This Part of Hollywood Studios Will Look Totally Different Next Month

Big changes are coming to Disney’s Hollywood Studios this fall, and we wanted to make sure you had it circled on your calendar.

Walt Disney Studios — Animation Building

Hollywood Studios is seeing a lot of transformations this year. With the newly reopened Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring the Muppets to the big Monstropolis construction, there is a lot happening here! Starting September 14th, an entirely new lineup of experiences will open, bringing back a beloved piece of the park’s opening-day history along the way.

On September 14th, this park will look totally new! The reimagined Magic of Disney Animation was first announced back in 2025, and it comes with a fun bit of irony attached — the very space it’s replacing is the one that took over from the original Magic of Disney Animation more than ten years ago. This time around, though, it’s not a single attraction taking shape, but four brand-new experiences rolled into one. All of it will live at the rear of the area now known as the Walt Disney Studios Lot, styled after the real Disney studio lot in Burbank, and — fittingly — set inside the same buildings that once served as the park’s actual working animation studio.

Walt Disney Studios

First up is the Once Upon A Studio Theater, which will screen the Emmy-winning short film that inspired this whole reimagining, Once Upon A Studio. But this won’t be a simple movie screening — the theater itself has been dressed up with special effects designed to blur the line between the film and the room around you. Keep an eye on the artwork lining the walls, because characters may pop right out of it, pulling you into the story rather than just letting you watch it unfold. It sounds like the kind of experience that will make you feel like you’ve stepped straight into Disney Animation’s world.

©Disney

Next is Olaf Draws, an interactive drawing class hosted by everyone’s favorite talking snowman. Olaf will appear as an all-new Audio-Animatronic figure, seated at an animator’s desk in a moment pulled straight from one of his standout scenes in Once Upon A Studio — happily discovering the world of drawing for the first time. Guests will get to learn how to sketch classic Disney characters, with a little help from actual Disney Animation artists guiding the class alongside him. And this Olaf will sound just like the movies: Josh Gad came back into the recording booth to voice all-new dialogue built specifically for this experience.

©Disney

Then there’s Off the Page, a character greeting experience that spreads across six different “departments” modeled after real stops along the animation process — Story, Layout, Hand-Drawn Animation, Computer Animation, Lighting, and Effects. The characters on hand may rotate, but expect encounters that fit each theme, such as Mulan posing beside a giant storyboard panel in Story, Rapunzel in a Layout space designed to evoke the classic multiplane camera, Chip ‘n’ Dale representing Hand-Drawn Animation, Donald and Daisy in Computer Animation, Goofy lighting things up in the Lighting department, and Stitch causing chaos in Effects.

©Disney

Rounding things out is the Drawn to Wonderland Playground, an indoor play space built with the littlest Disney fans in mind. Little ones will be able to romp through an oversized flower garden filled with musical instruments, hop into a Mad Tea Party-themed play set, and wander through a Tugley Wood exploration area. The whole space draws its look from Disney Legend Mary Blair’s original concept art for Alice in Wonderland, giving it a whimsical, storybook feel unlike anything else in the park.

With four new experiences coming soon and a whole new chapter of animation history opening at Walt Disney Studios Lot, it’s clear this corner of Hollywood Studios is about to feel brand new. Keep following DFB as we continue tracking all the latest news, openings, and changes happening across Disney World!

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