Destination D23 - 2021 | Inside Universal Forums

Destination D23 - 2021

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Nick

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Sep 22, 2011
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The event will take place November 19 – 21, 2021, at Disney’s Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World Resort.

Presentation Highlights of Destination D23 2021 will include*:

  • A kickoff welcome presentation with Bob Chapek, CEO, The Walt Disney Company.
  • What’s New and What’s Next for Disney Parks, Experiences and Products—Chairman Josh D’Amaro will share what’s new and what’s next for Disney Parks, Experiences and Products. The exclusive presentation will feature updates on some of the most anticipated projects around the world. And as D23 Members know, there is always a surprise or two in store!
destination d23


  • A special look at what’s new and next from Disney+!
  • Musical Memories of Walt Disney World— A journey through 50 years of the Walt Disney World songbook with Walt Disney Imagineering, revealing the stories behind beloved fan-favorite melodies and a peek into the process of creating new ones.
  • Destination D23 audiences will also thrill to performances from Michael James Scott, Genie in Disney on Broadway’s hit Aladdin and Disney’s acapella sensation DCappella.
destination d23


  • The Art and Imagery of Walt Disney World— Dive into the Walt Disney Imagineering Art and Photo collections for a look at over 50 years of the most gorgeous, stunning, and surprising artwork that inspired the most magical place on earth over the years.
  • The Magical Musical World of Encanto—Join members of the team behind Encanto, and some special guests for a melodic Saturday evening celebration of the upcoming musical, the 60th animated feature from Walt Disney Animation Studios!
destination d23


  • Weird Disney World—The fan-favorite “Weird Disney” returns, as Director of the Walt Disney Archives Becky Cline digs into Disney history to bring you a half century of the wildest and wackiest Walt Disney World moments!
  • How the (Disney) World Began—Join Kevin Kern and Steven Vagnini, authors and historians behind A Portrait of Walt Disney World: 50 Years of The Most Magical Place on Earth and Disney Legend Dick Nunis for a look at how Walt Disney’s dreams were translated into the Vacation Kingdom of the World.
destination d23


  • Park Stars: Original Characters of Walt Disney World—Figment, Big Al, the Orange Bird, and Teddi Barra are just a few of the many Disney characters created specifically for Walt Disney World. Join Imagineers Diana Brost and Jason Grandt as they take you on a journey around the “world” to meet many of the fun personalities that appear in Walt Disney World attractions and shows.
Exciting Experiences at Destination D23 2021 will include*:

  • The Walt Disney Archives: 50 Years of Bringing Home the MagicAn all-new exhibit curated by the Walt Disney Archives takes you through a half-century journey of merchandise memories of the Walt Disney World Resort. From figurines and fanny packs to pins and plush, relive each exciting decade through the souvenirs that brought the Vacation Kingdom of the World home!
destination d23


  • Mickey’s of Glendale—The Walt Disney Imagineering campus store returns with a pop-up shop at the event for attendees, featuring a selection of exclusive Destination D23 and Walt Disney Imagineering merchandise. Trading pins for this event will be offered to attendees through a RSP opportunity.**
  • Special Film Screening—On Friday, November 19, event guests will also be invited to a special screening at Disney Springs.**
  • Disney+ Party—Join Disney+ for the grand finale of an incredible weekend with a special celebration you can’t miss!
Plus, more presenters and presentations to be announced soon!

 
I guess this is apt, but: Would it be fair to consider Destination D to potentially be more along the scale of say...a D23 Japan, than a regular Destination D? I've always wondered about it, and with Chapek and Josh both at attendance; I wonder if it's a solid precident.
 
Chapek is not attending, despite the original announcement indicating he would be. Corless is running with speculation that it's because Chapek wants to avoid being booed; Disney says it's just a "scheduling conflict."

Having him NOT be there is actually a net positive (because he's a terrible representative for the company in terms of presentation style and personality), but Chapek actually getting booed would have been glorious.
 
The dude is the CEO of the largest entertainment company in the world, I say his schedule probably had to shift.
 
Cautious optimism that PTN will be announced for WDW this coming weekend. Supposedly both MK and DHS are under consideration for where the parade will end up.


I really don’t wanna get my hopes but I would love so much for this rumor to be true, it’d be perfect for DHS if Fantasmic won’t be back any time soon.
 
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I really don’t wanna get my hopes but I would love so much for this rumor to be true, it’d be perfect for DHS if Fantasmic won’t be back any time soon.
As far as I can tell, the rumor is pretty legit and being backed by many on Magic for whom are the the only peoples opinion I care about.

From what’s being said, the whole parade isn’t coming. Mack and likely a few other floats. Mack because he simply can’t do a route at WDW. MK has some turns that it can’t make and with DHS’ small route, not only can it not make some of those turns, but their parade storage is quite small and would likely need a temporary expansion tent to accommodate the parade.
 
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Chapek is not attending, despite the original announcement indicating he would be. Corless is running with speculation that it's because Chapek wants to avoid being booed; Disney says it's just a "scheduling conflict."

Having him NOT be there is actually a net positive (because he's a terrible representative for the company in terms of presentation style and personality), but Chapek actually getting booed would have been glorious.

I mean my dream would be him getting booed off stage/chants of “fire Chapek!”
 
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Disney's explanation is that something on Friday is preventing an appearance on Saturday.

If he wanted to be there on Saturday, he certainly could be.

Once you account for time change the fact he probably would need to rehearse at least a little it probably didn’t work out. Are we really thinking Bob would pick up a red eye to orlando and immediately go to give a keynote without practice? And that them being scared of boos is a more likely reason? Really?

I work at a high production and high visibility facility in a Fortune 500 company, the amount of times we had heard for weeks a VP or someone would be coming to visit only for them to cancel days before is crazy.
 
Bob is presumably attending a toilet role meeting.
A new magical prototype toilet paper is presented to him, it contains the portraits of Disney fans. It's been said it is going to be used by Bob to see if it is to his satisfaction and will be rolled out in his private restroom.
 
I'm in the boat of you vote with your wallet. If you like something, you buy it. If you don't like something, you don't buy it. Simple as that.

However if one pays any kind of money to a company to complain, then they really don't know how this goes.
I'm not a fan of Chapek either, but I'm not paying hundreds to boo at him. That boo would be meaningless!

Also, if one is dissatisfied with how the parks are being handled, a lot of folks are conveniently ignoring that someone else is in charge of those...
 
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I feel like Chapek gets a bit too much flack for things that go on regarding the parks. Chapek deserved the criticism when he ran the parks, but now he runs the whole company so every minor thing is not Chapek's fault. Sure he's at fault for some of the overriding changes, but he's not in charge of P&R day-to-day anymore is my point.

I think as a community, we've really let Josh D'amaro slide by as Head of P&R. He deserves criticism for everything happening in the P&R division right now just like Chapek did when he ran it and everyone before. Very few people were blaming Iger when Chapek ran the Parks, so why aren't we blaming D'amaro when Chapek is now in a much larger and expansive role as CEO? Like I said, he doesn't have time to deal with every decision that is made affecting the parks anymore.
 
So to recap the presentation.. some of the stuff we previously announced is still happening. Plus here's what's already back and is coming back.

Highlights include:
  • Re-imagined Little Mermaid show on Disney Wish
  • MagicBand+ coming to Disneyland
  • Multi-year Downtown Disney update coming to Disneyland (AMC Closing)
  • World of Color & Fantasmic coming back in the "new year"

 
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