Official D23 Thread

Wilt Dasney

Wilt Dasney

Well-Known Member
I like the idea of holding an expo every few years. I'm guessing the Dragon Cons and Comic Cons of the world can hold these things every year because they house exhibits from multiple entertainment companies, so the odds are somebody will have something to announce that will cause some industry buzz.

As one corporation (albeit a very large one), Disney's big announcements are going to be fewer and farther between. I don't think Marvel changes that, because people are going to expect comic-related announcements at the comic expos (whether that be actual comic books or properties based on them, like movies). I think having Marvel hold out to make its announcements at D23 would just look like Disney trying to fiddle with the sacrosanct comics culture and hack a lot of fans off.

If D23 was held every four years (think World Cup, Olympics, or presidential elections), there could be a big buildup over a couple of years.
 
EPCOT Explorer

EPCOT Explorer

New Member
TP2000 said:
I think you are mistaken. D23 Expo was not 20,000 square feet.

The D23 Expo used approximately 550,000 square feet of reserved space at the Anaheim Convention Center, not including the center's large lobbies and ticketing atriums. :)

The big Parks & Resorts Pavilion took up half of Exhibit Hall B and was 75,000 square feet just on its own. :eek:

D23 Expo took up the entirety of the A, B and C Exhibit Halls in the Anaheim Convention Center. In addition to the main floor exhibit halls, D23 Expo used theaters, presentation rooms and exhibits on the second and third floor of the Convention Center. They also used the 7,000 seat Anaheim Arena for the keynote speeches by Iger, Rasulo, Cook, Lasseter, etc.

Exhibit Hall A is 145,000 Square Feet (Disney Consumer Products, ABC TV, Radio Disney, Collectors Forum, Disney Dream Home, Disney Weddings, Queue for D23 Arena, Strombolli's Tratorria)

Exhibit Hall B is 145,000 Square Feet (Parks & Resorts Pavillion, Disney Corporate Responsibility, Disney Interactive Group, Disney Technology Labs, D23 Lounge, Expo Welcome Center, Walt's Diner)

Exhibit Hall C is 155,000 Square Feet (Disney Dream Stage, Disney Dream Store, DVC, Disney Pin Trading, El Capitan Theater, US Postal Service, Caballero's Cafe, Woody's BBQ)

The second floor used rooms 202, 204, 207, 208, 210, 212, and 213 for D23 Expo events for a total combined use of 41,000 Square Feet. (Stage 23 Theater, Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives, Baby Einstein, Storytellers Theater, D23 Auction Preview, ABC TV Screening Theater)

The third floor combined Ballrooms A,B,C,D and E to create the 38,000 square foot Walt Disney Studios Theater. It was a custom built, and rather luxurious and very large theater that was used to showcase feature length movies. It also had 3-D and digitial projection capabilities.

Finally, D23 Expo also made use of the 7,000 seat Anaheim Arena, christened the D23 Arena for the Expo and used for keynote executive presentations. In its D23 Arena format, it comprised 25,000 square feet of space.

So add that all up and the total square footage as used by the D23 Expo was 550,000 square feet spread over three levels of the center. Give or take a snack bar or two. :lol:

If the D23 Expo would need to expand in future years, there is still the 220,000 square foot Exhibit Hall D left vacant at the Expo, and 100,000 square feet of additional ballroom space on the second and third floor it could use at the Anaheim Convention Center.

We had discussed a few weeks ago these exact figures and the logistical hurdles of spreading all of these events out over the four WDW conference properties you mentioned above. In my opinion, breaking the D23 Expo up across multiple WDW properties would kill the energy and exciting purpose of having all of this stuff under one roof in 2009, with the ability to expand by quite a bit in future years at the Anaheim Convention Center if D23 Expo takes off. :)
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Interesting.

Heck if that's big, use ALL of WDW's Convention Halls!:D :lol:

Wilt Dasney said:
I like the idea of holding an expo every few years. I'm guessing the Dragon Cons and Comic Cons of the world can hold these things every year because they house exhibits from multiple entertainment companies, so the odds are somebody will have something to announce that will cause some industry buzz.

As one corporation (albeit a very large one), Disney's big announcements are going to be fewer and farther between. I don't think Marvel changes that, because people are going to expect comic-related announcements at the comic expos (whether that be actual comic books or properties based on them, like movies). I think having Marvel hold out to make its announcements at D23 would just look like Disney trying to fiddle with the sacrosanct comics culture and hack a lot of fans off.

If D23 was held every four years (think World Cup, Olympics, or presidential elections), there could be a big buildup over a couple of years.
Click to expand...

While that's putting a very positive spin on it :)lol:), the original intention was for every year....and hopefully that would mean something big and different announced every year.

It's a shame low attendance is taking it's toll on it....But then again, look at the prices. I won't get into that here.

The D23 Expo is something I am liking A LOT out of D23. I would hope that they would continue this.
:D
 
Victoria

Victoria

Not old, just vintage.
Something interesting of note...

I just saw that @ProgressCityUSA twittered: Eric Jacobson sez Flying Carpets will stay despite 2nd dumbo spinner.

I have no clue who Eric Jacobson is, but boooo if this is true. Thoughts? :shrug:
 
DMC-12

DMC-12

It's HarmonioUS, NOT HarmoniYOU.
tiggerific418 said:
Something interesting of note...

I just saw that @ProgressCityUSA twittered: Eric Jacobson sez Flying Carpets will stay despite 2nd dumbo spinner.

I have no clue who Eric Jacobson is, but boooo if this is true. Thoughts? :shrug:
Click to expand...

I just thought they were going to leave the AL spinner alone... and just buy another one (?) :shrug:
 
sponono88

sponono88

Well-Known Member
The LA Times had this to say about D23:

D23 hits its stride with Saturday crowd surge

D23 hits its stride with Saturday crowd surge

Judging by the faces of Walt Disney Co. officials, the Happiest Place on Earth moved south a few blocks on Saturday to the Anaheim Convention Center. With a crowd surging well over 10,000 (perhaps closer to 20,000) and with the weekend energy of so many youngsters added to the attendance mix, the inaugural D23 Expo hit its stride.

When an encore performance was added for Roy P. Disney's "Growing Up Disney" presentation and an overflow crowd was turned away from "Imagineering the Future of Disney Parks" program at the 5,000-seat arena, you could sense that the event had hit turning point. The message it signaled was a first-year success for Disney's bold plan to create its own dedicated version of Comic-Con International. The crowd on Thursday had left some observers here (myself included) wondering if the expo was too young to fill this cavernous venue, but the size felt just right today.

It will be interesting to see where the Expo goes next year. With images, footage and media accounts of this year's edition, I suspect that the second gathering will bring in Disney faithful from across the country and beyond. Photos of Johnny Depp's three-minute romp on stage on Friday will probably be good for 10,000 tickets sold alone. There's also a big ace in the hole for the organizers: This year the Expo has Darth Vader, Ms. Piggy, Jack Sparrow and Mickey Mouse on stage, but next year they can add Spider-Man and other Marvel characters after the recent acquisition of the comics-industry giant.

The event feels very different than Comic-Con International and not just due to size. This Expo started with Disney's polish and intense appetite for control (which, it must be said, has served the company well at times) which makes its sensibility very different than the scruffy, fan-ruled Comic-Con. You won't see fans sitting on the floors during presentations, and you certainly won't hear Kevin Smith or Samuel L. Jackson dropping F-bombs from the main stage. On Friday, even press weren't allowed to bring their laptops, cell phones or cameras into the presentation by Disney Studios chief ________ Cook which is major departure from the digital freewheeling spirit of Hall H at Comic-Con. Comic-Con wants to be everywhere via You Tube; D23 wants you to know that if you weren't in the room than you missed something special. Comic-Con is like Grateful Dead encouraging fans to swap bootlegs, D23 is more like, well, a Hollywood studio gripped by piracy concerns and the fear of seeing amatuer-quality versions of its product.

Also, it occurred to me today, there's a big track-meet quality to Comic-Con with so many competing studios, companies and dreamers looking to win over the audience. That creates a kind of lovely chaos that's missing from the one-company show here in Anaheim. The "surprises" at D23 will be elaborate stage moments that are carefully choreographed, such as the delightful Muppets musical number on Friday. The surprises at Comic-Con feel more like a rock concert where the crowd is more actively involved in the ultimate fate of the show.

But on Saturday, here in Anaheim, the careful rhythms of Disney's tune didn't really matter, the big story was that Disney has a hit on its hands.

-- Geoff Boucher
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The crowds yesterday (Sat.) were definitely a lot bigger than Friday/Thursday. I loved the expo and loved the wide variety of events. I learned so much about Disney and most importantly Walt.

Can't wait for next year's expo!
 
RSoxNo1

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
tiggerific418 said:
Something interesting of note...

I just saw that @ProgressCityUSA twittered: Eric Jacobson sez Flying Carpets will stay despite 2nd dumbo spinner.

I have no clue who Eric Jacobson is, but boooo if this is true. Thoughts? :shrug:
Click to expand...

Eric Jacobsen is one of the top people at Imagineering, just not as well known as Tony Baxter and Joe Rohde, but I believe he has a similar job title.
 
EPCOT Explorer

EPCOT Explorer

New Member
SirGoofy

SirGoofy

Member
tiggerific418 said:
Something interesting of note...

I just saw that @ProgressCityUSA twittered: Eric Jacobson sez Flying Carpets will stay despite 2nd dumbo spinner.

I have no clue who Eric Jacobson is, but boooo if this is true. Thoughts? :shrug:
Click to expand...

CURSES!:fork:

Eric Jacobsen is a fairly high ranking Imagineer. If he says it's staying, it's staying.

My buddy told me all good info besides the Aladdin spinner moving, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I was really looking forward to that thing being outta there.:(
 
Victoria

Victoria

Not old, just vintage.
So, from that article we learn that maybe the next Expo should be less than 4 days. Maybe a Fri-Sun thing would work better. :shrug:
 
Victoria

Victoria

Not old, just vintage.
SirGoofy said:
CURSES!:fork:

Eric Jacobsen is a fairly high ranking Imagineer. If he says it's staying, it's staying.

My buddy told me all good info besides the Aladdin spinner moving, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I was really looking forward to that thing being outta there.:(
Click to expand...


Oh well. It was nice to dream at least. :lol:
 
EPCOT Explorer

EPCOT Explorer

New Member
SirGoofy said:
CURSES!:fork:

Eric Jacobsen is a fairly high ranking Imagineer. If he says it's staying, it's staying.

My buddy told me all good info besides the Aladdin spinner moving, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I was really looking forward to that thing being outta there.:(
Click to expand...

:dazzle::(

How do we know that ProgressCity has good info, though?
 
sponono88

sponono88

Well-Known Member
tiggerific418 said:
So, from that article we learn that maybe the next Expo should be less than 4 days. Maybe a Fri-Sun thing would work better. :shrug:
Click to expand...

based on crowd levels, it would make sense to shorten it to 3 days. But that would also mean fewer events and/or cramming events into a tighter schedule.

There were some events going on at the same time, overlapping one another and it's hard to choose which one to attend :eek: I was at the World of Color presentation, and was hoping to see the Theme Park Music event that followed it in the same theater. As we exited the WoC presentation, little did we know there would already be hundreds of people already lining up for the next event :(

My hope is that next year's expo will have higher ticket sales and will remain a 4-day event.
 

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