As you can imagine at a place like D23 Expo, it’s FILLED to the rafters with merchandise – some of it free… most of it not.  But there are lots of great things to add to your collection no matter what that collection is.  There were tons of exclusive merchandise available from the Dream Store, The Disney Store, and Mickey’s of Glendale (featuring exclusive Imagineering products).  Vendors had Expo only merchandise they were selling like custom made D23 tumblers, Mickey and Minnie matching beach cruisers, Mickey and Minnie D23 suitcases, and even D23 Expo t-shirts for your stuffed teddy bear.  And of course in the Collector’s Forum there was Disney memorabilia from floor to ceiling.  Pins, posters, artwork, autographs, toys, park memorabilia – you name it.  All in all a Disney fan shopping paradise.

As I had mentioned in my quick review of the Expo, some of the exclusive merchandise found at the Disney locations were SO limited as to make them virtually non-existent.  Princess pins and dolls from the Disney Store and Harvey seatbelt accessories for men and women from the Dream Store are just a couple of examples. Basically they were available to Sorcerer level guests and perhaps a few people at the front of the lines, but that was pretty much all there was.  Even some of the items with a higher limited edition size ran out quickly.  When trying to get a Vinylmation blind box (LE 2000), I couldn’t even get to the display!  There were three cast members with a cart of Vinylmation product just calling out for orders and handing them out.  They were gone before the end of the first day.  The limited edition event pins from Mickey’s of Glendale went pretty fast, too.  Each day they released one during the event and at least on Friday and Saturday they were gone before the event wrapped up.

But there was plenty of other things to look at and purchase besides those things.  The Dream Store had some great memorabilia!  A special D23 Duffy, various other Vinylmation, artwork, t-shirts, a jacket that lights up, and a 4-D puzzle of Disneyland being just some of the cool things available.  Mickey’s of Glendale had special Imagineering pins (including other exclusive pins made just for the event), shirts, t-shirts, tumblers, and a bunch of other great items – such as a Jessica Rabbit bottle opener.  I have to admit to not waiting the three hours to get in the Disney Store since most of their limited edition items went within the first few minutes of the Expo opening.

But that’s just a sample of the things you have to pay for.  There was a cornucopia of items you got just for free.  Other than the beautiful Expo guide book there were some very nice bags given away from Adventures by Disney.  Some of the vendors gave away pins like the Walt Disney Stock pin at investor relations or pins from the Jolly Roger at the Once Upon A Time exhibit.  Posters and height charts were given away by the Disney Movie Rewards Club.  And there were various other free items, too!  But the premiere free item was probably the Disney Infinity figure given away to anyone who waited in line and watched a brief video about the new game just released on various platforms including the Wii, WiiU, and XBox.  This figure which retails for over $12 was just given away.  People went back in line multiple times to get more (probably should have limited it to one per day).  The lines were long, but the figures were pretty cool.

There were so many fun things to look at and get!  Come back in 2015 to the Expo and enjoy the fun!