Disney Animation Breaks New Ground With Songs in Sign Language

Songs in Sign Language Arrives on Disney+

For 101 years, Walt Disney Animation Studios has told stories through movement, color, and music. Now, for the first time, the studio has reimagined its own musical sequences in American Sign Language, and the result is streaming on Disney+ right now. Songs in Sign Language, directed by Hyrum Osmond, takes three numbers from recent films and rebuilds them almost from scratch, with approximately 95% new animation across the project, according to The Walt Disney Company.

The three songs are "The Next Right Thing" from Frozen 2, "We Don't Talk About Bruno" from Encanto, and "Beyond" from Moana 2. Each was developed in collaboration with Deaf West Theatre, the acclaimed Los Angeles company whose artistic director, DJ Kurs, worked alongside Disney's animators to ensure every sign was authentic, contextual, and emotionally precise. This was not a matter of pasting new hand gestures onto existing character models. "Sign language and English are not a direct translation," Osmond told Disney. "They're very different."

Osmond's motivation is personal. His father is hard of hearing, and Osmond never learned sign language growing up. "I have a lot of regret about that, because I couldn't connect with him," he said. "I wanted to take down barriers with this project. It's really all about connection." More than 20 animators worked on the sequences, many of them volunteers who wanted to be part of something the studio had never attempted.

The project debuts during National Deaf History Month, and its ambition is worth noting for anyone who tracks what Disney Animation chooses to prioritize between feature films. A team of two dozen animators, a collaboration with one of the country's most respected Deaf theater companies, and near-total rework of beloved sequences: this is not a marketing exercise. It is a studio testing whether its most iconic art form can speak a language it has never spoken before. The answer, now streaming, appears to be yes.

The Parks

Over at Disney's Hollywood Studios, the Monstropolis expansion keeps revealing itself in pieces. BlogMickey reports that new exterior theming is being installed on the former PizzeRizzo quick-service location, which sits inside the construction zone. Crews were spotted welding themed steel onto the exterior balcony area. Walt Disney World has not announced specific plans for the space, but as BlogMickey notes, it would be hard to ignore the existing kitchen infrastructure. Meanwhile, WDW News Today shared aerial photos showing significant foundational progress across the broader Monstropolis site, and the Animation Courtyard has partially reopened as construction walls come down in Hollywood Studios.

Elsewhere in Hollywood Studios, the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster guitar scrim has been removed, and WDW News Today reports that the change reveals what the outlet calls a "groovy makeover" underneath. The attraction's transformation continues to take shape in plain sight.

At the Disneyland Resort, WDW News Today reports that facade details have been added to Gordon Ramsay at The Carnaby, the 1960s British gastropub coming to the Downtown Disney District. The building now features gray tilework with geometric patterns and metal sculptures above the windows. The restaurant, a collaboration between Chef Gordon Ramsay and Earl of Sandwich, will sit atop the new permanent Earl of Sandwich location on the district's west side. Chef Ramsay promises beef Wellington, fish and chips, sticky toffee pudding, and live music on select evenings. "All eyes were on London in the 1960s," Ramsay said in a statement. "We are bringing those cool vibes to Gordon Ramsay at The Carnaby."

Also at Disneyland, WDW News Today reports that Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island has closed for refurbishment, with the park's operational calendar listing a potential reopening on May 8. The closure includes the transportation rafts, so the entire island is inaccessible during the work.

Walt Disney World's Make-A-Wish connection got a meaningful refresh this week. Disney Parks Blog reports that Magic Kingdom rededicated the newly reimagined Wish Lounge, a private space reserved for Make-A-Wish families. The rededication celebration featured six-year-old Paxton, whose wish was to visit Walt Disney World, alongside Disney Experiences Chairman Thomas Mazloum, Walt Disney World President Jeff Vahle, and a Cast Member named Abigail who first visited the Wish Lounge as a Make-A-Wish kid herself. Abigail now works on the entertainment team helping other wish families meet characters. "It really is a full-circle moment," she said. Disney has worked with Make-A-Wish to grant more than 175,000 wishes worldwide, according to the Disney Parks Blog, and the lounge has been refreshed with new artwork and design details inspired by wish-granting moments from Disney stories.

Disney Springs is gearing up for a busy summer. Disney Food Blog outlines several incoming additions, including Six Ravens, a new shop from the creators of Gideon's Bakehouse focused on savory hand pies called Coffyns. LEVEL99, a challenge-based social entertainment venue with over 60 rooms, is confirmed for a summer opening, though no exact date has been set. A new Vans shop is also in the works, and a Dance Party at the Disney Springs Marketplace will feature music from Descendants: Wicked Wonderland and Camp Rock 3 on select nights as part of a Cool Kids' Summer event. And for those who time their visits around food, the Flavors of Florida event returns this summer, though Disney Food Blog notes that exact dates are not yet confirmed.

Sunday's crowd data from Lightning Brain tells an interesting story. Hollywood Studios posted a 4/10 (Moderate) day with a 32.5-minute median wait, nearly a fifth below its 30-day norm. Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run sat at 25 minutes most of the day, roughly half its typical posted wait. Magic Kingdom came in at 5/10 (Average) with a 15.8-minute median, 21% under its baseline. EPCOT also scored 5/10 (Average) at 17.9 minutes, with Flower and Garden festival guests apparently spending more time at food booths than in attraction queues. A thunderstorm between roughly 1:29 PM and 3:26 PM triggered weather-protocol closures across five outdoor attractions, pushing guests into indoor queues and causing several extended downtimes, including a 10-hour outage for Country Bear Musical Jamboree at Magic Kingdom.

Planning your Disney trip? Download Lightning Brain from the App Store or visit lightningbrain.app to optimize every minute of your park day.

The Screen

Wizards Beyond Waverly Place will return for a third and final season this summer, and D23 reports it is bringing heavy artillery. Executive producer Selena Gomez will make her directorial debut with the premiere episode and reprise her role as Alex Russo in multiple episodes. Jennifer Stone returns as Harper, and Gregg Sulkin is back as Mason Greyback. The four-part concluding event picks up with Billie, played by Janice LeAnn Brown, discovering that rescuing her mother requires reuniting with her long-lost father. D23 describes the season as a story about family power coming together to defeat an unnamed evil. All episodes of the first two seasons are currently streaming on Disney+.

On a very different note, The DisInsider reports, citing Deadline, that Ellen DeGeneres is reportedly set to voice Dory again in a new Pixar short film. According to reports, the short is still in development and would revisit the world of Finding Nemo. If confirmed, it would mark DeGeneres's most high-profile project since The Ellen DeGeneres Show ended in 2022.

And Toy Story 5 continues building anticipation. WDW News Today reports the film will be the first in the franchise to carry a PG rating, a small but notable shift for a series that has lived in G-rated territory for nearly three decades.

The Vault

Marvel Comics writer Gerry Conway died this week at age 73, and his fingerprints are on so much of what Disney's Marvel Studios has built on screen that it is worth pausing to appreciate the scope. Conway co-created the Punisher. He reimagined Carol Danvers into Ms. Marvel, giving her the powers that would eventually make her Captain Marvel. At 19, he replaced Stan Lee as the writer of The Amazing Spider-Man. A year later, he wrote "The Night Gwen Stacy Died," a story that Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief C.B. Cebulski says "affects Spider-Man to this day."

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige acknowledged the direct line from Conway's page to Disney's screen. "His writing has been hugely impactful across our comics, but it has also inspired so much of what we've done on screen, from Werewolf by Night to Daredevil to Spider-Man and Punisher," Feige said, according to WDW News Today. Conway published his first comics at 16, briefly served as Marvel's editor-in-chief, crossed over to DC to co-create Firestorm, Power Girl, Jason Todd, and Killer Croc, and wrote the Justice League of America for eight years. He even penned the historic Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man crossover in 1976.

Disney's Vogue Designer Initiative, meanwhile, plants a flag in fashion that connects directly to the company's deepest archive. Disney Experiences announced a multi-year collaboration with Vogue ahead of Mickey Mouse's 100th anniversary, inviting select designers into Disney's archives to reinterpret Mickey through contemporary fashion. Ami Paris founder Alexandre Mattiussi will be the first to launch a collection in early 2027. "Mickey is more than a character," Mattiussi said. "He is a universal symbol that transcends generations." Vogue contributing editor Mark Holgate, who helped identify the participating designers, called the collaboration "a reminder that creativity is always at its best when there's an openness to reimagining what we all already know and love." Lisa Baldzicki, President of Disney Consumer Products, described Mickey as "an enduring style icon," a phrase that would have seemed strange in 1928 and feels entirely earned nearly a century later.

Sources

Walt Disney Company · WDW News Today · WDW News Today · WDW News Today · BlogMickey · Disney Parks Blog · Disney Food Blog · D23 · The DisInsider · Lightning Brain · Disney Experiences