D23 2026: The Good, the Bad & What Disney Didn't Tell Us

D23 2026 is in the books, and this week on The Mickeyphile Podcast, we're looking at the good, the bad, and the occasionally very awkward from Disney's biggest fan weekend.

We watched D23 from Walt Disney World and came away with plenty to talk about. Disney brought portions of the event to Disney+ this year, but with dozens of panels happening throughout the weekend, why did fans at home get to see so few of them? We talk about the streaming experience, what Disney got right, and why an event billed as the ultimate Disney fan event still felt surprisingly difficult to follow from home.

Then we get into the panels themselves.

The 35th Anniversary of Beauty and the Beast was easily one of the highlights. Alan Menken, Susan Egan, Paige O'Hara and members of the film's creative team looked back at the making of an animated classic, the Broadway production, Howard Ashman's incredible influence, and some fascinating behind-the-scenes footage from the original recording sessions. This is Disney celebrating its history at its best.

We also watched the Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 3 panel. We're fans of the series—or at least we were before we forgot to watch Season 2—so did the new season presentation convince us that it's time to catch up? We talk about what worked, some strange panel questions, a few production miscues, and why Percy Jackson might be exactly the kind of newer franchise D23 needs to embrace.

And then there's the big one: Horizons: Disney Experiences Showcase.

Neil Patrick Harris hosted an evening filled with Parks announcements, musical performances, celebrity appearances…and a few moments that didn't exactly appear to go according to plan.

We break down the Walt Disney World news, including:

• Figment and Dreamfinder returning to Journey Into Imagination
• Disney finally promising to fix the Yeti at Expedition Everest
• New details for Villains Land
• More information about the Cars expansion at Magic Kingdom
• Monstropolis coming to Disney's Hollywood Studios
• Tropical Americas and the new Indiana Jones attraction
• Updates coming to Spaceship Earth
• Carousel of Progress and its new voices
• New Disney Cruise Line ships
• The return of The Imagineering Story
• And a whole lot of projects we've heard about before…without nearly enough dates

There was plenty to be excited about. But after years of hearing about some of these projects, did Disney actually give fans enough new information?

Plus, Sheryl Crow, Beck, Gloria Gaynor, Disney on Broadway, Neil Patrick Harris channeling the Carousel of Progress, some questionable wardrobe choices, and a presentation that occasionally left us wondering whether anyone had rehearsed.

So after three days of D23, are we actually more excited about the future of Disney than we were before it started?

Join Scott and Karen for Episode 262 of The Mickeyphile Podcast as we talk about what D23 2026 got right, what it got wrong, and what we're still waiting for Disney to tell us.

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Theme song: “Cân Ddelwedd”
Written and performed by Scott Daves
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