Recap: D23's Spooktacular Spotlight Shines Light on New Entertainment But Casts Shadow With 999 Ghostly Stories Die-Hard Fans Have Already Heard

Earlier today, D23 Gold Members got up bright and early to head to Disney Springs for a special celebration with the D23 Spooktacular Spotlight. The event was part of their Spotlight Series, but was a bit more involved than others in this event series that I have personally attended.

First and foremost, this was more than just a special panel that focused on spooky things - namely the Haunted Mansions at Disney Parks. Those who attended got up early and had to be at the Disney Springs West Side bus loop to get transported to Disney’s Hollywood Studios for an exclusive showing of one of the newest shows at the park, Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After, ahead of the park’s official opening at 9:00 AM. The show, which originally opened earlier this year (in May) at the park, was still new to a large swath of those in attendance, but since the show is “interactive," with multiple possible endings, those who had seen it previously didn’t mind as the now could potentially see a different winner at the end of the show.

To help that make sense for those who have not experienced this new theatrical offering - during the show the Magic Mirror (from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) is approached by pretty much every villain in the Disney Animation pantheon, causing him a bit of anxiety but three villains - Maleficent, Cruella, and Captain Hook - all manage to get through and (after a bit of performance in a revue-style fashion) demand that they be treated more fairly. The Magic Mirror leaves it up to the audience to stomp and cheer for the villain that they believe has been treated the most unfairly in their respective stories.

For today’s performance, I would have lost a significant sum of money betting on Maleficent as Captain Hook was the winner of this performance, able to rouse the crowd into a frenzy that saw his finale take over the stage.

You can see what the show looks like in full with our video below from when the show originally debuted.

While accessing the show before hours was a great benefit for those in attendance, it did not include park admission or any other experience at the park, so the excursion to the theater quickly ended and it was back on the buses for a return trip to Disney Springs. Depending on which bus you were on, you got either a little bit of time or a lengthier little bit of time for snacks and coffee now that stores and eateries were open before you were allowed into the AMC theatre location for the next presentation.

When originally announced, the event was promised to feature a panel discussion from Walt Disney Imagineering, offering an inside look at “Illusioneering" in attractions like the Haunted Mansion at the Disney Parks. So while not quite a close examination of the iconic parks attraction, pictures on the event credential, banner on the website, and more all leaned into the Haunted Mansion idea. Those in attendance were treated to a TEDTalk of sorts from Imagineer/Illusioneer Daniel Joseph. While the name might not be immediately recognizable, a number of D23 Gold Members are sure to have seen him before in various media and at previous other D23 events, where his big claim to fame was figuring out how to make Disney Legend Yale Gracey’s original design for the Hatbox Ghost at Disneyland’s original Haunted Mansion work - later installed at the park for the 60th anniversary in 2015 before being duplicated at the Walt Disney World attraction in 2023.

While that was discussed at length in the presentation, we also were shown a brief history of the aforementioned Gracey and his time at Walt Disney Imagineering. This also included  about 45 seconds of footage from a pre-recorded talk from Gracey - an expert in crafting theatrical illusions and Joseph’s inspiration and mentor -  explaining how a bent hub cap led to a warped color effect that was later implemented on Spaceship Earth at EPCOT (formerly in the mammoth scene as you ascend).

In fact, that video featuring Gracey, which Joseph explained was part of a series of videos of talks given to a new generation of Imagineers were retiring or otherwise departing, was something I personally wish we saw more of during this special presentation. It would have been refreshing and enthralling, as opposed to the standard clips of Walt and Julie Reihm at the Tencennial or Kurt Russell and the Mansion from Disneyland Showtime, a Vault Disney (if you’re old enough to remember that Disney Channel programming block) staple, exploring Haunted Mansion effects and illusions.

We also got a bit of Joesph’s own Disney Parks discography as it were, with footage and images from his Illusioneering mockups for Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser (that Holocron projection), the 2018 refurbishment of Phantom Manor at Disneyland Paris and theatrical enhancements in that stretching room, and even the preshow of Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at EPCOT. The latter surely made some in attendance question whether or not they should be running to the doors on the right, hopefully opting to view the preshow as intended.

While there was a lot of thought and organization put into this event, the content was tragically minimal. At one point buses departed to drive across the parking lot and wait (with everyone aboard) for over 30 minutes before heading to the park. Once there, the show was about 15/20 minutes. After returning to Disney Springs, the later panel was about an hour, starting at 12:00 PM after the theater doors opened at 11:00 AM.  The rest of the time, whether it be on a bus or sitting in a theater, was spent waiting. With a check-in time of 7:30-8:30 (that most in attendance arrived early for) and wrapping up at 1:00 PM, that’s a lot of waiting just for an hour and twenty minutes of content.

While the event is great for those looking for a bit of information and a unique experience, I can’t help but think of the level of fandom that D23 Gold Members typically are. Yes, there are exceptions but these folks aren’t just floaters on the surface of the Disney pool. With many wearing their RSVLTS shirts and Brooks runDisney shoes, they deep dive and know every part of the pool’s pumps and mechanisms, every crack on the pool deck, and every piece of tile along the edge. That is to say, they come to events like this to learn new information, see rare or never-before-seen pictures and footage. When it’s something like the Haunted Mansions at the parks, or even the Hatbox Ghost, it would have been great to see more of that rare stuff, instead of what we’ve seen from Behind the Attraction or The Imagineering Story on Disney+. When the footage you’re showing off has the Disney Channel logo in the corner of the screen (telling me it’s likely a YouTube rip), I have to ask why am I not just going to YouTube then, and I’ve (along with many other D23 Gold Members) have likely already seen it and can discuss at length.

The Spotlight Series is a great offering from D23, but this particular offering (which I would love to see polished and brought back in new ways) was convoluted with no real payoff for a die-hard fan. Unless the payoff was a cool limited edition pin, or event credential. Those in attendance were handed each when they checked in at the event first thing in the morning before getting on the buses. I have highly recommended other Spotlight Series events in the past, and had a high level that Spooktacular Spotlight didn’t quite reach, but I will definitely return to more in the future.

For more information about upcoming D23 Gold Member events or recaps from others like this one, be sure to check out our D23 hub.