This past weekend Disney hosted the biennial event called Destination D23 at the Contemporary resort. This is an awesome event for D23 members (official Disney Fan Club) with panels, performances, announcements and more! This was the first time I have ever attended one of these events and it was incredible! I thought I would share my experience as well as recap some fo the announcements made at Destination D23. Let’s dive in!
How Did We Get To Go
My situation was a little unique here. I did try to get tickets the day they went on sale as I am a D23 Gold Member but like so many others, they were sold out before my spot in the queue came up. As some of you may know, I work for Corkcicle in Disney Springs. Corkcicle is the official drinkware of Disney and had a booth at Destination D23 that I worked on Friday during the first shopping spree event. Because I was working the event and had a badge to be there, I was allowed to go into the panels as well! This was a dream come true as I had given up hope that I would be able to attend in any way other then the shopping spree event we had tickets for. Tickets for the shopping spree were only $12/person but the tickets to the whole event ranged from $329-$549/person and sold out in about 15 minutes after going on sale!
Panels
Saturday and Sunday were filled with amazing panels from 9am to 5pm/4pm respectively. These panels were on everything from “Celebration of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products: Yesterday, today and Tomorrow” where they talked about the history of some park experiences, talked about what’s about to open and announced some really cool things to come to “Road to 1923: Walt Goes West” that was all about Walt’s journey getting to the creation of the Disney Brothers studio in 1923. In a lot of the panels they gave out free gifts to everyone in the audience too!
What I loved about the panels is that they really took on a historical view of 100 years of the Disney Company. It was incredible to hear the back stories of some of the characters and the people who created them and Walt’s story is always inspiring to me. He had a lot of hard set backs in life and did not grow up a privileged person but always persevered and never gave up on what he wanted to do, thankfully! I think the Walt Goes West panel was my favorite for that reason.
There was even a fun panel called “Down the Rabbit Hole: The Disney You Didn’t Know” where they talked about all kinds of hidden secrets in movies and dispelled some myths and popular beliefs in the Disney universe! We got to get a lot of sneak peeks at things coming soon and were the first people to see some very very cool things! Not to mention all the announcements that were made but we will talk about those in a bit.
Sneak Peeks
As I said, in some of the panels we got a special look at things to come and got to see things no one else in the world (except those that worked on them) had ever seen. For this reason we were not allowed to take any photos or videos. These sneak peeks included a 1 minute scene from the new movie Wish that included two of the songs from the movie (it looks amazing), we got to see the character Asha from Wish that will greet guests in the parks, got a first look at season 2 of Loki on Disney+, first look at The Road to 1923: Walt Goes West and my personal favorite, the short film Once Upon a Studio.
This short film was shown during the 100 Years of Walt Disney Animation Studios panel and got a standing ovation. It was so touching, funny, clever and just embodied everything Walt Disney wanted the Disney Company to be in such a short film. The short shows all the animated characters inside the Walt Disney Studios coming to life once everyone leaves and having some really great moments together. It had old characters, new characters, animation, Pixar, all of it! It was just so sweet and moving and I can’t wait to see it again. You could really tell that the creators presenting it to us put a lot of heart and soul into Once Upon a Studio.
Entertainment
Of course it wouldn’t be a big Disney event without some really amazing entertainment and this did not disappoint! Michael James Scott did a beautiful job singing Go the Distance from Hercules, A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes and more. He also introduced some of the presenters and is just so much fun. We saw the Muses from Hercules perform a couple of times and they were fantastic! I was especially excited about this because I am huge Hercules fan.
We had a special performance from the Dead Waltzers from Mickey’s Boo to You Parade before some Haunted Mansion announcements. This was particularly cool for me as I got to see our favorite Dead Waltzer and had no idea she would be dancing that morning! You can read all about her here!
But I have to say that the ultimate moment as far as entertainment goes for the weekend was getting to see and hear Jodi Benson sing Part of your World live on stage! The Little Mermaid was my favorite Disney movie growing up and I had to have everything Little Mermaid so this was like a childhood dream come true! She was amazing and it was an awesome way to close out the weekend.
Exhibits & Photo Ops
Disney always does a great job with the photo opportunities and exhibits and these did not disappoint. The best photo op was a giant stuffed animal pile like the ones that used to be in the Disney Store when I was a kid. I always just wanted to jump in the middle of it so bad and this one let you get right in the middle! There were backdrops set up and tons of larger than life props with signs that talked about the movies they were associated with like the hyenas and Pumba from The Lion King, Han Solo frozen in carbonite from Star Wars, a giant snow monster from Frozen and more.
They had the coolest exhibit set up called the Plausible Impossible: 60 Yeas of Disney Audio Animatronic Technology. You could see how they developed Audio Animatronics over the years, everything from how they were built and worked to how they costumes them. There was even a Hatbox Ghost mock up in there! This was very cool and I could have stayed in there for hours looking and reading about everything.
Special Events
Every ticket holder, and as we found out participating sponsor were invited to two special events over the weekend. The first was Saturday night for an evening in Epcot. We did not attend this event as it was unclear if our badges would grant us entry. All attendees were granted access to Epcot between 5pm-8:30pm and did not have to have a separate ticket to enter, they were included. From 5-9pm attendees got to experience Journey of Water prior to it’s opening date. Once the park closed at 9pm attendees got to have the park to themselves until midnight!
There was a reception from 9-10:30pm in World Showplace with drinks and light refreshments. From 10:30-12 attendees could ride Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Test Track and Spaceship Earth as well as meet “special friends” that were enjoying the evening with them. I have no doubt this was an amazing event!
The other special event was the Disney+ Hallowstream Costume Bash on Sunday night from 7-9. I was sure to ask Sunday morning if we were able to get into this one and we were! It was very cool! When you entered the ballroom it looked like the entrance to the Haunted Mansion. There was a DJ on the stage, dancers on the floor hoping you would come dance with them, cookies and drinks, trick or treat stations with all the candy you could possibly want and character meet and greets!
You could meet Mickey in his scarecrow outfit and Jack and Sally or Oogie Boogie from Nightmare Before Christmas! We went with Mickey since I had just met Jack and Sally at Mickey’s not So Scary Halloween Party, not gonna lie though, if I had known we might get Oogie Boogie I would have jumped in that line first! But the lines got pretty long and Jay isn’t much for waiting for characters, luckily we got in pretty quick with Mickey. And of course they gave out more swag but we are gonna talk about that in a bit.
Shopping Spree
There were three shopping locations with different things in each one. The Marketplace where all the sponsor booths were located like Corkcicle, LUG, Rockem Socks and more. The Company Store where you could find Walt Disney Studios and D23 merchandise and Mickey’s of Glendale where they had a lot of Destination D23 exclusive merchandise as well as Disney items. This is where you would find the exclusive Destination D23 Corkcicle bottles and Spirit Jersey.
The way they did the shopping was a little odd to me, especially when I was working the Corkcicle booth. Attendees could reserve a 1 hour time block on Friday to come in and shop before the event started on Saturday. But within that hour you could only visit each shopping location once. Your wristband had tabs for each one that they tore off when you exited the area. But they could come back throughout the weekend and shop with their attendee badges so this was like a preview I guess.
The non attending Gold Member shopping was done the same way which is what we had bought tickets for. You reserved an hour time block on Saturday or Sunday and had the same deal with the wristbands where you could only go into each area once. we had our other badge so we could come and go but if you didn’t have that I guess the FOMO might cause you to just buy it instead of thinking about it and coming back but who knows!
The Swag!
Y’all! The amount of swag that was given out at this event to all these people was unreal. It was all really great stuff too and I can’t believe we got lucky enough to get it all. Each attendee received a LUG back pack full of stuff! LUG was the presenting sponsor so they provided a lot of the swag for the weekend. Definitely check them out their bags are amazing and they have some really cool stuff coming to the Disney Parks that we got to catch a peek of, already dying for the Orange Bird bag coming for Flower & Garden Festival. Back to the bag of stuff…when I say packed I mean PACKED! An exclusive Destination D23 Oswald pin, exclusive Destination D23 Dumbo patch, hat, games and toys, Magicband+, Walt Disney Studios tray, artwork, coffee, bookmarks, discount cards and codes for the participating sponsors, stickers, Halloween bag, coloring book and more!
On top of this, when we picked up our wristband for the Shopping Spree on Sunday it was also full of things. It had a patch, coloring book, discounts for the shops and a card to turn in for an exclusive Destination D23 Orange Bird pin that you know I was excited for! Next was the Hallowstream Costume Bash, here we were given another LUG bag that is the coolest trick or treat bag I’ve ever seen! I thought it was a clutch bag when they handed it to us because it was folded down but then you push the bottom down and it turns into a pumpkin! They also gave us a Goosebumps flashlight and all kinds of Halloween treats that the boys were excited for when we got home!
Last is the swag they gave out during the panels. These were very cool and unexpected gifts that were announced and passed out on the spot during the panels. They gave out a Country Bears Jamboree poster to go along with an announcement we will get to soon, a world map that looks like a pirate map to go along with a Disney Cruise Line announcement, a Figment figurine you could get the artist to sign on Saturday, a Medfield College Computer Club pin (IYKYK, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes) and a pair of Ashoka ears!
Announcements
This may be the part you were waiting for to see what all was announced over the weekend so I saved it for last! They announced a lot in the panels and I’m sure I will miss some things but I tried to make detailed notes. Here’s the breakdown:
Magic Kingdom
- Hatbox ghost will materialize in the Haunted Mansion in late November
- New Country Bear Jamboree shows coming in Spring 2024
- Josh D’amaro announced WDI is “going turbo” on a new land and attractions behind Big Thunder Mountain Railroad but no other details
- New Pirate themed tavern is coming to Adventureland
EPCOT
- Test Track to be reimagined with Chevrolet and taking inspiration from original version
- Journey of Water with Moana opens October 16th and Moana will greet guests there daily
- Luminous: A Symphony of Us will be the new nighttime show in Epcot starting December 5th
- World Celebration will open in December
- Figment character meet and greet was announced Saturday that it would start the next day, 09/10
Hollywood Studios
- There will be new Ashoka scenes added to Star Tours
Animal Kingdom
- Dinoland will be reimagined to be a tropical area to mimic northern South America and Central America with Encanto and Indiana Jones being featured
- New Zootopia show to take the place of It’s Tough To Be A Bug inside the Tree of Life (not gonna lie I’m sad about this one, I love It’s Tough To Be A Bug and I am not a big Zootopia fan)
Disney Cruise Line
- New ship was announced, the Disney Adventure
Disney+
- Haunted Mansion to be available on October 4th
- Loki Season 2 to premier October 6th
Conclusion
Obviously I was excited and in awe the entire time I was there. I couldn’t believe that we were able to go and enjoy everything, it was truly a dream come true! For a huge Disney nerd, I mean fan, like me being in the room with Disney stars and execs, hearing and seeing all this stuff before anyone else is just amazing. I am so thankful that Corkcicle let us use the badges to go and enjoy it when I wasn’t working. Jay and I had the absolute best day ever! We even snuck over to Magic Kingdom to get lunch and ride Pirates of the Caribbean on the break Sunday. BONUS, I made him stop and take photo pass pictures with me in Adventureland!
I would have definitely bought tickets if I had been able to and would have felt like it was absolutely worth the cost and I’m sure I will next time it rolls around if it doesn’t sell out first! But I must admit it was pretty cool to go for free, especially for the first time and totally unexpectedly. Well, that’s it for today, I hope you enjoyed this one, I definitely enjoyed writing it and reliving the weekend. As always, I so appreciate you reading along. Have a magical day!
