This week, we’re revisiting two favorites from 2015: The Magic of Disney Animation, which originally went extinct on July 12 of that year; and Hamilton, which began previews the very next day. Both recently returned to Orlando in revamped or revitalized forms, but how do they stack up against the originals?
In recent years, Walt Disney World has repeatedly wrenched the hearts of its most devoted fans by ripping out beloved pieces of its theme parks, from Tom Sawyer Island to Jim Henson’s MuppetVision 4D, so we had good reason to be skeptical when they first announced this summer’s return of The Magic of Disney Animation. After all, the original walkthrough exhibit — which was among Disney/MGM Studios’ big opening-day draws — had previously housed actual artists, back before Disney’s second Golden Age of traditional hand-drawn animation was extinguished by the ascendance of CGI. Could there really be a worthwhile reason to resurrect the attraction without a working studio?
Much to my delight, the answer turns out to be an enthusiastic (if slightly qualified) “yes,” because the newly returned Magic of Disney Animation is an improvement over the largely deserted Star Wars Launch Bay it displaced in every conceivable way. For starters, the Animation Courtyard in front of the building has been opened and enhanced with inviting green space evoking the real studios in Burbank, where you’ll find photo ops with both static cartoon animal sculptures and live free-roaming characters.
After passing beneath Sorcerer Mickey’s iconic conical hat, entering guests can catch a screening of Once Upon a Studio, the delightful animated short created for Disney’s 100th anniversary, or continue past displays of cels and storyboards to the exhibit’s center. The real animators may have exited the building, but Stitch now sits inside their old windowed cubicles amid a collection of vintage memorabilia. Beyond him stand a bevy of elaborate meet-and-greets, each themed to a different stage of the animation process, along with a Wonderland playground where I caught Alice frolicking with children amid Mary Blair’s psychedelic flowers.
The animatronic elephant in the room is “Olaf Draws,” the latest incarnation of the cult-favorite “Animation Academy” sketching class, which is now taught by an animatronic snowman and pre-recorded animator rather than a live artist. The figure is remarkably fluid and laugh-out-loud funny (thanks to Josh Gad’s self-aware voice-over), and the Scandi-styled slanted desks are far more comfortable that the lapboards used in California’s version of the class. But the experience felt more rushed and less interactive than in the past. (My own drawing turned out even derpier than usual.) Even though I wish the human artists would return, the new Magic of Disney Animation affords DHS guests a rare opportunity to enjoy air-conditioning without enduring another queue, which alone makes it a net positive.
From the moment Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical mega-hit debuted, Hamilton’s reception has had as much to do with the current political climate as the Revolutionary Era of 250 years ago that its story depicts. In the Obama era, Miranda’s multi-ethnic vision of the Founding Fathers felt emblematic of a potential “post-racial” America. By the time the national tour first made it to Orlando in 2019, it had become a theatrical symbol of resistance to the Trump administration, famously demonstrated when Vice President-elect Mike Pence was booed at a performance. However, the once-vibrant show’s last stop at the Dr. Phillips Center in 2022, while superficially identical to the original production, suffered from a lack of urgency and enthusiasm indicative of the national mood.
You might therefore assume the current three-week-long three-peat run of Hamilton at the Dr. Phillips Center’s Walt Disney Theater offers diminishing returns, as long-running tours often devolve into a copy-of-a-copy, and American patriotism has never felt more fraught than right now. Happily, the opposite is true, thanks to a first-rate cast of Equity actors who breathe fresh life into director Thomas Kail’s still-striking staging.
Tyler Fauntleroy gives Alexander Hamilton genuinely funny comic timing and a singing voice that outshines the role’s creator on the melodies without skimping on the spitfire rap rhythms. As Hamilton’s fatal frenemy Aaron Burr, Deon’te Goodman doesn’t quite have the fiendish fire of my favorite, Nik Walker, but his interpretation unearths a neuroticism beneath Burr’s bluster that adds new shading to the tragic climax. And the core trio of Hamilton’s comrades — fleet-footed understudy Tevae Vontrell Shoels as Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson; baby-faced Leon Tak as John Laurens and Phillip Hamilton; and Orlando-born Eddie Ortega as Hercules Mulligan and James Madison — are as “young, scrappy, and hungry” as you could hope for in those key roles.
However, as good as the guys are, the women are the true heroes of this Hamilton, starting with the ensemble dancers executing Andy Blankenbuehler’s nearly nonstop choreography. (Repeat viewers should keep an eye out for the “bullet,” whose slow-motion movements presage each death.) Act One belongs to Marja Harmon as Angelica Schuyler, her powerhouse performance of “Satisfied” serving as the first half’s standout moment. After intermission, Lily Soto’s Eliza Hamilton redeems the interminably self-indulgent Reynolds Affair sequence with a scorching rendition of “Burn” that nearly brought down the fire curtain. And her pitch-perfect approach to the show’s final instant expertly cements the implication that Eliza is actually the titular character.
Thanks to constant exposure through cast albums and the Disney+ filmed version, seeing Hamilton might not have quite the same cultural cachet as it did a decade ago, but that doesn’t make the experience of seeing it live any less essential, especially with a cast this strong. And while the political implications of Miranda’s revisionist history have only gotten murkier during Trump 2.0, the human emotions at the story’s heart hit me even harder now than they did the first time around.
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This article appears in Oct. 7-13, 2026.