Well D23 the Ultimate Disney Fan Event 2026 has come and gone again. There may not have been the bombshell announcements like there were in 2024. But it was still an amazing weekend of Disney fandom! We did a little of everything this year. But approached the weekend a little differently than we did two years ago. I can’t wait to share all of the fun with you in this D23 2026 recap!
D23 Day in Disneyland
On Thursday, before D23 the ultimate Disney fan event 2026 officially started Disney hosted D23 Day in Disneyland. This is one of my favorite parts of D23 the ultimate Disney Fan event 2026. There were special photo ops, merchandise, parades and more in both parks. At Downtown Disney you could see the GIANT Sorcerer Mickey Balloon from the Macy’s Parade! Everyone got a D23 Day Mickey ear hat and a special guide when they entered the park. We got there a little after 9 and there were still plenty but I did hear they were out of the ear hats by mid afternoon. I feel like Disneyland was much more crowded this time around for D23 Day than it was in 2024. I remember expecting it to be crazy and it wasn’t but it felt crazy this year!
What’s New & What Did We Do?
Possibly because there was so much D23 Day merchandise this year? There was nothing in 2024 so having official D23 Day merch was new. It was all sold out by noon, sadly. We got to see the Disney Legends parade from our lunch reservation at Carnation Cafe which was cool. The nice thing about all the merch lines was the wait times for rides was pretty low. I don’t think we waited more than 20 minutes for anything on D23 Day! All in all D23 was super fun even though we didn’t really do all of the D23 day stuff necessarily. I really wanted a t-shirt but waiting in that super long line first thing in the morning just didn’t feel like the move. We had things to do!
Birthday Celebrations
This was also my youngest sons birthday! What better way to celebrate than at D23 the ultimate Disney fan event 2026?! So of course he had his birthday button on and we had some great character interactions and extra pixie dust from Cast Members. One even helped us unlock Grogu mode on the Millennium Falcon! We took a break from the park after lunch so the birthday boy could get some pool time in as well. We got a surprise dance party with Woody, Jessie and Bo Peep at the Pixar Place pool. After that is was off to California Adventure for more rides. We stayed late and watched the Star Wars projection show in Galaxy’s Edge. That is amazing and I am so jealous we don’t have that here in Florida!!
Walk Through The Parks
One of the things I love about Disneyland is that you don’t have to wait on transportation to get everywhere. It’s so nice to just be able to walk. After the Star Wars show restarted the walk back to Pixar Place and stopped in Downtown Disney to pick up food and have a special D23 cocktail. Parkside Market had the cutest D23 raspberry cocktail and the best vibe! If this was in Florida I would want to hang out here all the time. Great view of Downtown Disney and super cute art deco-y vibe.
D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event 2026 Day 1
The Morning Hustle
The mornings at D23 the ultimate Disney fan event 2026 could have been crazy. Now, two years ago we showed up at 4am and sat in what we lovingly refer to as the dungeon with lots of other people until the event opened. That was an experience and I am glad we did it but we approached this weekend a little differently. No dungeons for us this year! Disney did also change the time that line ups were allowed as well. In 2024 we could start lining up at 4am, this year it was 6am. We waited to go over until just before the doors opened and guess what? We ended up in another dungeon! That’s right, despite our best efforts we were still lined up in another dungeon.
Disney’s Not So Great Logistics
My husband had a mobility scooter this time around and those were not handled well in this situation. I do not usually have anything negative to say about how Disney handles the logistics of things. But this was not great! We would have been fine just waiting outside until the line was done and going in after they were done but they made us go inside to line up. You entered the building on the first floor and then had to wait in line to take an elevator up to the second floor only to then wait in another line to take another elevator back down to the first floor. And then do the same thing once they released everyone from the dungeon.
There was one elevator working for each of these trips up and down and lots of scooters and wheelchairs. I felt bad for the people who did get there super early to get in quickly who then ended up at the back of the line with us. Not a great system at all! The Disney Cast Members working the elevators did say they were going to have a better system for the rest of the weekend, we didn’t come early enough to find out the rest of the weekend.
The Showroom Floor
We had decided that this year we were going to spend more time on the showroom flor than in the panels. In 2024 we spent most of our time in the panels throughout the day and really only explored the showroom on Sunday for a couple of hours. The boys really wanted to check out all the booths and the showroom experience was much larger than in 2024 so a lot more to explore!
Pictures and Pins
We started with all the Disney+ and Hulu photo ops that came with a pin collection stamp card. For every four stamps you got you could trade your card in for a pin. There were ten different pins based off of everything from Percy Jackson to Camp Rock 3, The Simpsons to the Muppets. Sadly, we ended up with three Alien Earth pins and one Lion King. People were trading them but we were busy trying to see it all so we didn’t get to the trading. We took pictures in the Chad Powers, Percy Jackson, Darth Maul and Simpson’s set ups. We meant to come back and do more but there was just so much we wanted to do and see!
Video Games & VoluntEARS
Next we went over to the Atari booth to play a little Toy Story! The boys loved this and would have stayed forever if they could have. Each person had up to 10 minutes to play and you got a pin when you left. Next we went over to the Disney VoluntEARS booth to pack up welcome backpacks for Make a Wish foundation. I love that Disney has this every year and we get to be a little part of someone else’s magic! We had our photo taken and got a pin here too. Such a special part of D23 the ultimate Disney fan event 2026.
Lucas Film & Imagineering
We explored the Lucas Film pavilion and got to see a presentation about the new season of Ashoka with the actor that plays Ezra Bridger. Checked out the Walt Disney Imagineering Horizon’s booth to see all the models of the up and coming attractions, lands and parks. From there we just explored all the different booths that didn’t have lines and took so many pictures. My phone was exploding!! My husband and the boys took a little break and went back to the room for a bit while I continued to check things out and then came back later for the panel we had a reservation for in the later afternoon.
Behind the Magic: Disney Pin Trading
While the boys were away I decided to go check out the pin trading panel. Hearing from he design team how they ended up designing Disney pins was so cool. They all truly love what they do and are so passionate about it. which is probably why we all love the pins they design so much! They each had a unique story on why they wanted to work for Disney and how they got started. We got to see some sneak peeks of holiday collections coming soon, they are all so cute and creative. I loved this panel and getting a little behind the scenes look at how the pins come to life was very cool!
Walt Disney: 125 Years of Inspiration
We got a reservation for the Walt Disney panel on Friday afternoon which meant we had a guaranteed seat and didn’t have to wait in line super early. This was one I really wanted to go to so I was happy about that! Phat Cat Swinger band played before the panel started and they were incredible. So much fun! The panel was hosted by the voice of Mickey Mouse, Bret Iwan. He was awesome and gave us some Mickey moments of course. He introduced Becky Cline, the director of the Walt Disney Archives. I always love any panel she is a part of, my Disney history nerd heart always leaves full! This was the panel I was most looking forward to at D23 the ultimate Disney fan event 2026.
Joanna Miller
Becky brought out Walt Disney’s granddaughter, Joanna Miller. You could tell this is not something she does often. She was so endearing and everything she talked about was so heartfelt. Getting a personal look at her childhood with Walt being her grandfather was so special. She talked about running around the Disney Studios offices, going to the park with Walt. So many special memories that I felt like was such an honor to hear.
Joanna talked about getting to play on the actual sets of movies like Mary Poppins and maybe knocking a carousel horse over. She talked about her and her sister playing stewardess on Walt’s plane, offering him sandwiches and asking for his autograph. It was very special hearing her talk about the type of man Walt was from the family perspective. That he did so much with the company and still managed to spend so much quality time with his family as well.
Joanna talked about being in the park with Walt and people asking for autographs. He would sign a few and then say he had his grandkids with him and they had some things to do so he would have to go. But he always had pre-signed note paper from his office so he could quickly give those out and still leave the people with something before he moved on with her and her siblings. She said he always wanted to make sure people felt like they were important to him and that they were appreciated. She got choked up towards the end of her time talking about how much it means to her that we all keep Walt’s memory and legacy alive and just how sweet of a man he truly was. Joanna sharing all of this was such a gift!
Bob Gurr & Friends
Next they brought out Bob Gurr, Floyd Norman and Tania Norris, three incredible Disney icons! They talked about their time working directly with Walt. And their own unique experiences and perspectives with him. Bob Gurr said Walt never gave orders. That he had a certain way he got people talking about a project or problem and then he just listened to how they talked about it. He wanted to know what people really thought about something they were working on. And if you don’t know Bob Gurr go look him up! He has the best energy!
Floyd Norman talked about how Walt inspired him from childhood and he even told his grandmother he would work for him one day. He said that working for Walt was the best, that he had a way of making you feel like you could do anything. Tania Norris, in case you didn’t know, designed the Haunted Mansion wallpaper and the original Club 33!! She traveled a lot with Walt and said that he was the kindest most supportive boss. She said he made everyone feel comfortable and important. That he always let you express your ideas even if he didn’t agree with them use them.
The sweetest moment was when Bob Gurr got choked up talking about how much they all loved Walt and what a wonderful man he was. He said that Walt spoke to everyone the same, no matter if you were the President of the United States or the janitor at the Disney Studio’s lot. This panel may have been my absolute favorite!
Disney Entertainment Panel at the Honda Center
Friday night at the Honda Center was the Disney Entertainment Panel. This panel is all about what’s to come in Disney movies and series across all the Disney companies. The panel was hosted by Josh D’Amaro. The first special guest was Anne Hathaway who talked a little about the Princess Diaries 3! From there we got a sneak peek of the Simpson’s movie and moved into the Pixar section.
Pixar Studios
We got a first look at Incredibles 3. We also got a look at Coco 2 where Ernesto de la Cruz himself, Benjamin Bratt came out! He announce he will be returning as Ernesto in the sequel that bring Miguel back into the land of the dead. Then the crowd went nuts when they announced Coco would be in the new Kingdom Hearts 4 game! And that there is a new Kingdom Hearts series coming to Disney+!!
They showed a preview of a new movie called Ghost Market that looks incredibly cute and funny! Ghost Market may have been my favorite new thing announced at this panel at D23 the ultimate Disney fan event 2026. We got a little extra look at Gatto as well which also looks very clever.
Live Action Movies and Series
Maia Kealoha, or Lilo, came out to show us a little snippet of Lily & Stitch 2 with Angel! The next announcement was not something I had on my bingo card for this panel at all!
Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino came out to announce Romy and Michelle 2!! I loved this movie in high school so I am stoked about this one.
Moving on to another series, a giant golden trident descended from the ceiling and Walker Schobel or Percy Jackson was standing underneath it on the center floor stage. We got a great early look at the third season of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. It looks so incredibly good and I can’t wait to watch this in December!
In true Disney fashion, this panel was not just announcements and clip but big production performances. After Percy Jackson we got a fantastic performance from the cast of Camp Rock 3. I Love that they are bringing this back for a new generation. And of course the Jonas Brothers came out to show the sneak peek!
More Movies and Disney Broadway
We even got a special look at the Bluey Movie! So so cute! There is also going to be a new Ice Age movie called Ice Age Boiling Point. We got a great look at poor Skrat and his adventures with acorns. Next was another stellar performance from the cast of the Greatest Showman musical cast! Absolutely fantastic! So well done and so much talent. The show is opening in spring of 2027 in London!
The next part was very exciting! Kathryn Hahn came out on stage for the next announcement. But it wasn’t for anything we know her in, just what we wanted to see her in….Mother Gothel in Tangled! We didn’t really get any sneak peeks other than Rapunzel and Flynn had a recorded message from the set so we got to see the costuming and the locations which are both beautiful! I feel like this movie lends itself so well to a live action version.
New Series
This led into the next announcement that I was really excited about. Jon Favreau came out to announce a new Oswald series coming to Disney+! It looks so stinking cute and is all hand drawn animation. He also told us we would all get a pack of 4 special edition Oswald cards when we left that night. They are amazing!
Marvel Studios
Now it was time to get into some Marvel announcements. First was a sneak peek at the new Vision Quest series that is the third chapter after Wanda Vision and Agatha All Along. Probably the funniest moment of the night was when they started talking about Avengers Doomsday and how it included just about everyone from the MCU and all of a sudden Hugh Jackman is on the giant screen. Ryan Reynolds was off camera feeding him lines about asking if they needed some help rounding out the cast since Wolverine and Deadpool are not in the movie. It was so funny! We got a little peek at the added scene at the end of the last Avengers movie with Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans and Hayley Atwell.
Then Sadie Sink from the new Spiderman Brand New Day came out on stage to help announce the new cast of X-Men. Since we all found out Sadie was playing Jean Grey in the new movie it was very fitting for her to announce the new cast. We even got a video from Adam Driver announcing his character, that is not Magneto! Haha!
Lucas Film
Next up was the Lucas Film / Star Wars segment with Dace Filoni. He talked about the theatrical re-release of the original movie for the 50th anniversary of Star Wars and then moved into Ashoka. Hayden Christiansen and Rosario Dawson came out as well as Ezra bridges from he show, Eman Esfandi. The sneak peek of the new season looked incredible, I cannot wait!
Finally, we got a sneak peek of the new Star Wars Starfighter! Not only did Ryan Gosling come out but they showed clips from his time on the Mickey Mouse Club that were so great and so cringey at the same time. He then came out in a Mickey Mouse Club jacket that they traded him for a Starfighter jacket with his characters insignia on the back. The clip of the movie looked really good, different vibe than other Star Wars movies but I am excited for it!
Walt Disney Animation
The last part of the panel were the Walt Disney Animation announcements. We heard about Zootopia 3 and a new movie called Clay. Then we got a sneak peek of Hexed where Jodi Foster was announced as the voice actor for one of the main characters! After that they made it seem like that was the end of the show but then some very Frozenish music started to play. And then nothing happened!
The music stopped and started again and this time Kristen Bell and Indina Menzel came out singing a new song from Frozen 3! Kristen Bell joked about her ear piece not working and that’s why they missed their queue. That’s live entertainment for you. They talked about the new movie, gave us a first look and then Olaf came out and sang a new original song as well. Frozen 3 looks like so much fun! As we walked out we were handed the Oswald cards from earlier and a Dr Doom themed canned cold brew coffee from Happy.
D23 The Ultimate Disney Fan Event 2026 Day 2
We decided to try and avoid the dungeon and the up and down on the elevators this morning and came over a little later. That was perfect because we just walked right in and didn’t have to wait in any lines. We headed to where we left off on the showroom floor and more adventures! Day two of D23 the ultimate Disney fan event 2026b was off to a great start!
Showroom Floor Day 2
We started the day at the ESPN Super Bowl booth! Thatcher got a group of strangers to sing him happy birthday and he got to touch the actual Lombardi trophy. We filmed a celebration video like we won the Super Bowl complete with the “I’m going to Disneyland” part. We even ran into on of my Comic Con, Lucas Film friends too while we were in line! He is one of the puppeteers for the Mandalorian and Grogu and was so gracious to stop and talk to the boys.
Joining the TVA
Next we hit up the Marvel Studios booth to go join the TVA! This was an interactive experience with Miss Minutes from the TVA sending us on a special assignment. There were all kinds of great props and photo scenes and even one of Dr Dooms costumes from he new movie. but it wasn’t the same one that was at Comic Con…curious! We got a special “employee badge” and a comic here.
Window Shopping
Then our virtual queue for the D23 Marketplace came up so we went and did a little window shopping there. We didn’t buy anything here but it was cool to see all the new things, especially the Star Wars toys. BUT, there was one thing that was a real head scratcher for me here.
They had an actual Pixar lamp that was motion censored and moved around like the Pixar lamp does. But it didn’t actually light up. Ummm why? Why would you make a LAMP that doesn’t light up? Very baffled by this and it did not seem to be flying off the shelves. I am going to assume that is why.
Lunch Time
After that we went to the food trucks outside to get some lunch and take some pictures of the big D23 sign. There is always so much energy in this area of the expo. A DJ is playing mixed up Disney toons and there are food trucks from just about any food style you could imagine.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians Panel
Our luck kept going with the reservations and we got one for the Percy Jackson panel Saturday. This was what my youngest was most excited for and because we had the reservation we got a great seat! The cast and producers always do a great job on these panels. You can tell they really enjoy working with one another and the characters they play. We got another first look at season 3 and it looks so intense. Thatcher has read all the books so he was needing out telling us things but not enough to spoil it for us. At the end people ran to the front of the stage, including my kid and the cast turned around and took a selfie with the crowd. Thatcher had a couple sentence conversation with Walker Schobel and it made his whole day!
The Horizons Panel at the Honda Center
This is the big one! The one everyone wants a seat at to hear what’s coming next. I’ll be honest, I didn’t have crazy expectations of what would be announced at this panel. After all the massive announcements two years ago, it would be really hard to top that so soon! I was pretty happy with the announcements we got and at the end of the day I just love the production quality of this panel. The whole thing was incredibly entertaining! D23 the ultimate Disney fan event 2026 Horizons panel was fantastic in my opinion. Neil Patrick Harris was the host and after the initial greeting he went right into the first number. It was about wishing you were an animatronic! Haha! So clever!
Comedian Tig Notaro came out as Mr Lincoln A1000 series animatronic. During the number we also had appearances by Darren Criss, Skylar Astin, Megan Holt and Jack McBrayer. This number was hilarious and they even stopped working at one point and none other than Joe Rhode came out to “fix” them and get the show going again. This was some foreshadowing for a later announcement!
Carousel of Progress Theme
There were lots of announcements made but the whole theme of the show was kind of based off the Carousel of Progress. Neil Patrick Harris kind of took on the role of the dad at each transition and ushered in the next part of the show. The first big announcement was that the Carousel of Progress would be reopening in late spring 2027 with the new decades. The mom will be voiced by Jamie Lee Curtis and the dad by Bryan Cranston! Disneyland got some fun announcements of returning favorites like the OG World of Color and the Celebrate Happy Parade next.
Space Mountain
Disneyland Paris is getting a refurb on their Space Mountain and taking it back to the original name of Space Mountain De La Terre A La Lune and has a steam punk vibe base dog the Jules Verne novel. Tokyo Disney is getting an entirely new Space Mountain that looks incredible! I do believe we need an upgrade here in Disney World. We got to see some behind the scenes on the building of this new Space Mountain along with some video of the ride. The name of this one will be Space Mountain Earth Rise.
Spaceship Earth & The Disco Yeti
Staying in space we got the announcement that Spaceship Earth will be getting a refresh. They said that it will remain truly EPCOT but will freshen up each scene to focus on human connection instead of just communication. They also announced that the Disco Yeti on expedition Everest, after 20 years, is finally going to be fixed! And how do you celebrate Disco Yeti being fixed? You bring our disco icon Gloria Gaynor to sing I will Survive of course!
The Avengers & Indiana Jones
The Avengers Campus expansion in Disney’s California Adventure was announced that it will open in 2028. Shanghai Disney and Hong Kong Disney are also getting some Spiderman dan Avengers love that looks amazing. I know a lot of kids who would love to run around in a whole Spiderman land! Next we jumped back to Disney World for some Indiana Jones in Animal Kingdom announcements. Harrison Ford popped up on the big screen to tell us all about and let us know that he is the actual model for the ride and thinks the storyline is fantastic! The name of the new Indiana Jones ride will be Indiana Jones and the Myth of the Jade Serpent. we go tot see a first look at the facade of the pyramid and a few other elements.
Encanto & A Carousel
Continuing in the Tropical America’s section of the announcements, we got some Encanto and carousel news too! The carousel will be called el carousel De Los Animalitus and the little animals you can ride are superb! There are 21 total and they range from Hei Wei to Kuzco and everything in between! These are so cute and I can’t wait to see them all in person. We heard that the original voice actors from Encanto reprised their roles to record audio for the new casita ride. This one will be called Antonio’s Fiesta de Encanto and will follow Antonio as he gets his powers and begins talking to animals. The ride vehicles will be different furniture pieces that have come to life to help us get through. This sounds like so much fun!
Coco in California
Then we got a performance from Los Lobos, because why not? Where else can you go from Gloria Gaynor to Los Lobos in less than an hour? We got a look at the Coco ride coming to Disney California Adventure. There was a special part of the Imagineering pavilion at the convention center where they were having people write down a Disney memory that impacted their lives and they announced that all of these will be planted in the roots of this rides scenery and backgrounds. So very cool!
The Lion King in Paris
We got to take a look at the first ever Lion King ride that is being built at Disneyland Paris. It will be along flume ride similar to Splash Mountain. Next spring the new Wreck it Ralph ride, Super Rush Sweet Rescue. This looks like so much fun! We got some good looks into the new Cars Land being built here in Disney World, Piston Peak.
Cars Land, I Mean Piston Peak!
We were told that the ride will be called Cars Ridge Run Rally! The race will start in the wilderness and climb u the mountain to the snow covered peaks. Then we will race back down the mountain and it will be a bumpy ride pas geysers and more. we are also getting another ride in Piston Peak called Miss Fritter’s Daredevil Spin Along with the monster truck from cars 3! While they were at it they announced a new cars Lightning Racers series coming to Disney+!
But the Cars fun didn’t stop there. Sheryl Crow cam out and sang the new original theme song for the show AND get real gone from the original! In case you are keeping track, that’s Gloria Gaynor to Los Lobos to Sheryl Crow and we parents done yet!
Disney Cruiseline
They then moved into Disney Cruiseline and announced the new Disney Believe in the Wish class of ships. Tinker Bell will lead the way with Buzz and Woody on the rear. They also announced a new class of ships that are in between the the newer ships and the old ones, these are set to go out on their first journey in 2029.
Welcome to Monstropolis
Megan Milty then took the stage singing a new song written by Randy Newman called Welcome to Monstropolous! I adore Megan Milty so this was a treat. This song will be part of the new theater show in Hollywood Studios when the new Monsters Land opens. This lead right into them announcing that we WILL be getting a Harry Hausen’s restaurant complete with an animatronic sushi chef! They also talked about the door coaster and that we will be launched 40ft in the air in four seconds at the start of the ride. And finally on this topic, they announced it will be opening in 2027! I can’t wait for all of this!
Villains Land, I Mean What Else Are They Gonna Call It?
Of course they saved Villains Land for the end. And not surprisingly announced that the name of the land will, in fact, be Villains Land. They showed some artwork of Cruella, Dr Facilier and the Evil Queen looking very sleek and sophisticated. The entrance to the land will be a dark forest with a twisted wishing well that someone has made an evil wish in and that is how we got Villains Land. There will be a Maleficent roller coaster and an “underground” ride from the perspective of the magic mirror that was teased to be like nothing we have seen before!
And the announcements seemed to end there but then Glen Close came out as Cruella De Vil and stole the show! She was fabulous and complaining about Maleficent getting a ride and not her. So maybe this was a teaser that we will be getting a third attraction based off Cruella? As she left the stage here comes Beck singing Cruella De Vil!! Excuse me what? Again, not on the bingo card for this event!
Reimagining Tomorrowland
So if you’re tracking, we’ve gone from Gloria Gaynor to Los Lobos to Sheryl Crow to Megan Milty to Beck all in one show! Crazy! You would have thought it was all over after Villains Land but they were not done yet. Disney announced that Disneyland is getting a totally reimagined Tomorrowland! I am. just a little jealous here because I think ours needs some love too, but I bet it’s coming next. They announced that was the end of the show and then just kidding!
The Dreamfinder!
A hooded figure appeared center stage and Neil Patrick Harris’ voice rang out saying that they made him a promise if he agreed to host this show. Then he turned around dressed as the Dreamfinder holding Figment! Of course this led to the announcement that we will be getting the original Dreamfinder back in EPCOT and that the imagination pavilion is getting a little revamp. All good things! That really was the end of the show and Beck came out to sing Where It’s At! What is this life?!
D23 The Ultimate Disney Fan Event 2026 Day 3
The next morning just the hubs and I were back at it! I was only able to get the boys an afternoon pass for Sunday. Honestly they didn’t mind sleeping in and vegging out in the hotel one bit. We headed downstairs for breakfast and got a visit from Bing Bong which was so fun! We once again did not go super early to avoid the line and the elevators.
Now, Disney did say they were going to come up with a better system after Friday and I kind of wish we had gone early to see if they actually did but we just didn’t want to deal with it. The showroom at D23 the ultimate Disney fan event 2026 was massive so we still had plenty to explore. We only a few things left we had not explored on the showroom floor and then it was time for the Disney Legends ceremony.
Showroom Floor
We headed over to the Walt Disney Archives Uncrated booth first. There were all kinds of sets and props from Hannah Montana, The Devil Wears Prada and High School Musical at the front. On the stage they had the Rocketeer’s jet pack and swords from Pirates of the Caribbean and even Walt Disney’s leather travel bag! You could see props from the Black Hole, Star Wars, Tron and more throughout the booth. But the real treasure was over on the other side where they had lots of Muppets stuff! Including Kermit the frog himself and his standard rich and famous contract. The Great Gonzo’s plane, Rizzo the rats Mickey Costume from Muppet Vision 3D (RIP), Miss Piggy’s Pigs in Space costume AND her Statue of Liberty crown and tablet from Muppet Vision. It was so cool to see all of this!
Magical Relics
There was a section in the middle called Magical Relics that there was a small line for but was worth the wait. Inside we saw the Beauty and the Beast enchanted rose from the 30th anniversary show, Mary Poppins carpet bag and props from Once Upon A Time. There were props from the Lion, the witch and the Wardrobe and the Great Movie Ride. They even had the tablet from Night at the Museum on display! The spinning wheel from Maleficent was eerily displayed in a green lit box and the wands from Wizards of Waverly Place and Beyond Waverly Place were displayed together on a shelf. There were so many amazing props in this area, I feel like although it was small you could have explored over and over and found something new every time!
Walt Disney Hometown Museum
After we were done exploring the archives we walked over to the Honda both for some free pins and a little Encanto dance party. Then we walked over to the Walt Disney Hometown Museum booth. The museum is in Marceline and they had an incredible set up at D23. There were cars and pictures, a whole scale model of the Carolwood Express train of Walt’s. You could buy merchandise from the museum and get information on booking a visit. It was very neat to see all of that and really makes me want to book a trip to Missouri! Just down the way was the full Lego build out of Pirates of the Caribbean. It was impressive!!
Shopping Time
Our virtual queue got called for the Walt Disney Studio’s store so we headed that way to do some shopping! This is where you could find the event branded D23 merchandise as well as the Walt’s Office collection and more. I wanted everything from the Walt’s Office collection, it is so nice! There was even a Walt’s office Corkcicle! They had some vintage Disney Channel and Touchstone Pictures t-shirts that were on my list as well. This is also where you could find the Little Mermaid collection featuring Vanessa! This collection looked amazing! We grabbed a few things and headed back to where we started.
Visiting Lightning McQueen
I had been waiting for the line at the Cars booth to die down so we could get some pics with Mater and McQueen and grab the free tote bag. We also wanted to see the artist painting the car hoods. The line was pretty short at this point so we jumped in! From there it was time for some lunch and to catch the bus to the Honda Center.
Disney Legends Ceremony at the Honda Center
I love getting to see the Disney Legends ceremony. You aren’t going to get any big announcements but you will get first class entertainment and heartfelt speeches from some incredible names. There were 11 inductees at D23 the ultimate Disney fan event 2026:
- Lin-Manuel Miranda
- Alan Tudyk
- Kim Irvine
- The Jonas Brothers
- Susan Egan
- Chris Berman
- Jerry Bruckheimer
- Eric Goldberg
- Anne Hathaway
- Dwayne The Rock Johnson
- Bob Iger
Lin Manuel-Miranda
There were so many incredible moments during this ceremony. The tribute to Lin-Manuel Miranda featuring his catalog of music performed by so much stellar talent was definitely my number one moment. It was fantastic! His speech to the tune of Part of Your World, which I am sure you have seen by now, was also fabulous.
Kim Irvine
Kim Irvine was a big one for me too. I love her story with Disney. If you don’t know, her mom was Leota Tombs who was an imagineer and is the face you see in the crystal ball as Madame Leota. Kim grew up at Disney and has had an incredible career with the company, following in her moms footsteps. She even got to be Madame Leota in the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay in Disneyland.
Jerry Bruckheimer, Eric Goldberg and The Rock
Orlando Bloom came out to present Jerry Bruckheimer with his award and that was awesome! Eric Goldberg was very cool to see! What a talent and what a love for what he does as an animator. He got to accept his award alongside some of the characters he brought to life and that was very special. Dwayne Johnson had us sing happy birthday to his daughter and talked about a core memory from Disney when she was little. It was really sweet.
Bob Iger
And finally, Bob Iger. He was presented his award from Robert Downey Jr, Harrison Ford, Ellen Pompeo, Diane Sawyer and Al Michaels. A star studded group of people! It was cool to hear all of their individual thoughts and feelings about working for and with Bob Iger. Reminded me a little of the way Bob Gurr, Floyd Norman and Tania Norris talked about Walt Disney in the other panel.
Bedknobs and Broomsticks Panel
After the Legends ceremony I met the boys back at the convention center and we let the boys explore the showroom floor for anything they might have missed that they wanted to see. Then we headed up for one last panel. This one was just for my Disney nerd heart. I love Bedknobs and Broomsticks and seeing some history surrounding the movie was really interesting to me. They showed some behind the scenes pictures and videos. There were stories about how it was cast and how some of the music was cut from Mary Poppins and used in Bedknobs. The boys were bored to tears but I loved every minute! It was a great close to D23 the ultimate fan event 2026 for me!
Conclusion
Full transparency, I went into this trip already pretty exhausted. Coming off of what felt like constant travel for work all summer really drained me. I was still just as excited as ever to go and see all the things but needed to do it a little different this time. Two years ago I had bounding outfits planned for everyday, organized collaborations with small shops for ears and accessories and had a minute by minute plan of what we were doing when.
I got up at 3am and sat in the dungeon from 4am to 8am to be in the front of the line for whatever the first thing was for the day and we didn’t miss a thing. I needed things to be a little more chill this year. We still did all the things and had an amazing time just in a different way. It was kind of nice to not have a set plan for everyday.
Hot Take!
Now here’s my hot take on the noise about the Horizon’s panel. I have seen things saying it could have been an email, there was nothing exciting, it was just a bunch of stuff we already knew, etc. Some even said if Disney was going to charge extra for the Honda Center ticket that they should be required to have bombshell announcements. Not that some of that isn’t true but come on people! I don’t know why we would expect that every two years Disney would be able to announce another huge park expansion or new park or ride. That is not sustainable.
I got exactly what I was hoping for. More details on what was announced in 2024, names and firmer concepts on things to come and excellent entertainment. There are so many open projects right now. I personally would like them to finish some of those up before starting anymore so none of them are done halfway. But that’s just my opinion. It was a fabulous weekend at D23 the Ultimate Disney Fan Event 2026 and I already want to go back! Thank you for reading this incredibly long post and I hope you have the most magical day!