Original excerpt from our September newsletter, now expanded with additional details. You can subscribe here.
Is Disney D23, perhaps Disney’s sleeping giant?
As someone who frequently studies the business of Disney, you often hear discussions about the parks, streaming, and the box office. Yet you don’t often hear about Disney’s fan club, which puts on a massive event every other year and hosts a variety of fandom events throughout the year.
I think D23 may be a bigger opportunity for Disney than most realize.
Today I want to highlight why I believe evolving D23 could be a win for Disney and the fans.
Now I think there are a few moves that can evolve D23 even further, and that is doing more premium branded events focused on dedicated fandoms within Disney.
AvengerCon
To me AvengerCon is a no-brainer. A D23 Marvel-themed event would sell out in seconds and could be a way for D23 and Disney to host their own version of a proper comic-con. It’s an event that wouldn’t need to be as big as the main D23 event either but with Disney’s backing the panels, meet and greets, and exhibits would be top-tier. The entire event being laser-focused on Marvel would be easy to curate as well.
D23 at Sea
With the jaw-dropping expansion of Disney Cruise Line, I think it could be worth exploring doing a D23 at Sea so to speak. Part Disney Cruise, part Disney fan event. I think your DCL diehards would do this in a heartbeat and it would be an event that would create massive FOMO. Plus Disney has plenty of Disney Cruise Line updates to share for years to come so giving DCL its own mini D23 may not be a bad play. Exclusive experiences sell and a D23 at Sea would be full of them.
Walt Disney World and Disneyland Specific Events
Destination D23 is Florida’s version of D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event and it’s tremendous (please Disney don’t change anything about it — it’s so chill and wonderful). Now imagine if Disneyland got their own Destination D23? Your West Coast D23 fans would love it and Grand Californian seems like the perfect venue. Now imagine if D23 did events at Walt Disney World and Disneyland that were even smaller scale. Usually, D23 does an event when an attraction opens and that’s awesome but there’s also an opportunity to do more specialty events at both resorts. I’m thinking maybe Imagineer Talks, Behind-the-Scenes experiences, and more.
Continue or Bring Back Early Access Screenings
I know some cities discontinued early access screenings but this is the one area where D23 could dominate. Disney fans would love to see these films and select Disney+ series early in theaters. Just continue to build that out. I foresee Disney doing more screening events specifically at Disney Springs AMC as well.
Expanding D23 Into A Four Day Event Potentially
Finally, I chatted with friends about this during D23 this year.
I think it’s time Disney makes D23 a four-day event.
At the very least allow the option to do show floor experiences and shopping on the Thursday night before the event officially kicks off. D23 is such a massive event and it’s hard getting to do panels, a massive show floor, and to shop within the time you’re allowed. Not to mention having to travel to the Honda Center eliminates your time from that as well. The expansion seems necessary just like how it was necessary to move those big panels into the Honda Center (although doing so somehow meant guests weren’t given as many giveaways… Despite paying more).
Lastly, I think D23 membership could eventually integrate into the Parks more.
I also believe D23 members could be in line for more perks on Disney+ too. Make the membership more valuable for the members, and I’m sure you will see business pick up across the board. I’d also argue that not every D23 event needs to be an extra purchase, members are already paying a yearly fee, so it would be nice to get some additional value here and there.
I’ve thought about how D23 could be more for a long time. There’s a part of me that thinks the fan club is going to shift in this direction. Only time will tell if I was ahead of the curve here.
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Zach Perilstein is the Editor-in-Chief of the Boardwalk Times
