D23 Event, DL Paris, April 12-13 2023

[Tiggerette]

Bonjour! I thought I'd start a watch thread for the D23 event April 12-13, 2023. As it turns out I'll already be there after Star Wars Celebration. I just upgraded to Gold to hopefully still be able to get into the parks on my planned park days. I haven't heard if this is a hard ticket event or sign up for access, etc. Hence... watch thread!
https://d23.com/the-magic-goes-global-with-d23-events-coming-to-europe-this-april/

 

[Karin1984]

My friend is a D23 member, but hasn't seen anything yet. She has contacted D23, they couldn't tell her anything more than social media.

They are first going to let everyone apply or upgrade, we guess. And then start the ticket sales.

Did you already have park reservations of a hotel for the 12th and 13th?

 

[Tiggerette]

My friend is a D23 member, but hasn't seen anything yet. She has contacted D23, they couldn't tell her anything more than social media.

They are first going to let everyone apply or upgrade, we guess. And then start the ticket sales.

Did you already have park reservations of a hotel for the 12th and 13th?

Thanks! Yes, I'm staying on site, so I didn't think I had to make park reservations. I hope that's correct. :O

 

[Karin1984]

Oh don't worry about it! Yes, it is correct that when you stay onsite you do not need park reservations.

I am an AP holder and I was supposed to go the 16th for a day trip. The 12th is usually too busy for my liking. So I hadn't planned on going the 12th. When the news came out earlier this week about the D23 party, all park reservations were gone, so if I want to attend, I need to stay onsite.

Santa Fe was over 500 euro! Luckily there was an AP discount available.

 

[Louise97]

I really wish D23 gave us a bit more notice! I've been looking into whether we can squeeze in a trip for this, but we have a few other trips lined up and flights/hotels are so pricey. I've been Gold for a little while and the only time I've been able to attend an event was when it happened to coincide with an already planned trip.

Edit... I've booked Santa Fe I was concerned that they'd announce more info and everything would be sold out by the time I decided to go!

 

[Tiggerette]

Ticket info is up:
https://d23.com/d23-event/a-d23-gol...is-30th-anniversary-grand-finale-celebration/

 

[Karin1984]

Nice, and just on the days that my friend (who is the D23 holder) is in Orlando for a work event. It'll be at least 6 hours before she sees my message notifying her that the ticket sales has started.

 

[Karin1984]

Ok, my friend is awake and we had a look at the program. This is not interesting for us. We are both AP holders with on average 3-5 visits a year. We do not need park tickets, we do not need premier access. We have reserved seating at the fireworks already. We are not particularly interested in Marvel or Ratatouille.

I do wonder who this event is for. I think most D23 holders, at least the ones in France will have an AP as well. Europeans who love Marvel might find it interesting. And Americans who might have been thinking about a DLP visit already.

So, I'm gonna cancel our hotel reservation and just go for a day trip on the 16th.

 

[Tiggerette]

We have reserved seating at the fireworks already. We are not particularly interested in Marvel or Ratatouille.

How do you reserve seats for the fireworks? I can't find a place online for reservations. It's my only time to go to DLP, so I'd really like to be able to see the DLP fireworks on Apr 12.

I wrote to D23 asking about how they're going to adjust for guests already with resort lodging at DLP. Resort guests are locked into purchasing tickets for the parks as a bundled package. They're not add-ons like if you stay on-site at WDW or DL. So D23 is asking gold members to pay for tickets through them (Apr 12-13) and then again through the resort stay package. I asked them for help on their "special rate" lodging, considering my current booking.

I also asked if the tours will only be in French. (Understandable, if so. I wasn't sure if there might be multiple tours in different languages.) My French is good enough for polite conversation, but I definitely don't know enough vocabulary for a technical talk, especially at a fast pace.

 

[Karin1984]

The seating for the fireworks is included in the highest tier AP, only in the Park, not in the Studios. Otherwise it is only possible with a VIP tour and wheelchair (etc) users.

For everyone else, there are plenty of good spots available down Mainstreet and the hub, and if it's really busy, go to the right of the castle. It will be out of perspective for the drone shoW, but it will be a better view than on the left.

 

[Tiggerette]

Heard back from D23 on my questions:
- It isn't known whether tours will be offered in any other language than French.
- It isn't known whether there are exclusions to the lunch options in each park, or whether the reservation will be made on your behalf, or if you have to make your own reservations with a voucher.
- The special lodging rate will only be released to those with a valid ticket purchase to the event. It sounded like a follow-up email or other contact information.
- There is no recompense for people who are staying on site and buying tickets to the event. So yes, you WILL be double paying for park tickets. There is no "opting out" of tickets through an on-site reservation, nor in the D23 event package.

 

[Karin1984]

Pfff, they dont make it easy. With 6 weeks before the event I really wonder who this was for.

Is 6 weeks enough for the American D23 members to prepare to join? It costs at least a week vacation with the travel (leave on the 10th, to arrive on the 11th, 12 and 13 the party, fly back the 14.

D23 in Europe is interesting for diehard fans, probably many will have an AP and have already their park tickets and do not need premier access. Those who wanted to be there on the anniversary had already planned this a while ago (I presume).

With the answers you got regarding the language and restaurants it looks as if they haven't thought about certain things.

With the tours done by imagineers I presume it will be in English, or can be done in English. But I don't think it will be bi-lingual.

 

[ocdb8r1]

Tickets sold out in less than a minute....clearly there are plenty of DLP fans in the D23 network.

For us this was actually a great offer and package and I'm glad we were able to get tickets. We live in Amsterdam and have not had DLP annual passes for over 5 years so there are a decent amount of new things to experience. While we're not big Marvel fans, we love Ratatouille and really want to see the drone shows. Bottom line, this will be a nice DLP "fix" for us and in 2 days with Premier Access, we'll probably be satisfied with this visit for a couple more years.

FYI - even with the hotel discounts, prices are absurd for this week. With the discount, rates are as follows:

Cheyenne - EUR 477.28/night
Sequoia Lodge - EUR 520.00/night
Newport Bay Club - 608.19/night

...what a bargain!

 

[Tiggerette]

Thanks y'al! I agree with the above postings. I was able to get a ticket, so I splurged. I also really didn't want to have to deal with the headache of finding places to be/sit for shows, parades and fireworks with D23 taking up additional reserved seating.

The special rate for the lodging appeared to include American Breakfast, but the price included VAT, which wouldn't be reimbursed. The package for the same nights/resort/room was 200 Euro more than what I already paid. I decided 200 Euro wasn't worth getting American breakfast added to my room cost.

Now to find out how the lunch reservations/dining is supposed to work. I hadn't intended to make dining reservations knowing how difficult it is to find one. I was happy with quick serve, grab-n-go. We'll see what happens.

 

[Karin1984]

Tickets sold out in less than a minute....clearly there are plenty of DLP fans in the D23 network.

For us this was actually a great offer and package and I'm glad we were able to get tickets. We live in Amsterdam and have not had DLP annual passes for over 5 years so there are a decent amount of new things to experience. While we're not big Marvel fans, we love Ratatouille and really want to see the drone shows. Bottom line, this will be a nice DLP "fix" for us and in 2 days with Premier Access, we'll probably be satisfied with this visit for a couple more years.

FYI - even with the hotel discounts, prices are absurd for this week. With the discount, rates are as follows:

Cheyenne - EUR 477.28/night
Sequoia Lodge - EUR 520.00/night
Newport Bay Club - 608.19/night

...what a bargain!

Oh wow, when i looked at Trivago.nl on 21FEB santa fe was at 500.

The anniversary day has been crazy the last few years. So, Premier Access would definitely come in handy.

Do we know how much tickets they sold?

 

[Louise97]

We went for it and managed to get tickets! Couldn't resist it in the end. We're not planning to get APs until later in the year because our next planned trips are Sept/Oct/Jan, so the overall deal worked for us. Now to sort out accommodation and flights!

I read it as they'll have arranged meals for us and they'll give us details of when & where later?

 

[Tiggerette]

We went for it and managed to get tickets! Couldn't resist it in the end.
I read it as they'll have arranged meals for us and they'll give us details of when & where later?

I hope so. I'm a little nervous about the lunch situation.

Maybe we can have a little DISer meet-up at the Gala Dinner on Apr 12. Would love to say howdy.

 

[ocdb8r1]

We went for it and managed to get tickets! Couldn't resist it in the end. We're not planning to get APs until later in the year because our next planned trips are Sept/Oct/Jan, so the overall deal worked for us. Now to sort out accommodation and flights!

I read it as they'll have arranged meals for us and they'll give us details of when & where later?

I read it as we'll get most details later....everything was very thin on specifics.

I am half wondering if our admission tickets will show any "value" - if so I may attempt to "upgrade" to an annual pass while there.

 

[Louise97]

I wonder how many people will be at the event, it might just be a little DISer meet up

I'm curious about the dress code for the Gala Dinner. I don't really want to lose park time to dress up but I don't want to turn up in jeans if it's fancy!

 

[rainythursdays]

We got tickets!

We are from Germany and literally just bought gold a few days ago (without knowing about this event) and it was honestly perfect timing! We just came back from a 3 week trip to Florida so this was a good way to cure the Disney withdrawal.

It will also be our first time in DLP, so honestly can’t have a better first experience of DLP! We also love watching all the documentaries about behind the scenes and creation of the parks, so this is so worth it for us.