Figments Friend
Well-Known Member
I will agree that the Expo is a total 'advertisement' and utter Disney marketing orgy.
As it is a Company convention, it should not be a big surprise that they are going to promote every new product coming up and tie those into the various presentations.
There was definitely a lot of emphasis on that.
It's all about promoting the various studio films, tv shows, Theme Park offerings, licensed merchandise, and Radio Disney acts.
A large part of the scheduled offerings revolve around those aspects and it is a part of the experience of attending an Expo.
You get to see that firsthand and perhaps be entertained by it all.
I liked those aspects, but my focus was WDI related and Theme Parks.
Besides traditional animation, those are my primary interests related to 'Disney'.
It's the merchandise aspects that got a little nutty.
I found such a large percentage of the Expo marketing and general hype lead up to the weekend to be heavily connected to merchandise endorsement, particularly the Expo Exlusive offerings.
It was pounded into your head pre-Expo that if you didn't buy all this 'Limited Edition' stuff, you were surely going to have a lesser experience.
I don't do the 'Limited' collectibles thing....and don't call me Shirley.
Well, maybe I am dramatizing that a little based on my impressions...but dang.
I felt the push encroaching on the 'magic' a little.
There was SO much emphasis on 'buying stuff'....so much promotion and 'reminders' to get your gear even before you stepped one foot inside the Convention Center.
It was annoying for me pre-Event and I remember commenting on it in one of my lengthy pre-arrival Expo posts in the main thread on this Forum.
Far too much focus on 'buying stuff' I thought, but it is clear the shopping aspect is a BIG deal to a lot of people who attend.
A really big deal.
People were camping overnight just to buy 'stuff'...forget the morning panels!
I was one of the very few it seemed who did not want to rush to grab the Limited Expo Exclusive Tsum Tsums sets or Once Upon a Time dolls from the pop up Dizzy Store.
People went to insane ( and insanely expensive ) lengths to acquire those items.
Not knocking fans into that sort of pursuit, just found it all a eye full.
There were plenty of folks carrying huge bags of stuff around...even suitcases full of stuff.
So I can understand why the shopping aspect is so heavily promoted during the Expo marketing and pre-event announcements.
I was more interested in seeing what the dealers and other fans might be selling on the Show Floor as far as looking at merchandise goes.
I saw very little of interest at the booths as far as items that might have tempted me to buy.
I had to chuckle at some of the prices for some items I owned (mostly old toys).
The artwork was nice to see, but nothing I wanted to take home.
It was worth checking out, and some booth owners had some great displays but in the end I did not purchase anything from the booths.
Prices are high as to be expected from dealers trying to sell directly to a core consumer audience.
I still enjoyed looking , however.
There was nothing of interest for me in the much trumpeted Show Floor pop up stores, the much herelded Dream Store and Disney Store.
Read so much about both of these before I went, but the only one I was willing to wait in line for was Mickey's of Glendale ( WDI's shop ) .
That one was the best of the lot, but you had to wait in a very long line to enter.
It was worth it for me ( both times ) as I found some very nice gems there I am quite happy to have.
If you want to go crazy and drop a few thousand dollars in merch at the Expo, you can totally and very easily do that.
I spent maybe $80 at MOG for two vintage shirts, a WED bolo lanyard / ID holder and two beautifully designed trading pins over two separate days.
That was my 'haul' from the Expo offerings.
If you can mentally block out all the merchandise hawking, there is plenty of eye candy as far as displays and various pavilions go.
The WDI and Disney Archives pavilions are always the must visits.
Always some great things to see the there!
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As it is a Company convention, it should not be a big surprise that they are going to promote every new product coming up and tie those into the various presentations.
There was definitely a lot of emphasis on that.
It's all about promoting the various studio films, tv shows, Theme Park offerings, licensed merchandise, and Radio Disney acts.
A large part of the scheduled offerings revolve around those aspects and it is a part of the experience of attending an Expo.
You get to see that firsthand and perhaps be entertained by it all.
I liked those aspects, but my focus was WDI related and Theme Parks.
Besides traditional animation, those are my primary interests related to 'Disney'.
It's the merchandise aspects that got a little nutty.
I found such a large percentage of the Expo marketing and general hype lead up to the weekend to be heavily connected to merchandise endorsement, particularly the Expo Exlusive offerings.
It was pounded into your head pre-Expo that if you didn't buy all this 'Limited Edition' stuff, you were surely going to have a lesser experience.
I don't do the 'Limited' collectibles thing....and don't call me Shirley.
Well, maybe I am dramatizing that a little based on my impressions...but dang.
I felt the push encroaching on the 'magic' a little.
There was SO much emphasis on 'buying stuff'....so much promotion and 'reminders' to get your gear even before you stepped one foot inside the Convention Center.
It was annoying for me pre-Event and I remember commenting on it in one of my lengthy pre-arrival Expo posts in the main thread on this Forum.
Far too much focus on 'buying stuff' I thought, but it is clear the shopping aspect is a BIG deal to a lot of people who attend.
A really big deal.
People were camping overnight just to buy 'stuff'...forget the morning panels!
I was one of the very few it seemed who did not want to rush to grab the Limited Expo Exclusive Tsum Tsums sets or Once Upon a Time dolls from the pop up Dizzy Store.
People went to insane ( and insanely expensive ) lengths to acquire those items.
Not knocking fans into that sort of pursuit, just found it all a eye full.
There were plenty of folks carrying huge bags of stuff around...even suitcases full of stuff.
So I can understand why the shopping aspect is so heavily promoted during the Expo marketing and pre-event announcements.
I was more interested in seeing what the dealers and other fans might be selling on the Show Floor as far as looking at merchandise goes.
I saw very little of interest at the booths as far as items that might have tempted me to buy.
I had to chuckle at some of the prices for some items I owned (mostly old toys).
The artwork was nice to see, but nothing I wanted to take home.
It was worth checking out, and some booth owners had some great displays but in the end I did not purchase anything from the booths.
Prices are high as to be expected from dealers trying to sell directly to a core consumer audience.
I still enjoyed looking , however.
There was nothing of interest for me in the much trumpeted Show Floor pop up stores, the much herelded Dream Store and Disney Store.
Read so much about both of these before I went, but the only one I was willing to wait in line for was Mickey's of Glendale ( WDI's shop ) .
That one was the best of the lot, but you had to wait in a very long line to enter.
It was worth it for me ( both times ) as I found some very nice gems there I am quite happy to have.
If you want to go crazy and drop a few thousand dollars in merch at the Expo, you can totally and very easily do that.
I spent maybe $80 at MOG for two vintage shirts, a WED bolo lanyard / ID holder and two beautifully designed trading pins over two separate days.
That was my 'haul' from the Expo offerings.
If you can mentally block out all the merchandise hawking, there is plenty of eye candy as far as displays and various pavilions go.
The WDI and Disney Archives pavilions are always the must visits.
Always some great things to see the there!
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