I went to the D23 Expo before 8 a.m., the Marvel and Lucasfilm panel standby was filled up by 6 a.m.!, so I wandered on the show floor and areas I did not go on Friday! My secondary objective was to go to Lorcana in the morning. I was told that trading card game packs would be available in the morning. I found a line that went across the hall, Lorcana ran out of packs by the 300th customer, and the queue went beyond it! They gave out a sample card, “ Mickey Mouse, Brave Little Tailor” and a Lorcana pin. This game comes out next year. So one of the realizations is that most places had reservations, but it looked like most people had one reservation a day, so this would mean mostly standbys which they cap to about twenty people. My suggestion would be to have a panel, event, or popular store and another store or signing, a total of two reservations a day, no more than two. I talked to a guest who only had two reservations (!), but made reservations for 16 a day!
So I was just wandering the show floor. On the Play Disney app, there is a game, DisneyMe D23 Expo Quest! You set up your icon and then scan QR codes at booths around Hall C. There are four total, the Disney Cruise Line, other booths (no spoilers if you want to play, only two, one to start, and the other that was very difficult), and the one that was difficult for me to find at the Wonderful World of Dreams. This was not connected to the other businesses. Once you scan the four codes, you get a bonus one to customize your icon! The Wish photo op had the figures of Asha and Valentino, you can put up a wish written on a star and after the photo op you get a lithograph! I went then to the Hulu booth at the Disney Bundle Pavilion in Hall B. There were displays from Only Murders in the Building and a photo op, I chose Shark Tank. Then, I walked to Journey into Storytelling which has ABC, ABC news, and hulu. This was just filled with video and photo ops. There is a Good Morning America background that you can pose in front for a printed photo.
Then, there is Grey’s Anatomy, where you can have your photo taken and placed in a badge reading your name with either doctor or nurse. At the left corner are displays from National Treasure and a video op where you “run” down a hall for the National Treasure: Edge of History show to debut on Disney+ on December 14th. Next to it is American Born Chinese, based on the Gene Luen Yang 2006 graphic novel of the same name. You can pose with the staff of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. It is several different moves that are captured on a video compilation of the pictures. Across from it is Abbott Elementary which has a video reaction to a scene in the teacher’s break room. My final video op was Only Murders in the Building. This is you in some action seen through the window of the Arconia. Afterwards, you can get six pins of the various shows on a card.
Then, I went to Disney on Broadway, that has VR headsets and headphones to see three shows; Frozen, Aladdin, and Lion King. There are some props and costume sketches on the wall once you enter from the queue outside. A video is hosted by Michael James Scott who plays the Genie in Aladdin showing how to use the VR headsets. It was a selection of one show, but now it is three with almost complete songs. The Elsa dress transition in a micro second is amazing, I have thoughts on how this was accomplished. Aladdin is fun, I did notice that it is very close up instead of a bird’s eye view of the stage so when I turned it was confusion with dancers. The “Circle of Life” is always impressive, I do notice sitting down, you can’t turn to see the audience, and also the number is cut short.
Next I headed to the other hall I didn’t get to yesterday, A, Walt’s Plane, Mickey Mouse One, a Grumman Gulfstream I. It almost filled up the entire arena! There were displays of the plane including Walt Disney’s suit worn by Tom Hanks in Saving Mr. Banks (2013). When you leave there are postcard art of the plane's destinations, I didn't want Palm Springs which is not too distant, and instead got New Orleans (a favorite city) and New York (also tops, both new cities?). I saw a Mirabel Encanto statue for a photo op. there was a McFarlane Toys booth, it had the upcoming Avatar figures. The one that impressed me was the Omatikaya Rainforest set that has a blacklight to reveal the glowing, night world and figures. Black light is used to see features on the Na’vi and the creatures of Pandora. I went back to Disney Animation and small buttons were given out. I was resting and then suddenly got an alert that I was ready to go to the D23 Expo Marketplace. There was a section on Tron; some Flynn’s Arcade t-shirts, only in Small and Xtra Small! There were some pins and a pin and patch set.
Behind it is Avatar merch; Na’vi tails, shirts, and sandals which I wonder if it is sold at Pandora - The World of Avatar. I saw a section on Willow action figures and pins. The first line of figures was by Tonka (!) that resembled miniature figures or painted army figurines on bases. These are ReAction figures made by Super7. The only one was Willow Ufgood with Elora Danan. The baby is in a basket. Not much articulation for the Willow figure, a very 80s action figure! The Star Wars section had some confusing figures. There was the Ahsoka Tano figure, re-packaged, from the Forces of Destiny dolls that didn’t sell. I saw a Star Wars: The Black Series set of Obi-Wan in blue and white robes with a face like a sculpt of Jean-Luc Picard. Also there was the bizarre CI-940 droid figure. It looks like Mickey Mouse. In the Marvel section there was a Spider-Man Avengers Campus, to tie into the attraction, figure that was $300! What was stunning were the Black Panther Wakanda Forever shirts in all sizes, not just Small! At D23 today, on the show floor were photo ops, great merch, and good experiences!
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