D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event Announced for August 9-11, 2024
As Destination D23 kicked off in Anaheim today, Disney has announced the dates for the next edition of D23 Expo, the biennial convention where they bring major panels, exhibits, and a big show floor with selling booths for Disney fans from all over the world to attend. In 2024, however, they will be expanding upon that concept in favor of a much bigger event, called D23: The Ultimate Fan Event.
From August 9-11, 2024, Disney will be hosting the traditional D23 event at the Anaheim Convention Center. The day before it starts, on August 8, they will be hosting a kickoff event at the Disneyland Resort, and on the 4th, ticket holders will also get a chance to attend a special D23 Day at Angel Stadium, where they’ll get to watch the Los Angeles Angels vs. New York Mets game. The Honda Center will also be hosting more events during the evenings of the main expo.
A lot of details are unclear at the moment about this rebranding, as we are still 11 months away. For now, it seems like this is mostly a way for the event to get a new name and possibly justify a price hike. That is still unknown for now, as tickets will not be on sale until spring 2024, but with the company looking for quick ways to get money in and them adding more perks to every ticket holder, it seems like it’s going that way. Hotels are already available for booking on the official website.
D23: The ULTIMATE Disney Fan Event, coming to Anaheim August 9, 10, 11, 2024. We’re taking all the things you love about #D23Expo—the exhibits, the shows, the shopping—to a whole new level. It’s no longer just an Expo, but a Disney fan event like no other:… pic.twitter.com/pGxw0UEIQw
— Disney D23 (@DisneyD23) September 9, 2023
Star Wars has had a presence at D23 in recent years, and it’s expected they will do so again in 2024. Last year, during the last D23 Expo, Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni got on stage to introduce the first teaser trailer for The Mandalorian season 3, a recut version of a promo shown to Star Wars Celebration attendees months earlier. They also got to talk a bit about Ahsoka, showing new pictures to the audience, as well as Skeleton Crew. A new Andor promo was also displayed, days before the show’s premiere.
Of course, it’s way too early to speculate on what we might see next year. There is no Star Wars Celebration happening before April 2025, so it might be where they announce development of a new series, or even give details about the next feature film (currently set for May 2026). The Disney Plus roster for 2024 is currently unknown — we know The Acolyte is in the can and Andor had to shut down due to the strike six weeks or so before it was set to complete filming, which means they can work on post-production while the labor strikes are not resolved and get back to set once that happens. But since the dispute between actors, writers, and studios is not yet over, it’s impossible to know if the second season of the Diego Luna-led show will make it to its targeted August 2024 date. (It’s even possible that by the time D23 rolls around next year we still haven’t seen The Acolyte.)
Questions about Skeleton Crew and when it will come out are still up in the air, especially after Disney recently left it out of a listing of upcoming releases. We might learn more this Sunday, as Destination D23, another biennial Disney event that is somehow different but kind of the same, is set to host a 90-minute Walt Disney Studios showcase panel where Lucasfilm’s presence is possible.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as movies from Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
