Tuesday, July 23, 2013

D23 Expo, What Is It?!?!

D23 Expo, What Is It?
 
            Most Disney fans have heard of D23, Disney’s club for the ultimate Disney fans. But what is the D23 Expo?
            August 9 – 11, 2013 the third D23 will be held at the Anaheim Convention Center. Disney fans around the world are excitedly awaiting this event. The D23 Expo is held every other year at the Anaheim Convention Center. This is where you can find out about what upcoming things can be expected at Disney parks and the Disney Cruise along with upcoming animated and live-action movies the Disney Studios.
            Along with finding out about what is coming next you can also see seldom seen items from the Disney Archives. This year there will be a major display of costumes and props along with concept art and other items from Mary Poppins. Other movies will also be represented in the display.
            Disney Consumer Products (a.k.a. Disney Stores) will have a display area where you can purchase newly released Disney Consumer Products. They will also have some soon to be released items on display.
            At past Expos may have had Imangineers in the Disney Parks display area to answer questions. At the 2011 Expo they had a mockup of the bow of the Disney Fantasy. Behind that wasn’t area with a mockup of the Disney Fantasy lobby statue of Minnie Mouse. They also had a display allowing you to see a sped up version of what the Virtual Portholes on the Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy look like. There was a cast member there to explain what you were looking at and a table with pamphlets about the Disney Cruise Line.
            Also in the Disney Parks display area was a 3-D model of the yet to be opened New Fantasyland at WDW’s Magic Kingdom. Also on display with a ride vehicles for New Fantasyland Snow White and those Seven Dwarves Mine Ride. Disneyland Resort was not ignore as they had a model of Disney California Adventures new (not yet open then) Cars Land. They had ride vehicles for all three of the new Cars Land rides on display. They also had Lightning McQueen and Red the fire truck on display. Lightning and Red are the “characters” come out and visit guests in Cars Land.
            There was also a small display on the new Shanghai Disney Park. They had artists drawings of what the park would look like with signs designating some rides that will be there.
            One of my favorite “shops” to check out at the Expo was the Glendale Disney Store that is for Imangineers only. They had items that are normally only available to Disney Imangineers to purchase.
            A large area of the Expo Display Area is open for exhibitors to rent space. These run the gamut from Disney Fan Sites and Disney Specific Travel Agencies to sellers of Disney Collectibles. At the last Expo I saw of very rare Dumbo cel being sold by one of the exhibitors.
            Besides all of these exhibits there are special event hosted by Disney Luminaries. John Lasseter will be sharing about the upcoming animated features from both Pixar and Disney Studios. The head of the Disney Studios will be sharing what is happening with live-action Disney movies.
            Friday Ridley Pearson will be discussing the next and last book in the Kingdom Keepers series. He will be sharing how the fans of the books can be part of the writing of this final Kingdom Keepers book. Imangineer Tony Baxter will be sharing the secrets of Undiscovered Disneyland. He will be talking about the development of rides and storytelling at Disneyland.
            Two of the biggest events will happen on Saturday. 8 new Disney legends will be honored in a special ceremony in the afternoon. In the evening Richard Sherman and Alan Menken will be performing music they wrote for Disney movies and the park.
            All day on Sunday they will be having discussions posted by various Disney Imangineers in honor of Imagineering’s 60th anniversary. In the evening they will have the head of Disney’s Broadway productions talking about taking Disney movies to Broadway.
            There is actually so much to do at the D23 Expo that there is no possible way to do or see everything. So it is best to look at the schedule and plan ahead if you are going. Realize that you will have to stand in line for the “E Ticket” events.
            There are several helpful links about the D23 Expo.
D23 Expo Homepage:
D23 Expo Schedule:

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