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

The Jonas Brothers are being honored as 2026 Disney Legends at D23 by fellow Disney Channel icon Vanessa Hudgens.

"Seems like just yesterday we were just kids running around the Disney lot," she said. "And now look as us - we have kids!"

The trio shared their connection with Disney started early.

Joe said he watched "Beauty and the Beast" so many times, his first word was "Gaston." And Nick noted that his first job was playing Chip the teacup in "Beauty and the Beast" on Broadway.

Nick went on to say, "To our incredible fans, thank you for letting us be a part of your childhood and growing up alongside you all these years. You gave three brothers from New Jersey, a life beyond anything we could have imagined. We're so grateful."

Composed of brothers Nick, Joe and Kevin Jonas, the Jonas Brothers are a Grammy-nominated pop group that rose to fame as Disney Channel stars in the late 2000s, starring in "Camp Rock" (2008), "Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam" (2010) and their series "Jonas" (2009-2010). The New Jersey natives have sold more than 20 million albums, logged three consecutive No. 1 debuts on the Billboard 200 chart and earned 26 Billboard Hot 100 hits.

After pursuing individual efforts, the group reunited in 2019 with their platinum-certified album "Happiness Begins," led by the 5x-platinum single "Sucker," which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.

The trio received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2023, followed by a Hand and Footprint ceremony in 2025. To mark their 20th anniversary in 2025, the band hosted the JONASCON fan event, starred in "A Very Jonas Christmas Movie" on Disney+, released the album "Greetings from Your Hometown," and launched the "JONAS20: Greetings From Your Hometown" tour. Their most recent Disney project includes returning to Disney Channel for "Camp Rock 3."

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.