Well, I survived the D23 Expo. Coming right off the high of BlogHer set my expectations a bit high. I think it was because of that, I was disappointed.

I’ll get the bad out of the way first because I do have a lot of really great things to tell you about. But I do have to explain what I think was done wrong and some suggestions for fixing them.

The first year of D23 (2009), it was open to D23 members only. It’s a fairly exclusive club, you have to pay for your membership and you do get a lot of perks from being a member. One was the expo. This year, it was open to anyone and D23 members received a discount on tickets. It sold out Saturday and I heard a rumor that Sunday did sell out too.

It showed.

Arriving 2 hours before a panel is supposed to start and being turned away because the panel is full is absolutely heartbreaking. There were maybe 4 panels I really wanted to see. I saw none of them. In the interest of full disclosure, I was invited to the expo (after I purchased my own tickets) as a guest of Disney. I had a press pass. With the exception of things being held in the arena (which seated 4,000), my pass did me no good. The other two rooms where panels were being held only sat 750 and 500 people. I was irritated enough that as press I had absolutely no access but I truly felt for the people who had spent hundreds of dollars in tickets, hotels, and travel (along with those that didn’t have to travel or stay over) only to be turned away because they hadn’t sat in line since 10am for a panel that started at 3pm.

How could anyone expect to enjoy the rest of the expo like that?

The only solution I can think to fix this is for one, don’t allow people to line up all day. Advise that you’re going to allow lining up to start an hour prior to the show. For those who don’t make it in, broadcast the panel in one of the many empty rooms. I’d have been happy to sit in a room and watch the panel if I couldn’t be in it. And for goodness sake, set aside room for your press people. If not, this is the review you receive.

Some might argue that it’s my own fault for not waiting and you are right. However, there is no way my son would have survived 5 hours sitting on the floor of the convention center waiting for an hour long panel. The whole weekend would have been wasted waiting in line.

As a matter of fact…

The lines. There were lines for the lines. Lines to eat, lines to shop, lines to pay, lines for photos, lines for autographs, lines every where you looked. I would walk by a line and have no idea what it was for. I started surveying people by Sunday, asking what they were in line for and how long they had been waiting. As someone said on twitter, “Be our guest, be our guest, wait in line with all the rest!” The only place I didn’t wait in line for was the bathroom. I know, its Disney. We should be used to it! Well, I’m not. Disney invented the Fast Pass! Let’s figure out how to use that technology! I understand there were so many people and that’s how you control crowds but holy cow, did I get tired of waiting in lines.

There were other things along the lines of the Disney reps being stingy with their hand outs. Being turned away by two people at the Disney Movie Club booth who were handing out 3D Nightmare Before Christmas cards (the size of a playing card) was such a turn off. We didn’t wait in line they said. Yes, for real. They said that to two people wearing press badges. I know. I was blown away by that and it happened all weekend. I didn’t walk around expecting more than I deserve but I got less than that. Add in being hassled about how to exit exhibits (while open doors out were being guarded by Disney employees) and needing secret passwords for 5 cent buttons… Those little things really add up when they are happening constantly throughout the weekend.

Overall, these things did not define my weekend. I think honestly, a quick fix to a lot of these would be to close it off to the public and go back to members only. If you really want to go, you will join and enjoy all the benefits. Another could be to hold a conference once a year, one year here, one year in Florida.  Haven’t we learned anything from Kevin Costner movies?

“If you build it, they will come.”

Like I said, these things did not define my weekend. Yes I was disappointed by the things I missed but believe me, there were many more things that made up for it.

But you get to see those tomorrow.

…

Ok here’s Lightning McQueen made out of freaking LEGOS. How much more awesome can that be?