D23 2026 Preview: Dates, Disney Legends, and What We Expect From Anaheim

I say this every single time D23 rolls around, and I mean it every single time: I do not think I will ever stop getting giddy about this event. D23, The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, is back in Anaheim August 14 through 16, 2026, and after digging through everything Disney has announced so far, I am fully in countdown mode.

For anyone new around here, D23 is Disney’s own version of Comic Con, run out of the Anaheim Convention Center and Honda Center, built entirely around the company’s own universe. Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, Disney Animation, the parks, publishing, games, all of it under one roof for one weekend every couple of years. It’s the same stage where Moana first got revealed to the world back in 2015, something we covered here on the site long before anyone knew what that movie would become. I wanted to get ahead of this year’s event and walk through what we actually know, what we are hoping for, and who is showing up.

The Basics

The event runs Friday through Sunday, August 14 to 16, at the Anaheim Convention Center, with the big nightly showcases happening across town at Honda Center. Thursday, August 13, is D23 Day at Disneyland Resort, a separate celebration open to any guest with park admission, complete with a Disney Legends Cavalcade down Main Street.

Each night at Honda Center brings a different focus. Friday is the Disney Entertainment Showcase, covering film, television, and streaming. Saturday is the Disney Experiences Showcase, which historically is where the biggest parks news lands. Sunday closes everything out with the Disney Legends Award Ceremony, hosted by Ryan Seacrest and streaming live on Disney Plus for those of us not lucky enough to be in the building.

The Disney Legends Class of 2026

This year’s honorees genuinely made me smile reading through the list. Bob Iger is being inducted, which feels like a full circle moment given everything he has meant to this company. Anne Hathaway, Dwayne Johnson, Susan Egan, and Alan Tudyk are being honored for the characters they have brought to life over the years, and the Jonas Brothers are joining the class as they mark twenty years together. Rounding things out are Lin Manuel Miranda, whose fingerprints are all over Moana and Encanto, plus Jerry Bruckheimer, animator Eric Goldberg, sports broadcaster Chris Berman, and longtime Imagineer Kim Irvine. It is a genuinely fun mix of performers, storytellers, and the people who built the parks we love, and I cannot wait to see how the ceremony honors each of them on Sunday.

What I Am Watching For on the Entertainment Side

Friday night at Honda Center is always the one that breaks the internet, and this year should be no different. Kevin Feige is expected to take the stage, and with Avengers Doomsday building steam, I would be shocked if we do not get a fresh look at where that story is heading. VisionQuest missed its window at San Diego Comic Con this year, so D23 feels like the natural spot for Marvel Television to finally show fans something ahead of its October debut on Disney Plus. With Spider Man Brand New Day already in theaters, there is also a real chance Marvel loosens up a little more on what comes next for the character now that the film has landed. Marvel has used D23 to drop surprises before too. We were covering the Captain America Brave New World trailer the moment it premiered at D23 Brazil back in 2024, so I would not be shocked if this weekend brings a similar out of nowhere reveal.

This year also happens to line up with some major anniversaries worth celebrating. We are looking at 75 years of Alice in Wonderland, 35 years of Beauty and the Beast, 65 years of Marvel’s Spider Man, 25 years of Kingdom Hearts, and Walt Disney’s own 125th birthday. Any one of those alone would be reason enough for a nostalgic moment on stage. All of them landing in the same year makes me think we are in for some genuinely emotional throwbacks mixed in with the new stuff.

Star Wars Watch

Lucasfilm tends to hold its bigger cards for Star Wars Celebration rather than D23, so I am not expecting a wave of brand new project announcements this weekend. What I do expect is our first real look at Star Wars Starfighter with Ryan Gosling, along with updates or footage from the second seasons of Ahsoka and Maul Shadow Lord. There is also a Lego Star Wars The Mandalorian early screening happening Saturday morning on the convention floor, which sounds like an absolute blast for anyone with little ones or anyone who, like me, still loves a good Lego Star Wars adventure regardless of age.

Parks and Experiences

Saturday night belongs to Horizons, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, which will build on the parks announcements Disney first teased back in 2024. I am hoping we get real timelines on some of those projects rather than just concept art, and given the milestone anniversaries this year, it would not surprise me if Disney ties a park reveal or two directly into that nostalgia. The show floor itself sounds bigger than ever, with five stages of programming inside the Convention Center covering everything from publishing to games alongside the usual shopping and pin trading. Past Experiences showcases have leaned heavily into ride reimaginings and land expansions, so I am keeping an eye out for updates on projects already in progress at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, along with whatever surprise gets saved for the very end of the presentation. Disney has a habit of closing this particular night with the announcement meant to send everyone home talking, and I have learned not to leave early no matter how long the show runs.

What This Means for the Rest of the Year

Whatever gets announced this weekend is going to shape a good chunk of what we cover here through the fall and into next year. D23 has a track record of setting the agenda for pop culture conversations that stretch well beyond the convention floor, whether that is a first look that ends up dominating trailers for months or a Legends moment that gets clipped and shared long after the ceremony wraps. I always come out of this event with a running list of things to watch for, and I expect this year will be no different.

If you are following along from home like I will be, my best advice is to keep an eye on official Disney channels for the live streams, since several of the showcases are expected to stream in some form for fans who cannot make it to Anaheim in person. I will also be watching social media closely, since fan reactions in real time are honestly half the fun of this event even from a distance.

I will be glued to my phone all three days watching the Honda Center presentations roll in, and you know we will have the full breakdown ready once the announcements start landing. If there is one thing D23 always delivers, it is at least one moment that makes the whole fandom lose its mind together, and I genuinely cannot wait to find out what that moment is this year. Drop your own predictions in the comments before the weekend hits. I would love to see how many of us end up calling it right once the dust settles.