Some finer details to help plan for D23 2024: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event

I come to D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event as both a Disney and convention fan, as well as someone who has experience working in the world of conventions. For that reason, I relate to the frustration of attendees when not everything goes right. But I also recognize and sympathize with the impossible task the convention producers and planners have in front of them.

Over a year of planning often goes into producing a convention for just a few days of entertainment. It’s truly a mini miracle that this format works at all. It’s all because of long hours and hard work from an extremely passionate group of people.

From sitting in the recent D23 press event, I can happily say they are clearly listening to guest concerns from past years and are working on making it the best experience possible. In order to confront those concerns, new things must be tried. When new options are tried, they don’t always succeed. But it was clear to me the new ideas are coming from a place of good intent.

Here are details which came from questions asked by the press after the scripted portion of the presentation. These answers give us a bit more insight as to what we can expect from this year’s D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event.

Honda Center:

• Honda Center will have approximately 12,000 seats available for convention attendees to enjoy the large evening presentations. The previous Hall D23 at Anaheim Convention Center sat approximately 7,000 guests.
• All guests at Honda Center will have a reserved seat in advance of the convention weekend. This makes stressful standby lines just hoping to get in a thing of the past for the three largest presentations at the convention.
• In addition to more seats, D23 will utilize the state of the art arena for bigger production value than Hall D23 could accommodate.
• Doors will open at Honda Center two hours before the presentation start times.

Purchasing Tickets:

When asked about the ticket purchasing experience, Head of D23 Michael Vargo asked, “How was your Taylor Swift buying experience?” Let’s hope it goes better than that.

• A virtual queue will be utilized as it has in previous years to enter the ticketing platform.
• When asked whether a digital “notify me” option will be available to avoid waiting online for hours, that could not yet be confirmed. It sounded like they’re working on making that a possibility, but it wasn’t a guarantee at the time of the press conference.
• You can select up to eight tickets per ticket type.
• Expect the checkout process to take longer if you’re choosing a ticket option that includes Honda Center presentations. You will select your seat just as you would for a concert at the time of checkout.
• You will have the same reserved seat for all three of the Honda Center presentations.
• The cost of your ticket will depend on your seat selection at Honda Center. The ticket prices are tiered as they would be for a concert. The closer to the stage, the more expensive the ticket.
• More than half the seats at Honda Center will be at the value price.

Shuttle Service:

• A free round trip shuttle service will be available taking guests back and forth from Anaheim Convention Center to Honda Center. They are approximately three miles from each other.
• When asked for details about getting up to 12,000 people on shuttles, they admitted they’re still working out the plan but have full faith in the service they’ve hired. “These folks know what they’re doing.”
• Parking and Ride Share options will be shared later.

Walt Disney Archives Exhibition:

• “A Great Big Beautiful Car Show” will feature 25-30 different vehicles.
• When asked if the parking lot tram on display at the press event would be the largest vehicle, Walt Disney Archives Director Beckly Cline stated, there’s something “a little bigger.”
• Most of the vehicles that will be on display have not been shared before.
• There will be “old favorites and interesting new ones.”
• A 1965 Ford Mustang Convertible from Ford’s Magic Skyway at the 1964-1965 World’s Fair will be on display.

More:

• When reservations become available for panel presentations, you will be able to book reservations for up to eight ticketholders. In the past, you were only able to book a reservation for one additional guest. Their hope is this will allow you to book presentation reservations for your entire party.
• The Show Floor will be larger, with a similar layout to previous years. There will be more options than ever before.
• Convention Center programming will end at 7pm causing little overlap with presentations at Honda Center. Of course, there will be some overlap accounting for travel to Honda Center.

You can watch the full presentation and question and answer segment in our YouTube video:

Overall, it does feel like any changes made are to make the convention weekend less stressful. On the other hand, it has the potential of making the ticket buying process more stressful.

Although some ticket options are at a higher cost than before, there are some options that have gone down in price. If you’re not interested in the largest panels and will be enjoying your convention weekend solely at Anaheim Convention Center, you may pay less than you have in previous years. The D23 Team stressed that guests who don’t have a ticket to the evening shows will have plenty to do at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Tickets for D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event begin going on sale on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, as part of the D23 Gold Member pre-sale. By March 28, 2024, tickets will be available for all D23 members.

Jeff DePaoli is an event producer and voiceover artist living in Los Angeles. He can be heard as the voice of Disney Trivia on Alexa as well as the host of “Dizney Coast to Coast” podcast, where he and his special guests share honest opinions on all things Disney. Get your FREE gifts of “America’s Hidden Mickeys,” “On the Rohde Again,” “Theme Park Comfort Kit” and more at DizneyCoastToCoast.com. DePaoli’s opinions are his own and do not necessarily represent Attractions Magazine.