Is anyone on this site going to the D23 Expo in Anaheim on August 14-16?.

This will be my first expo Im going to in USA and the first time Im going to California so Im really excited but Im wondering if anyone else is going to the expo I would be cool to meet a kh13 member. There is going to be so much awesome content at the expo this year even more so than the 2013 expo. New footage of The Good Dinosaur, Finding Dory, Zootopia and Moana plus a lot of surprises from the Disney team. Disney Infinity and of course the anticipated Kingdom hearts 3 is going to be there. But that's not enough If you love A Goofy Movie then you're in luck cause there is going to be a special celebration for the 20th anniversary of the film with the cast and crew talking behind the scenes from the film. And Aladdin is also going to have it's own celebration of the making of a classic. One of the greatest animators Andreas Deja is going to be at the expo. He is most known for animating Scar, Gaston, Lilo, Hercules and Jafar. If I get to interview him Im gonna explode he is such a great artist. Once Upon A Time is going to be at the expo with the stars of Lana Parilla and Ginnifer Goodwin signing for autographs. I have watched OUAT ever since 2012 and I am a fan of OUAT. There is of course going to be more fun and exciting things that is going to show up at the expo you can look it up on their site https://d23.com/d23-expo/. 

As you can see Im really excited for this expo I hope I meet new friends and have a great time. But as I said at the top of this topic is anyone on kh13 going to the D23 Expo next month?.

I would love to go... if only I live in Anaheim instead of Canada. I just wish they would do something like this for Canada (a Kingdom Hearts convention would be nice)

I'm going to go to D23 next month but I'm only going to be there for one day because I don't have that much money to go to all 3 days.

Edited August 1, 201510 yr by riku1995

I know I'm going on a wheelchair on Sunday morning.

Edited August 4, 201510 yr by adngo714

God, I'd love to go to D23, but sadly, I don't have the money! D:  But well, to you and everyone else who ends up going, I hope you all enjoy yourselves!  Especially when the Kingdom Hearts III news is revealed!

I hope all of you who were there had a great time at the expo now let me tell how my three days at the expo turned out. 

 

Day 1. When August 14 came I went to the expo 8:00 in the morning and when I came to the convention center I did expect lines but I did not expect the line to almost start from Disneyland. It was messy and hard to find the right line for general but not only that, it was very hot temperature outside with the sun warming while people stood crowded in line to the entrance. Some people fainted during the waiting and I had to drink a lot, a lot of water so that I would not start to feel tired. It took 4 and a half hours before I came into the expo and already then I had missed two shows I had planned to see. I got my ticket and went into the giant hall of Walt DIsney Animation Studios panel. There I saw a little sneak peek of Pixar's upcoming The Good Dinosaur with beautiful concept art and clips. I saw a new poster for the anticipated Finding Dory and got some giveaways from Zootopia and Pixar staff. I went to the Zootopia area so I could take a photo with statue figures of Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps. Then I finally got to meet my role model animator Mark Henn (most known for animating Belle, young Simba, Oliver, Pocahontas, Jasmine, Tiana and many more. The moment I got to meet him I lost it and just introduced myself in a way to show just how much I am inspired by his work and telling a little about myself that I am an aspiring animator. After that I participated in a drawing competition and drew my own original Disney Prince and also Ariel. Then I ran to the big D23 hall where John Lasseter would talk about the upcoming Animation Features. When I came to the entrance I heard staff saying that the hall was full and that they were going to close the doors but then I saw some other guests go in so I raced in before they closed the doors and I had proof that I was a D23 member so they did let me pass. The hall was huge with a lot of guests and four giant screens hanging up in the air while the stage was in the middle. I took a seat on the left side of the stage cause the middle was for golden members. Sadly I can't say that all the people at the expo was nice and kind I had an old grumpy man sitting on my left side being grumpy the whole show, but I didn't care I came there for a reason and I would not let any rude guest stop me from having fun. When it was finally time for the show to start they presented an epic intro showing small never before clips from Zootopia, The Good Dinosaur, Moana, Beauty & The Beast, The Jungle Book, Pete's Dragon, POTCDMTNT, Alice 2, SWFA, Marvel and a quick glimpse of Finding Dory in monterey with Dory swimming under some kelp other than that it was re used Finding Nemo scenes. Then John Lasseter finally came out on stage and he started with Walt Disney Animation Studios introducing the crew behind Zootopia and then later also Ginnifer Goodwin who voices Judy Hopps. The two clips of footage they showed from Zootopia I really liked and Im not gonna spoil anything but Zootopia feels like a great comedy that is well made the reception from all of us guest was very positive. Then they took off with Moana that feels like it's going to be one epic ride. They showed concept art and final rendering from the characters of the film. And out came non other than The Rock came out on stage and fangirls  screamed for more than 50 seconds. It seems like Moana will market the film like Tangled did with Flynn as the main focus in marketing with focusing on the character Maui and his tattoos. The footage that really impressed me with Moana was one of the antagonists for Moana a Lava Witch kinda of similar to a mix of Ursula/Willow but appears to be a lot more intimidating. Moana is going to have two sidekicks a cute pig named Pua and a stubborn rooster named Hei Hei. The scenes that they showed had the whole audience blown away by the look of the movie espically the opening sequence of the film that we got to see. But Disney also showed one of their upcoming Disney musicals originally called Giants now Gigantic with a brand new story from the original but with the same setting of the film taking place in Spain. Gigantic had me kinda of mixed feelings I wasn't that impressed by the look of the film and I felt I had seen the same concept before but that later changed when I got to know a little more about the story during the show. The songwriters of Frozen performed one of their songs for the film that was rather mediocre but entertaining with the the songwriter's acting during the performance. Now it was time to jump onto Pixar and there The Good Dinosaur got to shine and left the audience in both tears and excitement. The Good Dinosaur was the star of this show in my opinion I loved the 4 scenes they showed from the film and Im thinking that maybe this can be my new favourite Pixar film. Then they finally jumped onto Finding Dory and showed off some awesome scenes from the film where I got to know that Finding Dory is also going to feature Nemo's class and Ray in the beginning of the film. The animation for Finding Dory was what had me mixed since it was a long time since Finding Nemo was made and that the animation at Pixar have improved during the years. In Finding Nemo the animation was very blue and colorful which I loved when the first clip was shown from the sequel the animation was not that colorful like the original but more dark and un colorful. The scene was pretty fast paced so I don't really remember that much about the animation but I do remember the scene itself it was all about Dory trying to remembering her family and that she needed to find them. Then Ellen came out to the stage which came as a surprise and after her came the rest of the cast and the crew. The last scene they showed from Finding Dory was when Dory was captured in monterey and met the character Hank who I think I need more scenes with to like the character. It feels like Pixar is really proud with Finding Dory and since Finding Nemo is so far my favourite Pixar film I am really excited for the sequel Im just hoping that it will be as good as Andrew Stanton says. Then Pixar showed off the upcoming Coco and Toy Story 4 both movies had a positive reaction from the guests I was really impressed by Coco and I really liked what I saw. Toy Story 4 I thought was ok but I am happy with that Bo Peep is actually returning so that will be a nostalgic moment for me. After the panel was over I went back to the hotel cause I was exhausted.

 

Day 2: The second day however didn't turn out as I wanted it to I didn't go as early as I did the first day cause on the second day they were going to show the live action, Star Wars and Marvel panel so I went 12:00 instead. I only got to see three things that day. A Big Hero 6 behind the scenes panel, Welcome to Zootopia and a drawing of Disgust and Anger by Albert Lozano. That day I had planned to see the Making of Aladdin and Toy Story 20th anniversary but both panels were to crowded with people cutting in line and just being completely rude and mean.

 

Day 3: My last I started very early eating breakfast 6:00 and race to the expo before 7:00 then I stood in line for 4 and a half hours but at least I got a great place to sit during the Disney Interactive panel. This was one of the days that I had waited for ever since 2013 for Kingdom Hearts 3 news and Disney Infinity. This panel did not disappoint me and it was really worth it standing in line for this panel. When Big Hero 6 was confirmed I screamed of joy cause I loved Big Hero 6 and it was so great to see that it wasn't to late for the San Fransokyo world to happen. Disney Infinity seems to develop it self to better stages for each game but I wonder when they are going to add water mechanics and four legged characters. The day kept on gong well I met some really nice people during the day. I got to interview the animator of Rapunzel and Anna which was really cool and inspiring. And I ended the day with bringing home my free Disney Infinity figure and I picked Disgust from Inside Out. 

 

Review of the expo 

 

The D23 Expo 2015 was fan event that I had been waiting for ever since I was 16 so I was planning and expecting the expo to be grand and I had a vision that I would make contacts with animators and befriend a lot of people. However the expo itself had its high points and it's low points. 

 

The Good 

 

The shows that I got to see was amazing and breathtaking 

 

Nice Disney staff helping the guest to find it's locations 

 

A lot to see 

 

The giveaways made the experience so much more memorable

 

Meeting directors, animators, actors and more

 

The Bad

 

Long lines, little space

 

Rude, mean guests and they call themselves Disney Fans  

 

Too crowded

 

Badly organized, people fainted on the outside because of the heat and lines.

 

False marketing when it comes to Shopping, The D23 site promised to let Disney fans buy merchandise from The Good Dinosaur, Zootopia and Inside out but the only merchandise you could find was Frozen, Disney Princess, Marvel, Star Wars and Toy Story. No sight of Classic Disney like Lion King, Aladdin, Jungle Book, Dumbo, Mulan or Tarzan and no sight of The Good Dinosaur or Zootopia. 

 

To tight schedule

 

I expected to buy a lot of classic Disney stuff at the expo but I could not find any classic Disney merchandise. I mean come on Disney not all boys love marvel and Star Wars what happened to Lion King, Aladdin, Tarzan, Peter Pan, Dumbo, Jungle Book and the rest. The only thing I bought was a Shere Khan pop figure the rest was giveaways. Although the expo had it's low points it also really showed of with the panels. So the expo was still an awesome time but if only they would have fixed the line problems and the rest the D23 expo would have been a better experience. 

 

7/10 

Edited August 20, 201510 yr by IwasBornAsVentus