Disney posts a full walkthrough of The Magic of Disney Animation, five days before it opens

By entgrove · September 10, 2026

Disney Parks has posted a six and a half minute point of view tour of The Magic of Disney Animation at Disney's Hollywood Studios, five days before the attraction opens on September 14. The chapter list walks the whole building in one pass, from MagicBand+ moments with Baymax, Maximus and Kakamora through the Once Upon a Studio Theater and Drawn to Wonderland to Olaf Draws! and two rooms of animation props.

Disney Parks has posted a full point of view walkthrough of The Magic of Disney Animation, the attraction opening at Disney's Hollywood Studios on September 14. The video runs 6 minutes 32 seconds and covers the building in one continuous pass, from the character interactions a few steps inside the door to the film props in the last room. Until now Disney had shown the space one room at a time.

What the camera walks through, in order

Disney published a chapter list with the video, and it is the clearest account anyone outside the construction walls has had of how the building is laid out. The chapters run without a gap from the entry to the last room, so the tour is a single walk rather than a set of clips cut together.

An open house before the doors

The tour starts outside, where Disney characters welcome guests with an open house invitation. The building is inspired by Walt Disney Animation Studios in Burbank, California, and that is the frame the rest of the attraction hangs on: guests are visiting the studio while the artists are out, which is the premise of the short film the place is named for.

Baymax answers a MagicBand+ tap

The first interactive stop sits just inside the door, in a chapter that runs 16 seconds. Disney's caption names three characters guests can trigger with a MagicBand+, and the video catches one of them mid-sentence. Fourteen seconds in, Baymax delivers the line most Big Hero 6 viewers will know: "Hello, I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion. In a moment, we will take a photo together."

Maximus and Kakamora are the other two named in the caption. The video shows the moment rather than explaining how the band is used, how long each interaction lasts, or how many of them are spread through the building.

Thirty four seconds inside the Once Upon a Studio Theater

The theater is the longest of the early stops and it screens Once Upon a Studio, the short in which the characters of Walt Disney Animation Studios step out of their portraits and gather for a group photo. Naming a screening room after the short and putting the film inside it sets up everything that follows as the aftermath of that party rather than a museum display.

The gallery, then an animator's office

Two short chapters follow the theater. The Disney Animation gallery gets nine seconds on camera and, per Disney's caption, hangs artwork from titles including The Princess and the Frog and Pocahontas. The camera then turns into an animator's office for 27 seconds, where the caption points out two hidden details: Stitch tucked into the room, and Mushu playing Fix-It Felix, Jr.

Walt Disney Imagineering has already documented an animators' office inside the attraction in a separate video, going through the real artifacts dressed into the room one at a time. This walkthrough treats the office as one stop out of twelve and keeps moving.

Drawn to Wonderland takes the longest stretch

At 81 seconds, the indoor play area is the longest chapter in the video by a wide margin, roughly a fifth of the runtime. Drawn to Wonderland is built from Disney Legend Mary Blair's Alice in Wonderland concept art and aimed at young children, and the amount of screen time it gets is a fair indication of its size relative to everything else in the building. Families weighing whether this is a full stop or a walk through will want that stretch of the video most.

Off the Page! and the greeting lineup

Character greetings take up almost two minutes across two chapters, first Off the Page! and then a longer pass through the greeting locations. Disney's caption lists seven characters guests can meet: Rapunzel, Mulan, Stitch, Chip 'n Dale, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck and Goofy. That matches the six greetings Disney detailed earlier this year, each dressed as a stage of the animation pipeline: Mulan in Story, Rapunzel in Layout, Chip 'n Dale in Hand-Drawn Animation, Donald and Daisy in Computer Animation, Goofy in Lighting and Stitch in Effects.

Olaf Draws! runs as a class

The animation class gets 43 seconds, and Olaf does the talking. "Hi everyone. I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs," he says as the segment opens. "I'm so excited to draw with all of you fellow aspiring artists." A few seconds later he is working out the animation desk on stage: "Oo, I wonder how this fancy and somewhat complicated desk works. I'm very curious about everything."

The format is the descendant of the Animation Academy drawing classes that ran in this same building for years, with an Audio-Animatronics Olaf taking the class alongside the audience instead of an artist teaching it from the front.

The Gallery Wrap Party and the props at the end

The last two chapters are exhibits. The Gallery Wrap Party holds artifacts and memorabilia from Disney animated films, and the final 42 seconds walk a set of props that Disney's caption ties to Cinderella, Moana and The Aristocats among others. Those two rooms close out the tour.

What this means for opening week

Anyone planning the first days now knows the shape of the building before walking in: a theater, two character greeting areas, a children's play area, a drawing class, and three rooms of artwork, props and hidden details. Nothing in the video addresses capacity, a virtual queue or Lightning Lane, so the practical question of how the attraction absorbs an opening-week crowd is still open. The Magic of Disney Animation opens September 14, 2026 at Disney's Hollywood Studios.