disney's California Adventure
-new Soarin' film
-Monsters Inc replacement
 

jjharvpro

Active Member
I had an incredible time at the Expo & Disneyland/DCA!

Trust me, with all the complaints Disney is getting about the lack of announcements and the lines, they will definitely work on the overall management of the event. I predict it will yet again be bigger & better, and it will be more organized
 

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