Every two years, Disnerds come together at the Anaheim Convention Center to celebrate all things Disney and see what sort of magic the company has been working on. Show floor highlights include a peek inside the Disney Archives and the latest ride designs and inventions from Walt Disney Imagineering. If you can secure a seat, the weekend’s keynotes include the celebrity-filled Legends induction ceremony and a look at upcoming releases from Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and both animated and live action Disney movies, as well as the latest from the Disney theme parks.
When is this year’s D23?
You’ll find the show floor and most of the panels at D23 at the Anaheim Convention Center from August 9 to 11, 2024. The convention center hours are from 9am to 7pm each day.
The three headlining panels will all take place at the Honda Center this year, including the film and TV-filled Disney Entertainment Showcase on August 9 at 7pm, the theme park-focused Disney Experiences Showcase on August 10 at 7pm and the Disney Legends Ceremony on August 11 at 5pm.
Wait, what’s this about the Honda Center?
That’s right, to accommodate more guests in the company’s ever-popular showcases, the three main events above have been moved off-site to the Honda Center. Expo organizers tell us that each of these events will hold about 12,000 people, almost double what they’ve been able to in the past. Seating will also be entirely reserved ahead of time (more on that in a minute) so there’s no need to queue for hours anymore. D23 will be operating a shuttle service to get ticketholders between the two venues, which are roughly three miles apart; expect more info about that closer to the event.
How much do tickets cost? When do they go on sale? And what perks do they include?
There are basically two main categories of passes this year: the D23 Fan Pass, which includes access to the Anaheim Convention Center only, and the D23 Ultimate Fan Pass, which adds in a reserved seat at the evening shows at the Honda Center.
For convention center-only Fan Passes, a one-day ticket costs $89, while a three-day pass costs $259. You’ll need to be a free D23 member to purchase tickets, with slight discounts available for the fan club’s paid tiers. While these passes won’t get you into the Honda Center presentations, the vast majority of the expo’s panels take place at the convention center—and are thereby included.
For the Ultimate Fan Pass, which secures your seat at the Honda Center shows, a single-day ticket starts at $99 while a three-day pass starts at $297. Note the “starting at” pricing here as D23 says that better seats will cost you more—up to $150 more per day if you want to sit in a primo spot on the second level. Speaking of, if you want to secure floor seats at the Honda Center and access to all experiences at the Anaheim Convention Center, you can splurge on the three-day D23 Preferred Ultimate Fan Pass, which costs $999 on top of the required $100 D23 Gold Membership.
All types of tickets go on sale to the general public on March 28 at noon. Visa cardholders can nab tickets a day early on March 27, while D23 Gold Members can buy tickets even before that on March 26.
How do reservations work?
For the three Honda Center shows, you’ll be able to reserve a seat (again, assuming you have have a D23 Ultimate Fan Pass) this summer. Expect some sort of online queue system to be implemented for those selections.
For panels at the convention center itself, you can expect a still-to-be-detailed reservation system as well as standby spots for presentations at the 3,000-person Premiere stage (that’s inside the convention center’s own arena); the second-floor Hyperion (400 people) and Backlot (700) stages; the new third-floor, 1,400-person Walt Disney Archives stage, which will feature panels on some of the company’s history as well as interviews with Legends inductees; and the Spotlight stage on the show floor.
A handful of the shopping spots will also have a virtual queue available.
Who’s being inducted at the Disney Legends Awards Ceremony this year?
For the uninitiated, Disney’s Burbank studio has its own Walk of Fame-like display of handprints and plaques dedicated to its most notable actors and artists. At each D23, fans can watch as these living and late honorees are inducted live on stage.
This year, Ryan Seacrest hosts a presentation that’ll honor Colleen Atwood, Angela Bassett, Martha Blanding, James L. Brooks, James Cameron, Jamie Lee Curtis, Miley Cyrus, Steve Ditko, Harrison Ford, Mark Henn, Frank Oz, Kelly Ripa, Joe Rohde and John Williams.
What else is new this year?
With the shuffle in panel logistics, the show floor will now use all four halls at the convention center. Also, the main shopping location has been moved to the second floor of the north hall.
On the programming side, the Walt Disney Archives will mount “A Great Big Beautiful Car Show,” which features familiar cars from the company’s movies, TV shows and theme parks; we were able to spot some of the included cars during a preview event at D23’s Glendale office, which you can see below.
And off-site, D23 Day at the Disneyland Resort (Aug 8) and D23 Day at Angel Stadium (Aug 4) invite fans to let their Disnerd flag fly outside of the halls of the convention center.
