Thousands of Disney Fans Denied Access to Popular Event
Every couple of years, Disney hosts the D23 Expo – The Ultimate Disney Fan Event. The D23 Expo is full of incredible panels, memorable meet and greets, and a ton of unique shopping experiences. In the past, Disney has used the D23 Expo to announce things like the Galactic Starcruiser experience, the creation of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, and the retheming of DinoLand USA into scenes from Encanto (2021) and the Indiana Jones franchise.
Related: As Disney Prepares to Confirm DinoLand’s Demise, Fans Declare Their Love For the Animal Kingdom Area
Fans wait for months to be able to purchase tickets to D23, whether they be tickets for just one day or for the entire weekend. Prices can get a little high, but many fans are willing to pay the money.
This year, Disney expanded the Expo and, instead of taking place in just the Anaheim Convention Center, it will also take place at the Honda Canter. To accompany that, Disney also expanded the types of tickets being sold. Some tickets allowed guests to only access the Convention Center, while more expensive tickets allowed access to both the Convention Center and the Honda Center.
Tickets for the event went on pre-sale for D23 Gold Members on March 26. Then, they went on pre-sale for Visa cardholders on March 27, and did not go on sale to the general public until March 28. However, when the general public finally found themselves able to access the tickets, they were sorely disappointed.
Instead of releasing a set amount of tickets for pre-sale on March 26 and March 27, Disney released all the tickets they had. So, when thousands of fans had their first crack at purchasing a ticket to the event, more than half of the available types of tickets were already gone.
When Disney announced ticket sales for D23, the following types of tickets were going to be available:
- D23 Fan Pass 1-Day Ticket (Friday) – Convention Center Only
- D23 Fan Pass 1-Day Ticket (Saturday) – Convention Center Only
- D23 Fan Pass 1-Day Ticket (Sunday) – Convention Center Only
- D23 Fan Pass 3-Day Ticket – Convention Center Only
- D23 Ultimate Fan Pass 1-Day Ticket (Friday) – Convention Center and Honda Center
- D23 Ultimate Fan Pass 1-Day Ticket (Saturday) – Convention Center and Honda Center
- D23 Ultimate Fan Pass 1-Day Ticket (Sunday) – Convention Center and Honda Center
- D23 Ultimate Fan Pass 3-Day Ticket – Convention Center and Honda Center
- D23 Preferred Ultimate Fan Pass 3-Day Ticket – Convention Center and Honda Center
However, on March 28, the ONLY tickets available were the 1-Day Fan Passes for Friday and Sunday, and the Preferred Ultimate 3-Day Fan Pass, which could only be purchased by D23 Gold Members. On top of that, the Preferred Ultimate Fan Pass started at $999, but most of those tickets were gone. The only Preferred choices really left were tickets that cost more than $2,000.
Many people were shocked and disappointed that Disney would release all its tickets at once, not giving a lot of people the chance to purchase the tickets, because they were all gone.
Related: Fans Recount Disney Park Rumors Leading Up to D23
On top of that, the people who were able to purchase D23 tickets when they went on pre-sale were met with a lot of technical problems. Many commented that they waited hours to be able to purchase tickets. When they were trying to check out, they were only met with messages telling them they didn’t fill out the information properly, even though they did. They tried to fix the information multiple times, only to have the page time out and put them back at the end of the line.
If you were unable to purchase tickets to D23, not all hope is lost. Tickets ARE transferrable, so, as the event gets closer, there may be people who find themselves unable to go and try to sell their tickets. There are still some tickets available, but they range in price from more than $2,000 to $2,500.
Do you think Disney botched the sale of tickets to D23? Let us know in the comments.
