D23 recap: From movies to theme park rides, here's everything announced at Disney fan event

Iconic animator Eric Goldberg is being honored as a 2026 Disney Legend at D23.

Eric Goldberg is an animator, designer and director at Walt Disney Animation Studios. After beginning his career in the mid-1970s and running his own London-based studio, he joined Disney as the supervising animator for the Genie in "Aladdin" (1992), bringing the character to life with inspiration from caricaturist Al Hirschfeld.

Goldberg went on to co-direct "Pocahontas" (1995) and directed two segments for "Fantasia/2000," including the Hirschfeld-inspired "Rhapsody in Blue." As a supervising animator, his iconic characters include Phil in "Hercules," Louis in "The Princess and the Frog" and the hand-drawn Mini Maui in the CG-animated "Moana" franchise.

Most recently, Goldberg served as head of hand-drawn animation for the Emmy-winning 2023 short film "Once Upon a Studio" and wrote, directed and led the animation for a 2025 "Hot Ones" episode featuring Donald Duck. He also helps supervise the extensive film restorations of Disney classics like "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and "Cinderella."

Kim Irvine is being honored as a 2026 Disney Legend at D23 by fellow Disney Legend Ming Na Wen.

"Thanks to your vision, your leadership and most of all your love of Disney, you have given park lovers new attractions to look forward with each visit," she said to Irvine. "We are eternally grateful for pouring so much passion into the Happiest Place on Earth, where we all get to play."

Irvine later shared that in 1970, when she started her career, she was only going to work for the summer.

She noted that all the original Imagineers were still working there and would come down to the model shop where their drawings and dreams came to life.

When she was asked in 1990 to lead a team of Imagineers to take care of Disneyland, she said, "I was so honored by that and so happy to have done that for all of those years."

Kim Irvine is a self-described "second-generation Imagineer" and Southern California native who spent 55 years preserving and enhancing Disneyland. The daughter of Disney animator Harvey Toombs and Disney Legend Leota Toombs (the face of the Haunted Mansion's Madame Leota), Irvine began her career at WED Enterprises in 1970 as a model builder and painter.

Under the guidance of Disney Legends John Hench and Marty Sklar, Irvine helped establish the first on-site Imagineering office in Anaheim in 1979 to ensure Disneyland received dedicated creative focus. As Executive Creative Director of the Walt Disney Imagineering Anaheim office, she oversaw concept design, color styling, and architectural aesthetics for major Disneyland projects, including the Disneyland Dream Suite, Rancho Del Zocalo, the Club 33 expansion, and multiple Sleeping Beauty Castle refurbishments. Notably, in 2001, she stepped into her mother's iconic role to project Madame Leota's face for the Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay.

Before her retirement in 2025 during Disneyland's 70th anniversary, Irvine became the first female recipient of the prestigious Buzz Price Thea Award for Lifetime Achievement (2011). Her legacy continues through her mentorship of global Imagineers and her daughter, Ali Irvine-Wheeler, a third-generation Imagineer.

Alan Tudyk, who's voiced more than 25 Disney characters, was honored by "Zootopia" star Ginnifer Goodwin on Sunday.

She noted that he's created an entire universe of characters - villains, heroes, pirates, weasels - and made each and every one feel unique.

"Over the years you have quietly and humbly become one of the most beloved and versatile performers in the Disney family," she said.

Once onstage, Tudyk shared a heartwarming story in which he met a young fan with pediatric cancer, whose favorite character is Hei Hei the Rooster. While she initially doubted he voiced the character from "Moana," he was able to make her laugh by clucking like Hei Hei.

While he doesn't create the characters, Tudyk said that as the voice of so many iconic roles, he gets to be "the ambassador of so much joy."

Alan Tudyk is an actor and voice artist known for his vocal versatility, having performed in every Walt Disney Animation Studios feature film since 2012.

A Texas native who attended Juilliard, Tudyk built a career across stage, film and television, including roles in Broadway's "Monty Python's Spamalot," the film "A Knight's Tale" (2001) and the TV series "Firefly." He earned an Emmy nomination for writing, directing and starring in the web series "Con Man," as well as an Emmy nomination for voicing the droid K-2SO in the Disney+ series "Andor," a role he originated in "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" (2016).

In animation, Tudyk won an Annie Award for his debut Disney role as King Candy in "Wreck-It Ralph" (2012). His extensive Disney voice credits include Duke Weaselton in "Zootopia" (2016) and "Zootopia 2" (2025), Heihei in "Moana" (2016) and "Moana 2" (2024), Knowsmore in "Ralph Breaks the Internet" (2018), Tuk Tuk in "Raya and the Last Dragon" (2021), a toucan in "Encanto" (2021), and Valentino the goat in "Wish" (2023). Beyond animation, he motion-captured and voiced the robot Sonny in "I, Robot" (2004) and voiced characters in 20th Century Studios' "Ice Age" franchise.

"Moana" star Auli'i Cravalho honored Disney Legend Lin Manuel Miranda at Sunday's ceremony.

"There are songwriters," she said. "And then, there's Lin Manuel Miranda."

Calling him the latest in an incredible lineup of Disney songwriters, she called him one of the "defining musical storytellers of our, my, generation."

The new Disney Legend was later honored with a musical tribute from his hit Disney films by stars like Cravalho, Jordan Fisher and many more.

To a rousing standing ovation, Lin Manuel Miranda stood onstage and soaked it all in.

While holding a book from "The Little Mermaid," he read an incredible revised version of "Part of Your World."

"And I'm grateful for you, for believing in me, you see that line where the sky meets the sea. God, what a time. Grateful that I'm, part of your world."

Lin-Manuel Miranda is a Pulitzer Prize, Grammy, Emmy and Tony Award-winning songwriter, actor, producer and director. Best known as the creator and original star of Broadway's "Hamilton" and composer of "In the Heights," Miranda has received the MacArthur Foundation Award and Kennedy Center Honors for his contributions to stage and screen.

Crediting Disney musicals like "The Little Mermaid" (1989) for inspiring his career, Miranda wrote songs for "Moana" (2016), earning a Grammy Award and an Academy Award nomination for "How Far I'll Go". He later composed eight songs for "Encanto" (2021), including the chart-topping hit "We Don't Talk About Bruno" and Oscar-nominated "Dos Oruguitas," which named him Billboard's top Hot 100 songwriter of 2022.

His Disney work also includes starring as Jack the Lamplighter in "Mary Poppins Returns" (2018), producing and co-writing new songs for the live-action "The Little Mermaid" (2023), composing songs for "Mufasa: The Lion King" (2024), playing Hermes in Disney+'s "Percy Jackson & The Olympians," and contributing music to the "Star Wars" sequel trilogy. Miranda most recently serves as a producer and music collaborator on the live-action "Moana" reimagining.