The D23 Expo was according to most reports, and to myself, an incredibly exciting and entertaining event that showcased many facets of the Walt Disney Company. There were fascinating presentations dedicated to the past & future of the company and more than enough fun for every member of the family. Unfortunately there was a tumultuous undertone to the event just under the surface that you had to be blind not to notice.
First and foremost, it must be understood that I do not write this for myself. I write this editorial for every sad, anguished, and angry face I encountered at the D23Expo. As arrogant as it may sound, I attended the D23Expo as a representative of the countless Disney fans who couldn't attend. To be honest, this was not how we had originally planed to cover the event. Our original intention was to cover the Expo as a news organization and report back to our readers all the news that came out of the event. Fortunately for us, and I think, for our readers, that isn't how things worked out.
In the interest of full disclosure, I must tell you this; Two weeks before the beginning of the D23 Expo, we were informed by D23 PR that our application for press access was rejected. Yes, my immediate reaction was fraught with frustration and anger. Then an interesting thought occurred to me. Walt Disney proved so many times in his life that when the going gets tough, the creative get going. So I did. I immediately set myself to cover what little of the Expo I could afford to, from the point of view of the Disney fans. I wanted to talk with them, engage with them and get their true impressions of the event. Did I ever.
This story actually begins the night before our expo coverage did. On Friday August 19th we attended a Disney Fan meet up. As we spoke to fan after fan, I was immediately struck by how many horror stories were told of waiting in line for hours to get into the Disney Legends Ceremony and other events only to be turned away. The backbiting didn't stop there. We were also inundated with stories from the Disney faithful that characterized D23's "Ultimate Fan Experience" as a chaotic nightmare, complete with clueless D23 staff and overbearing event security. Several folks even expressed disgust with the fact that Disney CEO Bob Iger wasn't even in attendance at what was essentially his own party.
If Friday was indeed the chaotic mess that some fans said it was, many of the issues seemed to have been cleared up by the time we attended on Saturday. Having said that, my expectation of the event was probably quite different from the typical Disney fan. I am not uninitiated in the ways of fan conventions. They are not for the faint of heart. As any attendee of San Diego Comic Con or Star Wars Celebration will tell you, your days are usually spent in line after line waiting for the next panel or Q&A. Many times you must carefully plan your CON going experience to allow for waiting in lines & schedule changes so that you can get in to every event you desire. However, most Disney fans, are not your typical CON attendee, and I fear that basing the Expo on this kind of CON template was D23's most critical flaw. Unfortunately it wasn't to be the only one.
My CON experience told me that if I wanted to attend Saturday's Walt Disney Studio's presentation at 10:30 I was going to have to line up outside the Convention Center at least two hours before the general public were admitted at 9 am. I showed up to the convention center at 7am and realized I should have been there at 6am. D23 members were allowed in at 8am and were immediately shuffled into the arena queue line where we were told to divest all cameras and cell phones and leave our ID's. After being 'wanded' with a metal detector I was asked two separate times... AFTER I had already given up my camera & my cell phone to open my backpack for inspection. A decidedly Un-Disney experience to be sure.
The Studio's presentation itself, was pretty incredible. It was an awesome feeling to be one of the first people to see Disney's new line up of films. There was so much cool stuff to be seen. Monsters University is beginning to grow on me and Brave is now a movie I am officially dying to see. And then there's The Avengers. It was all totally amazing. What wasn't amazing? The chaotic scramble to the tables to retrieve our cell phones. That was a complete nightmare. It wasn't because the process wasn't well planned out... It seemed to be. It's because confiscating the cell phones and cameras of 2,000 people and trying to give them back in an orderly fashion is a fools errand. The only way that chaos could have possibly been avoided was to not take them in the first place.
So, after waiting 3 and a half hours in various lines and then sitting through the two hour Studio's presentation we were finally able to experience the Expo show floor. Our entire time spent there was totally and completely positive. Fans were eagerly participating in video games & volunteer programs. Fans were able to meet Disney stars, designers, and artists. It was all pretty great. The Disney Parks Carousel Of Projects pavilion was easily one of the coolest areas in the entire event. Inside that pavilion was everything you could possibly want to know about the future of Disney Parks, Cruise Lines and more. We also had the tremendous experience of hanging out at some of the fan radio & website booths inside the collectors forum.
It was inside the collectors forum where we talked to a lot of fans and began to hear the grumblings about the D23 Charter Members Lounge. Being a D23 Charter Member I decided to investigate. Once inside, I began to see that there is a pretty big gulf between fan expectation and D23's perception of it. I entered the lounge and was completely impressed by the cool lighting scheme and the very laid back feel of it. However, once I talked with fellow fans I began to see that there really was something lacking. D23 had billed the Charter Member lounge as a major perk and therefore had probably built up some heightened expectation. Yet, when guests arrived they found that aside from a quiet respite from the Expo chaos the only real perks were occasional free coffee, free cookies and a heavy handed bartender, And as one Expo attendee told me "The bar tender had better be heavy handed at nearly $7 for a Rum & Coke... Which was actually Pepsi anyway. I thought Disney dealt exclusively with Coke?"
For a majority of D23 members, this is the only D23 event they will be able to attend until, perhaps the 2013 Expo. Most D23 members dont live near Orlando, Anaheim, or New York City and therefore are unable to take full advantage of their membership and other D23 events. These fans spent a lot of time and money to get there and had very high expectations. They wanted to see Stars, they wanted to see Legends and they wanted to be catered to with that kind of magic that only Disney can provide. These are Parents, Grandparents and family types who don't frequent CON's and whose idea of Magic doesn't involve waiting five hours in a line for an event. Needless to say, there were many fans who felt let down by the organization that is supposed to be dedicated to them.
Having said all of this, I am reminded of Walt's early statements about Disneyland. He said the park would never be finished. It would continue to evolve and grow. Hopefully, the same will be true for the D23 Expo. Think about it. If we as fans didn't express our concerns, how on earth would the good folks at D23 know what to fix? So, here is to hoping that the 2013 D23 Expo will be more Expo & less CON. Here's to hoping that there will be less lines and a wider chance for fans to see everything that they have their hearts set upon. Most of all, here is to hoping that Disney & D23 find a way to bring the 2013 D23 Exposition a little closer to the fans expectations of true Disney magic.
-Admiral Duke
1 comment:
Now THAT was a worthy read. Thanks for covering D23 from the fan perspective rather than the press perspective. It's like you were a Press Ninja.
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