Are You 23? (Disney's D23 Fan Club Discussion)

[Arielle]

Nooooooo! Tickets were on sale at 11am today for the Disney Tours! I submitted my form at 10:57 and they were already sold out!!!!

I'm soooo mad!

I put my name on the waitlist... I hope I get in

[goofystitch]

I share your anger, Arielle. The same thing happened to me, only I couldn't even get on the waitlist because that filled up too. However, the fine print says "Members may only attend one free archives tour per calendar year," which not only implies that this will be a recurring event, but also that they might do more of them before 2009 is over. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for that.

[Arielle]

I wonder how many spaces there were? I mean I'm mad that they sold out BEFORE the event was supposed to even go on sale!! That's unfair. I just happened to decide to refresh the page before it hit 11.

I had had trouble sleeping last night because I was so excited to get tickets!

I'm sorry, <b>goofystitch</b>, that you weren't even able to go on the waitlist.

Seriously, there must have have been like 20 slots!

[goofystitch]

I'm guessing 20 was probably the capacity and with everyone bringing a guest, probably only 20 members get to go between the 2 dates. However, this quote popped up on the website just now:

Thanks to the enthusiasm of D23 Members, interest in our special tours of the Walt Disney Archives was extraordinarily high — so much so, that the first round of tours has been filled to capacity. For those D23 Members who were unable to make tour reservations, rest assured we are exploring ways to offer additional tours later this year! Be sure to watch your D23 FanFare for more details. Thanks again for your interest!

So there will be more tours eventually AND members aren't allowed to take the tour twice, so there will be less competition when those dates are announced.

[Arielle]

Thanks, <b>goofystitch</b>, that's great news! Let's keep out fingers crossed.

I still think the competition is fierce! I just got an email saying that space has become available for people on the waitlist, and to register now. However, but the time I did that (1 minute after I got the email) it was sold out again.

Don't waitlists usually work as a first come first serve basis? I just have a feeling that every time "space opens up" I'm gonna be too slow and just get disappointed again.

[goofystitch]

I think that to do that wait list as first come first serve would have been silly since the amount of time between people who signed up was probably less than a second, but perhaps a lottery-type of method would have been more effective for the event in general. Instead of having the event fill up in seconds, have all members interested in going enter into a lottery system. That way it feels like a contest and people won't get so upset when they aren't online 3 minutes prior to the posted time to obtain tickets.

[Arielle]

I'm surprised more people haven't discussed the topic of the Tours. I guess a lot of the members of the forum aren't D23 members?

Anyway, I've calmed down about after the fiasco of yesterday. I suppose it's my own fault for not realizing how popular this would be and how fast everything would go. I thought it would have been gone within the hour... not within the minute. I'm really mad at myself because I was able to fill out the thing really quickly, but it said you had to name your guest, and I wasn't sure who I was going to bring. I IMmed my friend to ask her if she wanted to go and she said yes. Then I filled out her name. I'm wondering if I didn't take the 30-45 seconds to ask then then I might have been able to get in.

I suppose it's not Disney's fault that this happened. They didn't know what was going to happen - and probably didn't think that releasing the tickets 3 minutes ahead of time would cause so much chaos - and they are trying everything they can to appease everyone. I really appreciate that.

I just hope I can get tickets to the Disneyland USA thing. That sounds incredible. I doubt they can create "more" of them to satisfy fans, but at least this time I will be aware.

In other D23 news, I finally bought my Expo tickets today (it wouldn't let me before because it took forever for my membership to be processed) and booked my hotel!

[goofystitch]

I feel the same way as well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I get a spot for the Disneyland event. I will not make the same mistakes when they go on sale.

And sadly, most UDers aren't interested in D23. From surfing other Disney forums, it would appear that UD has the least D23 members out of any of the fan forums. I find that odd since becoming a D23 member actually supports UD because D23 buys add space on here.

[Arielle]

Even though the only other person that reads this now is goofystitch, I just wanted to say....

THEY ADDED MORE TOURS AND TOOK PEOPLE OFF THE WAITLIST!!! I'M NOW GOING JUNE 27TH AT 2pm!!!!!!

I couldn't be more exited!

I also feel like this was more organized. I checked my email at 4:30pm, realizing I had a message from them sent at 1:30pm. I was like "oh crap, I missed my chance." But they actually saved a spot for me, which was pretty awesome. I got in! My other D23 friend who was also on the waitlist didn't get an email, so I'm just taking her as my guest.

I'M JUST SOOO HAPPY!

[disneyboy20022]

I am a member but like many people have said the events are no where close to me...except for the Marry Poppins Chicago which is a 3 hour drive from where I live but the tickets were sold out and I am flat broke anyway


Have fun at the Studios and Archives to all that go....I've been there once in 2003....how do you think I got my picture of myself and Roy E. Disney in my avatar....

Here read this I recently found it again:

http://www.wish.org/stories/fantasy/dis ... roy_disney


and the reel that the guy is holding up is the preview of Brother Bear and he is showing me how they marry the sound and audio with the film footage before it was going to be released...

I really should put that in my link

[goofystitch]

Congratulations on going, Arielle! That's very exciting. I heard that all of the people from the wishlist that they can accomodate have been notified, so your friend won't get in unless somebody drops out, but that's awesome that you are taking her. I have been on the studio lot before and went to the archives for a tour with Dave Smith, but I hope to get the full tour someday. Hopefully I'll get to do it in the next wave of tours.

They have really done a great job with what started as a bad situation. I am very impressed with the way they added two tours to each day to accomodate as many people as possible.

[goofystitch]

I attended D23 Night at Mary Poppins in the Windy City on Wednesday and it was spectacular! We checked in at the D23 table, where we were given a bag with a program, DVD of the movie, a 20% off coupon for the merchandise stand, which we used to buy parrot head umbrellas, and a notice on what to do after the show for the "Behind the Scenes Experience."

Our seats were incredible. We were in the center of the 10th row, which was the perfect place to be. We loved the show. It was our second time seeing it and we thought it was better the second time. It gave us a chance to see more that we missed the first time and this time, Mary slid up the banister. I don't know if this has always been there or if it simply wasn't working the last time we saw it, but that was very cool.

After the show, the D23 members stayed in our seats. We were rounded up and taken downstairs where were were told we would have a Q&A session with members of the cast. I got to do a similar thing for Wicked once, so I assumed it would be all ensemble members like that was. We were delighted to see Ashley Brown (Mary Poppins) and Gavin Lee (Bert) as well as the actors who played Ms. Andrew, Mrs. Lark, Jane, and Michael along with a few members of the chorus. They were incredibly nice and answered questions for 15 minutes. We were told we could not take pictures or get autographs because they had a long day (there was a matinee show that day). It was a great experience.

On that same night, there was a similar event in New York. For that one, D23 members were given a copy of the DVD (no program) and a 20% merchandise discount. After the show, they were escorted backstage, where they met Scarlett Strallen (Mary Poppins) and Adam Florentino (Bert), who signed their playbills and took one group photo for the website. No formal Q&A was given, but they did get to see some backstage areas.

These were the first D23 events that cost money to attend, but it was the regular ticket price that gave you premium seats, the giveaways, and the unique experience afterward. Tomorrow night, there is a D23 event for The Lion King in Las Vegas as well. I really hope they do this for The Little Mermaid sometime in the future. It will give me a good excuse to take a trip to New York.

[Arielle]

That's awesome, goofystitch. I'm glad you had the opportunity to go! I wish I could see the Lion King show, but I wasn't able to afford it. Looking forward to the tour tomorrow, though!

[goofystitch]

Have a great time! Take pictures if they will let you and be sure to tell us all about it.

[Arielle]

I had a wonderful time at the Walt Disney Studio tour! I feel so lucky! I attended the 2pm tour.

Check in was easy. There were about 40 of and they split us up into two groups. The green and the red group. My friend and I were in the green group. Our group spent the first hour in the Disney Archives, with Dave Smith himself. He showed us around the room and also pulled out a few special items they normally don't show tour groups. The first Disneyland ticket, the birdcage that inspired Walt, the first licensed Disney product (a Mickey Mouse notepad), as well as my favorite item of the night -- The "Steamboat Willie" script. It was incredible. I can't believe we got to see that. I'm a wannabe scriptwriter, so that really made my day.

The second hour we had the walking tour around the lot. We went into the animation building, got to go on the stage where they shot "2,000 Leagues Under the Sea" and basically saw where they made it all happen. Then we went to... I can't remember the name of it, but it was where they kept all the handprints of the Disney legends. It was awesome.

At the end we got a free gift - a D23 Security Patch. Once I get a D23 T-shirt I want to sew it on.

As we were leaving, we got a chance to shop in the Disney Store on the lot. It was AWESOME. They have a ton of exclusive merchandise and park merch too. I bought a VERY nice Disney Archives Pin set which I'm sure is going to be a collector's item.

My only complaint was the lack of socialness of the group. I don't know, I was hoping to meet people and make friends. I even told my boyfriend that I might be late "in case anyone wanted to go out after." That didn't really happen. Haha. I'm hoping people at the Expo are more open and friendly.

EDIT: Here is the link to some of my pictures from the tour: http://www.flickr.com/photos/honeyc00mb ... 540775089/

[goofystitch]

That sounds so cool! I met Dave once and have been to the archives, but other then the Oscar for Water Birds, he didn't pull anything out that wasn't already on display. And the place you were talking about is called Legends Plaza in front of Team Disney (the building with the dwarfs).

I have been to 4 D23 events so far (Dave Pacheco signing at Disneyland, Up All Night, Flowers & Fireworks, D23 Night at Mary Poppins in the Windy City) and I've found that most D23 members are unusually silent. Especially at Mary Poppins. The only event where I really got to know other members was Flowers & Fireworks, which by its very nature was a social event.

The other ting is that when people take Studio Tours (I've done them at Warner Bros. and Universal), they are usually in awe and don't talk much except to ask questions, so that could also explain the apparent unfriendliness of your group.

However, there is so much waiting in line and standing around between events at Expos that you should have a better chance of connecting with people. Especially if you will be there multiple days.

[Arielle]

I just uploaded the link to my photos on my previous post. Enjoy!

Dave was awesome. It was really cool to see a Disney Legend in person.

As for sociability, I understand about the whole being in awe in thing at the tour. There was some lulls and the beginning and end of the tour where I was hoping to connect, but oh well. I think you're right about the Expo though. My friend and I were planning on bringing Disney Scene-It if we meet anyone that wants to hang out after the Expo closes.

[goofystitch]

Thank you so much for the photos. I watched your slideshow and it made me really excited about the possibility of going on a later tour date. That's also cool that you got the pin set! That is the first item from the Archives Collection. They have it on Display here at Disney World in a D23 case in One Man's Dream, but up until now I wasn't aware it was being sold anywhere. I might have to go to the Studio store when I am in the area mid-July.

Out of curiosity, how much was it and what is the edition size?

[Arielle]

The pin set was actually really cheap. It was only $30. The woman there said that it was exclusive to that studio store. It is limited edition of 500. They had a lot of exclusive things for cheap, even poster sized lithographs for only $10! They also had a lot of park merchandise.. and many, many things were on sale. I seriously wanted to buy everything in the store -- it was so hard to limit myself.

The only problem with getting to the Studio Store is that it's on the Disney lot. So you can't get in unless you're on a tour or brought on as a guest by an employee that works there. Maybe if you talk to someone else going on the August Tour they could pick one up for you. Or befriend a Disney employee online.

[buffalobill]

Fantastic photo tour. A definite "E" ticket. Congratulations. Sounds like you had a terrific time.