D23 Expo 2015 Highlight: Trading Card Quest

Throughout the D23 Expo, I had the chance to experience some sights, experiences, and fun merriment that, now that I am home and catching up on life, I wanted to share with you all. Tonight, I take a look at something that, while being super fun, also prevented me from spending a lot during the entirety of the expo… the D23 Trading Card Quest.

Prior to D23 Expo weekend, over at the D23.com website and in an article titled “Experience More at D23 Expo 2015”, something that caught my eye were this little snippet and photos.

Official D23 EXPO Trading Card Quest Presented by Disney Visa® Card

Your favorite Disney characters—from Princesses to Villains and everyone in between—will come to life through a series of collectible Disney trading cards. You’ll receive a “starter pack” of cards in your D23 EXPO 2015 Souvenir Guide; then, throughout the weekend, search for opportunities to collect different cards from locations all over the show floor. (Check your D23 EXPO 2015 floor map for more information, and keep your eyes peeled for surprises!) Make sure to download the Official D23 EXPO 2015 Mobile App and follow D23 on social media all weekend long, because we’ll be announcing very special card “drops” you won’t want to miss. But that’s not all: Meet up with fellow fans at Trading Card Quest Headquarters at the Disney Visa® Card Booth in Exhibit Hall B all weekend to trade cards in hopes of completing your collection. There are 30 cards in all, and they’ll come together as singles, pairs, and even trios.

 

Wait… Ariel, Figment and Dreamfinder, and a trio of Star Wars classics? And this is only 1/5th of the cards that will be there? Granted, I was worried that finding all 30 was going to be tough (and I was right), but I was stoked to get my hands on my starter pack and start finding cards and trading.

Luckily for me, each starter pack, located in the back of the souvenir guide book, had a checklist, which so helped trying to figure out which ones I still needed.

Thanks to some friends, and finding random souvenir books throughout the D23 Expo floor that people discarded, I quickly garnered enough of a stash to realize that there were ten (10) cards that were not inside the starter packs, only to be given out at random times on the show floor:

~ Buzz Lightyear     ~ Darth Vader     ~ Iron Man     ~ Elliott

~ Dreamfinder     ~ Hatbox Ghost     ~ iasw Hippo

~ Lunchpad McQuack     ~ Oswald     ~ Tweedledee

How hard was it to find these elusive ten? Some were easier than others, as a few (Buzz, Vader, and Launchpad) received their own events which were tweeted out to guests, so they were originally hard to find, and then became easier. Tweedledee made an appearance on Friday at the Chase Visa booth, only to not be seen again by guests. Elliott, who was the last one I needed on Sunday, randomly showed up at the Chase Visa booth, and I got one of the few left. The iasw Hippo I never actually saw in the wild, but was lucky enough to trade an extra Dreamfinder, who appeared on the show floor on Saturday, with someone in line for the show floor on Sunday. He said that the iasw Hippo appeared in very limited numbers earlier in the convention on the floor for about 15 minutes or so. I am never even sure it reappeared, as a lot of my friends never found that card, and is the only one missing from their collections. I do know that by 4:30pm on Sunday, Chase Visa announced that they gave out all of the cards they had on hand.

Not sure how many people ended up with a full set (I am the only person I know personally that lucked out in getting one), but it was worth it. I love how the cards look. Here they all are.

I really love the design and looks of these cards, and am curious about the artists behind them. Favorites? Of course the Figment and Dreamfinder duo, but also the Toy Story trio and all of the single cards, which are either based on classic characters I love or park attractions at Disneyland that are awesome. I was especially excited to see the Hatbox Ghost as a card, as he is a recent re-addition to The Haunted Mansion, and he looks amazing. This pic I took of him last week while visiting Disneyland does not do seeing him in person justice.

The best part? Like I mentioned earlier… this activity kept me from buying things. Between wanting to find awesome swag at some of the booths, collecting the trading cards, and taking pics in the Disney Infinity booth to get free Disney Infinity 3.0 figures, I did not have time to wait in the long lines to buy merchandise. Exclusive or not, if there were free items out there to get, those store items can be purchased by someone else.

Were you at D23 Expo? Did you take part in the Trading Card Quest? How did you do? Let us know.