August 14, 2021
We headed to the Santa Monica Pier on a beautiful August day to check out the Disney Plus Summer Days pop-up event. We arrived a little early, but we were able to do a virtual check-in which would send a text to our phones when we able to go in.
We walked around the pier while we waited for the Disney Plus event and got a coffee near the carnival rides. We only waited about thirty minutes before we received the notification that we could enter the pop-up.
The pop-up was small, but they had a few costumes and props on display. There were a couple of lounge areas where you could relax and watch some Disney Plus. They had themed water bottles available, too. If you signed up for Disney Plus or showed the app on your phone (you needed to be logged in) you could spin a wheel for prizes where I won a small inflatable beach ball. You could also get a special embroidered hat if you purchased, or upgraded to, the Disney Plus, ESPN, Hulu package, but we didn’t want to upgrade so we didn’t get the hats. There was a live mural painting which was fundraising for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Santa Monica which was nice to watch for a few minutes.
There was a photo op where you could also pick up a promotional booklet which had different covers to choose from. I chose the Loki cover and my partner chose the Mandalorian cover. The entire experience took about 30 minutes, although we could have hung out in the lounge areas, so it was a little bit of a letdown.
As we exited the Disney Plus event area we saw an ABC pop-up about 20 yards away. The ABC event was promoting The Ultimate Surfer and Bachelor in Paradise. I’m quite honestly not remotely interested in either show, but we went in to see what they had going on. There were a few photo ops, including a GIF opportunity for Bachelor in Paradise. There was an area where there would be surfing lessons, and a few games such as cornhole you could play. There were double-sided hand fans and carabiners holding a travel sized bottle of sunscreen and a lip balm giveaways.
There was also an area to get tote bag silkscreened, but the line was cut off while we were there. Just outside of this area was a straw hut where they were giving away long-stemmed red roses as part of the Bachelor in Paradise promotion. I picked up a rose and we decided to leave rather than wait to watch the surfing lessons or for the silkscreening station line to re-open. The ABC promotion had more interactives and fun photo-ops than the Disney Plus event which is surprising and disappointing.
The Disney+ Summer Days was part of a four-city tour. Did you attend? What did you think of the event?
Fandom Ventures 