Alright let's continue!
Saturday I woke up bright and early at 6 am to get ready and head over to the Expo. I was about halfway back in the sorcerer's line (someone counted I think I was 112) and ended up next to the wonderful couple I met from New York and the wonderful lady form Texas I met on Thursday (Sorry I can't remember your names say hi if you are here!). We chatted and then after not too long we were lead onto the show floor at like 8:45. I went straight over to Disney store and got all the Oswald stuff I wanted. After that it was off to meet my fiance and wander the show floor. Live Action was the first panel for the day so went and got our seats. Seeing the Infinity Wars cast was mind blowing. The scale of that movie is going to be insane. Also life long dream fulfilled to hear Oprah say "You get a ____ and You get a ____ and You get a ____" sure it was just a poster but man she can make you think anything is gold when she does that. The head of D23 later told us that was completely off the cuff and Oprah did it on her own. She clearly knows her brand.
After live action my fiance and I were going to check out the set up outside the expo and grab some food but I realized I wanted to do Level up the gaming panel. I had to run from the lounge back to Expo hall so I didn't miss it. With 5 minutes to spare I was seated in the 2nd row. I was not there for anything but Kingdom Hearts but left really wanting to play Battlefront 2. The AR experience sounds like it is going to be fun but IDK about the VR multiplayer marvel game on Oculus. It isn't making me rush out to get one that's for sure but I do kind of want to test it out. Now the stuff I was there for Kingdom Hearts 3. The 20th anniversary of the game is crazy to think about since it was one of the first video games I remember. My brothers and I have bonded over them for 20 years crazy! So the known announcement was the world and well they did not disappoint. We are finally going to see Pixar in KH where Sora, Donald, and Goofy will become toys and help the Toy Story crew find their friends. The key blade and special weapons look fun. Then an announcement I wasn't expecting at all. We finally got a partial date for KH3 release. I thought the room was going to blow when they saw coming 2018. There were clearly a few people who came to the expo just for this panel and to see the passion was great. I left the panel once it was clear they were done because it was starting to run over. They were doing some big toy story thing when I left. I grabbed my free posters (a battlefront and a KH) then grabbed some food quickly.
From there I went up to the lounge to meet my fiance and we then went to the panel we were all waiting for the Parks and Resorts panel.
When we arrived to parks and resort we were happy to see we had pretty good seats. I wish I had done this one in real time but it is so hard to post here, twitter, and be present in the moment (something I am trying to do more). So for anyone who is interested here's a copy of my twitter feed from the panel!
Panel is starting with a musical parks promo.
#d23expo
Bob Chapek takes the stage.
#d23expo
Taking time to shout out all Cast Members.
#d23expo
Look back of previous year.
#d23expo
All attendees getting a pin set of one pin from each park.
#d23expo (I was wrong on that one it was 1 pin from a set of pins not the whole set)
Star Wars lands set to be a bar above Pandora.
#d23expo
Millennium Falcon ride will be similar to mission space based on description.
Star Wars Galaxy's Edge is Star Wars Land name.
Rex will be in Star Wars land with a new job.
Scott Trowbridge takes the stage to give more information.
What you do in rides will affect experience in the land.
Slightly different times for opening. Disneyland first then WDW in 2019.
Talking about Mickey wonder what's coming .....
Mickey And Minnie's Runaway Railway coming to Hollywood Studios
Attraction poster
#d23expo
Ride will be 3D with no glasses required. They are calling it 2 1/2 3D.
Mickey and Minnie's will have the most hidden Mickey's of any attraction.
50th anniversary talk for WDW.
About to peak at work Epcot will get.
Making it more timeless, more family, more Disney. (Talking about Epcot)
Tom Fitzgerald is overseeing Epcot overhaul.
Ratatouille official going into France pavillion behind the current area.
China pavilion will get brand new movie.
Seamless circle vision in China pavilion.
Epcot new design. Holy hell I can't wait.
#d23expo
Guardians of the Galaxy in Future World official.
Guardians come to Epcot because Peter Quill visited as a kid.
Mission Space will get brand new mission for green side.
Younger kids will be able to ride green side.
Brand new table service near mission space that will allow you to dine in space.
#d23expo
They said this is all just the tip of the iceberg.
Magic Kingdom is getting Tron.
Tron will not get rid of anything. Will be in new space.
#d23expo
All announcements are slated to be done by 50th anniversary.
Hotel New York the Art of Marvel for Disneyland Paris.
Multi-day Star Wars experience hotel will be at Walt Disney World.
Will be able to dress up.
Disney Riviera will be at WDW and have views of Epcot and Hollywood Studios.
Walt Disney World getting point to point transportation with Minnie Mouse vans.
The gondolas are official official. Called Disney Skyliners.
New theater coming to Magic Kingdom on Main Street USA.
Beauty and the Beast based off of live action movie will be on the Dream in November.
Cruise line information coming.
Disney Cruise Line adding another ship for a total of 7!
Toy Story Land opening summer 2018.
Disneyland Resort will get Pixar Fest in 2018 with new offerings and the return of Paint the Night.
John Lasseter comes to talk about Pixar in the parks.
Paradise Pier will become Pixar Pier summer 2018.
Carsland will get a halloween overlay this year.
Baby Groot came to talk to us.
#d23expo
Spider-Man and the Avengers will be at California Adventure in some sort of attraction experience.
Fantasmic! viewing for those here today.
4 showings between tonight and tomorrow night for D23 goers.
So as you can see I was trying to tweet as fast as I could. I actually ended up correcting some spelling for posting here. The panel definitely left us on a high and I'll say the 3 main excitements I had coming out of it. One "my" park Epcot will be getting and incredible overhaul. I can't wait to see all the changes and if 2 new rides, a restaurant, and some refurbs of old favorite is just the tip of the iceberg I can't wait to find out the rest. We probably will finally buy DVC when the new property opens up. It is just right where we love to be and views of Epcot and DHS had us sold. Finally I can't wait for the 50th. Looks like WDW as a whole is going to get a lot of love in the next 4 years.
After the panel we headed to pick up our wristbands for Fantasmic. The line was insane and so we decided he why don't we go ask at the sorcerers lounge if they can help. Sure enough we get upstairs and one of the fantastic guest relations cms manning the lounge told us if we were okay for 10:30pm on Sunday we could just come back in the morning and get our bands that was we didn't have to sleep with them on or shower with them on. Perfect for us so we headed to meet our friends in Disneyland