D23 The Ultimate Disney Fan Event 2026 is happening in Anaheim, California—just next door to the Disneyland Resort—on August 14, 15, and 16. The schedule for this D23 Expo was just announced. In this episode, I’ll highlight the panels and events you won’t want to miss, and I’ll share my predictions for the Disney Experiences Showcase, which will include announcements for the Disney Parks from Walt Disney Imagineering. You can learn more at D23.com.
Get ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, in-depth news analysis, and premium content at patreon.com/imaginationskyway.
To plan a trip, be sure to work with KMV Travel.
Read Matt’s Imagineering column in WDW Magazine.
Imagination Skyway is a Disney Parks and Imagineering podcast. Episodes explore attraction design, recap Disney news, and dive into the stories behind the magic, including interviews with Disney Imagineers, Disney Legends, and other Disney creators. Not affiliated with or endorsed by The Walt Disney Company. Disney is a trademark of The Walt Disney Company.
Tag me and join the conversation below.
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/imaginationskyway
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/imaginationskyway
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@imaginationskyway
- Email: matthew.krul@imaginationskyway.com
How to Support the Show
- Share the podcast with your friends
- Rate and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
- Join our Patreon Group – https://www.patreon.com/imaginationskyway
Enjoy the show!
Transcript (Auto-Generated):
We have the schedule for D23, the Ultimate Disney fan event, next month, and I have some predictions for what we might expect. Let’s dive into the details. It’s Tuesday, July fourteenth. We have new details about the full schedule for D23, The Ultimate Disney Fan events happening next month in Anaheim, California. Those are on August fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth, twenty twenty six. In this episode, I want to break down what you can expect. I’m not going to discuss every panel, but some of the highlights over each of those three days. And I’m going to share some predictions for what you might expect at this year’s D23 events. Of course, D23, the ultimate Disney fan event, is the bi annual event in Anaheim, and it is really considered to be the biggest Disney fan event of the not just year, but every two years since it doesn’t take place every year. Before we dive into the schedule, a reminder that you can get ad free episodes and lots of bonus content at patreon dot com slash Imagination Skyway. You can unlock so much access to bonus content and more. And it all goes to support the show. And if you’re looking to travel to Disneyland, to D23, to Walt Disney World, any Disney destination you’ll want to reach out to our partners at travel dot com, and you can learn more about how you can even get rewarded for booking a trip to Disney through CMV travel by reaching out to them or reaching out to me. Now let’s talk about what we can expect on the three days of D23, the ultimate Disney fan event. Remember that the tentpole events are going to take place at the Honda Center. We’ve discussed this before, but just to quickly recap each of those three days at the Honda Center. The first is going to be on Friday, August fourteenth at the Honda Center. That is going to take place at seven o’clock to nine o’clock PM Pacific Time. So if you’re on the East Coast in Walt Disney World. That’s going to be ten o’clock. P m as the start time, it’s going to be the Disney Entertainment Showcase. This is where they debut announcements for Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Disney on Broadway, Disney Channel, and other Disney Entertainment franchises on Saturday, August fifteenth. That’s the one that I’m most looking forward to. It is the Disney Experiences Showcase taking place at the same time. Seven o’clock PM to nine o’clock PM Pacific Time. This is where we’re going to get the announcements about the Disney Parks and other Disney experiences. The last one is taking place on Sunday, August sixteenth that is taking place in the afternoon, one thirty p m Pacific Time to three forty five p m Pacific Time. That is the Disney Disney Legends Award ceremony. If you didn’t hear the news about all the Disney legends, be sure to head to D23 dot com to get the announcement and learn more about each of the new inductees. There are a lot of exciting ones to check out, including the former CEO Bob Iger. I’ll also note that there are going to be two celebrity narrators celebrity hosts for the last two experiences. The Disney Experiences showcase is going to be hosted by Neil Patrick Harris and the Disney Legends Disney Legends Award. Ceremony is going to be hosted by Ryan Seacrest. This is the second time that he has is hosting that event. Now, let’s quickly jump through a few of the exciting events that will take place at the Anaheim Convention Center during the day. This is where traditionally D23 Expo was held, and it is still the place where you’re going to see the majority of the panels taking place throughout the day, throughout various stages, there’s the premiere stage, the Walt Disney Archive stage, the backlot stage, the Hyperion stage. There’s also a Cosplay Meetups event, several events happening in the Grand Plaza, and there’s also this giant show floor. There’s going to be the largest ever Walt Disney Imagineering show space, which is going to be exciting for everyone attending. And throughout those three days, you’re going to have the opportunity to again attend panels, meet other Disney fans, and just have a lot of fun. If you are dressing up. Remember, as I said, that there are cosplay meetups, including ones for like Star Wars and Pixar and Marvel. They’re all themed and they’re all on the schedule at d23 dot com. So let’s talk about some of the ones that really excite me as we’re looking at the panel. So first, on Friday, August fourteenth, if you’re a fan of Marvel, be sure to check out on the backlot stage. There’s Marvel fanfare at ten fifteen a m these are all Pacific Time. Over at the Walt Disney Archives Stage. The one I’m looking forward to the most is the Making Disney Magic event with Ron Clements. That’s happening at two forty five p m he has a new book coming out this fall, so make sure to check it out. There’s also Walt Disney one hundred twenty five Years of Inspiration happening on the premiere stage at four thirty p m in the afternoon. And if you’re a fan of The Muppets, you have The Muppets musical history with Seth MacFarlane. That’s happening at six forty five p m to seven forty five p m, but just keep in mind, if you are going to the Honda Center, that means you will miss the beginning of the Disney Entertainment Showcase, but it’s nice to know that for anyone who was unable to secure tickets for the Honda Center and are just looking for and only have tickets for the Anaheim Convention Center, that there still are evening events for you. So it’s. It’s great that D23 has scheduled extra events in the evening for those who are unable to attend the showcases at the Honda Center. Let’s move to Saturday, August fifteenth. If you’re a fan of Spider-Man. To celebrate sixty five years of Marvel’s Spider-Man happening at one p m at the premiere stage, there’s also a Legends in Conversation panel, which is always wonderful to attend. At ten thirty a m at the Walt Disney Archive Stage. And here’s a big one for Imagineering fans. I just heard this announcement yesterday as well. Floating mountains. A conversation with Joe Brody is happening at the Walt Disney Archive Stage at twelve thirty p m. And if you’re not familiar with this new book, Joe Rody does have a new book. He’s promoting it heavily on Instagram and social media, and it will be coming out this fall. So make sure if you are a fan of Imagineering or Joe Rody, you line up early for this one because it’s one that you won’t want to miss. There’s also going to be a Lego Star Wars screening event at the Hyperion Stage at ten o’clock AM. And if you’re a fan of Disney toys, there’s the impact and legacy of Disney toys at that same stage at two o’clock p m. Last one I’ll share for Saturday is if you are unable to attend the Honda Center over at the Back Lot stage at six thirty p m is great moments with Walt Disney. I have a feeling this has to do something with great moments with Mr. Lincoln and Walt Disney and Magical Life talking about the way in which the Imagineers brought this attraction to life and included that new turntable to premiere both shows on every single day. Sunday, August sixteenth. The one I really want to call out is a new feature length documentary from Leslie Iwerks. That’s the name of a panel happening at the premiere stage at ten fifteen a m until twelve o’clock PM. I’ve seen Leslie just chat on several panels at D23 and beyond. She’s wonderful. She not only has incredible knowledge about Disney history herself and is herself the, you know, part of Disney Disney royalty, with her father being Don Iwerks and her grandfather being UB UB Iwerks and their incredible connection to the Walt Disney Company and to Walt Disney himself. But of course, her documentaries are sensational. She hasn’t announced formally what her new documentary is going to be, but playing the piecing together together the breadcrumbs. Right. We had The Imagineering story, and then she talked about this archival footage that she found while they were shooting that that led to Disneyland handcrafted. So my thought process here is that the next documentary will probably have something to do with Walt Disney World. At least I’m hoping so. Like maybe it’s another Imagineering documentary, which would be wonderful, but I feel like it’s probably going to be something about Walt Disney World, either the opening of Walt Disney World because she just did the opening of Disneyland. I imagine there’s likely a lot of footage of that. I’m also hoping at some point she talks about Epcot and the development of Epcot, because that also has an incredibly rich history. Um, you know, those are my top two guesses. I think most likely we’ll see. Um, I’m hoping I’m right here. A documentary about the opening of Walt Disney World. That would be incredible. Also, there’s going to be if you’re unable to watch the Disney Legends Award ceremony because you don’t have tickets to the Honda Center, head to the premiere stage at the Anaheim Convention Center because there is a live simulcast that’s happening of the award ceremony, and that’s taking place at the same time. If you don’t want to attend that, you can also, at the same time, over at the Walt Disney Archive Stage, attend the Sherman Brothers on the record, which of course, is going to be a discussion of the famous Sherman brothers who have written so much of our collective Disney fandom music of our collective Disney fandom. So one that is worth checking out if you don’t get the chance to attend the Disney Legends ceremony. And if you’re still going to be around in the evening, don’t forget that there’s a Hey Jonas! Live at D23 celebrating Disney Legends at six forty five p m at the Walt Disney Archive Stage, as well as a whole new world of Alan Menken that’s happening on the premiere stage at six o’clock PM to seven forty five p m. Here’s the biggest problem about D23, the ultimate Disney fan event. And I say this every year or every two years, it’s impossible to see and do everything because there are panels happening at the same time. There are so many exciting. Even just the travel from one stage to the next can be challenging. So I’ve found myself sometimes attending like first half of one panel back, half of another if I can get into it. Uh, trying to get to pick my favorite ones, you really have to look at the schedule ahead of time. If you’re attending this year, pick out, highlight the ones that you really want to attend. And keep in mind that if one is ending at the same time, another is beginning, you’re probably going to have to leave the first one you’re attending early in order to walk across the Anaheim Convention Center. It’s bigger than it looks. To get to the other stage. It could take literally five minutes or more sometimes to get from one panel to the next. So just keep that in mind. All right, so I’ve probably bored you with the schedule over the last ten minutes, because I’ve just been reading off only a few of the panels that are there. There are even more. I covered only a small portion. Just to give you an idea of how many panels are at D23, the ultimate Disney fan event. So let me now head into what I feel are the most likely announcements we’re going to hear at this year’s event. And remember that two years ago, we heard a lot of exciting announcements for projects that were coming to all of the Disney parks. And if you think about all of the projects that are being worked on. The majority of the parks are currently building something right? Even over at, you know, Disneyland Resort at Disney California Adventure. We have the new avatar attraction, the new avatar section being built. We have the new Coco attraction being built over at Walt Disney World. Magic Kingdom is getting its tremendous expansion with Piston Peak and Villains Land. Disney’s Hollywood Studios is getting monsters Inc., Monstropolis and Disney’s Animal Kingdom is getting tropical Americas. So even just thinking about the domestic parks, there’s a lot going on. There are have already been announcements about the continued expansion of Disney Cruise Line. There have been announcements about the expansions that are happening at other international parks and new attractions being built there as well, including over at Disneyland Paris. We had the frozen land just open up this past year. We’re going to get a new Lion King attraction that’s opening up. So I don’t think you should expect a lot of big announcements for the parks, and I’m focusing this conversation on the parks because if you’re listening to this podcast, you’re probably mostly interested in Imagineering and Disney parks. So for us to go into this expecting the same level of new announcements as we heard at the last D23, you know, I think that’s really setting unrealistic expectations considering how much is already in development. So how I would frame this D23 is announcements that are more specific continuation of conversations, and of the announcements that were announced at the previous D23. So we heard some. We know the details, for instance, of tropical Americas, we know that there’s going to be an Encanto attraction. There’s going to be a carousel, there’s going to be an Indiana Jones attraction. And we have a rough idea of the storylines, but I think perhaps we’ll get more details about the ride type for the Encanto attraction, because that is yet to be announced. I think we’ll maybe get more concrete models of what the storyline will look like for that attraction, and how the attraction will move throughout the show building. I also think for Monstropolis will probably get more details about what’s going to be in the Globe Theater. We know that there is going to be some sort of show taking up what formerly was the Muppetvision 3D theater, now the Globe Theater, but we don’t know what that show is. I also think we’ll get more details about the storyline for the Monsters Inc. Doors Coaster, the suspended roller coaster that’s coming to Monstropolis and over at the Disneyland Resort. I think we’ll likely get more details about the avatar attraction, because we know that there’s going to be some attraction but hasn’t been announced what it’s going to be yet. So we have some concept art. We had just literally one piece of concept art that made it look like some type of boat ride attraction, but we don’t know much beyond that. So is it going to be similar to Pirates of the Caribbean Battle for the Sunken Treasure at Shanghai Disneyland? It’s going to be something new. Those are details I think will be revealed in this event. And over at Magic Kingdom. I think we’ll also get more concrete blueprints. We’ll get more concrete concept art and ride layouts for the main piston peak attraction will probably get a formal announcement about the second attraction coming to Piston Peak. We might get more announcements for Villains Land, but I think it’ll just be limited to a few pieces of information. Maybe we’ll get a name for what Villains Land is going to be. Is it going to be Villains Land or is it going to be called something else? You know, we might get some more concrete concept art, but I don’t think we’re going to get really detailed information about villains lands, because they’ll likely save that for the next D23 event. Since Villains Land is farther out than Piston Peak and Monstropolis and Tropical Americas and some of the other projects that are happening around the world. So those are the main things I would expect, right? Nothing major, no major new announcements, but more details about things that were previously announced. That being said, I do expect that there will be one or two new announcements. And those could be things like a shelved project for many years now, since Covid is the next reiteration of Spaceship Earth. That’s something like that level of announcement is something that I would expect. Now, I don’t know if it’s going to be Spaceship Earth, but something related to like that level. An update to a classic attraction. There are a lot of rumors circulating right now about a reinvention of Space Mountain at Walt Disney World. I think honestly, that makes complete sense, and I would maybe expect that to be something announced at D23. Are they going to completely gut Space Mountain and rebuild the track? It kind of needs it. It’s a it’s over fifty years old now, so it’s the perfect timing to build something like that. Um, you know, it’s perfect timing to now that they’ve built and I’ve talked about this on, I think bonus episodes of the show on Patreon, but Tron Lightcycle run next to Space Mountain, you get this impression of new, modern, sleek, new generation and classic generation. Space mountain is a generational classic, so it’s not going anywhere. I don’t think it’s going anywhere, but I do think that now is the perfect time with Tron Lightcycle run right next door and they just reopen Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. And we have seen that has been a home run. It maintains the classic elements of what we know and love about Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. But it reinvented it. It refurbished it. It gave it brand new track and updated storyline and even a lower height requirement so that new generations of fans can come to love Big Thunder Mountain Railroad for years to come. So Space Mountain deserves a similar treatment. It deserves to get its own refresh. It deserves to get because of how classic it is and how loved it is. It deserves to get its update as well. So something like that, right? Something like a spaceship earth refurbishment update. Something like a Space Mountain update. We’ve seen Disney continuing to update some of those classic attractions. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Buzz Lightyear, Space Ranger, Spin Country Bear Musical Jamboree, all those things are updates to Carousel of Progress, of course. Right. All of these are updates to beloved attractions, even rock n roller Coaster starring Aerosmith becoming rock n roller coaster starring the Muppets. So I think you can expect one or two of those details. I also think we’ll get more concrete information about Disney Lakeshore Lodge. That’s the next Walt Disney World Resort Hotel being built on the shores of Bay Lake. And we’ll get, I think, a closer detail about maybe not an exact opening date, but an opening like window. Is it going to be late summer twenty twenty seven? Is it going to be fall twenty twenty seven? And probably an announcement related to when the Disney Vacation Club part of the resorts, will go on sale for new members? Because that has always been something that Disney Vacation Club has started to sell the new contracts before the resort opens so that new members can take advantage of the early booking window to book the initial nights. And those rooms at that hotel. Um, probably get some more details about the next Disney Cruise Line ship. Again, like a lot of more information about things that were previously announced. I’m not going to take too many predictions about the entertainment showcase, because I think that there are so many different, different directions this could go in. But, um, we’ll probably get, you know, Avengers Doomsday is coming up in December, so I think we’re going to get more concrete information about the films and shows that are happening after Avengers Doomsday. We’re also going to get I know more information about the next Star Wars films that have already been announced. And there is the next Walt Disney Animation Studios film that’s coming out this winter. Well likely get. I think attendees are going to get a preview, um, that the public won’t see of a clip from hex. That’s something that Disney has traditionally done. Um, and I, I hope that they’ll also get from twentieth Century Fox information about the next avatar film, we have avatar, Fire and Ash. It already happened. You know, like, is there going to be an avatar four and five? If so, what are those films going to be? At least getting the next avatar, I think would be something that I would hope to expect at this event. But beyond that, I don’t have any specific predictions because it’s not as much of my area of expertise compared to the parks and resorts. But I think this gives you some idea for what you can expect at D23. Again, we have the schedule and broad strokes. I would not expect anything major from new announcements, but I would expect more concrete information about the parks projects that were previously announced. Maybe we’ll get more information about Disneyland forward, and I think we’re going to get a couple of surprise announcements that are smaller announcements about updates to existing attractions. Let me know your predictions in the comments of this episode. And remember, you can get ad free episodes and bonus content at patreon dot com slash imagination Skyway. Thank you so much for listening to the show. And remember, as always, to keep moving forward.