There was a point during my third day at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event 2026 when I realized I had walked just about every corner of the Anaheim Convention Center, and yet I was struggling to figure out what I actually wanted to go back and do.
This was my fourth D23 Expo, and overall, I had a good time. There were panels I loved, genuinely fun exhibits, and plenty of moments that reminded me why I want to keep attending. And before getting into what I think wasn’t working this year, there were absolutely some highlights worth mentioning.
What D23 Got Right
The event itself seemed to run more smoothly this year. Lines are inevitable at D23, but crowd management felt much better than it has in the past. Remember sleeping on the concrete in Hall E overnight just for a chance at a panel? We’ve come so far.
There were also some fantastic exhibits on the floor:
- The Walt Disney Family Museum brought a model of Walt’s Carolwood Pacific Railroad, complete with tiny versions of Walt and Lillian Disney, and Walt’s Barn brought an actual Disneyland train car dating back to 1955.
- A viral LEGO creator had his massive recreation of Pirates of the Caribbean on display, complete with music, audio, fog, and running water!
- Outside everything insightful and Disney nerd-worthy inside of the Imagineering pavilion, the Walt Disney Archives’ Uncrated exhibit was probably my favorite thing on the entire show floor.
- I also really enjoyed staring at these little cuties at the Lucasfilm area, too. I might have stopped here multiple times.
- I also loved the event-exclusive photo booths toward the back of the hall and happily paid for a few photo strips. You could choose special D23 frames, including some celebrating The Muppet Show’s 50th anniversary, and leave with a physical photo memory from the weekend.
This is what I want from D23. Give me Disney history, weird artifacts, models, props, and things I can’t see anywhere else.
What Isn’t Working
Better operations didn’t necessarily make for a better show floor. The more time I spent wandering the convention center, the more I noticed what wasn’t there. The huge Emporium marketplace was gone, and many of the interactive experiences I remembered from previous events had disappeared. In their place were virtual queues for exclusive merchandise and a whole lot of places designed to take a selfie.
D23 has always been a corporate event. Disney is there to promote Disney, and nobody buying a ticket should be surprised about that. But previous expos still managed to make that advertising feel like something fans could explore, play with, and learn from.
This year, too much of the show floor felt designed to be posted rather than experienced.
16 Disney+ and Hulu Activations(?!)
The Disney+ and Hulu presence was the biggest example of my problem with the show floor this year. There were 16 different activations in Hall A (more on that location below).
They had a scavenger hunt where you visited different activations, collected stamps, and after getting four, you could pick up a mystery bag with a pin from a Disney+ or Hulu show. We love a good convention freebie and scavenger hunt, so I’m completely on board with that part.
But at so many of the stops, the “activity” was taking a photo. Take a selfie, get your stamp, move along. Collectively, these stops took up a significant amount of the show floor, with spaces dedicated to The Simpsons, Chad Powers, Percy Jackson, Alien: Earth, American Horror Story, and plenty of other Disney+ and Hulu titles.
Did I learn anything about the new Simpsons movie? Nope. Do I know who Chad Powers is now? Still nope. Instead, so much of that space was built around getting people to take a picture, post it, tag it, and provide Disney with some social media engagement.
The Emporium Was Really Missed
The big thing missing from the show floor this year was the Emporium. This marketplace used to fill a huge portion of Hall A, and you could spend hours going through vintage Disney merchandise, hard-to-find pins, collectibles, artwork, and booths from smaller vendors. Additional Disney talent would show up there, available for book signings and interactions, such as Bill Farmer, Bob Gurr, and the like.
More importantly, you didn’t need a reservation or virtual queue to experience any of it. You could just wander through, see what caught your eye, talk to vendors, and discover things you couldn’t find in one of Disney’s official stores.
I understand why Disney might not want to deal with managing dozens of independent vendors when they aren’t getting the lion’s share of those profits. But removing the marketplace also removed a huge, easily accessible part of the convention experience, and Disney didn’t really replace it with anything.
Smaller Disney fan conventions and marketplaces helped inspire what D23 eventually became in the first place. I’d love to see some of that warmth, community, and unpredictability brought back to the show floor.
What I Want From the Next D23
If this is where big conventions are heading, we’re trading fan experiences for “engagement.” We’re getting more exclusive merchandise, virtual queues, Instagram opportunities, and things designed to be shared online, but fewer things designed simply to be experienced by the person actually standing there, event badge around their neck.
Outside of the panels, assuming you had a Honda Center ticket, scored a lucky RSP reservation, or were willing to camp out for standby, the show floor sometimes felt split between two activities: waiting for your chance to shop and taking photos.
I don’t think D23 needs to completely reinvent itself to fix that. Start by bringing back the Emporium Marketplace. Beyond that, maybe it’s additional event days, tighter ticket caps, changes to shopping virtual queues, or simply more high-capacity activities that don’t require reservations.
Give us things to play. Give us things to learn. Give us weird Disney history to stare at for 20 minutes. Give us more Cast Members and artists to talk to. Give us somewhere to wander (not wait!) when our next panel isn’t for another two hours.
I had fun at D23, and I’ll most likely be excited when the next one rolls around. But fans travel all the way to Anaheim for something they can’t experience from their phones or during a regular day at the theme parks. Character statues, meet-and-greets, and elaborate photo ops can be fun, but we already have plenty of opportunities for those elsewhere. D23 should be the place for the weird, rare, historic, and unexpected Disney experiences you can’t find anywhere else.
To hear more about our team’s D23 experiences, including plenty of the good AND the bad, watch or listen to our latest episode of the DIS Unlimited Podcast!
