Theme Park Report
Walt Disney Imagineering has offered a closer look at the Animator’s Office, one of the spaces inside The Magic of Disney Animation at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The room includes preserved furnishings, personal gifts, wardrobe pieces and everyday tools connected to Disney’s animation history.
The Magic of Disney Animation is scheduled to open September 14, 2026, inside the reimagined Walt Disney Studios Lot courtyard. In a video highlighted by BlogMickey, Imagineer Ben explains the background behind several of the details placed throughout the office.
The room’s animation desk was saved from the original Animation Academy at Hollywood Studios. Nearby, a small model represents Disney’s feature animation facility in California, while ping-pong balls gifted to the feature animation group are displayed as reminders of the studio’s workplace culture.
A bulletin board features a molded mirror of Donald with Huey, Dewey and Louie. According to the reports, Once Upon a Studio director Dan Abraham found the mirror at a flea market. The display also includes a copy of Rabbit Rabbit, an internal publication distributed to animators, and a book collecting caricatures that animators drew of one another.
The office’s film-related artifacts include a Moana crew hat, a Hercules production jacket and a pair of Chicken Little’s glasses. A molded Mulan figurine is actually a stamp that was given to the Mulan animation team.
Other details reflect the practical work of traditional animation. Rolls of adhesive tabs were used to protect paper from tearing on registration pegs while animators worked with hand-drawn pages. Red rubber bands were used to hold finished scenes together, though BlogMickey reported that animators also shot them at one another.
A mug displayed in the space was gifted to the architects of the original animation building. The reports also noted that Imagineering photographed real desks at Disney Animation’s California studio during the development process, using those images to help shape the finished office.
The Animator’s Office is part of the larger The Magic of Disney Animation experience, which is replacing the former Animation Courtyard setting at Hollywood Studios. The Walt Disney Studios Lot courtyard opened to guests in May, while The Magic of Disney Animation remained closed ahead of its scheduled September debut.
