There is a particular kind of anticipation that settles over Anaheim each August, a hum beneath the surface of the ordinary, as if the city itself knows something wonderful is coming. This year, that anticipation has a name: D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, presented by Visa, arriving August 14 through 16, 2026, and promising, as it always does, to dissolve the line between admirer and participant.
For three days, the Anaheim Convention Center and the Honda Center become something closer to pilgrimage sites than event venues, spaces where decades of collective memory converge with glimpses of what’s still to come. Full day Sunday passes remain, along with afternoon only passes across all three days, for those who understand that even a few hours inside this world can be enough to leave a mark.
“At D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, the magic never stops,” reflects Michael Vargo, who leads D23: The Official Disney Fan Club. “From the moment the first guest walks through the doors of the Anaheim Convention Center to the final curtain at the Honda Center, every hour is filled with something extraordinary. This is where fans become part of the story and every part of the Disney universe comes to life.”
It is a sentiment that runs through everything the weekend holds. Not spectacle for its own sake, but a kind of communion. A place where the past is not merely remembered but reinhabited, and where the future arrives not as an announcement but as an unveiling. Among the weekend’s showstoppers are D23 Mousequerade, presented by AT&T, in which fans parade their own handcrafted Disney inspired creations down a runway, and the all new Disney Experiences Auction, where host Bret Iwan, the official voice of Mickey Mouse, guides bidders through rare, verified pieces of park and resort history in search of new homes.
On Reservations, and the Art of Being Chosen
Access to the Convention Center’s most coveted presentations will run through a randomized Reservation Selection Process, open from noon Pacific on Monday, July 20, through noon Pacific on Friday, July 24. Fans may rank their preferences and request space for parties as large as six. Confirmations arrive by email beginning August 7, and while nothing is promised, standby queues offer a second path in for the patient, at the Event Stages, Talent Central, and most Show Floor Experiences. The Honda Center’s evening spectacles, however, belong only to those holding a D23 Ultimate Fan Pass or Ultimate Preferred Fan Pass. There is no waiting in line for these, only presence, or its absence.
Three Nights at the Honda Center
Friday, August 14, The Disney Entertainment Showcase
As dusk settles, the storytellers step into the light. Expect the unexpected: celebrity appearances that ripple through the crowd like electricity, first glimpses of films and series not yet released to the world, and musical performances that stitch together everything Disney touches, film, television, gaming, and the stage.
Saturday, August 15, Horizons: Disney Experiences Showcase
Neil Patrick Harris takes the role of guide this year, leading fans further into the world first sketched out in 2024’s ambitious announcements. In a structure inspired by the Carousel of Progress, he’ll sit with the Imagineers, artists, and dreamers shaping what Disney Experiences becomes next, part conversation, part revelation, with performances and surprises woven throughout.
Sunday, August 16, The Disney Legends Awards Ceremony
Ryan Seacrest presides over the evening’s most reverent hour, as this year’s honorees take their place in Disney history: Chris Berman, Jerry Bruckheimer, Susan Egan, Eric Goldberg, Anne Hathaway, Bob Iger, Kim Irvine, Dwayne Johnson, the Jonas Brothers, Lin Manuel Miranda, and Alan Tudyk. It is a ceremony built on gratitude, for careers spent building the worlds so many have called home. A companion conversation elsewhere on the show floor, hosted by Disney Legend Robin Roberts, invites members of this newest class to reflect further on the careers that brought them here.
Five Stages, a Thousand Small Wonders
Wander the Convention Center across the weekend and you’ll find anniversaries treated less as milestones than as living things, still breathing. Seventy five years since Alice in Wonderland first tumbled down the rabbit hole. Thirty five since a beast learned to love and be loved in return. Sixty five since a boy from Queens was bitten by something extraordinary. Twenty five years since Kingdom Hearts first fused the worlds of Disney, Pixar, and Square Enix into something entirely new, a saga explored in its own deep dive session with the creative minds and character voices behind it.
Music runs like a current through it all. Disney Legend Alan Menken, eight time Academy Award winner, takes the stage alone for a rare, intimate concert, just a man, his songs, and the stories behind them. The Disney Rewind Concert resurrects the VHS era hits of the ’80s and ’90s, with Disney Legends Bill Farmer and Jodi Benson joined by incoming Legend Susan Egan. Seth MacFarlane turns his attention to the Muppets, unpacking a songbook that has outlived every trend it once seemed to follow, while previewing his own forthcoming orchestral album inspired by it. And a separate gathering of Disney’s Grammy winning artists looks back on the songs and creative choices that have shaped their careers, and the legacy they continue to build.
Elsewhere, the weekend becomes an archive brought to life. Filmmaker Leslie Iwerks debuts a new documentary exploring how Disney’s storytellers have always drawn their inspiration from the parks themselves. The Jonas Brothers record a live episode of their podcast, Hey Jonas!, in celebration of their induction as Disney Legends. Ron Clements opens the pages of his new book, Making Disney Magic, alongside fellow animation legends Jodi Benson and Mark Henn, and incoming Legends Susan Egan and Eric Goldberg. Joe Rohde, ever the visionary, discusses his memoir Floating Mountains and the creative instincts that shaped Animal Kingdom and Aulani. And a new Don Hahn produced documentary turns its lens on animator Ron Husband, a quiet architect of so much beloved artistry.
The 35th anniversary of Beauty and the Beast draws together Paige O’Hara, Don Hahn, and Mark Henn, alongside Susan Egan, for a look back at a fairy tale that became a cultural touchstone. Zootopia marks ten years with Jared Bush, Byron Howard, and Michael Giacchino reflecting on the mammal metropolis they built. And Walt Disney himself is remembered not through reverence alone but through warmth. A 125th birthday tribute features those who knew him and those who continue to carry his instincts forward. Historian Tim O’Day and Disney Files editor Ryan March share the more comedic side of the man, in rarely seen footage and stories. Fans can also step inside the homes he built, Woking Way, Carolwood, and Smoke Tree Ranch, and visit the Carolwood Barn itself, where his passion for trains first found its track.
There is room, too, for the present tense. The Simpsons cast and creative team consider what keeps Springfield’s satire sharp after three decades. Percy Jackson and the Olympians previews Season 3’s descent into The Titan’s Curse. Camp Rock 3 cast members share fresh off the premiere memories. Bluey traces its improbable path from a backyard in Brisbane to the big screen, ahead of 2027’s The Bluey Movie. Scrubs returns to Sacred Heart for a conversation on why its revival still resonates. Bob’s Burgers pulls back the curtain on its own process, script, voice, and hand drawn frame, all live. And a special screening brings an all new LEGO Star Wars animated adventure to the big screen, with more details still to come.
Marvel’s presence runs deep this year, too, marking 65 years of Spider Man with sneak peeks and firsthand stories from across his animated series, comics, and recent return to the big screen in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. A companion session, Marvel Fanfare, gathers Marvel Comics storytellers to trace the character’s biggest stories across those same 65 years, with an exclusive comic giveaway for those in the room. Elsewhere, a Disney and Marvel legacy panel presented by M&M’S charts the decades long creative relationship between the two, and a look at how Marvel and WEBTOON are reimagining comics for a mobile first generation shows where that legacy is headed next.
Craft, too, gets its due: a live demonstration of the Ink & Paint process, from Eric Goldberg’s rough animation to the inker’s cel and the painter’s final color. A conversation with the Pin Trading design team explores the small collectibles that carry outsized meaning. A retrospective on a century of Disney toys with historians Alex Miller, David Pacheco, and Becky Cline traces how those objects shaped the company and its fans alike. Composer Michael Giacchino reflects on a career spanning Pixar, Lucasfilm, and Marvel, with a live performance from Anthony Gonzalez. And Disney’s own restoration team offers a rare look at how classics from Steamboat Willie to The Sound of Music are preserved for generations still to come, along with the surprises they’ve encountered along the way.
For those drawn to the quieter corners of Disney history, there are rarer offerings still: a 75th anniversary look at Alice in Wonderland through never before seen production art; a 65th anniversary tribute to One Hundred and One Dalmatians drawn from the Walt Disney Animation Research Library; artist Kevin Kidney’s account of tracking down the real world filming locations of Swiss Family Robinson; a 55th anniversary celebration of Bedknobs and Broomsticks; Disney Music Historian Randy Thornton unspooling rare recordings from the Sherman Brothers’ archive; and historian Stacia Martin spinning vintage vinyl in a nostalgic audio journey through Disney’s musical past.
And the weekend isn’t only looking backward. Disney Dreamlight Valley previews what’s arriving in 2026. Hasbro’s team unveils the engineering behind its animatronic Grogu. Disney Lorcana’s creators at Ravensburger tease what 2027 holds for the trading card game, along with events fans won’t want to miss. A joint session between Disney and National Geographic explores how animals, ecosystems, and real world adventures have inspired some of Disney’s most beloved stories and experiences. Another looks at how ESPN and Disney are redefining live sports broadcasts by weaving in animated characters from Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., and Mickey and Friends. Fashion finds its own stage, with Disney’s Bobby Kim, Crocs’ Tiia Chandler, and model Lily Aldridge exploring Disney style on a global scale. And for those who’ve brought the magic home, a panel on Disney inspired interior design offers proof that the story doesn’t have to end when the day does. A celebration of Tinker Bell traces her evolution from Peter Pan in 1953 to her own enchanting universe, hosted by Ashley Eckstein, while a 20th anniversary tribute to Enchanted, hosted by Nina West with director Kevin Lima, promises an Easter egg filled trip through the Walt Disney Archives.
Threaded throughout the Show Floor, the Fandango sponsored Spotlight Stage keeps its own rhythm all weekend long: trivia showdowns, sing alongs led by Nina West, the electrified spectacle of Mëtal Möuse: The Music of Disney, and demonstrations in voice acting, sketching, and dance, set against what organizers are calling the largest show floor in the event’s history.
By Sunday night, when the final curtain falls at the Honda Center, what remains isn’t just a weekend’s worth of announcements. It’s the particular, hard to name feeling of having stood, however briefly, inside a story larger than any one of its parts, and having left changed by it, the way the best stories always ask of us.
