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Your 2024 D23 Experiences Thus Far

Your 2024 D23 Experiences Thus Far

Bricklayer

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Unfortunately, I was unable to attend D23 this year. But for all of you currently attending - how has it been, so far!? Would love to hear some general observances. The good and the bad? The pin scores? Insider tips for future attendees? Queues? New discoveries? Make me jealous!
 




My haul. A successful weekend I think. I definitely missed some lion king pins but I hope I can trade for them.

I was only physically there myself on Sunday. But there wasn’t much of a crowd and the people I met were pleasant for the most part.

Left after I started feel nauseous a couple of hours after MOG.

I will say the hero vs villains pins are really cool looking in person. Definitely one of my new favorite series.
 
They’re gorgeous. They are going to be very popular when people start seeing them in person.
 
Had a great time. I went the last one when it was early morning queues, team no sleep, pin bullies everywhere. I had read the horrors stories here (thanks everyone who shared) and thought I was prepared. I was not prepared. [narrator: she was not prepared]. But after my recon experience I decided okay let’s try again and took a risk and brought the husband as a reinforcement for some traders.

The VQ are awesome. I’m sorry but overnight queuing sucks. I’d rather know I didn’t get something right away and move on to do other things rather than get trampled and bullied. We lucked out in the VQ, got so much stuff. But also, did I get everything I wanted? No. Did I see everything I wanted? No. Did I have a meltdown and cry from sheer exhaustion, hunger and frustration from being yelled at? Also no. Would I do it again. Yes! AND most importantly my husband was like, ‘next time, we need to…next time, I want to…’ he’s not the Disnerd or pinhead I am which is telling.

For those of you who haven’t been back, I encourage you to try again…we plan on returning in two years.

And it’s so nice to see DPFers out in the wild )


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This was my first time and I loved the chance to get pins with the VQ. I think most of the floor experiences were skippable (not worth standing in a long line at least). Crowd control wasn't perfect but understandable. I was miffed when you arrive closer to opening time that they didn't announce where to go if you had an early VQ (enter through Hall D with a pink "hall pass") so we stood in line with everyone else at first until I realized something was wrong.

I wish I had gotten up earlier to do standby for the Richard Sherman panel today but two days of waking up in the wee hours to do VQ and not being able to fall back asleep had a toll. Looking forward to next time! Probably will focus on the pins and just getting into one or two good panels.
 
My first experience this year was pretty memorable. Not sure I’d go again, but happy that I got to experience after collecting for 15 years.

My only complaint is that only people with a ticket attached to their account should be able to join the virtual queue because no way people were getting multiple VQs for every day without a team of people trying for them.

For people who only attend with 1 or 2 people, it almost makes it impossible.
 
It was my first D23 and first foray into collecting pins of this caliber. My GF and I had a great time and was able to meet AJK as well! I think the virtual queues were great, although it can be sad when you get shut out. Okay luck on Friday (missed the Princesses at MoG by about 3 groups), zero luck Saturday, but had good luck on Sunday! Win some lose some, but those princessess . If anyone has extras, we have extra Heroes v Villains! I'll make sure to post in the appropriate thread.

As noobs, appreciate the help and advice from @Ajk! Perhaps we said hi to some of y'all w/o even knowing!!

Fantastic haul @AvatarAng1 Question - where were those boxsets in the lower left corner of the first image? My friend grabbed the Simba and Sebastian from that line, but didn't see the others.
 

The box sets were at the same location. The D23 marketplace I believe?


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Reactions: Ajk
As with every Expo from the very first one, it was an exhausting, unpleasant, atrociously run he!!scape.

As tickets sold out so quickly, I was only able to get a Sunday no panels ticket. So I paid over $110 for the opportunity to shop. Was I successful? No.

I woke up at 3:55am to try for the virtual queue for one of the pin stores. Smashed the button at 4am on the dot and was told all queues were closed.

Tried to fall back asleep for a bit but alarm again woke me at 6am to get going.

Got to the convention center some time around 7:45. Thankfully I knew what to expect and where to go or I'd've been lost trying to find the entrance. I did appreciate the line being out of the sun this year (the one improvement they made), but of course no communication on where to go line up or how to get anywhere from that point. Again, fortunately, I knew where I wanted to go and made it quickly over to the DSSH booth, which was the only one with a standby line rather than virtual queue, as soon as we were let in. About 100 people or so made it there ahead of me, however, there was one pin left that I wanted to buy that was not marked sold out on the signs outside the booth (as many others were marked). Waited an hour in line and went to the register where I asked for the pin I wanted. The guy said it's sold out. WHAT?! It's not marked sold out outside. Could you just check? Please? He looked down at a list - NOT in the buckets behind him - and said it's sold out and asked what else do you want? Besides to cry after having wasted an hour for a pin that WASN'T MARKED SOLD OUT but he wouldn't check on it? I tried to look in the buckets behind the counter to no avail, then just gave up and left.

Next I went over to the RSVLTS booth where I successfully obtained the OE pin I needed there as the employee who had capped the line very kindly let me have the pin even though the line was closed. Wondered afterward if it was because I still looked so upset and shell-shocked from the DSSH rudeness and incompetence that they took pity on me at this next stop. That act of consideration was the one bright spot of the day.

Next tried to start the Pin Pursuit (this was shortly after 10am when the Expo opened at 9) only to find some booths had run out of the pins already, while all the rest had capped their lines, some with waits of 45 minutes or more. I eventually made it into the lines of some of these booths as they periodically let more in, only to be told that they were out of pins, too. By the end of the day, I'd missed half those pins because they didn't make enough for all three days.

Same for swag - I walked away with nothing else but a plastic shopping bag from Target because I'd wasted time in lines that had nothing once you got through them.

I did get over to the Figpin booth to get the Loki pin they'd released there - no problem. But they were also out of the convention gift for Disney+/D23 members.

I was glad I got to see the TVA Loki booth (after a 45 minute wait, but that was worth it) and the Imagineering pavilion (another long wait to get into the newly opened post-park panel area). But I missed seeing a lot of the rest of the floor because I wasted so much time in useless lines going nowhere.

So another annoying Expo done. And while I will have to try for a ticket for the next one because it will be an Alice anniversary year - meaning the 30+ pins released at this Expo were a drop in the bucket compared to the tsunami coming for that one - I can't imagine wanting to ever go to another one. They just get worse every single time I go and I get less done every time than the one before.
 
I was able to purchase a ticket for Sunday.

I Told myself, "it's okay that you only got one day, you have the experience of five expos behind you, make it work for you on Sunday" and I did.

I decided what I wanted to see, and made a plan.

I was able to see the Jolly Holiday/ Richard Sherman Celebration, and it was by the Stand By Queue. That in and of itself was worth the price I paid for the ticket. It was Amazing.

I cruised the car show. Pun intended. Lol. And walked up and down each aisle of the show floor.

Yes I visited a few vendors. Got some freebies. Walked over to the vendor section on the north side of the convention center show floor. I was rather surprised to see how small it was compared years past.

I had heard, that the price had gone up quite a bit for the spaces that they were allotted. And I can't help but wonder if that's why there wasn't as many there this year.

At the end I just went to the Avatar exhibit. And it was Awesome... Awesome... AWESOME!

I had planned on attending the Live simulcast of the Legends ceremony at the Premiere theatre at the HC (this is where the Sherman event was, it's big, huge) but I saw on D plus that they were going to be airing it, I believe tomorrow night. So I decided to use the extra time to cruise the show floor.

I decided to leave about 6:30, because I was exhausted and my feet were killing me. As I left I was pondering the experience this year. And I thought, "I'm glad I only came one day, it was enough."

And, I just Felt the Expo was Different from past Expos. Still trying to come up with a summary as to how, why, so I'll add a part 2 to this post when I do.

I too, want to give a big DPF Shout Out to @Ajk, etc., for all the time and energy that was put into getting as many Pieces of Shiny Disney Metal they could. It's Definitely a BIG JOB.

Saturday evening I did go over to the Hilton, because there was pin trading going on in the bar/lounge area. Now that was an experience. By the time I left at 8:15, it was Very Busy! I attempted to trade with a couple of people, but with no success. I was a little disappointed because one of the two had a plethora of pins around him, and I meant, PLETHORA! And I brought some good pins to trade. Oh well .

But, before I left I got to trade with a young lady who's first time it was. And that was a perfect way to turn around my disposition of discouragement, to a Smile and Happiness.

Thank you @Bricklayer for creating this threat. I am enjoying reading it.

I post a few pictures I took soon.
 
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Really sorry to hear of your negative experience.
 
Agreed with the sentiment that pins are WAYYYY harder to get than you’d imagine. Months prior you try to secure tickets for the “chance” at rare pins. The day of the event you wake up at 3:30 AM, hope to get a VQ at 4 AM, if the Pin Gods favor you, you end up with a boarding group less than 15. If you do get a boarding group you spend at least a few hours in line and drop hundreds of dollars. It is not for the faint of heart. Friday I got there at 5AM and walked away with absolutely nothing. Luckily Saturday redeemed it for me.

And now I understand why D23 pins skyrocket in price, because the work that gets put into acquiring them is insane!
 
BetterThanWork said:
D'oh!! I don't think I even knew about that marketplace or ever went there. That Haunted Mansion pin is nice!! And there were blind boxes too??
Click to expand...
Yup! The HM pin is LE 750 and the blind boxes are also LE 2,000. They had some surprisingly low LE's at the marketplace. The Multiplane camera was LE 200, the Pin Trading anniversary set was LE 350.
 
Ajk said:
Really sorry to hear of your negative experience.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I did know what I was getting into; I just didn't expect it to be quite this bad. At least at the last Expo I wound up with some promo pins and swag, as well as some leftover DSSH pins that were available, that made it worth the price of admission. This time, not so much.

I've had a poor to mediocre experience at every Expo since they started; it just used to be cheaper to go. I think it's reached the point at which it's a real waste of money to go. I spent $110 to get in, couldn't get into any panels, signings or giveaways, and wound up with 2 OE pins, 1 freebie and a Figpin.

This was why I stopped going to SDCC, too - if you're paying a fortune just to get there and it's a total waste of time because you can't see anything or even buy anything you want, why go?
 
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