D23 Shares an Exclusive First Look at Disney On Ice Presents Spotlight Magic! Disney fans have a dazzling new reason to get excited, as Disney On Ice prepares to debut an all-new production this fall. In an exclusive feature published on D23.com, Courtney Potter takes readers behind the scenes of Disney On Ice presents Spotlight Magic!, a spectacular new show featuring beloved Disney characters, iconic music, breathtaking skating, and several exciting character debuts. We are sharing the information below directly from D23 so our readers can enjoy this special first look at the magic coming soon to arenas across the country.
A dazzling new Disney On Ice production will be skating into hometowns this fall, bringing Disney fun right to where you are… and it’s unlike anything audiences have seen before. Disney On Ice presents Spotlight Magic! invites fans to step into the spotlight and join a glamorous red-carpet celebration packed with never-before-seen performances, iconic Disney tunes, and more than 30 beloved Disney characters.
Hosted by Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, and Goofy, Spotlight Magic! celebrates the magic each of us brings to the party. As the spotlight travels through colorful Disney worlds, heroes, sidekicks, and even villains take center stage for unforgettable moments of music, storytelling, and world-class skating.
But that’s not all: Audiences will have the chance to see fan-favorite characters make their big Disney On Ice debuts! Pop sensation Gazelle and sly newcomer Gary De’Snake from Zootopia 2 will join Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde for an all-new adventure, and Angel from Lilo & Stitch makes her highly anticipated North American debut. Fans will also experience beloved stories from Beauty and the Beast, Tangled, Toy Story, Moana, and Monsters, Inc., alongside a thrilling, never-before-seen showcase featuring Disney’s iconic villains—including the Evil Queen, Gaston, Maleficent, and Ursula. Plus, the whole celebration is powered by an electrifying soundtrack that blends Disney Channel hits like “Pumpin’ Up the Party” (Hannah Montana), “A Night to Remember” (High School Musical 3: Senior Year), and “Good to Be Bad” (Descendants 3), with timeless classics such as “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” (Toy Story), “Be Our Guest” (Beauty and the Beast), and more.
Check out exclusive Spotlight Magic! set-rendering images, above and below—and more throughout this article.
(In the image above, camera booms tipped with glowing lights come alive as breathtaking acrobatics illuminate the night sky. Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy arrive in dazzling new looks, strutting the red carpet alongside a vibrant skating ensemble, ready to celebrate. Who will the spotlight shine on next? A spectacular gold star-shaped stage awaits, framed by massive louvered LED screens and crowned with a sparkling LED chandelier, creating a larger-than-life atmosphere worthy of Disney On Ice‘s biggest night!)
Getting ready for a glamorous event is half the fun! What will you wear, and who will you get ready with? In this set rendering, Stitch makes a surprise entrance, playfully rummaging through a magical costume shop bursting with color, fashion, and excitement.
D23 recently got to chat with Adam Loosley, creative director of Spotlight Magic! for Feld Entertainment, to hear all about his own past experiences as a Disney On Ice performer; how shows like Spotlight Magic! are created; and what audiences can expect from this dazzling new production.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
D23: Hi Adam! We’ve read that you started as a Disney On Ice skater yourself, and worked your way up to becoming a creative director. Had you always been interested in the more creative side of things?
Adam Loosley (AL): Oh, I’m a total theater nerd! I’ve always loved live performance, even while skating, growing up. So when I was looking at getting involved with Disney On Ice, at 19 years old, it very much attracted me because of what their shows do so well—fusing together the athleticism of skating with the creativity of live theater. It’s just this perfect balance. I don’t have to hang up my skates; I can tell these amazing stories—Disney has the best stories, right?—in a whole new way.
Joining Disney On Ice opened a whole new world for me. I’ve been working in and around Disney On Ice for about 23 years now—as a skater; as a principal skater; as a line captain, which is a “dance captain”-style role; a performance director, which is an in-house artistic director that travels with the units; and then into the creative director spot that I’m in now… It’s really shaped the whole course in my life—and my favorite part, besides the performance opportunities, is the inspiring people I’ve met along the way.
In this concept rendering, the space between the lighting grid and the ice is transformed to immerse the audience beneath the sea alongside Ursula, Flotsam, Jetsam, and a villainous ensemble. Watch as Ursula proves she doesn’t need a spotlight to command the stage.
D23: Sounds like an incredible experience, thus far. So how long does it take to put a show like Spotlight Magic! together?
AL: It takes about a full year. When we opened last year’s production, I had a meeting for the new production the very next morning! It all begins by working closely with the producers at Feld Entertainment and understanding what they’re looking for, and also working with our marketing, brand, and PR teams to see what Disney stories we want to bring to life. Once we know that—and we maybe have a theme—we bring in a writer that helps sew all those things together, and we start coming up with a show message that we really believe in. Then I get to play with the production designer and see what kind of elements we can bring in that are new and exciting, to help bring these stories to life in a whole new way. Then we bring in the choreographer, the lighting designer, the content creator, the costume designer—and the team begins to grow and grow like a big, layered cake!
We bring in all these experts, and the production just keeps elevating. I think that’s my favorite part—collaborating with these experts in their field and seeing what they can do with an idea. And then to watch how it comes to life at the end is pretty phenomenal.
D23: How would you describe Spotlight Magic!…?
AL: We wanted to do something really fancy. Fancy is fun! And a red-carpet event—you can’t get any fancier than that. So we decided to start our story a little further back, getting ready for the event—so we’ll see Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy decorating the space and choosing what they’re gonna wear before walking the red carpet… and then we bring in the different stories from there. Two Pixar stories enter first—Toy Story, where we actually “shrink” the audience down to the size of toys, and then Monsters, Inc., which hasn’t been seen with Disney On Ice in almost 15 years.
Then we see a transformation in the space—a chandelier comes in, and we start Spotlight Magic! Day. There’s magic to a spotlight, right? We’re gonna follow that spotlight as it takes us to a bunch of different worlds—the world of Tangled; to France for Beauty and the Beast; to Motunui for Moana; and even Zootopia, where we meet some of the show’s new characters like Gary De’Snake… and just wait ‘til you see Gazelle and her fabulous backup-dancer tigers!
And I have to also mention Angel from Lilo & Stitch; we’re doing her song “Glitter Glide.” I don’t know if you’ve seen the video for that song, but they actually skate in it—so I thought wait a minute, that’s a green light, get her into the show! All the music in Spotlight Magic! is so fun—a great mix of new songs, throwbacks for our Millennial-parent crowd, and classics.
So Spotlight Magic! Day is all about, what are you gonna do when the spotlight lands on you? Where are you gonna go? How are you gonna use that magic? And it’s also celebrating how everyone brings something unique and special to the party, and everyone gets the chance to shine.
This rendering is intentionally—and unapologetically—a lot! A decadent red-carpet sweet treat overflowing with French flair, this concept brings an elevated world of colorful Parisian desserts to life. A vibrant ensemble inspired by elegant pastries dances alongside Lumière and Belle from Beauty and the Beast, while glamorous servers present shimmering gold platters across the ice. Above them, two tandem aerial acts soar through the air on two-point harnesses and fly tracks, showering the scene with candy-colored confetti—creating a spectacular celebration of fantasy, flavor, and theatrical extravagance.
D23: Do you have a favorite memory from the process of creating this show?
AL: I do! Here at Feld Entertainment, we do what’s called a “white model” presentation, which is an opportunity for the creative team to get up onstage and invited everyone at Feld, as well as our Disney partners, to hear about the show. It’s always a fun experience—but for Spotlight Magic!, we actually made it into a red-carpet event where we could really set the tone and feel for what the show was gonna be. Everyone here at Feld Studio came to the event looking fancy, and the whole creative team dressed up! That’s when it all started to become real for us. We thought, “Okay, we can really do something special here. We have something special.”
D23: All told, what do you hope audiences take away from this new production?
AL: That everybody should have the chance to shine—and that a party is always more fun if everyone is invited and embraced! Besides that, I also hope they enjoy the fun of wondering where the show’s gonna go next; I want them to love the mystery of it all. It’s an interactive show as well, so there are a lot of moments where the audience will be a big part of the fun.
The production value is just so high—we have incredible moving LED video screens this year, as well as a chandelier made up of 64 6-foot-tall kinetic light bars that you truly don’t want to miss—that it really feels like you are immersed in the action. You’re experiencing Disney stories in a way that you won’t get anywhere else. I also think there’s something for everyone in Spotlight Magic!—for every member of the family. Maybe the kids are excited to see their favorite characters in the show. And then the mom thinks, “Oh my goodness, these costumes are unbelievable.” Maybe the dad puts down his phone and thinks, “Are they really 40 feet in the air, flying around?” I think audiences will be surprised, in such a good way.
Set-rendering images for the new Disney On Ice production Spotlight Magic! On the left, a scene featuring Moana and other skaters depicting Motunui, and on the right, Flynn and Rapunzel from Tangled, with two skaters bringing the classic lantern-filled sky to life in the Kingdom of Corona!
Spotlight Magic!, which kicks off in Orlando, FL, on September 4, 2026, joins a unique lineup of seven Disney On Ice shows currently touring worldwide—including Jump In!, Find Your Hero, Magic of Family, Mickey’s Search Party, Road Trip Adventures, Magic in the Stars, and Let’s Dance!… each bringing Disney magic to guests in their hometowns across the globe.
Visit DisneyOnIce.com for more information about all these shows, and to see when Spotlight Magic! might be coming to a city near you!
A special thank you to Courtney Potter and the team at D23: The Official Disney Fan Club for this fantastic behind-the-scenes look at Disney On Ice presents Spotlight Magic!. From the glamorous red-carpet theme to the debut of new characters like Angel and the stars of Zootopia 2, this production promises to be one of the most exciting Disney On Ice shows yet. The tour officially begins in Orlando on September 4, 2026, and is sure to delight Disney fans of all ages. Stay tuned to The Main Street Mouse for more Disney entertainment news and updates.
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