Shew! Day 1 was a whirlwind of a day but so exciting! I really wanted to get this out last night after the Disney Entertainment panel but sleep was calling me and I answered. Haha! This will be a short recap of all the days events and I hope it makes you feel like you are there, enjoy!
Early Morning
My alarm went off at 3:50am so I could get two virtual queues for the D23 Marketplace shopping, mission accomplished! After that we all got dressed microwaved some sausage biscuits and hit the road to walk over to the Anaheim Convention Center. It was a beautiful walk and only about 10 minutes. Once we were through security we were given a map, reusable bag and a lanyard for the event and herded down to where we spend the next few hours of our morning.
We were basically put in a giant warehouse looking room with thousands of other Disney cattle and had to find a yellow rectangle to sit in for hours. I do not envy the person who has to try and figure out the best way to manage this large of a crowd but there were definitely things that could have been done better. None of the staff working seemed to know what was going on or where we should go for what. At one point we were in a section that we were supposed to have wristbands for but when I asked someone they knew nothing about wristbands and told us we were fine to stay there. Well we were not fine to stay there and were told to go somewhere else once they began letting people in, oh well on to the next rectangle! Haha
The staff not really knowing anything about anything seemed to continue throughout this part of our journey as no one could really answer anyones questions. This was a little frustrating, especially when it was almost 9:15, the event had started and we were still just standing at the entrance waiting for them to tell us to go. It seemed not everything on the show floor was Disney ready but they let us in finally despite that. And we were off!
Phineas & Ferb Creators Panel
The priority today was all things Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh for Sawyer! As soon as we were let in we headed straight to the Backlot Stage on level 2 to get a spot in the standby queue for this and we were one of the first people there. This panel was so much fun, we were given a Phineas and Ferb notebook and pencil on our way in so we know there would be some drawing happening. We were not allowed to take pictures and videos during this panel so our sketches will be a nice memory. Dan and Swampy talked about all things Phineas Ferb, past and FUTURE!
I have always said that this is the best animated show that’s ever been and they just confirmed that for me yesterday. Dan literally said that their intention was to have adult humor without causing uncomfortable conversations that shouldn’t be happening. That is exactly it! It’s such a funny show that any age can get into without ever being inappropriate. We got a sneak peek of the new season coming that includes opening song choreography by Cost and Mayor who are amazing and you know I loved seeing the dancing! They said that this season will include what they think will be some of our most favorite episodes of all time, I can’t wait!
Talent Central Photo Op
After the panel we headed back downstairs to join the stand by queue for the Dan Povenmire and Swampy Marsh photo op. This was a bit of a cluster as there were a lot of people who wanted to meet them and they were only starting queues 15 minutes before the meet up started with nowhere for people to wait before that. It was crazy but Sawyer got in, the rest of us hung back so more people could get in to see them. He was so excited to get his picture with them, a little disappointed that he couldn’t get anything signed but he understood they were trying to get people through quickly so more could see them.
Walt Disney & El Grupo
Next we had a reservation for The Walt Disney & El Group panel and if you have not watched this on Disney+ you absolutely HAVE TO! It is an incredible story and if you love Disney history this is some that is portrayed in a really beautiful way! In the panel we got to see some never before seen rough animation, sketches and photographs of this trip and others including some that were just discovered just weeks ago! Thankfully they did announce they will be doing another one of these shows about some of the other trips Walt Disney and his animators took for research and good will, I can’t wait to learn more!
D23 Marketplace
We did get to go into the D23 Marketplace to shop a little. they had all the Ichabod Crane and Mr Toad stuff and it did not disappoint! I ended up grabbing the ears and the t-shirt form the collection. There were so many cool things in this marketplace and people were carrying out huge bags full of stuff…..I need to know what they do for a living or where they get their credit limit! Hahahaha! I was kind of holding out for D23 event exclusive merchandise though so I’ll get to see that today! The marketplace was inside the World of Disney product experience that includes interactive sections from all the Disney things! Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, Lego all had a set up with some kind of immersive activity!
Disney Entertainment Panel
After running back to the hotel to drop two people off, Sawyer and I headed out to the Disney Entertainment Panel at the Honda Center! I was so excited for this and all the announcements. When we arrived we received a bracelet and a black envelope that said Do Not Open on it, the person who gave it to us said we would be told during the show when to open it, exciting! We walked around for a bit since we were early and of course I bought a pair of light up D23 ears. Then we found our seats, that may be in the nose bleeds but it’s a great view!
Disney Films
The show started with a performance by Auli’i Cravalho from the new Moana 2 movie and some amazing Polynesian dancers! Of course she was then joined on the stage by Maui himself, Dwayne Johnson! They showed us a new trailer for the movie and it looks amazing!! Then the Rock announced a new project he is doing with Disney called Monster Jam that is shown in the POV of the Monster Truck drivers and coming soon. It was unclear if this was going to be a movie, show or traveling thing. Next the cast of Avatar 3 came out and gave us some concept art for the new movie and a title! “Avatar: Fire and Ash”. I cannot wait for this!
Pixar
Pixar gave us some big announcements as well! There is going to be a new Inside Out series on Disney+ called Dream Productions that is set between the two Inside Out movies and all about how Rylie’s dreams are made each night. They also announced the first ever long form series from Pixar that will be premiering on Disney+ December 6th called Win or Lose and it looks super cute!
Next we got some news on Toy Story 5! This time the toys are going up against……technology! Makes sense right?! There may also be some rogue Buzz Lightyears stuck in toy mode. Next was a new movie called Hoppers that will be release din theaters in Spring of 2026 and will be about walking a mile in someone’s shoes as we see someones brain connected to a robot beaver who shows what it’s like to be an animal.
We are also getting a new movie called Elio in theaters June 15, 2025 starring Zoe Saldana. This looks super cute but it was a definite moment of group disappointment in the crowd. When they started the teaser for it we all thought it was going to be Walle 2 and when it wasn’t you could actually hear an audible group AWWW and very little clapping. Kind of funny but also sad! Some other exciting Pixar news…..Incredibles 3 is coming!!!! No time line yet just that it is coming!
Disney Animation
We got news here on Zootopia 2 coming to theaters November of 2025 with the announcement of Ke Huy Quan voicing Gary the snake! I love him, if you don’t know he was Data in Goonies and is also in the Loki series on Disney+ and is just fantastic. We also got some concept art from Frozen 3 and it was hinted that the story already goes into a Frozen 4 as well! This is not slated to come out until 2027 but the concept art was beautiful and kind of looked like heaven and hell? We were also told that there will be a new feature film coming from Disney Animation in 2026 but they didn’t tell us what it was.
Disney on Broadway
The Frozen Broadway show is coming to Disney+!!! I love when they do this because not everyone is going to be able to go see these shows and this is a great way for us all to enjoy them. Hercules the Musical is debuting in London and hopefully will be in the US too, it looked amazing and you know the music is incredible! And, The Greatest Showman is going to be adapted for a Broadway show!! This was an epic announcement with an awesome dance number that really got everyone pumped!!
Star Wars
We got a sneak peek at the new Skeleton Crew series coming to Disney+ December 3rd with none other that Jude Law! He Sid to expect a Gooniesesque adventure and I am excited for that! Cassian Andor himself came out to talk about and give us a sneak peek at Season 2 of this Disney+ series. I cannot wait for this I loved this show so much and think it’s one of the greatest things to come out of Star Wars in a while. Season 2 will journey over 4 years of Cassian Anders life leading up to Rogue One and we can expect this is 2025! And finally, we got a look at the Mandalorian and Grogu MOVIE coming to theaters in May of 2026! It looks awesome and I can’t wait to see where the story leads next.
Marvel
Here we got to take a look at Captain America Brave New World coming to theaters February 2025 with Captain America himself! We saw a sneak peek of the very retro 60’s Fantastic Four coming in 2025, a new Ironheart series coming to Disney+ in 2025 And the trailer for the next installment of Daredevil coming to Disney+ in March, all the same cast and I love it!!
We got a very witchy performance by Agatha Harkenss herself to show us some of what’s to come in Agatha All Along coming just in time for Halloween on Disney+! Much to Thatchers happiness we saw the teaser trailer for season 2 of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians which will be Sea of Monsters. We saw some of Descendants Rise of Red and they announced a summer tour of Descendants and Robins collide! I am sure this will be epic!!!
National Geographic
David Blane announced a new show for National Geographic where he will be exploring magic from all over the world where people are doing the impossible! It is called Do Not Attempt, but of course he is going to attempt. This is where we were told to open our envelopes and inside was. deck of cards designed by David Blane. He proceeded to do the coolest card trick where we all ended up holding the same 3 of hearts card at the end, it was so cool!! And a cool keepsake for sure!
Walt Disney Studios
You guys…..Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis were not he stage together to announce Freaky Friday 2!!! Called Freakier Friday and it will be in theaters in 2025! We also got a little look at the live action Lily and Stitch coming to theaters Summer of 2025 and the live action Snow White coming to theaters March of 2025. Umm Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen, yes please! I love her and she look amazing in this role.
Y’all Jared Leto walked out on the stage to talk about the new Tron Ares movie and my teenage heart exploded! I could hardly contain myself, hahaha! This movie looks fantastic and the soundtrack is being done by Nine Inch Nails. I never thought I would see anything about Nine Inch Nails at a Disney event but I’m here for it! Finally, we got a look at Mufasa, the Lion King coming to theaters December 20th and who else would come out on stage to talk about it but Lin Manuel Miranda!!!!! I was shook and super excited when they said we were all getting a free ticket to see Mufasa from Fandango!! I can’t wait to see this origin story of both Mufasa and Scar.
Conclusion
All in all it was a great day! Very hectic and busy but that was to be expected I suppose. I struggle with not being able to do it all and get to everything but it is just something you have to understand here, it is not possible to do and see it all! There were some hiccups throughout the day and some things Disney could do better but overall it was great! I’ll reserve my full review of the event until after it’s all over. It did seem there was a little lack of big announcements last night for the entertainment panel but maybe they are saving the big ones for tonights Parks and Experiences panel….one can only hope! Right now I’m gonna go finish getting ready for day 2 and I am super excited for what today holds!!! I hope you enjoyed the day one recap, see you after today for more!! Have a magical day!
