2022 D23 Expo Preparations

Whew!  Has today been an adventure... let me explain.

Today was the last day to sign up for your 2022 D23 Expo sessions.    

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Eliot and I have been in charge of the expo tickets and getting them set up from the beginning.  Well, he's taken the lead since I was working at the chiropractic office the day that tickets went on sale.  Eliot and his mother bought the six tickets between their accounts, and since I wasn't involved in the process I've been a step behind.

Trying to get the tickets and the badges all set up was a nightmare.  Eliot ended up doing all of it himself because I was left so confused that I didn't know what end was up.  The process didn't end up being quite as bad as I thought it would be, but it was still confusing if you didn't buy a ticket under your own account.  Eliot's Mom and I had to "switch" tickets because it wouldn't have worked otherwise.  In the end, it didn't matter since we have the same level of ticket, but it was so confusing.  It was like an art form trying to get it all sorted out.  And I'm not impressed that Eliot and I still don't have our physical tickets, but hopefully that won't matter now that we have the digital side set up in the app.  (I guess we'll find out at the expo!)

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After the badge set up was finished, the only other thing we had to get set up was the reservations for the 2022 D23 Expo sessions.  Each year, the expo has a bunch of different experiences available including sessions, shows, talent meet and greets, and giveaways.  In the past, you had to stand in line for those.  (That's where we've had problems when volunteers don't know what's going on or where you have to line up for certain things... it's mostly been a hot mess.)  This year, Disney is allowing everyone to pre-select the experiences that they want to participate in.

With six of us attending the expo, registering got interesting.  Thankfully, Jeremy had already made his selections a few days ago when I called to let him know everything was set up for it.  Eliot and I were signing ourselves, both of my parents and his mother up for the sessions.  Thus, we took a chunk of time this afternoon to sign all of us up.

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Normally, it wouldn't be that big of a headache, but Eliot and I were trying to do it strategically.  You were only allowed to sign up for so many sessions on each day, in each category.  You also had to put them in the order you wanted to attend each session or giveaway- from what you wanted the most to the least.

We thought the best way to do it was to separate the sessions that we wanted most through a few of us to better our odds at getting into one of them.  If you are selected, you are able to bring one guest with you.  So we tried to spread out the sessions that Jeremy, Eliot and I wanted to go to the most.  None of our parents cared what they did, so we tried to make it so we'd all get into something that we'd find interesting!

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We have absolutely no idea what to expect out of this registration process.  It makes more sense than everyone standing in line for hours... especially with COVID.  This is infinitely better than our experience in 2017.  (And let's not even talk about the 2015 Expo and Eliot's experience that was pretty much a chaotic mess.)  

Yes, this is an improvement, but it will be interesting to see how it actually goes.  Will guests get sessions they actually want to go to?  Or will everyone get their 3rd or 4th selections instead of their 1st and 2nd.  I'm hopeful... but I'm also not getting my hopes up either.  I feel like it will either be a genius solution or a complete crapshoot.

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Regardless of the results, I think the biggest benefit of this set up is that we all will have a good idea of our expo plans a week in advance of the actual event.  I was left pretty disappointed in a good part of my 2017 experience... that's probably why I never jumped at the chance of writing about it.  I didn't really have a diplomatic, positive way to frame it.  It was messy and quite a bit disappointing.  I enjoyed myself, but it was a bit of a let down in the session department.  So knowing a week in advance what sessions we will be able to go to will be a big improvement in that one fact alone.

I'm cautiously optimistic about it...

It was definitely an interesting afternoon... but I'm glad that we're all signed up!  Now, we just sit back and (attempt to patiently) wait for the email(s) to tell us what sessions we actually got selected for.  Eliot and I have absolutely no idea what to expect... so I guess we'll find out on September 2nd!  Fingers crossed we get some good ones!  °o°