Saturday, August 15, 2015

D23 Expo- Cool Confusing Chaos

D23 Expo weekend has been crazy, and I'm not even there.  Eliot's been sending me messages throughout his past two days there and I can tell how crazy it is.  There are approximately 65,000 people descending upon Anaheim for the bi-annual event.  A few words to describe my impression from the outside looking in: cool, confusing, chaos.

Photo Source: D23 Expo
The D23 Expo is obviously a huge event for Disney.  They've made huge announcements there over the weekend regarding their theme parks, future movies and other projects.  They release limited edition merchandise exclusive to the event.  They also have displays of tons of Disney memorabilia, historic items, even merchandise from their other theme parks around the world!  It's so cool to go to one location with all of this wealth of magic.

Photo Source: D23 Facebook Page
However, according to Eliot, it's been very confusing and more unorganized than one would expect from Disney.  Disney runs it's theme parks like a well oiled machine.  They have crowd control and traffic patterns down to a science.  D23, it seems has been incredibly confusing in comparison.  Eliot's told me cast members don't know how to give directions.  There is a lack of signage leading you to desired destinations.  It's not what you'd expect from an event coordinated by Disney.

Photo Source: D23 Facebook Page
Leading to my final impression- it seems D23 has been chaos.  Honestly, I do expect some chaos when you're cramming 65,000 into one event, even if the venue is huge.  However, some of this seems like it could have been controlled.  Eliot said they had two doors open yesterday when he was one of the approximately 20,000 people waiting outside to get into the event.  There wasn't water for those people in the hot sun.  There wasn't even water available for sale.  This isn't what Disney is known for.  Disney is top of the line guest services, with water fountains in ride queue lines to make sure guests stay hydrated.

Photo Source: D23 Facebook Page
I've got to say that I'm a little bit disappointed.  After having three of these events prior to this one, I'd think they would have ironed out a few of the kinks.  It seems like there's still plenty of room for improvement, but that won't keep me from attending D23 in the future!  In fact, Eliot and I are already talking about the possibility of D23 in 2017!!!  °o°

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