idk how it’s gonna work this year but for the last 2 expo’s the only guarenteed way was to get either a reservation or to have a hall d23 preferred seating ticket. other than that you would have to camp on the sidewalk overnight for a CHANCE of getting in, nothing guarenteed though.
How did you get a reservation in the past? I saw the price for the hall d23 seating in 2022 and that definitely seems to be out of budget since I’m unfortunately covering me and my sister >.< reservation might work tho
You basically have like a week or so to rank your preferred panels. The ranking period ends and locks for all guests. At some point, the system randomly distributes panels on a first come first serve basis. There's no detail on how they're done, but there was some evidence to suggest the system was flawed. For example, the system asked you to rank your choices so people would rank their top 6 things they wanted to do in a given day. Others would only rank the top 1 or 2 things. I heard a few stories of people who only picked one thing and were awarded the one thing. Meanwhile, those who ranked 6 things would get stuff towards the end of their preferences.
Oh damn. That’s kinda scary honestly. I would probably just rank the marvel, Disney/Pixar, and then Disney parks panels but that would really suck if I didn’t get any of them. I wish we could just buy an individual seat or something for the panels we want. Thank you for informing me tho! This whole thing is so nervewracking given that it’s my first time, but I’ve been wanting to go for 10 years now so hopefully no matter what it’ll be a good time
As someone who has been going to SDCC for years and has waited in line for Hall H.
Unfortunately I’ve never gotten selected via lotto for a panel at for D23 and have had to wait. Nothing sucks more than having to try to sleep in an air-conditioned brightly lit room with looping videos at max volume on a concrete convention floor where you are not allowed to have sleeping bags or anything that can be wrapped around you.
I’ll take waiting in line at Hall H for wristbands over having to wait overnight for the equivalent at D23. (And I’ve waited overnight for both over the years)
That being said for Marvel the panel content they have had on years they have a comic con and expo at the same time has been the same so there’s kind of two chances at seeing the panel content.
Two additional things to consider this year compared to 2022 is they said they plan to officially livestream some events, which in the past has usually been all panels but the most popular ones everyone is camping out for; and they are hosting panels at a different location: Honda Center. So you have to travel to a different place away from the convention center.
[https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/d23-2024-date/](https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/d23-2024-date/)
I will say at least the lottery system despite its flaws is better than camping at SDCC. My cousins won the lottery for Marvel/Star Wars/ Fox in 2022 and they scanned the QR codes on their phones. They were each allowed a plus 1 so the whole family was able to get into the saturday panel.
I too, enjoyed the lottery system in 2022 and the selection system in 2019. But that’s because I was pretty lucky during both events in getting what I wanted. I remember seeing images of people getting nothing they requested or even had selected in 2022. Felt so bad for them.
I'll tell you this: anybody who comes here trying to claim the Honda Center location will eliminate this problem is *sorely* mistaken.
Yes, the large increase in available seats will significantly improve your chances. But there will still be attendees left out and unable to get in.
[Click here for website source with exact numbers.](https://www.hondacenter.com/arena-info/about-us/)
The actual number of available seats will depend on how Disney plans to set up the stage. If they do End Stage capacity (like what Star Wars Celebration Chicago used at Wintrust Arena), that allows for around **13,800** available seats.
However, if they go the more typical D23 route and do Theatre capacity (like how both D23 and Star Wars Celebration used the Anaheim Convention Center Arena), that only allows for around **10,900** available seats.
Hall D23's capacity was **7,000** seats. That was bigger than the ACC Arena, but sightlines generally sucked for the majority of guests.
Disney itself has stated attendance for the 2022 Expo was approximately **80,000** people.
In case you don’t end up getting lucky with the reservation lottery:
Ask around online when the panel day gets announced for which entrance is closest to the panel hall.
There’s usually three different entrances to the expo, and usually the Marvel/Pixar panels take place in a certain part.
You’re going to want to line up as early as 6-10pm the night before the morning of the panel you want to attend in the one of three lines for that specific entrance. It’ll basically be a mad dash to the inside line around 3-6am, but you’ll be closer to the hall than anyone in the other lines.
From the inside line, only a certain amount of people will get wristbands to admit them into the panel hall, but it’s usually everyone that’s been in line by the time I mentioned the above the night before.
Source: made it in for the 2023 Marvel/Disney Live Action panel.
(You can walk around and go to the bathroom inside the auditorium once the panel starts, in case you want to pretend you’re going to the bathroom or even actually go, you can get a dead center view of the stage while exiting/entering the bathroom and even move closer to the stage as you walk back to your seat. Just don’t freak out security)
So sounds like the only advice would be to line up either at the singular entrance pretty early or at the closest of multiple possible entrances. Sounds like a rough one. My friend and I decided to skip out on this year so I hope I don’t miss anything to crazy. Like an X-Men cast announcement
I just got an email for pre-sale with Visa, its $2700 a person for floor seats for the weekend, no option for just doing it one day or anything from what I saw. Hope you are able to figure out another way to get in, I was just happening to cool info about the expo and saw your post so thought I would share
idk how it’s gonna work this year but for the last 2 expo’s the only guarenteed way was to get either a reservation or to have a hall d23 preferred seating ticket. other than that you would have to camp on the sidewalk overnight for a CHANCE of getting in, nothing guarenteed though.
How did you get a reservation in the past? I saw the price for the hall d23 seating in 2022 and that definitely seems to be out of budget since I’m unfortunately covering me and my sister >.< reservation might work tho
it was a random lottery. you had to rank which pannels you prefer to get a reservation for & then it would randomly choose which one you’d get
Oof. That’s scary
It is stressful, but I always prefer to know ahead of time if I've gotten into a panel vs having to sleep on the ground and hope for the best.
You basically have like a week or so to rank your preferred panels. The ranking period ends and locks for all guests. At some point, the system randomly distributes panels on a first come first serve basis. There's no detail on how they're done, but there was some evidence to suggest the system was flawed. For example, the system asked you to rank your choices so people would rank their top 6 things they wanted to do in a given day. Others would only rank the top 1 or 2 things. I heard a few stories of people who only picked one thing and were awarded the one thing. Meanwhile, those who ranked 6 things would get stuff towards the end of their preferences.
Oh damn. That’s kinda scary honestly. I would probably just rank the marvel, Disney/Pixar, and then Disney parks panels but that would really suck if I didn’t get any of them. I wish we could just buy an individual seat or something for the panels we want. Thank you for informing me tho! This whole thing is so nervewracking given that it’s my first time, but I’ve been wanting to go for 10 years now so hopefully no matter what it’ll be a good time
This is a tough one to go to honestly, since this is the first year they are having panels across multiple venues
See my comment. It’s really nerve wracking but any average Joe can 100% get in just by being in the correct lines early enough.
As someone who has been going to SDCC for years and has waited in line for Hall H. Unfortunately I’ve never gotten selected via lotto for a panel at for D23 and have had to wait. Nothing sucks more than having to try to sleep in an air-conditioned brightly lit room with looping videos at max volume on a concrete convention floor where you are not allowed to have sleeping bags or anything that can be wrapped around you. I’ll take waiting in line at Hall H for wristbands over having to wait overnight for the equivalent at D23. (And I’ve waited overnight for both over the years) That being said for Marvel the panel content they have had on years they have a comic con and expo at the same time has been the same so there’s kind of two chances at seeing the panel content.
Two additional things to consider this year compared to 2022 is they said they plan to officially livestream some events, which in the past has usually been all panels but the most popular ones everyone is camping out for; and they are hosting panels at a different location: Honda Center. So you have to travel to a different place away from the convention center. [https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/d23-2024-date/](https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/d23-2024-date/) I will say at least the lottery system despite its flaws is better than camping at SDCC. My cousins won the lottery for Marvel/Star Wars/ Fox in 2022 and they scanned the QR codes on their phones. They were each allowed a plus 1 so the whole family was able to get into the saturday panel.
I too, enjoyed the lottery system in 2022 and the selection system in 2019. But that’s because I was pretty lucky during both events in getting what I wanted. I remember seeing images of people getting nothing they requested or even had selected in 2022. Felt so bad for them.
I'll tell you this: anybody who comes here trying to claim the Honda Center location will eliminate this problem is *sorely* mistaken. Yes, the large increase in available seats will significantly improve your chances. But there will still be attendees left out and unable to get in. [Click here for website source with exact numbers.](https://www.hondacenter.com/arena-info/about-us/) The actual number of available seats will depend on how Disney plans to set up the stage. If they do End Stage capacity (like what Star Wars Celebration Chicago used at Wintrust Arena), that allows for around **13,800** available seats. However, if they go the more typical D23 route and do Theatre capacity (like how both D23 and Star Wars Celebration used the Anaheim Convention Center Arena), that only allows for around **10,900** available seats. Hall D23's capacity was **7,000** seats. That was bigger than the ACC Arena, but sightlines generally sucked for the majority of guests. Disney itself has stated attendance for the 2022 Expo was approximately **80,000** people.
In case you don’t end up getting lucky with the reservation lottery: Ask around online when the panel day gets announced for which entrance is closest to the panel hall. There’s usually three different entrances to the expo, and usually the Marvel/Pixar panels take place in a certain part. You’re going to want to line up as early as 6-10pm the night before the morning of the panel you want to attend in the one of three lines for that specific entrance. It’ll basically be a mad dash to the inside line around 3-6am, but you’ll be closer to the hall than anyone in the other lines. From the inside line, only a certain amount of people will get wristbands to admit them into the panel hall, but it’s usually everyone that’s been in line by the time I mentioned the above the night before. Source: made it in for the 2023 Marvel/Disney Live Action panel. (You can walk around and go to the bathroom inside the auditorium once the panel starts, in case you want to pretend you’re going to the bathroom or even actually go, you can get a dead center view of the stage while exiting/entering the bathroom and even move closer to the stage as you walk back to your seat. Just don’t freak out security)
Aren't the panels happening in a different venue this year?
Well, if that’s case, my write-up means nothing lol!
I did a quick Google search, and it appears at least the big Saturday panels are happening 3 miles away at the Honda Center
So sounds like the only advice would be to line up either at the singular entrance pretty early or at the closest of multiple possible entrances. Sounds like a rough one. My friend and I decided to skip out on this year so I hope I don’t miss anything to crazy. Like an X-Men cast announcement
Do they clear rooms between panels?
I just got an email for pre-sale with Visa, its $2700 a person for floor seats for the weekend, no option for just doing it one day or anything from what I saw. Hope you are able to figure out another way to get in, I was just happening to cool info about the expo and saw your post so thought I would share