Last weekend was full of Disney fun and excitement at Destination D23! This event is the little sister to the D23 Ultimate Fan Event in California, here in Disney World. From fantastic panels to a journey around the world with Disney, this event was packed full! There were 2000’s Disney stars, 80-90’s throwbacks, Kuzcotopia and more. I am super excited to share this Destination D23 recap with you, so let’s dive in!
Destination D23 Extras
On top of all the regular events included with the Destination D23 ticket, there were lots of extra events offered the week before. Some of these I will keep separate from this Destination D23 recap! At Disney Springs there was a photo op and a DJ with D23 trivia and gifts. You could show your Destination D23 badge or D23 membership card at multiple food and shopping locations for discounts.
There were also separately ticketed events that all happened in Disney Springs. These included a speed puzzling event at the Edison with Ravensburger, backstage tour and after show Q & A with Cirque de. Soleil and even a throwback premier of A Goofy Movie! We go to go to the Goofy Movie premier and it was awesome! But that’s a post for another day! I thought it was really cool there were so many extra things to do the week leading up to Destination D23.
Destination D23 Panel Recap
There were so many incredible panels at this event, especially if you are a Disney nerd like me! Destination D23 may not have all the flashy panels with the huge announcements but there is so much Disney history shared in these panels. We did get a few announcements though! Let’s dive into a Destination D23 recap of the panels!
The Three Caballeros: From El Grupo to Goodwill Classics
This was a three part series of short panels that went through the goodwill ambassador trip to South America by Walt Disney and a group of his animators. You can watch El Grupo on Disney+ and it is so worth the watch! It was cool to hear more about this story and how the classics we love came to be. Not only did we see how those were influenced by this trip, we also got to see how they have continued to shape these characters and stories decades later.
Disney Around The Globe
These panels were short “in between” panels throughout the weekend. We adventured to India, Japan, China and France. Becky Cline from The Walt Disney Archives was our host for these panels that took us through all the places Disney has gone and how those places shaped the future of Disney. We saw footage from the People and Places series that have not been seen since the 1960’s. It was very cool to see how Walt Disney truly tried to show how small the world is and bring other cultures into our living rooms through these and other projects.
Walt Disney Studios Showcase
This was the first big panel of Destination D23 and had some exciting announcements and sneak peeks so it has a big space in this destination D23 recap! We got to take a look at Toy Story 5 and see the opening sequence with what they referred to as the multi-Buzz. In this new installment there are going to be new “tech” toys like Lily Pad the tablet and Smarty Pants the potty training toy. Toy Story 5 is hitting theaters in the summer of 2026! In other Toy Story news, you can watch the original back in theaters September 12th! We also got a look at the new movie Hoppers that looks absolutely hilarious. This movie is about a girl having her brain put into a robotic beaver and entering into the animal world as one of them. Hoppers will be in theaters March of 2026.
We got a bunch of other sneak peeks and announcements, some we already knew and others were brand new! Here’s a list of all the things we heard and sneak peeks we got a look at:
Pixar
- Buzz Lightyear will return to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for the first time since 2013, we got a super cute lithograph of the three new balloons from Disney this year.
- New Pixar movies announced Gatto, Incredibles 3 and Coco 2
Live Action Movies
- Awesome sneak peek of Tron: Ares and it looks incredible! Starting September 15th, Tron: Lightcycle Run will get a Tron: Ares overlay including the new soundtrack from Nine Inch Nails! This will run for a limited time only
- September 16th we will see a fully remastered original Tron and Tron Legacy on Disney+
- We took a look at Avengers Doomsday that will be the most MCU characters in one movie ever! This will release December of 2026
- Sneak peek of Lego Rebuild the Galaxy: Pieces of the Past
- Mandolorian and Grogu sneak peek, coming out May 2026
- Predator Badlands sneak peak, November 7th
- Avatar Fire and Ash sneak peek, December 19th
Animation Announcements
- New Ice Age movie called Boiling Point coming February 2027! All original characters returning!!
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid the Last Straw on Disney+ December 5th
- Patrick Warburton on stage to show us a sneak peek of Zootopia 2, November 2025
Finally, we got a sneak peek at a new Disney animation movie called Hexed that comes out in fall of 2026. This movie will show a secret world of magic that only some can enter. Those that enter are the people the regular world sees as weird. I feel like this is going to be a tear jerker but it looked so good!
X Atencio: The Untold Story of a Disney Legend
This panel was with members of X Atencio’s family and had some very cool Disney history! There has been some from the Atencio family working for Disney since 1938! That’s 87 years of this family helping to shape the Disney we know and love. X Atencio was not only a gifted animator he was also a writer. X wrote the storyline and lyrics for Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. He created lots of stop motion classics like Mary Poppins umbrella and the toy soldiers in Babes in Toy Land. X was also a character designer and even did the final design of Figment! You can read more about X Atencio in the new book that his family has written about his life, X Atencio: The Legacy of an Artist, Imagineer and Disney Legend.
Be Our Guest with Disney on Broadway
This was such a fun panel with Disney Broadway stars from Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast. They also talked about what shows they would like to see Disney make in the future and I am hoping this was a little teaser for something real! Susan Egan said she would love to see Tangled and to be cast as Mother Gothel. Well the next morning she performed Mother Knows Best and it was perfection! If you’re listening Disney, we would all love to see that!
What Cha Doin with Phineas and Ferb’s Dan Povenmire and Swampy Marsh
Any panel with these two is always a good time! We even got to see Perry the Platypus come out of stage. Dan and Swampy drew their favorite characters from the show and talked about creating the new season that just came out on Disney+. Of course we got to hear them do some Dr Doofenshmirtz and Major Monogram. I hope there are many more seasons to come and lot’s more from these guys!
D2K Animated Classics
I have to say it was really cool to see some of my underrated favorites get some overdue love in this panel! Movies like Treasure Planet and Atlantis took front and center during this panel. We got to hear about how these and other D2K classics were pitched, shot down and then brought back to life. This panel ended with a little rendition of Trashing the Camp from Tarzan with non other than Joey Fatone from N’Sync!
Creating the Happiest Place on Earth
My Disney history nerd heart was so happy during this panel. I love hearing about how it all began with the parks and seeing old pictures and videos. We got to see the original draft of the layout of Disneyland and how it did change but always maintained the hub in the center. We also got a very exciting announcement! After 30 years, Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress is getting a refurb!! And it’s going to be amazing, a new opening scene with non other than Walt Disney himself!! Looks like Disneyland isn’t the only place you’ll be able to see a Walt animatronic! I seriously cannot wait for this update!
What’s Cookin’ with Disney Eats
You can’t complain about a panel that gives you a box of Magic Kingdom’s Starlight popcorn, right?! It was really cool to see what’s coming in the parks, on the cruise ships and for things like Festival of the Holidays in EPCOT. We got to see some new Christmas sippers and popcorn buckets coming to the parks, yellow Mickey Christmas tree truck! New Christmas Zombie tiki mug coming to Trader Sam’s and even some cocktails coming to Disney cruise line. That was by far the coolest! They showed us a new drink coming to the Sanctum Dr Strange bar on the Disney Destiny that not only levitates but also electrifies when you touch the glass! I mean come on….what better reason is there to go on a Disney cruise than that?! They also announced that there will be over 60 new menu items at this years Festival of the Holidays!
Boom, Baby! 25 Years of the Emperor’s New Groove
This panel was lead by director Don Hahn and featured Patrick Warburton who voices Kronk in the movie. This was such a fun panel about such a fun movie! We got to see sketches of what the characters were first going to look like and hear about how Kronk was almost cut from the movie. Can you imagine?? No Kronk?? Thankfully the writers showed how important he was to the story when the did a run through for the decision makers and he was saved! This was the last panel on Saturday and so appropriate sine we were headed to Kuzcotopia at Typhoon Lagoon that night as part of Destination D23!
Disney Villains: Icons of Evil
The opening of this panel was incredible! Disney on Broadway stars singing all of our favorite villain songs with the coolest set chairs to represent the villains we love. I think we were all expecting to get some big announcements about the new villains land coming to Magic Kingdom in this panel. Well, we didn’t really get that but we did get a little insight into the process of how they are creating this world for us. The panelists shared pictures from their research trips to France and Spain to study the architecture styles there.
The imagineers are blending those styles with a touch of magic and calling this new architecture style “Conjured Architecture”. Saying it needs to look like the villainous magic and spells have taken over and shaped the buildings and structures in this land. While this isn’t the big announcements like what rides are going to be there or a more solid time frame that I think we were all hoping for, it was still very cool to see how this is going to take shape.
Extra Vilainous Info
On top of talking about villains land, we got some insight into he making of the Unfairly Ever After show in Hollywood Studios. This show features 83 different villains and sidekicks, over 74 million LED pixels and some other details you might not have noticed. Things like the fact that the wallpaper in the room changes throughout the show and at the end you can see how many villains have left their mark on that wallpaper. And how the rolling mirror is 174 inches tall or as tall as an adult giraffe!
Some other fun announcements included a Cruella show on the Disney Destiny, Loki appearances on the ship, Dr Facilier hidden location where he will entertain with parlor tricks. And a new villains street party in Hong Kong Disney called The Wickedest Party Of Them All starting in two weeks!
Part Of Our World
This panel with Jodi Benson was fantastic and we got to see her sing Part of Your World on stage! Always a highlight for me! We also got to see some footage of Jodi recording Part of your World and being coached on how to approach the different parts of the song we know and love. So cool to see how something that’s so ingrained in my childhood memories come to life. Jodi Benson is a national treasure and should be protected at all costs!! Straying a little from this panel, we got to hear Jodi sing the song Disneyland that Howard Ashman wrote for her in the musical Smile in one of the welcome panels and it was magical!
The Disney Family Legacy with Roy P. Disney
I have to say this was pretty incredible! This is one of the panels I am most excited to write about in this destination D23 recap. Roy P. Disney, the grandson of Walt’s Brother, Roy lead this panel with Becky Cline from The Walt Disney Archives. It was very cool to hear Disney history and stories from a member of the Disney family who was there. Roy told a great story about how Walt pulled him out of the crowd to sit on the bandstand bleachers with him to watch the Rocketman in Disneyland and how Walt had a way of making you feel so special.
There were some moments you could tell he was getting a little teared up recalling great memories and it was very special to be a part of those moments. Roy shared how the kids always preferred to hang out in Walt’s outer office instead of his grandfathers because it was so much more fun. I could have sat in that panel all day!
Down the Rabbit Hole with The Walt Disney Archives
These panels are ALWAYS my favorite! So many cool Disney history facts and cool things tying things together you would never have guessed! We learned about a Disney family member we never knew, Aunt Jessie Perkins! Aunt Jessie was Walts aunt and lived here in Florida in Deland. She is something of celebrity there! She did just about everything, basket weaving, post master, school principle and just about everything in between. Walt bought her her first TV because she felt lonely and she watched the Wonderful World of Disney on that very TV! She was known to have said about Walt and Roy’s Disneyland project that “those boys are borrowing a crazy amount of money for a fools circus”. If she only knew! We even got to hear a recording of Aunt Jessie from 1956. I would love to have a whole documentary or book about Aunt Jessie!
What possibly is my most favorite moment of Destination D23 happened at the end of this panel! Becky Cline came out dressed as Angela Lansbury’s character, Miss Eglantine Price and said the subsidiary locomotion spell with a bed knob in her hand! Thunderstruck and lights flashed and she ran away. Then we heard bagpipes and drums and the Lake Buena Vista Pipes & Drums band came out! Also known as the Creek Reed Pipe Band, this group is made up of cast members and first responders and is absolutely incredible!!
Becky Cline came back out and lead the band out of the convention hall in her helmet and carrying a sword and broom. This was just so unexpected and epic!! The band continued to play in the lobby for a bit afterwards. I don’t know who cam up with this idea but it was fantastic!! Check out my instagram for a video, there was even a highland dancer that joined them!
Stay Tuned, Your Watching Disney Channel
Another cool moment was in this panel, seeing Charlie from Good Luck, Charlie all grown up! You never realize how long time has gone by until you see how grown these kids are now. I din’t feel old at all! Hahaha! This panel had Taylor from High School Musical, Charlie and PJ from Good Luck Charlie and Matt from Lizzie McGuire. There were also some new Disney Channel stars from Zombies, Beyond wizards of Waverly Place and Ravens Home. This was a fun walk down memory lane with some fun stories and nods to the present and future of Disney Channel series. Maybe I heard something that sounded like a Good Luck, Charlie reunion but I may have been reading into a comment more than what was actually being said! That would be very cool though!
Beyond the Spires: An Insider Look at Disney Castles
This was a really neat look at what inspired each of the Disney castles and how they came to be. Some fun facts about all of them, including that the Disney family crest is located somewhere on every Disney castle! As it should be, right?! We also got a great announcement in this panel! Cinderella Castle will be returning to her original color scheme!! No more pink and gold castle! While I liked the update for the 50th, it is definitely time to restore her to her original glory. They did not say when this was happening but I am very excited for this to get done, how about you??
We got to look back at castle overlays like the cake for the 25th. I remember seeing that one in person, it was different! Haha! Did you know that they almost turned the Carousel of Progress into a cake for one of the anniversaries? Can’t say I would have been a fan of that. Stitch even came out with a toilet paper machine to pay honor to his own castle refurb when he opened Stitch’s Great Escape and TP’d Cinderella Castle. Unpopular opinion but I actually thought that was genius!
A Goofy Movie: 30 Stand Out Years
Hosted by the director of the movie Kevin Lima, voice of Goofy, Bill Farmer and voice of Max, Jason Marsden. This was a fun panel talking about how the movie was made, how it almost got scraped and even how Steve Martin almost voiced Goofy! What?! We got to see behind the scenes video clips of the taping of the movie and out takes that were so funny. This group genuinely seems to enjoy being on stage together and reminiscing about this movie. I love A Goofy Movie so all the throwbacks to it over the weekend made me so happy!
80’s-90’s Celebration in Concert
The closing event for Destination D23 was the 80’s-90’s Celebration in Concert. This was great and a highlight for me to write about here in my Destination D23 recap! We got to enjoy some of our favorite jams from all the Disney movies we love from this era. Even Anastasia got her Disney moment! Susan Egan sang I Won’t Say I’m In Love from Hercules and that was such a cool moment. Megara has always been a favorite for me. Toy Story, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Beauty and the Beast, Little Mermaid, Hercules, Pocahontas and even Hocus Pocus were all represented int he concert. We even got an awesome rendition of the Disney afternoon theme song! We heard the Duck Tales theme song as well as Tale Spin, Darkwing Duck, Rescue Rangers and Goof Troop. That was so much fun!
Then Bill farmer (Goofy) and Jason Marsden (Max) came out to sing On The Open Road from A Goofy movie. That would have been cool enough but then the Broadway singers came out to sing a part, Michael Varga, Becky Cline, Jodi Benson, Susan Egan and more came out to complete the ensemble and it was FANTASTIC! I really thought that was gonna be the finale but they kept going.
Jodi Benson and Susan Egan sang When Somebody Loved Me from Toy Story 2 that was beautiful. All the amazing Broadway stars sang Circle of Life too! Then the real finale! Of course we ended with I2I by Powerline from A Goofy Movie! Just so much fun and such great energy. Every person that stage looked like they genuinely loved what they were doing and it was felt by the audience. It was a great way to cap off the Destination D23 weekend!
Charting The Course: Disney’s Global Stories & Inspirations
I can’t do a destination D23 recap without talking about this exhibit. This was The Walt Disney Archives exhibit for Destination D23. It included models of Pride Rock from the Lion King, a model of Millennium Village from EPCOT. There were Tapestry of Nations puppets and movie costumes from the live action Mulan and Jungle Cruise. All items were celebrating the different cultures and areas of the world that Disney has been inspired by and connected with. I love seeing the items from the archives and the Tapestry puppets were definitely my favorite in this exhibit.
Destination D23 Shopping Recap
Because no good Destination D23 recap would be complete without shopping! There was a random selection process pre-purchase of limited edition pins. I got three of the pins I was hoping to, a Mad Madame Mim, Roger Rabbit and of course an Orange Bird! I will say that the pick up process for these was a little bonkers! The lines were so long, I waited in line for about 45 minutes to pick up two of my pins. Some people waited up to two hours, crazy!!
There were multiple stores to shop at Destination D23. Mickey’s of Glendale, The Ink and Paint Marketplace, Walt Disney Company Store and Disney Studio Store Hollywood. The Walt Disney Company Store is where you found all the Destination D23 branded and exclusive merchandise. The Destination D23 exclusive merch was awesome, I literally wanted it all. I ended up getting some stickers and a tank top from the event but I loved it all!
Mickey’s of Glendale had all the Muppets Studios, Disney Destinations and Walt Disney Imagineering items. The Disney Studio Store Hollywood was new this year and had exclusive apparel, drink ware and pins. And finally the Ink and Paint Marketplace is where you found all the vendors like Lug and Pandora. Lug’s booth was awesome and again, I wanted it all! They had even exclusive character packs to go with select bags and I couldn’t resist! The packs included a strap, charm and Destination D23 hang tag.
Destination D23 Freebies!
One thing Destination D23 is great for is the free gifts! Lug is such an amazing presenting sponsor and always gives the best bags for the attendee gift! This year it was their Saunter bag filled with goodies! We got Maleficent hand sanitizer from Bath and Body Works, an official Destination D23 patch and pin and more! On top of the bags, Lug also had a card to redeem for a Figment pin and Destination D23 luggage tag.
In the panels we got a print of the three new Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade floats from Disney and throughout the weekend we received multiple pins, magnets, temporary tattoos and stickers. I am a sucker for the free stuff and get so excited for it all! Stay tuned on my socials, there may be a Giveaway coming since we got two of everything! Can’t do a Destination D23 recap without announcing a giveaway right?
Conclusion
Needless to say we had a blast at Destination D23 and this recap maybe long but it was fun to write! I hope it is as fun to read for you. You may have noticed I did not talk a lot about the Goofy Movie Premier event or Kuzcotopia. Well, those were so amazing they deserve their own posts so stay tuned for more on those two events, might be multiple posts this week! Now that we have been to both Destination D23 and the D23 Ultimate Fan Event in California, I may have to do a compare and contrast of the two now that they have announced the dates for next year. Mark your calendars for August 14-16! I love them both but they are just so different. Totally different vibes but both amazing!
I am sure you can tell by this Destination D23 recap that it is full of Disney history. My nerd heart loves that so much! I knew this would be a long post so I didn’t ramble on about everything I wanted to but trust me there was plenty I wanted to say. I hope you feel like you were there too and thank you for reaching along. Have a magical day!
