Off to the 2022 D23 Expo!

I'll be spending this weekend at Disney's D23 Expo!

The Expo will take place Friday through Sunday, September 9th-11th.

This is the seventh D23 Expo; I attended one day at the very first Expo in 2009 and have attended all three days of every Expo since.

The Expo is normally held every other year but this will be the first Expo since 2019, for reasons which I'm sure need no explanation.

I'm especially thankful that the Expo is returning to complete normalcy, without requirements for masks or vaccine passports. Masks may be required in certain situations in the presence of "talent" but since I don't expect to be up close with any stars that policy won't affect me. The Expo is a fun but rather arduous dawn-to-dinnertime experience which usually entails walking several miles per day, and I'm relieved I won't be forced to navigate it in a mask.

I'll be sharing photos all weekend at my Twitter account, then I'll be writing about it here as soon as possible afterwards.

This year the Expo awarded some advance reservations to various panels. Although we were disappointed not to receive any reservations to the "big" panels in Hall D23, my daughter and I did receive reservations to a pair of highly anticipated events, a 30th anniversary celebration of THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL (1992) and Sunday's Princess Concert, featuring singers from Disney films and stage productions, including Susan Egan.

Egan was the original Broadway Belle in BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and sang Meg in HERCULES (1997). I saw Egan sing at the 2017 Expo, and it was wonderful! (Also, I can't help wondering if there might be a special appearance by any Muppets at the CHRISTMAS CAROL program...)

As usual, the "big" panels will include a Parks presentation and multiple panels on Disney films. I especially love the Parks panel every Expo so I may do a standby line for that one.

I go to the Expo with a rough outline of panel priorities but it's difficult to know in advance which ones I'll see due to schedules, lines, and last-minute decisions. I always manage to attend a few!

Some of the panel options this weekend:

*A Celebration of Disney Animation's Encanto

*Who is Honored with a Window on Main Street, U.S.A.?

*Uncovering Treasures From the Marty Sklar Collection

*Building Walt's Florida Project: Walt Disney World From Dream to Reality

*Revisiting Yesterday's Tomorrow: Disney's Magical Mid-Century

*100 Years of Hollywood Magic: A Disney Tour of the UCLA Film & Television Archive

*The Main Street Electrical Parade: 50 Years of Nighttime Magic & Imagination

*Walt Disney Imagineering: 70 Years of Making the Impossible, Possible

*The Disney Parks Through the Decades: A Disney Ambassador Perspective

*100 Years of Treasures From the Walt Disney Animation Research Library

*Walt's Plane: Taking Flight Through Disney History. The plane itself will be on display at the Expo!

Look for coverage here beginning sometime next week!

Previously: Off to the 2015 D23 Expo!, Off to the 2017 D23 Expo!, Off to the 2019 D23 Expo!

Update: The 2022 D23 Expo.

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