September 5, 2025 • 36 mins
Welcome to Star Wars Reactions!
For our 220 episode, host Aaron Harris sits down with friend of the show and host of the Force Ghost Conversations Podcast, Anthony King who is fresh off a long weekend attending Destination D23 at the Walt Disney World Resort! Listen in as Anthony shares his experience at the convention, discusses Lucasfilm’s presentation, and more!
Since we are talking D23, Aaron shares an all new Disney Dad Joke of the Week!
Talking Points:
Star Wars Reactions: Elegant discussions for a more civilized age!
Check out Anthony King and Force Ghost Conversations on Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, YouTube, & Listen here
Click here to leave us a voicemail via SpeakPipe!
Email us here!
Follow us on X!
Follow us on Facebook!
Follow us on Instagram!
Follow us on TikTok!
Follow us on Threads!
Follow us on Bluesky!
Follow us on Pinterest!
Subscribe on YouTube!
Follow Aaron and David on X!
Follow Aaron and David on Instagram!
For our 220 episode, host Aaron Harris sits down with friend of the show and host of the Force Ghost Conversations Podcast, Anthony King who is fresh off a long weekend attending Destination D23 at the Walt Disney World Resort! Listen in as Anthony shares his experience at the convention, discusses Lucasfilm’s presentation, and more!
Since we are talking D23, Aaron shares an all new Disney Dad Joke of the Week!
Talking Points:
- Episode 220 Intro
- Destination D23
- Lucasfilm
- D23 vs Destination D23
- Other Disney News
- Closing
- Disney Dad Joke of the Week
Star Wars Reactions: Elegant discussions for a more civilized age!
Check out Anthony King and Force Ghost Conversations on Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, YouTube, & Listen here
Click here to leave us a voicemail via SpeakPipe!
Email us here!
Follow us on X!
Follow us on Facebook!
Follow us on Instagram!
Follow us on TikTok!
Follow us on Threads!
Follow us on Bluesky!
Follow us on Pinterest!
Subscribe on YouTube!
Follow Aaron and David on X!
Follow Aaron and David on Instagram!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, this is Emily Swallow and you're listening to Star
Wars Reactions.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
This is the way to podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
There's been awake, have your fund.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
In nineteen seventy seven, George Lucas formed a legacy. I
am inspired by mythology. His soaka has become a passion
for many. For his legend has become our stories, one
of resistance.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
We are gonna like.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Rebellion and redemption. I'm Jay Father. This is Star Wars Reactions.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Remember we'll be with you always. Well. Hello everybody, and
welcome to Star Wars Reactions. We are so happy you're
joining us this week for another exciting episode. My name
is Aaron Harrison. Not joining me this week is my
buddy and my pal, David Matters. He is spending some
(01:02):
time with family, getting his youngest prepared for college and everything.
So everything I went through, some of the things I
went through the last year with my daughter in her
senior year. He's now going through with his youngest. So
he's bowed out gracefully tonight. But you know, we got
a great show planned for us this week. We have
(01:26):
We are off the heels of Destination D twenty three,
which just took place August twenty ninth through the thirty
first here in Orlando, right down the road from me,
and I was unable to go, but we got a
special guest who was in attendance. He's a friend of
(01:48):
the show. You may recognize him from Forest Ghost Conversations
podcasts as well as filling in and visiting with us
several times. The incredibly awesome Anthony King is joining us. Anthony,
Welcome back to Reactions, brother oh Aeron.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Thank you so much for having me and anytime I
can be on Reactions, it's always a blast. So thrilled
to be here.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Well, You're always welcome anytime. And I know we want
to get into some D twenty three stuff because I
want to hear all about it, but before we do,
this is the first chance I've actually gotten to talk
to you one on one since everything in my life
happened earlier this year, and you stepped in with Greg
McLoughlin and helped us out and did some fill in
(02:30):
for us. So since I had you one on one,
I wanted to take a moment just to say thank you,
oh for helping us out during that time. With everything
I was going through, it meant a lot that you,
Greg and the others stepped in the way y'all did
and kept reactions afloat, and it meant a lot. And
(02:51):
I just wanted to personally say thank you.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Oh, you're most welcome. It is. It was an honor
and a privilege to keep their reactions ship a flow
out for just a little while and until both you
and David were able and willing to come back, and yeah,
I'm always happy to do so. And then to support
the community.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Oh well, it was much appreciated, much appreciated. So let's uh,
let's let's get into D twenty three. Of course, for
those of us, those of you out there who aren't
familiar with D twenty three, that is the Disney Fan
Club for all things Disney and destination. D twenty three
(03:31):
is basically their celebration essentially. It's where they have It's
a convention where all Disney fans from all all parts
of the world come together and just celebrate all things Disney.
They have announcements, they have panels, they have all kinds
of things going on, and well, I want to hear
(03:52):
about your experience, Anthony there at D twenty three, you know,
and I would be dismissed if I didn't, you know,
I mean, being a Star Wars podcast, if we didn't
touch off with Lucasfilm, because it's not just Disney, it's
all aspects of the Disney Company, the movies, whether it'd
be Pixar, Disney Animation, Lucasfilm, Marvel, everybody had something going on.
(04:17):
So it'd be dismiss if I didn't start off touching
on Lucasfilm because from what I've been hearing, there wasn't
much going on with Lucasfilm here at the twenty three
What was what was your experience that were you able
to attend that panel or what was your experience there
with Lucasfilm.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Yeah, so I will be honest. Yeah, there wasn't a
whole lot of Lucasfilm at this event, but historically there
really isn't a whole lot either at this thing. So
we can talk about the evolution I Guess of Destination
D twenty three in just a second here, But Lucasfilm
did have a little bit of some time in the sun,
if you will, during the what they called the Walt
Disney Studio Showcase panel, which was the kickoff of the
(04:59):
entirety of the two day convention, and within that all
the different studio parts of the Walt Disney Studio, so
the animation side of things, the live Action, Pixar, Marvel,
and Lucasfilm all had like a brief ten to fifteen
minutes if they wanted to of time to fill where
they could showcase literally anything that they wanted to. So
for the Lucasfilm portion of it, they did show a
(05:22):
brief little clip of the upcoming Lego Rebuild the Galaxy
Pieces of the Past. I think it's fully called basically
season two of Rebuild the Galaxy, and they showed a
really great sequence. I hope the listeners have seen season
one because if not, you're gonna get a little spoiler here,
but there is the first season ends with a little
(05:43):
bit of a sequence that involves a character called the
Lando Larean, which is Lando Calriiskian in the Mandalorian's armor,
and the second season, or least he's going to be
in the second season. But the clip that they showed
involved a little bit of a fight sequence between Jedi Bob,
a famous Lego character, and the Landalorian, which was really great.
(06:04):
So very excited to see that series when it comes
out at the time of this recording in just like
two three weeks time, so that'll be really great to
have that back in our feeds and some new Star
Wars too technically with that as well. And then they
did show a bit of the well, they showed footage
from the Mandalorin and Grogu, the upcoming film, and it's
(06:24):
coming out in May of twenty twenty six. So if
you're thinking school year right at the end of this
school year, if school just started for everybody, you have
something to look forward to at the end of your
school year, which will be Mandalin Grogu. But ultimately, the
footage that they did show was the same footage that
one would have seen at Star Wars celebration just a
few months prior back in Japan, I think end of April.
(06:48):
So if you had been at both, you weren't treated
to anything new per se on that front. But if
you were not there, like myself, you've got to actually
see this footage live in person, well before it's you know,
this trailer hasn't been released yet to the general public.
Features a great action sequence, a lot of familiar characters
(07:09):
up here in the footage as well, and then they
brought out some BD extroids that've been making their way
around the Walt Disney parks around the globe, and they
brought them out on stage along with an Enzel and
that are going to be featured in the film. So
that was you know, it was a great treat. And
I think too, you got to think about the audience, right,
(07:31):
So if the audience is comprised of Disney fanatics, right,
this is very much geared towards the fan that like
likes every aspect of the Walt Disney Company. Right, They're
not just coming here for Marvel exclusively. They're not coming
for Star Wars alone or Pixar alone.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Right.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
There are people that are like, I have my hand
in all the buckets and they probably had no idea
that footage was released at Star Wars celebration Tokyo and
just you know, months ago. So for a lot of
people in the room, this was a big treat for them.
And I think it really sang across the across the
board there and I think the fervor in the room
was really potent.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Awesome, awesome. Yeah, you know, when when you show footage
like that, especially like when they had celebration in Japan.
A lot of fans around the around the globe didn't
get to see it because it was lockdown. A few
people a few people tried leaking it out online and
it immediately get pulled down, so a lot a lot
of fans didn't get to see it. So with D
(08:28):
twenty three, a lot of fans got to go that
weren't at celebrations, so they got to to experience that
as well. So that's that's awesome to hear. So so
and I'm looking forward to to Lego to rebuild the Galaxy,
Yeah sequel. You know it's fun about the Lego is
the fact that they can come out. They could tell
a Star Wars story and it's just fun. It doesn't
(08:51):
have to be so serious and tell a galactic tale
like like other parts that it could just be a
fun one off the cuffy. I go back to the
Phineas and Ferb Star Wars thing, which I absolutely loved,
and I love that now. I did see a clip
(09:14):
from from one of the panels where they were talking
to Dan, Paul Vamier and Swampy from who did Phineas
and Ferb, and they hinted at possibly carrying on and
doing an Empire strikes back in a return of the
Jedi crossover with Phineas and Ferb, which you, dude, I'd
(09:37):
lose my mind.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
I do want a prep preface. That was a very
strong hint, but like, no, don't uh. It wasn't like
a confirmation. It was more of like a what would
you like to do? And they're like, well, I guess
we did a Star Wars one, we might as well
do Empire and Jedi if we're going to go any
further with that type of stuff, So both don't don't
take it as gospel that it's actually happening.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
Oh no, no, it was one of those let's throw
it against the wall and see if it's six yep yep.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Also while they were drawing at the same time as
they were answering these questions too, so like very much
off the cuff kind of responses.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Oh absolutely, absolutely so, of course. That I mean, like
I said, not a lot happening lucasfilm wise. But tell
us more about your D twenty three experience. What all
did you learn? What all did you experience being at
this convention that's kind of unlike other conventions because of
(10:31):
how heavily Disney themed. It is.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Yeah, So I will just share with the listeners that
I did go to D twenty three, the ultimate Disney
fan event that takes place in Anaheim last year. So
that takes place on every other year, so next year
there will be one. They announced the dates for that
at this convention, So every two years, if you will,
(10:55):
that's when a D twenty three in Anaheim will take place.
And that's much larger, very much. It fills up the
entirety of the Anaheim Convention Center. They even had the
last time that we were there, they had like the
major panels of the day, so like a studio showcase,
Uphole Parks panel, the Disney Legend ceremony. Those all took
(11:16):
place the Honda Center down the road, which is where
the Anaheim Ducks play. So they literally take up an
entire hockey arena with like twenty fifteen to twenty thousand
people in there to fill up for that kind of
atmosphere and space. So that just kind of gives you
a sense of this size and scope at least for
that and frankly, they sell more tickets than you know,
just you know, that's an add on to the ticket right,
(11:37):
So not everyone that gets to go to D twenty
three gets to even attend those major panels, So there's
a lot of people still on the show floor when
they're getting bussed over to the other space over there.
So you know, many people probably have been to Star
Wars celebration they're listening to this. It has been an Anaheim
quite a few times since Disney has taken over, and
so probably listeners have a good sense of that kind
(11:59):
of space that they have over there and the size
and scope of it over there. And you can really
tailor your experience towards the things that you're into, right,
So if you're a parks person, you can say, Okay,
I know that all these panels are happening where I
can kind of make my own experience if you will
choose my own adventure and go to only parks panels,
or if you're a Star Wars person, right, Lucasfilm usually
(12:22):
has a pavilion of sorts, and at least at the
last D twenty three they had a myriad of programming
throughout the entirety of the weekend that you could basically
just say, I'm only here for Star Wars stuff. Same
thing with Marvel two, the Disney Animation studios again all
the different types of umbrella things they have under the
Disney portfolio. If you will, you can really tailor your
(12:43):
experience towards those types of likes and interests that you
might have. Now At Destination D twenty three, just to
compare the two, this is the largest one of these
that they've done so far, but we're only still talking
at most four thousand people in the space, and this
is an increase from where they were last time that. So,
like I was saying, it happens every other year the
D twenty three, but then in the interim years, so
(13:06):
every year there is a D twenty three of source,
but Destination D twenty three it takes place here at
Walt Disney World is on those off years then, and
it's a much more smaller, much more intimate kind of
experience for everybody. I believe it's taken place at the
contemporary resort last time. I might be wrong in that,
so then it can fact check me on that for sure,
(13:27):
but definitely a smaller venue and this was a big,
bigger swing for this type of convention, if you will,
it takes place at Cornado Springs this year, and with
that they were able to increase it to about I think,
like I said, four thousand people, and they filled up
the entirety of the space. It's sold out within I
think maybe five to ten minutes of tickets being available.
So I got really lucky with that. And some of
(13:49):
the big draws for this type of convention compared to
any other, frankly, is that buying a ticket gets you
access to all of the year. There's only one panel stage,
so you know you're not going to miss out on anything.
It's not like there's two panels happening at the same
time or even more than that. Right, Frankly, there's really
not even like a major show floor too either. Right,
(14:11):
there is one programming schedule throughout the day, and you're
guaranteed a seat by purchasing your ticket to be in
that room. So I think that's a kind of a
big sigh of relief for a lot of people, because
I know a lot of fans have bemoaned over the years. Right,
I bought a ticket for Star Wars celebration, and then
there's like this lottery system, right, and I didn't get any.
And then there are people that like I got three
(14:32):
or four luck of the draw, right, they get so
lucky versus the other side of things too, where it's oh,
I had to camp out for the whole night beforehand
just to get a chance to even be at this panel,
and then you didn't get it, and now you're tired
and grumpy because you didn't get in. Right. So I
think this is kind of an ultimate best of both
worlds kind of scenario where everyone is guaranteed as soon
(14:54):
as you buy the ticket. Now you can make the
argument of was it worth the value of the ticket
for the program of the offer, And I think that's
up to each person to ultimately decide. But I did
like that aspect of the of the convention, and you know,
you get there early, you find your spot, and you
sit sit down and enjoy the variety of programming because
they had a lot of different things throughout the day,
(15:15):
and they did touch upon every aspect of the Disney
portfolio at some point within this this this whole convention, Right,
So Lucasfilm briefly, Marvel briefly, right, the parks had their
had a couple of panels. They talked about the history
of the Walt Disney studio. They had brought up people
from the archive to do a bunch of different presentations.
They talked about Disney animated classics, right. It was really
(15:37):
tailored to like a very elder millennial audience, I like
to say, because they had very specific panels on things
like The Emperor's New Groove, Goofy movie. They brought out
the whole director crew from like Brother Bear, Fantasia two thousand,
The Atlantis, Tarzan, like the really early two thousand's, late
nineties kind of Disney can and if you will. And
(16:02):
I honestly was blown away with the level of production
because I had watched the live stream before of Past
Destination indeed twenty threes, and arguably you could say it
was pretty lackluster, Like I would say, like they didn't
really announce anything. It was more of just like kind
of like a show and tell from like, oh, here's
some concept dart from things we did thirty years ago,
forty years ago, fifty years ago, and no, here they
(16:24):
were giving us like I got to see the first
scene from Toy Story five, a movie that's coming out
a year from now, and the fact that I was
able to see they called it rough animation, but I'll
be honest that I don't know how much more they
could improve on what they showed us. I was very
blown away by how good it looked. I'm like, wow,
that's a year out then, My golly, how how much
(16:47):
better could it get? They showed us a variety of
different sequences from the upcoming Pixar film Hoppers Too, which
I think was really a show stealer for a lot
in the crowd. We got to see a scene from
the Neutron Ares that's coming out in the month here,
which was incredible. I think fans are really going to
take to that, and a lot of footage from the
upcoming Utopia too, which is really highly anticipated I know
(17:09):
a lot by many in the Disney fan base here.
So they definitely came out like they didn't just say
we're just going bigger here. No, we're saying we're going
bigger and better with this version of Destination D twenty three,
and I can only imagine that's going to continue going
up from here. I've heard from a couple different people
that were there that have been to past Destination D
twenty three is that this version this year is very
(17:32):
comparable to like D twenty three and roughly like twenty
fifteen or so, that kind of kind of like grassroots
kind of feel, and they're like, well, we've seen how
the bigger D twenty three is expanded every year since then,
and to where it is this point now, where it's
this massive, massive thing out in Anaheim. And if that's
the structury of this is going to go on, then
it can only go up from here, folks. So you know,
(17:53):
you may want to mark this on your calendar for
the next time it's coming through.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
That's good to know. I'll have to check that because
I never did. It was I didn't realize it was
a separate convention it was a D twenty three. Then, ah,
that learned something.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Now, now you still got to be a member of
D twenty three to even get access to purchasing tickets,
So just always remember that, two folks.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
True. True, But just if I remember correctly, you can
get a free membership, you just have to there are
not anymore. They're all paid now.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
You can get a free membership, but to get access
to buy a ticket, you do need to buy a
gold member.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
Yes, gotcha. Okay, so they've they've changed that up a
little bit there. Okay, That's cool, all right. I guess
that's one way to keep the numbers limited too.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
So well, I mean it keeps it keeps the numbers limited.
But you know, I get they're not hurting. I'll tell
you that there were a lot of people that I
know were like, oh, man, you got tickets. You got
the real luck of the draw there for that one.
And I tell you, you know, the same principles applied last
year for that's for the larger twenty three, the ultimate
(19:00):
Disney Fan event, and seeing the massive crowds of people
fill up the entirety of the Anaheim Convention Center, I'm like,
these people had to pay at least one hundred and
fifty dollars to get a membership for twenty three as
a gold member to even have the chance to buy
a ticket for this thing, which is like wow. When
you try to wrap your head around that, you're just like, man,
(19:21):
that's a lot of money in Disney's pocket here, which
seemingly that's the kind of point of these things is
saying like what's your investment, Like, like, what are the
things that we are doing here that's going to service
you as fans and we're celebrating you as fans, and
that's really what these both Destination D twenty three and
the larger D twenty three fan events are are meant
to do.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Oh that's awesome, you know, it's and it's nice to
hear that they're they're progressing it beyond the scopes that
they had in the past, and that it is growing in,
is spanning, and they're actually giving people that are there
something new to chew on, you know, like you're scene
from Toy Story that you know, that's that's a movie
(20:00):
that I know, my me and my girls are are
are anxiously waiting for you know, my oldest is in
her freshman year of college and my my youngest in
middle school. And we've already we've already said when this
comes out, we're we're we're going to be in this
theater watching this thing because we all grew uea. I
grew up with them watching Tory Story and and it's
(20:23):
been a big part of our of our family. So
it's going to be fun and and utopia as well.
It's one of those things that my youngest just loved
it when she was small because of all the animals.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Absolutely, without spoiling anything, they're going to be. I think
based on you know, having seen all these films too.
If I was pleased, I think others are going to
be really pleased as well. So I think get your
tickets early.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
Very good, very good. Now of churse being that they
had all these panel, these discussions, these panels stuff, uh
talking about you said, the the Goofy movie, which there's
a there's what I haven't seen in a long time.
I'll have to sit down and rewatch it. I don't
even know. I don't think my youngest has seen that yet.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Really good.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
I'll need to sit her down and to watch that
together because I have not watched it probably since I
showed my oldest, which was jeez, at least ten years ago.
So but yeah, I'll have to go back and watch that.
But so from what I've seen in clips and stuff,
they brought in a lot of not uh of voice
actors and characters from these movies and these shows to
(21:36):
have it going. Because I saw the for clips of
the Goofy movie panel they had the voice of Goofy
and everybody there as well. We're with these types of
things going on. Did did where did they even have
time for like meet and greets? And stuff like that
as well or with that.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Just uh you know, they didn't necessarily have those type
of things here, right, There was no sort of like
I know, Greg McLaughlin likes to call it like an
artist sally if you will, right where there's like a
whole bunch of different vendors and and maybe not necessarily
like the Disney approved vendors if you will, Like you know,
you get to Star Wars celebration, there's rows and rows
(22:15):
and rows of vendors of all different types of and
all that stuff, just selling action figures and a variety
of different knick knacks that have been Star Wars throughout
the years. This had none of that. There was very controlled.
There are about four different shops or so that Disney
had available. And that's another draw of these types of events, right,
(22:36):
is particularly with the Disney group of it all right,
where it's like they are like, here's exclusive merchandise, particularly
for this. There are pins exclusively here for this, and
I know there's a big pin trader community out there,
and uh, you know, this is just another way for
people to get access to those things. So they would
have breaks throughout the day, right, But two in the
(22:58):
you know, one in the morning, one in the afternoon,
and then a larger for lunch about two hours, which
was more than more than adequate to eat quickly find.
You know, they had food trucks out there. Plus it
was a corn out of Springs resort, so the variety
different restaurants that they had there definitely serviced everybody as needed.
And yeah, so there was a lot of ample time
to go through all the different shopping boots and all
(23:19):
that stuff. Now, there wasn't really a whole lot of
Star Wars merch too on that front, so I think that,
you know, just from that perspective, I was a little
disappointed in all that. But if you're a fan of
just Disney, right, there's a ton of different stuff, like
very much imagineering focused. And for the parks itself, right,
there was a lot of merchandise gears towards that. And
just for the D twenty three membership, there was a
(23:40):
lot of exclusive type of like things that said like
I'm a member or I was commemorate to commemorate your
experience here at Destination D twenty three. A lot of
merchandise specifically geared towards.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
That as well.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
So with all that to be said, yes, they did
not really have like meet and greets quote unquote if
you will, that you would see at like a Star
Wars celebration for example, to compare it to that, no
type of like autograph signings or photographs, nothing like that.
That just frankly wasn't any time for that throughout the day,
And a lot of these people were i would say,
(24:11):
recycled for various different things just because of how many
things that they touched in the Disney community, right. I
think Don Han, Disney legend and animator and director, has
just been part of so many things over the last
thirty years of Disney that he was basically on like
half of the panels.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
I felt.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Ashley Eckstein are Ahsoka was there and she hosted a
lot of panels herself, but again, yeah, she was not
roaming like the floor to showcase like or do any
kind of meet and greets like that. And you know,
Patrick Warburton was there for a couple of panels too,
both for his role as Kronk in the Emperor's New Groove,
(24:46):
but he was announced to be a new character in
Zutopia in Zutopia too, so you know he was there
and they also, I want to mention, like they had
a bunch of ancillary different kind of programming here to
like really add to that wow factor for this event
that really wasn't there in the past. So after the
Emperor's New Groove panel, which was to close out for
(25:08):
the first day that Saturday, so it was a Saturday
and Sunday. After the Emperor's New Group panel, they had
like a two or three hour break, and then that
evening for everybody that was there, we basically got to
have an after hours nighttime event at Typhoon Lagoon called Couscotopia,
where you know, they basically you got a free ticket
to the water park by buying a ticket for this
(25:30):
event and getting access to the panels and all the
different shopping and just the experience of being in the
room with like minded Disney fans. But you also got
literally a free ticket to the park with no wait
times for anything. And it's still very much warm. It's
late August here in Orlando, so you know, dipping into
the pool and the Lazy River and the wave pool
and all that stuff isn't the half bad idea. They
(25:51):
also had a variety of different like meet and Greek
characters that are unique to Emperor's New Groove as well,
So definitely I would say that are arguably that's a
really great aspect to an addition to the ticket as well,
that you got a factor into the cost of things.
And then to Coke, close out the entirety of the ceremony, right,
they had a big like Disney eighties and nineties concert celebration,
(26:16):
which is really fantastic. They brought out Susan Egan, who
did the voice of Meg from The Hercules, to sing
a song from Hercules. They had Jody Benson, who was
kind of the hostess of the entirety of the convention
over the two days, as the grand Master of Ceremonies perhaps,
and she said, of course she's an Ariel from The
(26:36):
Little Mermaids. She sang part of your World, which not
a dry eye in the house for that one, I
can tell you. And then they had a variety of
different Disney Broadway actors at on stage to sing variety
of different tracks from many Disney classics and you know,
underrated films throughout the eighties and nineties that were a
big hit. And then close it out, I believe I
remember them bringing out like the Goofy movie cast out
(26:58):
to sing some of the songs from those films as well.
So a really great time across the board with that,
and they really brought the house down, I would say,
with talent and just the knowledge base of like, Wow,
we're in the room with these people and we get
to experience them talking about these crazy and wonderful stories
that have really touched the hearts and minds of people
over the last forty years.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
Oh, I can only imagine, I know, with from personal
experience from Star Wars, Weekends and Celebration, just being in
a room and hearing these people, Hearing people that you've
watched on TV, listened or watched in the movies, listened
on TV and everything and grew up with. Hearing them
just talk about about it and being something you love
(27:42):
is really energizing. So I can only imagine, especially being
in at Disney and seeing what was going on we
in being a Disney fan growing up watching Little Mermaid
and everything. I can only imagine how exciting that was
(28:03):
now energizing and kind of very much reminiscing of childhood
at that point.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
So yeah, I was definitely on a cloud. I'll tell
you that understand.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
Understand, well, we'll start wrapping things up here a little bit.
Of course, definitely, it sounds like you had an incredible
time they're at D twenty three, and I appreciate you
sharing your experiences and all and taking the time. Anything
else about D twenty three that you would want to
share that you might think that anybody listening may want
(28:36):
to note that may influence their decisions in the future
to possibly attempt to grab a ticket to go.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Yeah, absolutely, I think that definitely you need to temper
your expectations when it comes to this type of event. Right,
the D twenty three last year was a life changing
event in terms of how they treated that thing compared
to years in the past. Right, So they announced like
all these major changes to the parks, right villains Land,
cars Land, to the Magic Kingdom, of course, these expansions
(29:06):
to Disneyland, and of course all the parks across the
globe got major announcements. The big film like all these
different movies got announced stand or they showed trailers for
the upcoming Disney slated at that type of convention last year,
and it was very theatrical at the Honda Center. And
this is at Coronatda Springs Resort. So it's not necessarily
the same type of atmosphere, nor can they necessarily do
(29:30):
the same theatrics, but they absolutely did the best they could.
And I had a buddy that asked me what my
experience was, and I talked to him about it, and
then he was like, oh, that's really interesting to hear
because he was at D twenty three as well, the
big one, and he shared with me that a person
that he was in contact with was like, oh, they
compared it to if, Like if D twenty three the
(29:52):
ultimate fan event is a five star, five course meal, right,
this is Destination D twenty three is like eating a
bucket of popcorn. And I honestly said, like, that's actually
a pretty fair comparison, to be honest, having been to both.
But if you would have asked me, because having watched
the live stream of Destination D twenty three's in previous years,
(30:14):
I would have said, yet, it would have still compared
a five star, five course meal to a stick of
salary in the past, right, And now that it's at
a popcorn bucket level, that means it can only continue
to go up for future iterations of this thing. And
the team at D twenty three did such a great
job and putting this together, making it expansive, making it
very inclusive for everybody. I mean everything was touched upon
(30:36):
in some way, shape or form. Now you can be
cynical about the announcements made here, but honestly, when you
sit down and think through it, there actually was a
pretty good amount. They announced new movies here, a film
called Hexts coming out next year from Disney Animation Studios.
Pick Star has kind of dropped a new film that's
coming out in twenty twenty six as well, called Ghatto.
They very much were talking about various different types of
(30:58):
like parks announcements throughout this, when it comes to food,
when it comes to like adding Walt to the Carousel
of Progress, Like that's a pretty big announcement that just
kind of got dropped here. I know a lot of
Disney fans are like, don't you dare touch the Carousel
of Progress in any way, shape or form. And the
fact that they had the gusto to say, like, hey,
we're actually going to do that here, it was a
pretty big announcement. I know people in Paris so I
(31:19):
have been anxiously awaiting for like any news about the
world of Frozens, they're supposed to get out there, and
that officially got announced to open in spring of twenty
twenty six there and as well as especially for us
here in Florida, the castle is going to be changing
its colors back to its classic gray, which I think
(31:41):
is a big, big innount. So, like you know, they
weren't just like not announcing stuff for folks here, and
it was very entertaining in the way that they were
telling these stories across the board, and then they mixed
it with a lot of different theatrical elements. So if
this is the upwards trajectory that they're going with this thing,
then absolutely I feel I personally feel like the cost
of my ticket was well worth the experience and the
information that I got out of it. They gave us
(32:04):
a lot of great goodie bags too, and stuff along
the way, so when you factor all that stuff into
this thing, I did feel like ultimately I had both
a great time and got my money's worth out of
this thing. So if it continues to go on that trajectory,
then I think it should be something on everybody's radar
for the future.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Very good, very good that sounds like a bless and
it definitely looks like something I may have to look
into next time it comes rolling around and see if
I can tear away from my wife for a little
bit and go do that. So, but thank you so
much for letting us hear about that. If people have
(32:40):
questions about Destination d twenty three or I want to
check out Forscho's conversations, tell our listeners how they can
do that.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
Yeah, absolutely, if they want to support the podcast. We're
available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, really any place you can
find in podcasts these days. There's so many places I
don't even not even able to keep track of them anymore.
But just search for Forest cost Conversations. We'll be there
in some capacity. We're also available on most of the
social media platforms, whether it be x, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, threads,
(33:10):
Blue Sky again, just search Forest Gusted Conversations and I'm
sure you'll find us there and we'd love to continue
the conversation, whether it be via this or talking about
Star Wars or We're going to House Econ in October
here in Orlando too, so we'll be boots on the
ground at that convention and are very excited to share
some stories and insights from that one as well to
(33:31):
to our audience, so you can really follow along with
all of our adventures on our social channels of.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
Course, excellent, excellent. We'll have links to all those in
our show notes, so feel free to check that out,
of course we do. Of course, what if you have questions,
of course you can always hit us up on any
of our socials as well. We're on Facebook and x
at SW Reactions Pod then everywhere else at SW Reactions,
(33:57):
So hit us up there. You know, before I let
you go, it is tradition on the show that I
ended the same way with the Star Wars Dad joke
of the week. But I you know, I was thinking,
you know, we're sitting here, we're talking about D twenty
three and everything. We're talking Disney parks and all the
exciting stuff there. I figured, let's do a Disney Dad
(34:22):
joke of the week to the kind of fill in here,
and I figured that would be appropriate here. And I
think I found a good old dad joke here for us.
And it goes like this, why is Disney Park attendant
stronger on Saturday and Sunday? Oh?
Speaker 2 (34:40):
Oh tell me?
Speaker 3 (34:42):
Because Monday through Friday are week days.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Oh I like that was a good one. That was
a good one.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Yes, stronger on the weekends. Week during the week Oh,
there were.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Going that way. So yeah, embrace the weekend.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
Exactly, exactly. Well, Anthony, thank you so much again for
joining us. I do greatly appreciate you jumping in and
talking to us. I know you have a big game tonight,
so go Eagles as Washington. It pains me to say that,
but as long as you beat the Cowboys, I don't care.
(35:18):
I will say it till cows come home, as long
as you beat the cowboys. But thank you for joining us,
and thank you everybody for listening. We love y'all, appreciate
each and every one of y'all. We're praying for you. Remember,
do something kind for somebody. You know, a little bit
of kindness goes a long way in this world, so
be the ones to share it. Remember this is your
(35:40):
place for elegant discussion for more civilized age.
Speaker 4 (35:48):
This podcast is not endorsed by the Walt Disney Company
or by Lucasfilm, and that it's intended for entertainment and
informational purposes only. It's the official Star Wars website can
be found at www dot star wars dot com. Star Wars,
all names, sounds, and any other Star Wars related items
are registered trademarks and or copyrights of Disney and the
respective trademark and copyright holders. All original content of this
(36:10):
podcast is an intellectual property of Star Wars Reactions, unless
otherwise indicated. Star Wars Reactions elegant discussion for a more
civilized age
Hi, this is Emily Swallow and you're listening to Star
Wars Reactions.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
This is the way to podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
There's been awake, have your fund.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
In nineteen seventy seven, George Lucas formed a legacy. I
am inspired by mythology. His soaka has become a passion
for many. For his legend has become our stories, one
of resistance.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
We are gonna like.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Rebellion and redemption. I'm Jay Father. This is Star Wars Reactions.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Remember we'll be with you always. Well. Hello everybody, and
welcome to Star Wars Reactions. We are so happy you're
joining us this week for another exciting episode. My name
is Aaron Harrison. Not joining me this week is my
buddy and my pal, David Matters. He is spending some
(01:02):
time with family, getting his youngest prepared for college and everything.
So everything I went through, some of the things I
went through the last year with my daughter in her
senior year. He's now going through with his youngest. So
he's bowed out gracefully tonight. But you know, we got
a great show planned for us this week. We have
(01:26):
We are off the heels of Destination D twenty three,
which just took place August twenty ninth through the thirty
first here in Orlando, right down the road from me,
and I was unable to go, but we got a
special guest who was in attendance. He's a friend of
(01:48):
the show. You may recognize him from Forest Ghost Conversations
podcasts as well as filling in and visiting with us
several times. The incredibly awesome Anthony King is joining us. Anthony,
Welcome back to Reactions, brother oh Aeron.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Thank you so much for having me and anytime I
can be on Reactions, it's always a blast. So thrilled
to be here.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Well, You're always welcome anytime. And I know we want
to get into some D twenty three stuff because I
want to hear all about it, but before we do,
this is the first chance I've actually gotten to talk
to you one on one since everything in my life
happened earlier this year, and you stepped in with Greg
McLoughlin and helped us out and did some fill in
(02:30):
for us. So since I had you one on one,
I wanted to take a moment just to say thank you,
oh for helping us out during that time. With everything
I was going through, it meant a lot that you,
Greg and the others stepped in the way y'all did
and kept reactions afloat, and it meant a lot. And
(02:51):
I just wanted to personally say thank you.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Oh, you're most welcome. It is. It was an honor
and a privilege to keep their reactions ship a flow
out for just a little while and until both you
and David were able and willing to come back, and yeah,
I'm always happy to do so. And then to support
the community.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Oh well, it was much appreciated, much appreciated. So let's uh,
let's let's get into D twenty three. Of course, for
those of us, those of you out there who aren't
familiar with D twenty three, that is the Disney Fan
Club for all things Disney and destination. D twenty three
(03:31):
is basically their celebration essentially. It's where they have It's
a convention where all Disney fans from all all parts
of the world come together and just celebrate all things Disney.
They have announcements, they have panels, they have all kinds
of things going on, and well, I want to hear
(03:52):
about your experience, Anthony there at D twenty three, you know,
and I would be dismissed if I didn't, you know,
I mean, being a Star Wars podcast, if we didn't
touch off with Lucasfilm, because it's not just Disney, it's
all aspects of the Disney Company, the movies, whether it'd
be Pixar, Disney Animation, Lucasfilm, Marvel, everybody had something going on.
(04:17):
So it'd be dismiss if I didn't start off touching
on Lucasfilm because from what I've been hearing, there wasn't
much going on with Lucasfilm here at the twenty three
What was what was your experience that were you able
to attend that panel or what was your experience there
with Lucasfilm.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Yeah, so I will be honest. Yeah, there wasn't a
whole lot of Lucasfilm at this event, but historically there
really isn't a whole lot either at this thing. So
we can talk about the evolution I Guess of Destination
D twenty three in just a second here, But Lucasfilm
did have a little bit of some time in the sun,
if you will, during the what they called the Walt
Disney Studio Showcase panel, which was the kickoff of the
(04:59):
entirety of the two day convention, and within that all
the different studio parts of the Walt Disney Studio, so
the animation side of things, the live Action, Pixar, Marvel,
and Lucasfilm all had like a brief ten to fifteen
minutes if they wanted to of time to fill where
they could showcase literally anything that they wanted to. So
for the Lucasfilm portion of it, they did show a
(05:22):
brief little clip of the upcoming Lego Rebuild the Galaxy
Pieces of the Past. I think it's fully called basically
season two of Rebuild the Galaxy, and they showed a
really great sequence. I hope the listeners have seen season
one because if not, you're gonna get a little spoiler here,
but there is the first season ends with a little
(05:43):
bit of a sequence that involves a character called the
Lando Larean, which is Lando Calriiskian in the Mandalorian's armor,
and the second season, or least he's going to be
in the second season. But the clip that they showed
involved a little bit of a fight sequence between Jedi Bob,
a famous Lego character, and the Landalorian, which was really great.
(06:04):
So very excited to see that series when it comes
out at the time of this recording in just like
two three weeks time, so that'll be really great to
have that back in our feeds and some new Star
Wars too technically with that as well. And then they
did show a bit of the well, they showed footage
from the Mandalorin and Grogu, the upcoming film, and it's
(06:24):
coming out in May of twenty twenty six. So if
you're thinking school year right at the end of this
school year, if school just started for everybody, you have
something to look forward to at the end of your
school year, which will be Mandalin Grogu. But ultimately, the
footage that they did show was the same footage that
one would have seen at Star Wars celebration just a
few months prior back in Japan, I think end of April.
(06:48):
So if you had been at both, you weren't treated
to anything new per se on that front. But if
you were not there, like myself, you've got to actually
see this footage live in person, well before it's you know,
this trailer hasn't been released yet to the general public.
Features a great action sequence, a lot of familiar characters
(07:09):
up here in the footage as well, and then they
brought out some BD extroids that've been making their way
around the Walt Disney parks around the globe, and they
brought them out on stage along with an Enzel and
that are going to be featured in the film. So
that was you know, it was a great treat. And
I think too, you got to think about the audience, right,
(07:31):
So if the audience is comprised of Disney fanatics, right,
this is very much geared towards the fan that like
likes every aspect of the Walt Disney Company. Right, They're
not just coming here for Marvel exclusively. They're not coming
for Star Wars alone or Pixar alone.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Right.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
There are people that are like, I have my hand
in all the buckets and they probably had no idea
that footage was released at Star Wars celebration Tokyo and
just you know, months ago. So for a lot of
people in the room, this was a big treat for them.
And I think it really sang across the across the
board there and I think the fervor in the room
was really potent.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Awesome, awesome. Yeah, you know, when when you show footage
like that, especially like when they had celebration in Japan.
A lot of fans around the around the globe didn't
get to see it because it was lockdown. A few
people a few people tried leaking it out online and
it immediately get pulled down, so a lot a lot
of fans didn't get to see it. So with D
(08:28):
twenty three, a lot of fans got to go that
weren't at celebrations, so they got to to experience that
as well. So that's that's awesome to hear. So so
and I'm looking forward to to Lego to rebuild the Galaxy,
Yeah sequel. You know it's fun about the Lego is
the fact that they can come out. They could tell
a Star Wars story and it's just fun. It doesn't
(08:51):
have to be so serious and tell a galactic tale
like like other parts that it could just be a
fun one off the cuffy. I go back to the
Phineas and Ferb Star Wars thing, which I absolutely loved,
and I love that now. I did see a clip
(09:14):
from from one of the panels where they were talking
to Dan, Paul Vamier and Swampy from who did Phineas
and Ferb, and they hinted at possibly carrying on and
doing an Empire strikes back in a return of the
Jedi crossover with Phineas and Ferb, which you, dude, I'd
(09:37):
lose my mind.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
I do want a prep preface. That was a very
strong hint, but like, no, don't uh. It wasn't like
a confirmation. It was more of like a what would
you like to do? And they're like, well, I guess
we did a Star Wars one, we might as well
do Empire and Jedi if we're going to go any
further with that type of stuff, So both don't don't
take it as gospel that it's actually happening.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
Oh no, no, it was one of those let's throw
it against the wall and see if it's six yep yep.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Also while they were drawing at the same time as
they were answering these questions too, so like very much
off the cuff kind of responses.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Oh absolutely, absolutely so, of course. That I mean, like
I said, not a lot happening lucasfilm wise. But tell
us more about your D twenty three experience. What all
did you learn? What all did you experience being at
this convention that's kind of unlike other conventions because of
(10:31):
how heavily Disney themed. It is.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Yeah, So I will just share with the listeners that
I did go to D twenty three, the ultimate Disney
fan event that takes place in Anaheim last year. So
that takes place on every other year, so next year
there will be one. They announced the dates for that
at this convention, So every two years, if you will,
(10:55):
that's when a D twenty three in Anaheim will take place.
And that's much larger, very much. It fills up the
entirety of the Anaheim Convention Center. They even had the
last time that we were there, they had like the
major panels of the day, so like a studio showcase,
Uphole Parks panel, the Disney Legend ceremony. Those all took
(11:16):
place the Honda Center down the road, which is where
the Anaheim Ducks play. So they literally take up an
entire hockey arena with like twenty fifteen to twenty thousand
people in there to fill up for that kind of
atmosphere and space. So that just kind of gives you
a sense of this size and scope at least for
that and frankly, they sell more tickets than you know,
just you know, that's an add on to the ticket right,
(11:37):
So not everyone that gets to go to D twenty
three gets to even attend those major panels, So there's
a lot of people still on the show floor when
they're getting bussed over to the other space over there.
So you know, many people probably have been to Star
Wars celebration they're listening to this. It has been an Anaheim
quite a few times since Disney has taken over, and
so probably listeners have a good sense of that kind
(11:59):
of space that they have over there and the size
and scope of it over there. And you can really
tailor your experience towards the things that you're into, right,
So if you're a parks person, you can say, Okay,
I know that all these panels are happening where I
can kind of make my own experience if you will
choose my own adventure and go to only parks panels,
or if you're a Star Wars person, right, Lucasfilm usually
(12:22):
has a pavilion of sorts, and at least at the
last D twenty three they had a myriad of programming
throughout the entirety of the weekend that you could basically
just say, I'm only here for Star Wars stuff. Same
thing with Marvel two, the Disney Animation studios again all
the different types of umbrella things they have under the
Disney portfolio. If you will, you can really tailor your
(12:43):
experience towards those types of likes and interests that you
might have. Now At Destination D twenty three, just to
compare the two, this is the largest one of these
that they've done so far, but we're only still talking
at most four thousand people in the space, and this
is an increase from where they were last time that. So,
like I was saying, it happens every other year the
D twenty three, but then in the interim years, so
(13:06):
every year there is a D twenty three of source,
but Destination D twenty three it takes place here at
Walt Disney World is on those off years then, and
it's a much more smaller, much more intimate kind of
experience for everybody. I believe it's taken place at the
contemporary resort last time. I might be wrong in that,
so then it can fact check me on that for sure,
(13:27):
but definitely a smaller venue and this was a big,
bigger swing for this type of convention, if you will,
it takes place at Cornado Springs this year, and with
that they were able to increase it to about I think,
like I said, four thousand people, and they filled up
the entirety of the space. It's sold out within I
think maybe five to ten minutes of tickets being available.
So I got really lucky with that. And some of
(13:49):
the big draws for this type of convention compared to
any other, frankly, is that buying a ticket gets you
access to all of the year. There's only one panel stage,
so you know you're not going to miss out on anything.
It's not like there's two panels happening at the same
time or even more than that. Right, Frankly, there's really
not even like a major show floor too either. Right,
(14:11):
there is one programming schedule throughout the day, and you're
guaranteed a seat by purchasing your ticket to be in
that room. So I think that's a kind of a
big sigh of relief for a lot of people, because
I know a lot of fans have bemoaned over the years. Right,
I bought a ticket for Star Wars celebration, and then
there's like this lottery system, right, and I didn't get any.
And then there are people that like I got three
(14:32):
or four luck of the draw, right, they get so
lucky versus the other side of things too, where it's oh,
I had to camp out for the whole night beforehand
just to get a chance to even be at this panel,
and then you didn't get it, and now you're tired
and grumpy because you didn't get in. Right. So I
think this is kind of an ultimate best of both
worlds kind of scenario where everyone is guaranteed as soon
(14:54):
as you buy the ticket. Now you can make the
argument of was it worth the value of the ticket
for the program of the offer, And I think that's
up to each person to ultimately decide. But I did
like that aspect of the of the convention, and you know,
you get there early, you find your spot, and you
sit sit down and enjoy the variety of programming because
they had a lot of different things throughout the day,
(15:15):
and they did touch upon every aspect of the Disney
portfolio at some point within this this this whole convention, Right,
So Lucasfilm briefly, Marvel briefly, right, the parks had their
had a couple of panels. They talked about the history
of the Walt Disney studio. They had brought up people
from the archive to do a bunch of different presentations.
They talked about Disney animated classics, right. It was really
(15:37):
tailored to like a very elder millennial audience, I like
to say, because they had very specific panels on things
like The Emperor's New Groove, Goofy movie. They brought out
the whole director crew from like Brother Bear, Fantasia two thousand,
The Atlantis, Tarzan, like the really early two thousand's, late
nineties kind of Disney can and if you will. And
(16:02):
I honestly was blown away with the level of production
because I had watched the live stream before of Past
Destination indeed twenty threes, and arguably you could say it
was pretty lackluster, Like I would say, like they didn't
really announce anything. It was more of just like kind
of like a show and tell from like, oh, here's
some concept dart from things we did thirty years ago,
forty years ago, fifty years ago, and no, here they
(16:24):
were giving us like I got to see the first
scene from Toy Story five, a movie that's coming out
a year from now, and the fact that I was
able to see they called it rough animation, but I'll
be honest that I don't know how much more they
could improve on what they showed us. I was very
blown away by how good it looked. I'm like, wow,
that's a year out then, My golly, how how much
(16:47):
better could it get? They showed us a variety of
different sequences from the upcoming Pixar film Hoppers Too, which
I think was really a show stealer for a lot
in the crowd. We got to see a scene from
the Neutron Ares that's coming out in the month here,
which was incredible. I think fans are really going to
take to that, and a lot of footage from the
upcoming Utopia too, which is really highly anticipated I know
(17:09):
a lot by many in the Disney fan base here.
So they definitely came out like they didn't just say
we're just going bigger here. No, we're saying we're going
bigger and better with this version of Destination D twenty three,
and I can only imagine that's going to continue going
up from here. I've heard from a couple different people
that were there that have been to past Destination D
twenty three is that this version this year is very
(17:32):
comparable to like D twenty three and roughly like twenty
fifteen or so, that kind of kind of like grassroots
kind of feel, and they're like, well, we've seen how
the bigger D twenty three is expanded every year since then,
and to where it is this point now, where it's
this massive, massive thing out in Anaheim. And if that's
the structury of this is going to go on, then
it can only go up from here, folks. So you know,
(17:53):
you may want to mark this on your calendar for
the next time it's coming through.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
That's good to know. I'll have to check that because
I never did. It was I didn't realize it was
a separate convention it was a D twenty three. Then, ah,
that learned something.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Now, now you still got to be a member of
D twenty three to even get access to purchasing tickets,
So just always remember that, two folks.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
True. True, But just if I remember correctly, you can
get a free membership, you just have to there are
not anymore. They're all paid now.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
You can get a free membership, but to get access
to buy a ticket, you do need to buy a
gold member.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
Yes, gotcha. Okay, so they've they've changed that up a
little bit there. Okay, That's cool, all right. I guess
that's one way to keep the numbers limited too.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
So well, I mean it keeps it keeps the numbers limited.
But you know, I get they're not hurting. I'll tell
you that there were a lot of people that I
know were like, oh, man, you got tickets. You got
the real luck of the draw there for that one.
And I tell you, you know, the same principles applied last
year for that's for the larger twenty three, the ultimate
(19:00):
Disney Fan event, and seeing the massive crowds of people
fill up the entirety of the Anaheim Convention Center, I'm like,
these people had to pay at least one hundred and
fifty dollars to get a membership for twenty three as
a gold member to even have the chance to buy
a ticket for this thing, which is like wow. When
you try to wrap your head around that, you're just like, man,
(19:21):
that's a lot of money in Disney's pocket here, which
seemingly that's the kind of point of these things is
saying like what's your investment, Like, like, what are the
things that we are doing here that's going to service
you as fans and we're celebrating you as fans, and
that's really what these both Destination D twenty three and
the larger D twenty three fan events are are meant
to do.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Oh that's awesome, you know, it's and it's nice to
hear that they're they're progressing it beyond the scopes that
they had in the past, and that it is growing in,
is spanning, and they're actually giving people that are there
something new to chew on, you know, like you're scene
from Toy Story that you know, that's that's a movie
(20:00):
that I know, my me and my girls are are
are anxiously waiting for you know, my oldest is in
her freshman year of college and my my youngest in
middle school. And we've already we've already said when this
comes out, we're we're we're going to be in this
theater watching this thing because we all grew uea. I
grew up with them watching Tory Story and and it's
(20:23):
been a big part of our of our family. So
it's going to be fun and and utopia as well.
It's one of those things that my youngest just loved
it when she was small because of all the animals.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Absolutely, without spoiling anything, they're going to be. I think
based on you know, having seen all these films too.
If I was pleased, I think others are going to
be really pleased as well. So I think get your
tickets early.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
Very good, very good. Now of churse being that they
had all these panel, these discussions, these panels stuff, uh
talking about you said, the the Goofy movie, which there's
a there's what I haven't seen in a long time.
I'll have to sit down and rewatch it. I don't
even know. I don't think my youngest has seen that yet.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Really good.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
I'll need to sit her down and to watch that
together because I have not watched it probably since I
showed my oldest, which was jeez, at least ten years ago.
So but yeah, I'll have to go back and watch that.
But so from what I've seen in clips and stuff,
they brought in a lot of not uh of voice
actors and characters from these movies and these shows to
(21:36):
have it going. Because I saw the for clips of
the Goofy movie panel they had the voice of Goofy
and everybody there as well. We're with these types of
things going on. Did did where did they even have
time for like meet and greets? And stuff like that
as well or with that.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Just uh you know, they didn't necessarily have those type
of things here, right, There was no sort of like
I know, Greg McLaughlin likes to call it like an
artist sally if you will, right where there's like a
whole bunch of different vendors and and maybe not necessarily
like the Disney approved vendors if you will, Like you know,
you get to Star Wars celebration, there's rows and rows
(22:15):
and rows of vendors of all different types of and
all that stuff, just selling action figures and a variety
of different knick knacks that have been Star Wars throughout
the years. This had none of that. There was very controlled.
There are about four different shops or so that Disney
had available. And that's another draw of these types of events, right,
(22:36):
is particularly with the Disney group of it all right,
where it's like they are like, here's exclusive merchandise, particularly
for this. There are pins exclusively here for this, and
I know there's a big pin trader community out there,
and uh, you know, this is just another way for
people to get access to those things. So they would
have breaks throughout the day, right, But two in the
(22:58):
you know, one in the morning, one in the afternoon,
and then a larger for lunch about two hours, which
was more than more than adequate to eat quickly find.
You know, they had food trucks out there. Plus it
was a corn out of Springs resort, so the variety
different restaurants that they had there definitely serviced everybody as needed.
And yeah, so there was a lot of ample time
to go through all the different shopping boots and all
(23:19):
that stuff. Now, there wasn't really a whole lot of
Star Wars merch too on that front, so I think that,
you know, just from that perspective, I was a little
disappointed in all that. But if you're a fan of
just Disney, right, there's a ton of different stuff, like
very much imagineering focused. And for the parks itself, right,
there was a lot of merchandise gears towards that. And
just for the D twenty three membership, there was a
(23:40):
lot of exclusive type of like things that said like
I'm a member or I was commemorate to commemorate your
experience here at Destination D twenty three. A lot of
merchandise specifically geared towards.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
That as well.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
So with all that to be said, yes, they did
not really have like meet and greets quote unquote if
you will, that you would see at like a Star
Wars celebration for example, to compare it to that, no
type of like autograph signings or photographs, nothing like that.
That just frankly wasn't any time for that throughout the day,
And a lot of these people were i would say,
(24:11):
recycled for various different things just because of how many
things that they touched in the Disney community, right. I
think Don Han, Disney legend and animator and director, has
just been part of so many things over the last
thirty years of Disney that he was basically on like
half of the panels.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
I felt.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Ashley Eckstein are Ahsoka was there and she hosted a
lot of panels herself, but again, yeah, she was not
roaming like the floor to showcase like or do any
kind of meet and greets like that. And you know,
Patrick Warburton was there for a couple of panels too,
both for his role as Kronk in the Emperor's New Groove,
(24:46):
but he was announced to be a new character in
Zutopia in Zutopia too, so you know he was there
and they also, I want to mention, like they had
a bunch of ancillary different kind of programming here to
like really add to that wow factor for this event
that really wasn't there in the past. So after the
Emperor's New Groove panel, which was to close out for
(25:08):
the first day that Saturday, so it was a Saturday
and Sunday. After the Emperor's New Group panel, they had
like a two or three hour break, and then that
evening for everybody that was there, we basically got to
have an after hours nighttime event at Typhoon Lagoon called Couscotopia,
where you know, they basically you got a free ticket
to the water park by buying a ticket for this
(25:30):
event and getting access to the panels and all the
different shopping and just the experience of being in the
room with like minded Disney fans. But you also got
literally a free ticket to the park with no wait
times for anything. And it's still very much warm. It's
late August here in Orlando, so you know, dipping into
the pool and the Lazy River and the wave pool
and all that stuff isn't the half bad idea. They
(25:51):
also had a variety of different like meet and Greek
characters that are unique to Emperor's New Groove as well,
So definitely I would say that are arguably that's a
really great aspect to an addition to the ticket as well,
that you got a factor into the cost of things.
And then to Coke, close out the entirety of the ceremony, right,
they had a big like Disney eighties and nineties concert celebration,
(26:16):
which is really fantastic. They brought out Susan Egan, who
did the voice of Meg from The Hercules, to sing
a song from Hercules. They had Jody Benson, who was
kind of the hostess of the entirety of the convention
over the two days, as the grand Master of Ceremonies perhaps,
and she said, of course she's an Ariel from The
(26:36):
Little Mermaids. She sang part of your World, which not
a dry eye in the house for that one, I
can tell you. And then they had a variety of
different Disney Broadway actors at on stage to sing variety
of different tracks from many Disney classics and you know,
underrated films throughout the eighties and nineties that were a
big hit. And then close it out, I believe I
remember them bringing out like the Goofy movie cast out
(26:58):
to sing some of the songs from those films as well.
So a really great time across the board with that,
and they really brought the house down, I would say,
with talent and just the knowledge base of like, Wow,
we're in the room with these people and we get
to experience them talking about these crazy and wonderful stories
that have really touched the hearts and minds of people
over the last forty years.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
Oh, I can only imagine, I know, with from personal
experience from Star Wars, Weekends and Celebration, just being in
a room and hearing these people, Hearing people that you've
watched on TV, listened or watched in the movies, listened
on TV and everything and grew up with. Hearing them
just talk about about it and being something you love
(27:42):
is really energizing. So I can only imagine, especially being
in at Disney and seeing what was going on we
in being a Disney fan growing up watching Little Mermaid
and everything. I can only imagine how exciting that was
(28:03):
now energizing and kind of very much reminiscing of childhood
at that point.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
So yeah, I was definitely on a cloud. I'll tell
you that understand.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
Understand, well, we'll start wrapping things up here a little bit.
Of course, definitely, it sounds like you had an incredible
time they're at D twenty three, and I appreciate you
sharing your experiences and all and taking the time. Anything
else about D twenty three that you would want to
share that you might think that anybody listening may want
(28:36):
to note that may influence their decisions in the future
to possibly attempt to grab a ticket to go.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Yeah, absolutely, I think that definitely you need to temper
your expectations when it comes to this type of event. Right,
the D twenty three last year was a life changing
event in terms of how they treated that thing compared
to years in the past. Right, So they announced like
all these major changes to the parks, right villains Land,
cars Land, to the Magic Kingdom, of course, these expansions
(29:06):
to Disneyland, and of course all the parks across the
globe got major announcements. The big film like all these
different movies got announced stand or they showed trailers for
the upcoming Disney slated at that type of convention last year,
and it was very theatrical at the Honda Center. And
this is at Coronatda Springs Resort. So it's not necessarily
the same type of atmosphere, nor can they necessarily do
(29:30):
the same theatrics, but they absolutely did the best they could.
And I had a buddy that asked me what my
experience was, and I talked to him about it, and
then he was like, oh, that's really interesting to hear
because he was at D twenty three as well, the
big one, and he shared with me that a person
that he was in contact with was like, oh, they
compared it to if, Like if D twenty three the
(29:52):
ultimate fan event is a five star, five course meal, right,
this is Destination D twenty three is like eating a
bucket of popcorn. And I honestly said, like, that's actually
a pretty fair comparison, to be honest, having been to both.
But if you would have asked me, because having watched
the live stream of Destination D twenty three's in previous years,
(30:14):
I would have said, yet, it would have still compared
a five star, five course meal to a stick of
salary in the past, right, And now that it's at
a popcorn bucket level, that means it can only continue
to go up for future iterations of this thing. And
the team at D twenty three did such a great
job and putting this together, making it expansive, making it
very inclusive for everybody. I mean everything was touched upon
(30:36):
in some way, shape or form. Now you can be
cynical about the announcements made here, but honestly, when you
sit down and think through it, there actually was a
pretty good amount. They announced new movies here, a film
called Hexts coming out next year from Disney Animation Studios.
Pick Star has kind of dropped a new film that's
coming out in twenty twenty six as well, called Ghatto.
They very much were talking about various different types of
(30:58):
like parks announcements throughout this, when it comes to food,
when it comes to like adding Walt to the Carousel
of Progress, Like that's a pretty big announcement that just
kind of got dropped here. I know a lot of
Disney fans are like, don't you dare touch the Carousel
of Progress in any way, shape or form. And the
fact that they had the gusto to say, like, hey,
we're actually going to do that here, it was a
pretty big announcement. I know people in Paris so I
(31:19):
have been anxiously awaiting for like any news about the
world of Frozens, they're supposed to get out there, and
that officially got announced to open in spring of twenty
twenty six there and as well as especially for us
here in Florida, the castle is going to be changing
its colors back to its classic gray, which I think
(31:41):
is a big, big innount. So, like you know, they
weren't just like not announcing stuff for folks here, and
it was very entertaining in the way that they were
telling these stories across the board, and then they mixed
it with a lot of different theatrical elements. So if
this is the upwards trajectory that they're going with this thing,
then absolutely I feel I personally feel like the cost
of my ticket was well worth the experience and the
information that I got out of it. They gave us
(32:04):
a lot of great goodie bags too, and stuff along
the way, so when you factor all that stuff into
this thing, I did feel like ultimately I had both
a great time and got my money's worth out of
this thing. So if it continues to go on that trajectory,
then I think it should be something on everybody's radar
for the future.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Very good, very good that sounds like a bless and
it definitely looks like something I may have to look
into next time it comes rolling around and see if
I can tear away from my wife for a little
bit and go do that. So, but thank you so
much for letting us hear about that. If people have
(32:40):
questions about Destination d twenty three or I want to
check out Forscho's conversations, tell our listeners how they can
do that.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
Yeah, absolutely, if they want to support the podcast. We're
available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, really any place you can
find in podcasts these days. There's so many places I
don't even not even able to keep track of them anymore.
But just search for Forest cost Conversations. We'll be there
in some capacity. We're also available on most of the
social media platforms, whether it be x, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, threads,
(33:10):
Blue Sky again, just search Forest Gusted Conversations and I'm
sure you'll find us there and we'd love to continue
the conversation, whether it be via this or talking about
Star Wars or We're going to House Econ in October
here in Orlando too, so we'll be boots on the
ground at that convention and are very excited to share
some stories and insights from that one as well to
(33:31):
to our audience, so you can really follow along with
all of our adventures on our social channels of.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
Course, excellent, excellent. We'll have links to all those in
our show notes, so feel free to check that out,
of course we do. Of course, what if you have questions,
of course you can always hit us up on any
of our socials as well. We're on Facebook and x
at SW Reactions Pod then everywhere else at SW Reactions,
(33:57):
So hit us up there. You know, before I let
you go, it is tradition on the show that I
ended the same way with the Star Wars Dad joke
of the week. But I you know, I was thinking,
you know, we're sitting here, we're talking about D twenty
three and everything. We're talking Disney parks and all the
exciting stuff there. I figured, let's do a Disney Dad
(34:22):
joke of the week to the kind of fill in here,
and I figured that would be appropriate here. And I
think I found a good old dad joke here for us.
And it goes like this, why is Disney Park attendant
stronger on Saturday and Sunday? Oh?
Speaker 2 (34:40):
Oh tell me?
Speaker 3 (34:42):
Because Monday through Friday are week days.
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Oh I like that was a good one. That was
a good one.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Yes, stronger on the weekends. Week during the week Oh,
there were.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Going that way. So yeah, embrace the weekend.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
Exactly, exactly. Well, Anthony, thank you so much again for
joining us. I do greatly appreciate you jumping in and
talking to us. I know you have a big game tonight,
so go Eagles as Washington. It pains me to say that,
but as long as you beat the Cowboys, I don't care.
(35:18):
I will say it till cows come home, as long
as you beat the cowboys. But thank you for joining us,
and thank you everybody for listening. We love y'all, appreciate
each and every one of y'all. We're praying for you. Remember,
do something kind for somebody. You know, a little bit
of kindness goes a long way in this world, so
be the ones to share it. Remember this is your
(35:40):
place for elegant discussion for more civilized age.
Speaker 4 (35:48):
This podcast is not endorsed by the Walt Disney Company
or by Lucasfilm, and that it's intended for entertainment and
informational purposes only. It's the official Star Wars website can
be found at www dot star wars dot com. Star Wars,
all names, sounds, and any other Star Wars related items
are registered trademarks and or copyrights of Disney and the
respective trademark and copyright holders. All original content of this
(36:10):
podcast is an intellectual property of Star Wars Reactions, unless
otherwise indicated. Star Wars Reactions elegant discussion for a more
civilized age
Popular Podcasts
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.