Have You Ever Wondered What the Show Floor is Like at D23?

If you’re a Disney fan and you’ve never attended D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, I thought I’d take some time today to share a little about what it’s like with you. This year was my second time attending the event; the first time was all the way back in 2016. At my first Expo, I pretty much hung out in our booth handing out DIS pins and writing news stories. This year, I spent the majority of my day trying to get into standby lines and perusing the show floor.

When I tell you that you need to prepare for a busy day of racing from one end of the Anaheim Convention Center to the other, including going up and down, back and forth, I am talking REALLY prepare.

Touring Disney theme parks commando-style is one thing, but I’m going to say that the D23 Expo is very similar, if not more intense. First of all, you are in an air-conditioned building, so you don’t have the sun beating down, but you do get a bit toasty inside with all the running around. Secondly, time goes by faster than you can imagine, so there is essentially no time to sit down and take a load off or even write anything if you want to accomplish things while you’re there.

When you buy tickets to this event, you need to set reminders, alarms, and whatever else you need to ensure that you register for any panels the minute you can. This year, I was an invited guest of Disney, so I didn’t have my tickets months in advance like a lot of fans in attendance. The first time I attended the event, we had our own booth so I really didn’t venture off into the unknown (to me) for any amount of time.

I was pretty overwhelmed with how much there was to see and how much was going on. You almost wish that you could multiply yourself to have a better chance of seeing more. There are so many unbelievable displays that are so much fun to see! The full Abbott Elementary area was insane to me with several photo ops from scenes in the actual show. There was even a circus tent with Ava Fest brought to life with all sorts of carnival games inside!

I also loved seeing on social media after the event that there was a setting from HULU’s The Bear. I didn’t get a chance to see it in person, but I love that it was there. It’s such a great series and it feels so awesome to see such cool displays from your favorite series. The thing is, though, there are lines for all of that too. Lines and more lines were the name of this game, and Saturday was a super busy day.

There was a Disney Treasure booth that was capable of catching any Disney Cruise Line fan’s attention! I’d like this entire display for my backyard, actually. It was too cute!

Even Target had a huge line for some special merch and a giveaway. There was an adorable Jack Skellington and Zero Funko Pop set that I would’ve loved to bring home. The line was so long just to buy it, so I decided not to spend my time there.

There were some pretty awesome displays that you could just walk up to, like this incredible steam boiler, without waiting.

Disney Jollywood Nights – a special hard-ticketed event in Walt Disney World – made an appearance with this adorable photo op! Who doesn’t love a great vintage Christmas display? Even better, a Santa Gertie sugar cookie?!

We had Virtual Queue for one of the shopping experiences (Hannah woke up at 4 am to get them!) but be aware that even with that, you are going to be waiting in line for quite some time. The lines everywhere were looong. In fact, some of them were so long that a Disney cast member was standing at the end of many of them with a sign saying the line was closed.

The hardest part about this for me is that it feels like standing in line burns too much of the day up. I only had one day to spend at the Expo and I wanted to walk around and see things, not stand in line after line.

Sounds familiar, huh? If it sounds much like a day at a Disney theme park, it totally is. The things we recommend you to do while you’re planning your Disney vacation; you’ll want to do all of that and a little bit more. It’s funny how sometimes we know the best things to do to get ready, but we don’t do them all.

Next time I go to a D23 event, I’ll be training for weeks ahead of time. Check out the video below for even more as Ryno tours you through the show floor!