The Magic of Disney Animation soft opened this morning at 9 a.m., days ahead of its official September 14 debut, and we were in line as the doors opened. These are our first impressions from inside. Without turning this into a full review, our overall first impression is that this is a love letter to Disney Animation fans, spanning everything from the classic films to Hexed, the studio’s next release. Every corner of this space has something for guests who grew up on the older movies and something for guests just discovering the newer ones.
We broke the news just yesterday that “Olaf Draws!” would use an in-person virtual queue, and sure enough, by the time we left this morning, that queue had already filled. We also covered the official First Look walkthrough and Easter egg videos Disney released earlier this week, and walking the space in person confirmed just how much detail those videos actually captured.
Our Honest Take
Here’s the truth as we see it. This space is wonderful, and we walked out genuinely wowed. But we’re Disney fans first, and that colors how we’re reading this. Kids are going to love it without question, and Disney adults and longtime fans will appreciate it too. Our real worry is what happens once the novelty wears off: this could just as easily become a big air-conditioned holding area, somewhere guests duck into to escape the Florida heat or an afternoon storm rather than a space they actually engage with. The average guest walking through isn’t going to catch the Hexed display case, the Emmy, the side animation timed to the short, or half the Easter eggs packed into every corner. That’s just reality. It doesn’t change how we feel about the space ourselves; we love it, but whether it lands with the average guest the way it lands with us is a different question entirely.
Off the Page!
The character meet-and-greet rooms were open and running. Rapunzel had by far the longest line of the morning. She and Mulan are each set up in their own separate rooms just off the main space, while Goofy, Donald, and Chip ‘n Dale meet together in the main room. Off the Page! is going to be a huge hit with kids specifically, the theming around each character’s animation department is detailed enough to hold adult attention too, but the meet-and-greet format itself is clearly built with younger guests in mind.
Olaf Draws!
Olaf Draws! was a lot of fun. The Audio-Animatronics figure and the video screen work together well as a pair, walking guests through the lesson step by step. Guests sit in Frozen-themed sled seating set up classroom-style facing Olaf’s desk, each spot stocked with paper and a pencil. Today’s lesson was Mickey Mouse only, guided by a projected sketch signed by artist Dan Abraham. Whether the lesson rotates through different characters on different days or stays fixed for now wasn’t clear from this one visit.
One small detail worth a laugh: the sign outside the space includes a classic Disney gag, a placard reading “Behold… The Backside of Sign!” with a doodle of Olaf, a direct nod to the same joke Disney has used elsewhere in the parks for decades.
Once Upon A Studio Theater
This was the standout for us personally. As big fans of the original Once Upon a Studio short, getting to watch it again inside a theater built specifically around it was a real moment. What works especially well here is the side artwork flanking the screen. Disney appears to have created brand new animation sequences specifically for this space, showing characters like Alice or Piglet walking through the trees or approaching a castle, timed to lead into the short’s actual 100th anniversary group image finale. It’s a small touch, but it makes the theater feel built around the film rather than just a room that happens to show it.
The theater also has its own display case holding the actual Emmy Award Once Upon a Studio won for Outstanding Short Form Animated Program at the 2023 Children’s and Family Emmy Awards, alongside a framed poster of the character collage art from the short.
Outside the Theater
A new Disney PhotoPass interactive experience sits just outside the Once Upon A Studio Theater, letting guests pose with digital versions of characters like Baymax and Moana. It’s a fun addition, though the results were a little inconsistent for us, finding the right spot to stand for a good shot took some trial and error.
Gallery Wrap Party
The gallery space nearest the exit is themed as a wrap party, and it’s easily one of the most detailed corners of the whole experience. A wall behind faux ivy is painted with sun, moon, and tree motifs across arched tile panels. The real centerpiece, though, is a wall covered edge to edge with a small poster for every Walt Disney Animation Studios theatrical film in order, starting with the 1937 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and running all the way through Wish and Moana 2. Hexed, the studio’s next film, sits by itself at the very end of the wall, making the whole display read as a complete timeline of the studio’s output from its very first movie to its next one.
Right next to that wall is a dedicated display case for Hexed itself, confirmed for theaters this November. The case includes concept art, visual development sketches, and character cards for Elias Quire, a magical journal voiced by Stephen Fry who greets the film’s lead alongside Ms. Quill at the entrance to the witch realm of Hexe, and Bucket, an enchanted cauldron who becomes an unexpected companion. Billie, the film’s lead, is voiced by Hailee Steinfeld, with Rashida Jones voicing her mother, Alice. The synopsis on display describes Billie as an impulsive, unconventional teenager whose secret magical abilities pull her out of suburbia and into Hexe, where she and her mother uncover family mysteries that could change the world of witches forever.
Elsewhere in the gallery, a full-size replica of Maui’s Magic Fish Hook from Moana is mounted on display, labeled museum-style as being on loan, alongside a still image of Maui holding it in the film.
One More Detail Worth Noting
In one of the hallway spaces, we noticed a ceiling installation of paint cans and brushes doubling as light fixtures, each one glowing a different color and labeled with a character’s name and what looks like a production room number, Betty, Ariel, Simba, Jasmine, and more among them. It’s a small design touch, but it fits the same instinct we saw throughout the space of dressing every surface like an actual working animation studio rather than just a themed backdrop.
