Upcoming D23 Exclusive Events: Who's trying to go? Miscellaneous Discuss Upcoming D23 Exclusive Events: Who's trying to go? in the News & Rumors forums; Disney has announced 3 new events coming up for the December Holidays. One to be held in Disneyland, one to be in the LA area, and the third to be ...

[Jaxum]

Disney has announced 3 new events coming up for the December Holidays. One to be held in Disneyland, one to be in the LA area, and the third to be held in the Walt Disney World parks.
After reading the emai below and following the links, what is your initial thought of the events and would you want to go? Also, after seeing the prices for each person to take part, what was your reaction and are you changing your mind? Also, do you think getting tickets for the events will be as crazy as previous events?
Personally, I will be trying to take part to get to the DL and WDW events. (Yes, it will be a very busy week!) Since I will be going solo, it wont be much of an issue, but I can only imagine a family of four starting to total up the cost and possibly rethinking. As I come up with more thoughts on this, I will add them later.
BTW, tickets will be made available on October 15th.
Here is the email I recieved.

As some of you may know, I love Christmas, and so does the rest of the D23 Team. That’s why we’ve created some truly memorable holiday special events that you’ll definitely want to attend so you can start this magical season off right!

CANDLELIGHT SPECTACULAR AT DISNEYLAND (December 6, Anaheim): If you’ve never seen Candlelight from Town Square at Disneyland, you’re in for a treat as D23 offers you reserved seating for this great Disney holiday tradition, preceded by an amazing holiday feast created just for our Members by Disneyland’s Executive Chef. You’ll also be treated to entertainment with your favorite Disney characters decked out in their holiday splendor. But the fun doesn’t end when the Ceremony concludes! Our group will reconvene for some special behind-the-scenes fun, entertainment, food, and, of course, a parting gift!

DISNEY AND DICKENS (December 10, 2009, Los Angeles): Walt Disney and his animators used to hang out at the classic Hollywood eatery Tam O’Shanter, and since this venerable establishment goes all-out for Christmas, we thought there was no better place to host a Members-only dinner after a special screening of the new holiday movie Disney’s A Christmas Carol at the historic El Capitan Theatre. Last week we did the obligatory food-tasting – tough job, but someone must do it – and you’re going to love this holiday feast, especially the dessert! Hope to see you there for all the film, food, fun and surprises!

MAGIC & MERRIMENT (December 12 &13, Orlando): If you love Christmas as much as I do, you’ll want to head to Walt Disney World for this weekend holiday extravaganza: get the behind-the-scenes scoop on how Disney World decks its halls for the holidays; tour the royal Cinderella Castle Dream Suite; enjoy Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party; partake in holiday feasts and festivities; receive a special members-only gift; and revel in the Candlelight Ceremony hosted by Vanessa Williams. This will be a holiday experience you’ll remember forever!

[StrikerObi]

I'll definitely be going to the Magic & Merriment event. It's not that difficult considering I live in Florida. I crunched the numbers and the price of a FL Resident 3 Day pass is $135. There isn't a 2 day pass available to FL Residents, since the price of a single day is $73, two days would actually cost more than 3 days because of the discount on the 3 Day pass. Add to that $52 for the Very Merry Christmas ticket, and that totals up to $187. That's only $7 less than the $195 cost of the event.

For out of state residents, a 2-Day pass costs $156, adding $52 again for VMC, the total is $208. In this case, the event's price of $195 actually saves you $13.

That's just the price of park admission though. Once you factor in the other benefits, which include 2 meals and the priceless experience of seeing the Cinderella Suite, it's pretty obvious what a deal this even really is. Plus you get two tickets to DisneyQuest, which is a $64 value assuming you are the kind of person that associates any "value" with DisneyQuest (I don't).

[mini-V]

We're considering the Magic and Merriment Party. I crunched the numbers as well and thought it wasn't as bad as it first appeared when I read the cost. I do really want to attend at least one event since I am a member.

[lorilovestigger]

If I would've been in WDW at that time I would've booked it but no trip to WDW in December for me this year. Have fun for those who do go.

[Kellie19891992]

Considering.....but not sure since

Hotel = $572

Airfare = $200

Event = $195

Total $967 for 3 days i just don't know

[StrikerObi]

Originally Posted by Kellie19891992

Considering.....but not sure since

Hotel = $572

Airfare = $200

Event = $195

Total $967 for 3 days i just don't know

You could always stay in a cheaper hotel. $286 a night (assuming your trip is 3 days/2 nights) is really high. You could book a value resort for around $100. I've been looking around and some of the hotels in the Hotel District in Downtown Disney are as low as $50-something a night. Some are around $80. They're not Disney hotels, but they're nice, and they're close.

[hms1016]

I don't think it is a bad price if you need park tickets. It is unfortuate for those of us who have annual passes. I factored my December trip into the decision to renew my AP. I live in PA, so I only can get so many trips in while my AP is valid. I am still considering it, but it is disappointing. I even thought if they would let me add the nonexpiring opeion, so I wouldn't be throwing away the tickets.

[WDW Donna]

I CAN"T BLIEVE IT! I didn't join D23 because being from Canada I didn't think I would be able to go to any of the events. Well I am going to be in WDW on these dates!!!!! UGH!!

[Stitch]

I'll be at WDW those dates, but have some issues with the event so I won't be attending.

[StrikerObi]

Well I hope you all bought tickets to Magic & Merriment if you wanted to go, because they sold out in about 5 minutes!

[Kellie19891992]

Originally Posted by Stitch

I'll be at WDW those dates, but have some issues with the event so I won't be attending.

What kind of issues? Was just wondering.

[Jaxum]

Well... I was able to get my tickets to both events, but from what I'm hearing, I got very very lucky. After talking with some of my friends, we were surprised that the DL event was going to cost more the the WDW event, since the more expensive of the 2 was only one day as compared to two days. I guess this is proven since one is sold out, and the other is not.
The strange part is, I got the DL tickets first, filled everything out, and then went over to the WDW event, and did the same thing. The system didn't act slow for me, and I could have sworn that I didn't see the "Currently Sold Out" label till later on. Fortunately for some, but I wish for all, it does read as "Currently Sold Out", and not "Sold Out".

It seems that there could be one more go round for tickets. In another thread someone said that they read elsewhere that there was only 50 tickets. This I can say is wrong, as my confirmation number's last digits are higher then that. Also, we had the ability to get 4 tickets each. Possible some folks did this. (Just for the record, I didn't. Going solo on this one.)
For what was on the list for the East and West coast events, I will say the pricing was wrong. When it all comes down to cost, the East coast was a heck of a deal if you were not an AP holder.
Let's just hope there is another round.

[Stitch]

Originally Posted by Kellie19891992

What kind of issues? Was just wondering.

I've written about it on FB. Just the way they are running all the events and just how expensive everything is.

[hms1016]

I posted this in the other thread, but here was my experiene:

I am furious!!!! Even though I have an AP I decided to bite the bullet and pay the money for this event. The park tickets would be garbage, but there were some nice things they were offering. So today at exactly 1:00 EST the button popped up to buy the tickets. I entered my d23 # and last name and it said the number wasn't valid. I did it like 6 times and same thing. The final time i tried it was sold out. This all happened in less than 5 minutes. It just kepy saying invalid number and that if you just purchased the membership than you may have to wait a day or two. I emailed them and said I wanted a call and of course had no response. I called disneyshopping.com. I had called them the other day and said I had sent multiple emails regarding a d23 question (question about this event) and they took my number and someone actually contacted me. So today I called and the girl had no clue. I told her I wanted to talk to a supervisor. I told the girl the situation and she said she had no way of contacting them other than sending an email. I told her they did this for me the other day and whatever it takes was fine. Well, that was hours ago and no phone call or email. I am more than ticked because I am a charter day member. I deserved a fair chance for these tickets like everyone else. The girl from disney shopping admitted that there had been a lot of calls. If disney can't do these things in a fair way than they need to stop. Everyone deserves an equal chance. The same sort of thing happened the one time I was trying to go to an ap event. It acted like i was getting the tickets and I hit submit it paused or something and than said sold out. I am so disappointed and now wonder if the way that many people feel about d23 is right? Unfortuately for me since it didn't recognize my number, it didn't wait list me.
__________________

[Jaxum]

Was just looking to see if maybe there was a status change for the WDW event on the banner, and it now just says, "Sold Out".