Official D23 Thread

[MKCP 1985]

A $5 processing fee is close enough to free.

If you were in a position to take out a charter membership and continue to be able to afford it, I would be reluctant to drop the membership. There are D23 perks and then there are Charter Member D23 perks, such as the lounge at the upcoming D23 Expo.

http://d23.disney.go.com/articles/031010_NF_FEAT_D23ExpoDestinationD.html

 

[DMC-12]

I live in the Chicago area and am a D23 member. Although I don't get the value that those in Orlando and LA get, because I haven't been able to take advantage of any of the special events, I like my membership. I get the magazine, which I'd probably buy anyways, and with each issue, there is a special D23 member perk that you don't get in the stores (my retro Land patch is cool, for example). And some of the merchandise that is available to buy is cool, too. Plus, I'm in a financial position where a decision to spend $75 is one I can take rather lightly. If money was tight at all, I'd drop the D23 membership in a heartbeat, because the really special stuff (events) are too hard for me to take advantage of.

:veryconfu I've received 3 issues and one perk (Horizons patch). Not that I am complaining. Just sayin :wave:

 

[Tigger1988]

A $5 processing fee is close enough to free.

If you were in a position to take out a charter membership and continue to be able to afford it, I would be reluctant to drop the membership. There are D23 perks and then there are Charter Member D23 perks, such as the lounge at the upcoming D23 Expo.

http://d23.disney.go.com/articles/031010_NF_FEAT_D23ExpoDestinationD.html

Which means jack squat if you don't live in LA/can't hop on a plane to LA to go to the Expo. I was a Charter Member and didn't hesitate for a second to let my membership lapse. The perks were like finding a needle in a haystack to me.

I'm sure for a lot of people (in CA and to a lesser degree, FL) D23 is great deal and a great benefit to them. But to me and I'm sure others in the rest of the country, it's a waste.

What really sealed the deal for me not renewing was the 2011 Expo not being held at WDW, could they not spread the wealth and hold it in FL? At least make an effort to include people outside of CA, seriously.

 

[Mansion Butler]

So, OK. If Walt was OK with it, so be it.

I think a few things should be preserved, but I'm not gonna
hang on too tightly.

Heck, I'd love to see America Sings again . . .
Adventure in Innerspace . . .
Dreamflight . . .
Horizons . . . .
JII original
WOM . . .

etc.

But, the fact that those things aren't there isn't a game killer for me . . .

JII is pretty close to a game killer for me. A phenomenal attraction in a park that needs more phenomenal attractions being removed for a horrible one is rough. It takes more than a couple of those for me to sour entirely, but reproducing what they did to JII more often is exactly what it would take.

 

[MKCP 1985]

Which means jack squat if you don't live in LA/can't hop on a plane to LA to go to the Expo. I was a Charter Member and didn't hesitate for a second to let my membership lapse. The perks were like finding a needle in a haystack to me.

I'm sure for a lot of people (in CA and to a lesser degree, FL) D23 is great deal and a great benefit to them. But to me and I'm sure others in the rest of the country, it's a waste.

What really sealed the deal for me not renewing was the 2011 Expo not being held at WDW, could they not spread the wealth and hold it in FL? At least make an effort to include people outside of CA, seriously.

:shrug: The event was announced almost 2 years in advance. There is a track record of what to expect from the inaugural event. If it doesn't inspire you to plan a vacation around the expo, then it doesn't, but the 2011 expo should be even better attended than the first for the reasons listed above, and for D23 members who attend, they will receive discounts and maybe even a private lounge access. That means more to some people than to others. At the end of the day, it is a personal decision. There is no right or wrong. If the program is not successful, Disney will make a corporate decision whether to continue D23, just as they made decisions on Magic Kingdom Club and other offerings.

Charter year perks that can't be debated: a D23 Jiminy Cricket pin to Day 1 members, a Disneyland fan, a Mickey Mouse poster, a patch with one of four or more attractions that opened at Disneyland in the summer of 1959. Those are the ones I remember right off the bat that everybody in the USA got, regardless of whether they went to a Disney park that year. Whether they were of sufficient value to justify the membership cost, along with the magazines, is again a personal decision.

As for the argument that D23 has to put its expo in Orlando - that has also been debated but at the end of the day, it is clear there will be no D23 expo at Walt Disney World so if that is a requirement for any person's continued D23 membership, they probably won't renew.

 

[Tigger1988]

:shrug: The event was announced almost 2 years in advance. There is a track record of what to expect from the inaugural event. If it doesn't inspire you to plan a vacation around the expo, then it doesn't

It's less about what it "inspires" me to and more about paying for: cross country airline tickets, resort accommodations, the pricey ticket to said Expo. When all is said and done I'd be paying close to $1000 for this "special" event. And if all my Charter Membership gets me is a lounge while there, no thanks.

To hear there's only 12,000 members is shocking. One has to wonder if even half of those 12,000 can afford to go to the expo.

 

[FigmentJedi]

Just have to note that the Phantom Boats actually survived the expansion and construction of Submarine Voyage, and was shorter, but still in operation until the 80's I believe when it was refurbished into a Disney Afternoon promotion, and was then shuttered.

But attractions were always closing/changing/being swept away in Walt's day.

The Phantom Boats and the Motorboat Cruise aren't the same thing.

 

[wvugeoggrad]

Anyone here going to attend the D23 Sip and Stroll event? I'm really thinking about it but will be alone. Seems like a pretty nice event and really isn't too expensive.

 

[TP2000]

Which means jack squat if you don't live in LA/can't hop on a plane to LA to go to the Expo...

What really sealed the deal for me not renewing was the 2011 Expo not being held at WDW, could they not spread the wealth and hold it in FL? At least make an effort to include people outside of CA, seriously.

This was discussed before back in '09 after the first D23 Expo, but there isn't enough room in WDW to hold an event on the scale of D23 Expo.

Like any succesful convention "event", D23 Expo was compact and walkable and yet huge and impressive. Aside from the lack of space at WDW, what space that is at WDW is spread out amongst a half dozen venues miles away from each other and in an environment that is unwalkable from venue to venue.

The Anaheim Convention Center across the street from Disneyland is the largest convention center on the West Coast, and even when you add up all the convention and conference space in all the WDW hotels you still don't get nearly the amount of square footage available in the big Anaheim Convention Center. Heck, just the fabulous Disney Parks Pavilion at the D23 Expo was big enough to fill the Contemporary convention center exhibit hall alone.

Anaheim Convention Center: 1.15 Million Square Feet
Exhibit Halls - 815,000 Square Feet
Ballrooms - 130,000 Square Feet
Lobby/Arrival Lounge - 200,000 Square Feet
Anaheim Arena - 10,000 seats

WDW Convention Facilities Combined: 365,000 Square Feet
(Combined spaces of Contemporary, Boardwalk, Grand Floridian, Beach & Yacht Club, and Coronado Springs)
Exhibit Halls - 180,000 Square Feet
Ballrooms - 120,000 Square Feet
Lobbies/Arrival Lounges - 65,000 Square Feet

The Anaheim Convention Center also has the 10,000 seat Anaheim Arena, which was an important venue used several times per day for all the high-profile events at D23 Expo. (Jay Rasulo's Fantasyland Expansion announcement was held in the Arena, for example). There is no venue on WDW property that can seat 10,000 people in a theater setting.

Smaller convention events like the upcoming D23 Destination D at the Disneyland Hotel are also conducive to Disneyland amenities. The three Disneyland Resort Hotels, all within a 5 minute walk of each other, have a large amount of convention and conference space, which the D23 Destination D will take advantage of.

Disneyland Resort Convention Facilities Combined: 175,000 Square Feet
Exhibit Hall Space - 90,000 Square Feet
Ballrooms - 45,000 Square Feet
Lobbies/Arrival Lounges - 40,000 Square Feet

Now, you could certainly move the D23 Expo to the massive Orlando Convention Center, which at over 2 Million Square Feet is one of the largest centers in the nation. But then you'd have the logistical nightmare of transporting tens of thousands of attendees per day from WDW property over to the convention center in Orlando. And why bother with that nightmare (that would rival the invasion of Normandy for moving huge numbers of people) when the Anaheim Convention Center across the street from Disneyland already handles D23 so nicely?

In better news for Disney fans in New Jersey, JetBlue Airlines has round trip, nonstop flights from Newark to Long Beach, California (20 minutes from Anaheim) that start at $207 with a 14 day advance purchase. Come on out to D23 Expo next summer!

 

[MKCP 1985]

TP2000,

Some people just can't be convinced. Imagine if the U.S. federal government were to have a special patriotic exposition, with daily lectures from heads of all the various committees and historical items from the Smithsonian, White House, Supreme Court, Senate and House of Representatives all on display. It would make sense to host this in Washington, D.C., every time it was held. To do otherwise would result in enormous inefficiencies - key leaders being away from their offices for days and weeks at a time, travel expenses of the artifacts, etc. etc.

People can make the argument that the U.S. Government should be in practically any city anywhere in the country because there are federal offices and large numbers of constituents all over, but that doesn't change the fact it is more efficient for such an expo to be held where the operations center is located, where the key people go to work, and where the artifacts are housed.

For the Walt Disney Company - based in California, Anaheim is near perfect as the department heads can take time out of their day to participate in their function at the D23 Expo and then back to the jobs they are paid to do.

To hold the expo in Orlando would be very popular, just as holding the U.S. federal government expo in New York or Los Angeles or Chicago would be, but it would be inefficient from the company's perspective.

People have 2 years' notice so that if they want to see this expo, they can choose to save for a vacation to L.A. and incorporate this into their trip, plus a visit to Disneyland for the magic to go along with the expo.

Some people can't afford it - that's reality and there is nothing wrong with that, but that doesn't mean the company should take a major financial hit to host an expo of the scale of D23 in Florida.

I say that while at the same time admitting it is much more convenient for me to travel to Orlando than to L.A. (therefore, it must be much more convenient for the vast majority of Disney executives who would be on the program at D23 to appear in L.A./Anaheim than in Orlando) :shrug:

 

[TP2000]

TP2000,

Some people just can't be convinced. Imagine if the U.S. federal government were to have a special patriotic exposition, with daily lectures from heads of all the various committees and historical items from the Smithsonian, White House, Supreme Court, Senate and House of Representatives all on display. It would make sense to host this in Washington, D.C., every time it was held. To do otherwise would result in enormous inefficiencies - key leaders being away from their offices for days and weeks at a time, travel expenses of the artifacts, etc. etc. ...

For the Walt Disney Company - based in California, Anaheim is near perfect as the department heads can take time out of their day to participate in their function at the D23 Expo and then back to the jobs they are paid to do.

Excellent points there, with a great analogy of a federal government expo not held in Washington DC.

Even if Disney wanted to spend all the extra money to ship all of the displays and exhibits and pavilions and Walt Disney Archive treasures across the country, in addition to paying for all the executive egos (and middle-management egos as well) to fly out there and be put up in fancy digs, and even if you could convince some Hollywood celebs to also fly out there for at least a day. Even if all that miraculously happened...

You would still be stuck with the logistical nightmare of moving tens of thousands of people per day from WDW property to the Orlando Convention Center, and back again each night.

Even if you hosted some of the smaller exhibits scattered around WDW in the five hotels that have modest conference facilities, you'd still need the big exhibits and the trade show elements in the Orlando Convention Center halls. And spreading it all out miles apart from each other would totally kill the vibe D23 Expo, or any big convention for any industry, wants to try and achieve.

Maybe this little map would help explain why Anaheim is perfect for D23 Expo, and why Disney signed a six year contract to use the Anaheim Convention Center for D23 Expo?

Unless D23 Expo is radically downsized and totally rethought, it's not leaving the Anaheim Resort District, where everything is within a 15 minute walk of anything else; Disneyland, Disney California Adventure, Downtown Disney, the largest convention center on the West Coast, dozens of hotels, dozens of restaurants, etc.

 

[cdunbar]

Excellent points there, with a great analogy of a federal government expo not held in Washington DC.

Even if Disney wanted to spend all the extra money to ship all of the displays and exhibits and pavilions and Walt Disney Archive treasures across the country, in addition to paying for all the executive egos (and middle-management egos as well) to fly out there and be put up in fancy digs, and even if you could convince some Hollywood celebs to also fly out there for at least a day. Even if all that miraculously happened...

You would still be stuck with the logistical nightmare of moving tens of thousands of people per day from WDW property to the Orlando Convention Center, and back again each night.

Even if you hosted some of the smaller exhibits scattered around WDW in the five hotels that have modest conference facilities, you'd still need the big exhibits and the trade show elements in the Orlando Convention Center halls. And spreading it all out miles apart from each other would totally kill the vibe D23 Expo, or any big convention for any industry, wants to try and achieve.

Maybe this little map would help explain why Anaheim is perfect for D23 Expo, and why Disney signed up for a six year contract to use the Anaheim Convention Center for D23 Expo?

Unless D23 Expo is radically downsized and totally rethought, it's not leaving the Anaheim Resort District, where everything is within a 15 minute walk of anything else; Disneyland, Disney California Adventure, Downtown Disney, the largest convention center on the West Coast, dozens of hotels, dozens of restaurants, etc.

Ding, ding that's the thing. It takes at a bare minimum 25 min to get from WDW to the Orlando Convention center. It really is just simiplier to have it out in Anaheim. Plus you also have to think that Disney's main offices are in Glendale. Why load everything onto a plane where it has to go through all that travel where it could just be driven to Anaheim. :shrug:

 

[TP2000]

Ding, ding that's the thing. It takes at a bare minimum 25 min to get from WDW to the Orlando Convention center. It really is just simiplier to have it out in Anaheim.

And the 25 minute driving time between WDW and the Orlando Convention Center assumes you are taking a straight shot. You'd have to factor in buses either picking up in a central location like at the TCC, which would then require travel time from the various WDW hotels to the D23 Express bus depot. Or, you would have buses wasting time going to a couple different hotels for pickup/delivery before they headed towards I-4 and the convention center.

Again, it would be a logistical nightmare requiring a fleet of over a hundred buses running 18 hours per day, and it still wouldn't be convenient. The lines would be epic, and patience would wear thin.

In the 25 minutes it would take to drive from the Transportation and Ticket Center to the Orlando Convention Center, you could walk from well inside Disneyland at New Orleans Square, stroll down Main Street USA, stop for a bottle of Coke in the lobby of Disney's Grand Californian Hotel, walk across the street to the Anaheim Convention Center and clear credential check, and stroll into Exhibit Hall B and be in the pre-show entrance for the Disney Parks Pavilion.

Magic Portal Opening Into Disney Parks Pavilion at D23 Expo

A brisk walker would even have time for a potty stop.

 

[sponono88]

D23's Destination D: Disneyland 55 officially began today and will continue until tomorrow. Many websites are offering updates for the event -- MiceChat in particular has an excellent thread with many live updates and pictures:

http://micechat.com/forums/d23-disney-twenty-three/144045-destination-d-live-coverage.html

pretty amazing lineup of events and later tonight, a concert featuring ‎'E-Ticket: Music from the Disney Parks'.

Official D23 Event page with additional pictures: http://d23.disney.go.com/articles/092410_NF_FEAT_DestinationDLatest.html

 

[jt04]

D23's Destination D: Disneyland 55 officially began today and will continue until tomorrow. Many websites are offering updates for the event -- MiceChat in particular has an excellent thread with many live updates and pictures:

http://micechat.com/forums/d23-disney-twenty-three/144045-destination-d-live-coverage.html

pretty amazing lineup of events and later tonight, a concert featuring ‎'E-Ticket: Music from the Disney Parks'.

Official D23 Event page with additional pictures: http://d23.disney.go.com/articles/092410_NF_FEAT_DestinationDLatest.html

So can we expect any announcements during the event for WDW? :veryconfu

 

[TP2000]

So can we expect any announcements during the event for WDW? :veryconfu

Yes. Although to be fair, this is D23 Destination D Disneyland '55 and is officially a celebration of Disneyland's 55th Anniversary this year and an event aimed at Disneyland's hardcore fans from around the world.

They revealed pictures and info on some of the new droids, including the new pilot, for Star Tours. But the context was within the Disneyland version of Star Tours, however I'm sure the droids will be the same in WDW. Pictures and tons of info on Star Tours are at the micechat link.

 

[sponono88]

Yes. Although to be fair, this is D23 Destination D Disneyland '55 and is officially a celebration of Disneyland's 55th Anniversary this year and an event aimed at Disneyland's hardcore fans from around the world.

They revealed pictures and info on some of the new droids, including the new pilot, for Star Tours. But the context was within the Disneyland version of Star Tours, however I'm sure the droids will be the same in WDW. Pictures and tons of info on Star Tours are at the micechat link.

Tony Baxter also just announced a new AA figure for Indy.

 

[jt04]

Yes. Although to be fair, this is D23 Destination D Disneyland '55 and is officially a celebration of Disneyland's 55th Anniversary this year and an event aimed at Disneyland's hardcore fans from around the world.

They revealed pictures and info on some of the new droids, including the new pilot, for Star Tours. But the context was within the Disneyland version of Star Tours, however I'm sure the droids will be the same in WDW. Pictures and tons of info on Star Tours are at the micechat link.

Thanks. I just hope they can give us at least a hint of what the new DTD (at WDW) offerings may be. That would be enough for me.

 

[TP2000]

I just hope they can give us at least a hint of what the new DTD (at WDW) offerings may be. That would be enough for me.

This D23 Destination D is only devoted to Disneyland Park. They aren't even touching the current DCA expansion or Downtown Disney Anaheim, so they certainly won't be mentioning WDW's DTD.

This D23 event is all Disneyland, all the time, in celebration of the park's 55th Anniversary in 2010. 2011 sees D23 Expo in Anaheim, and then 2012 would bring another Destination D conference, and that could theoretically go to WDW and be focused on that property.

Perhaps Destination D in 2012 could be at WDW and be focused on the 30th anniversary of Epcot?

 

[mp2bill]

Jeebus this thread is long...