My family and I had a wonderful time this past weekend keeping up with all the news and announcements from the D23 Expo! We ate fun food, watched the trailers and got excited for all the updates coming to the theme parks! In this post, I will give you thoughts on the food we prepared from our cookbooks for our three themed meals and then a summary of our most anticipated movies, shows and theme park additions.

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Friday: Movie Day Menu
Saturday: Afternoon Tea Party
Saturday: Animal Kingdom Dinner
My Thoughts: Disney Entertainment Shocase
My Thoughts: Horizons Showcase

Friday: Movie Day Menu

Our dinner Friday evening came from two of my theme park books that are inspired by movie franchises. The Avengers Campus cookbook features some meals served at the Avengers Campus in California Adventure and the Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge Official Black Spire Outpost Cookbook has some recipes featured in Galaxy’s Edge on both coasts. The specific items I chose to make are not necessarily park featured, but since this was a movie-themed dinner I wanted to experiment a bit.  

Subatomic Sliders

Avengers Campus Official Cookbook (2022)

The flavor was good, but we agreed that we would want to try cooking it on a grill or flat top instead of in the oven next time; get some color and a crust on the outside to add to the texture.

Snack Molecules

Avengers Campus Official Cookbook (2022)

This was a fun little snack that actually introduced both my husband and daughter to sesame sticks as a snack. My daughter loves popcorn and was excited to find “small popcorn” in the mix, which was the popped sorghum. If you have never had it, I recommend it!  Simple and pretty much exactly like popcorn, just smaller and so far I feel like it doesn’t get as stuck in your teeth.

Sweet Sand Cookies

Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge Official Black Spire Outpost Cookbook (2019)

The base flavor of these cookies is almond.  The recipe for the cookie itself is straightforward, but the topping had a specific sugar from the Star Wars Universe called Christophsian Sugar that was interesting to make. Basically, you melted down sugar, put vanilla and orange extracts in it and heated it until it recrystallized into sugar again.  Does it give a fun texture effect on the cookie? Sure.  Can you really taste the difference? No. Even if you could taste the orange through the sugar, the almond flavor absolutely takes over.  I would definitely make these again but if I didn’t have the time to make the Christophsian Sugar, I would just use vanilla infused sugar or even regular white sugar in the topping mixture.

Saturday: Afternoon Tea Party

I planned a tea party for this afternoon because we live on the east coast and the Horizons Disney Experience Showcase, my most anticipated showcase, was at 10:00pm Eastern! I am an early riser and not a coffee drinker, so the situation required a pot of tea!

Vanilla Bean Creme Fraiche Panna Cotta with Lemon Madeleines

Disney Food and Wine Festivals Coast to Coast Cookbook (2017)

I first made the lemon madeleines for this recipe and was lucky to keep them in the house long enough to pair with the panna cotta. They were very simple to whip up, took a mere 8 minutes to cook (though I think I may want to leave them in a minute or two longer next time as the sponges were a bit sticker than I was looking for) and the flavor is a combination of sweet and tart that keep you coming back for more.

If you have never had panna cotta, imagine creamy jello. The gelatin thickens what would otherwise be a vanilla whipped cream base and makes it creamy and thick. My husband was a bit thrown off by the texture (his exact quote being “Be whipped cream or be nothing”), however when I got him to try it with the Amarena cherry liquid, his mind changed on the dessert. The liquid from these specific cherries are slightly more tart compared to your average Maraschino cherries and the result is a flavor balance that really brings more dimensions to this dish. The creaminess of the panna cotta, the tart cherry sauce and then the sweetness of the lemon madeleine all come together in this dessert and I was overall quite impressed.

Classic Scones

Chef Mickey: Treasures from the Vault and Delicious New Favorites (2010), The Official Disney Parks Cookbook (2022), Kitchen Magic with Mickey (2014)

This recipe is the first of many we will come across that is featured in more than one of Disney’s official cookbooks.  When comparing these books’ recipes, the difference was the amount of scones made as well as the use of butter versus margarine. What surprised me was the recommendation for margarine was in the newer books. I chose to try butter in the scones for this iteration and I found the result to be delicious! I did make half of the scones with raisins and half without, personal preference, and while I do see that the raisins added an extra texture and sweetness to the scone, I think they work just as well without them.

Saturday: Animal Kingdom Dinner

News on the Tropical Americas expansion at Disney’s Animal Kingdom was on the top of my wish list, so I decided to create an Animal Kingdom meal to manifest good news!

Ribs with Flame Tree Barbecue Rub

Chef Mickey: Treasures from the Vault and Delicious New Favorites (2010), The Official Disney Parks Cookbook (2022)

This rub is basic and leans heavily on the sweet side, as it has a cup of sugar as the base. I layered it on thick about an hour before smoking the ribs and it added a lot of flavor to the ribs all on their own.

Flame Tree Barbecue Sauce

Chef Mickey: Treasures from the Vault and Delicious New Favorites (2010), The Official Disney Parks Cookbook (2022), A Cooking Safari With Mickey (2015), Cooking with Mickey and the Disney Chefs (2004), Cooking with Mickey and the Chefs of Walt Disney World Resort (1998)

This recipe is in no less than 5 different cookbooks in our archives, by far not the most frequent one, but we will dive into that more in another post. The only differences between all of these recipes was the amount of water used and how long it was cooked.  The more water used (¼ cup versus ⅔ cup), the longer the recipe needed to cook (25 versus 35 minutes).  Since the length of time was just to thicken to the desired level, I opted to cook with less water. The sauce itself is vinegar forward and paired well with the sweetness of the rub on the ribs, a logical conclusion seeing as this is the combination that has made the pork and ribs at Flame Tree Barbecue so popular.

Sugarcane Mojito

A Cooking Safari With Mickey (2015)

My goal with my first attempts at recipes in these books is to prepare it exactly as written to compare it to the parks. I put all of the ingredients in the shaker as directed, even the mint leaves and shook for 30 seconds. The result was a minty and sweet mojito, similar to what you would get in a restaurant or bar at Disney where they need to make many drinks quickly. The downside to this method is that the mint gets ripped apart resulting in lots of small pieces throughout your drink.  Some may find this not a problem, but both my husband and I preferred muddling the mint so it doesn’t get as torn apart.  We recommend the video by How to Drink on Mojitos, which uses more mint and the muddling technique.

My Thoughts on the 2026 D23 Entertainment Showcase

I will not go into detail on every announcement, just ones that we were most excited about:

• Princess Diaries 3 - So excited that they are looking at making a new one of these! I loved both of these movies and may even love the second more than the first

• Lilo and Stitch 2 - We enjoyed the first live action film, both my girls love Stitch, and the actress who plays Lilo is just adorable!!

• The Bluey Movie - I was initially thrown off by the 3D animation design of this teaser trailer, but when I showed it to my kids, my older one giggled and asked to see it again, so if it doesn’t bother the target audience, it is fine by me. It will probably be my youngest daughter’s first movie, so we are all very excited to see more.

• Live Action Tangled - Frankly with the bumps in the road these live action movies have had, I am surprised to see this one going forward. We will follow the progress though, Kathryn Hahn as Mother Gothel is beyond perfect.  

• Oswald - LOVE this! I am looking forward to this project, a lot of heart seems to have gone into it and I cannot wait to see how it turns out.

© Disney

• Vision Quest and Doomsday - My husband and I were die hard Marvel watchers through Endgame and several of the first Disney+ shows. In the last couple years though, with work and family life, we have fallen a bit off the Marvel train. We are behind on shows and movies, but our hope is to get caught up on at least the basics so we can see Doomsday when it comes out.  

• Ahsoka 2 - If we have fallen off the Marvel train, the Star Wars train completely left us at the station. If anyone beside Grogu is going to bring us back into it though, Rosario Dawson would. She is fabulous and plays an amazing Ahsoka.

• Hexed - Original Story!! Bring it on!! Definitely plan to see this later this year.

• Frozen 3 - We have two daughters…I am pretty sure it is in our parent contract to see this movie. The preview looked interesting though, curious about the villain. Olaf always cracks us up and does not seem to disappoint once again.

My Thoughts on the Horizons: Disney Experience Showcase

Before the showcase I wrote down a final predictions list that looked like this:

• Tropical Americas

• Piston Peak

• Villains Land

• Cruise Ship Name

• Disney Abu Dhabi

• Epcot 45

• Monsters Land

These were the topics that I was sure had to be covered in this showcase. The majority were guaranteed and they did happen. Disappointed that we did not get to hear more about Abu Dhabi, but current events may be hampering that progress. What I didn’t expect was the more than an hour of musical guest and side tracks, making what could have been an hour-long presentation well over 2 hours.

Neil Patrick Harris is a treasure and I am sure wrote in all of the fan service quotes himself, he is a genuine fan of the parks, as is John Stamos. He was giggling and having so much fun, he did a wonderful job and I would love to see him host more.

Here are some of the announcements I am most anticipating:

• Carousel of Progress - I think the updates will be so fun and love the voice actor choices

• Spaceship Earth update - This ride has needed love for a long time and I am so glad they know it. There is no timeline for this, so I am guessing it will be a while off.

• Expedition Everest Yeti - Goodbye Disco Yeti!!! My favorite roller coaster will be brought back to its former glory! I have an imagineering book from 2008 that has an entire page dedicated to the technological marvel that is the Yeti, right before it broke down. Side note - I wish I was on the phone call with Gloria Gaynor when she was asked to perform at this show.  “You want me to sing one of my greatest hits at a Disney convention because….of a broken yeti?”

• Avengers Campus updates - I have still not been to Avengers Campus but wow do the new attractions look fantastic! I cannot wait to visit someday

• Carousel de los Animalitos - SO CUTE!!!!! The animal choices are fabulous! I know the internet is talking about Timon and the questionable design there, but I can only focus on Hei Hei, the Capybara and Kevin!

• Antonio’s Fiesta de Encanto - Another ride being added for all ages, that is always a win in the parks. All of the voice actors coming back are exciting to hear and the focus on animals, over 50 of them, are a great tie back into the park.

• Indiana Jones and the Myth of the Jade Serpent - Of course it had to be snakes. I liked how they emphasized that they are highlighting how the Mayans connected to nature, keeping with the overarching Animal Kingdom theme. Looking forward to hearing more about the story and if anything is being done to the original Dinosaur track to make it less…jarring. 

Overall, I am so pumped for Tropical Americas, it may be my most anticipated update, I think it is a perfect fit for Animal Kingdom! I just need to hear more about the food (bring on the Arepas!!!) and how they will be adding more Kevin/Up representation (Please!!!)

• Piston Peak- After seeing the footage and hearing them talk more about the land, I feel a bit better about its placement in Magic Kingdom.  The National Park angle and focusing on the modern day frontier aspect makes me think it will work in its location, I am cautiously optimistic.

© Disney

• Monstropolis - The only announcement that includes (some) details about food!! Archie’s Scare Pizza Shop, in the former home of Rizzo’s, and Harryhausens, which will feature sushi and other items.  And this land will open next year!!  The new coaster will not be ready yet, but it's so exciting to have at least part of it open.

• Villains Land - I don’t think anyone was surprised by the name choice. Details of this land sound interesting, but still feels like a long way off. I am also a bit confused, is there a chance of anything for Cruella or did they just do a 5 minute side track to bring Glenn Close to visit?

• Imagination Pavilion - We have no details, no dates, nothing, but confirmation that the Dreamfinder will be returning eventually is something fantastic to hear!

Overall, we got some fun information and updates, but being so late on this end of the country, I was tired and did not enjoy the large amount of musical numbers and overall filler as much as the producers were probably hoping. My family and I are video game fans, specifically Nintendo and I wonder if Disney would benefit from going to a Nintendo Direct format versus an E3 Format. For those who do not know, E3 was a huge presentation, similar to D23 where all the video game companies got together and made major announcements. The pandemic forced a couple of years of E3 to be online and that made the game companies realize that it wasn’t really needed. Instead of what must be an incredibly expensive presentation once every two years, why not 20 minute smaller presentations a couple times a year to give us updates? I think it would make the presentations more meaningful and quell the internet hype/disappointment cycle.