Olaf Draws! is a new attraction at Disney’s Hollywood Studios built around an all new Audio-Animatronics figure of Olaf, and the classes he leads are taught by named Walt Disney Animation Studios artists. Disney detailed the experience on Wednesday, five days before The Magic of Disney Animation opens on September 14.
A closer look at Olaf Draws! inside The Magic of Disney Animation.
— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) September 9, 2026
The room is modeled on one of Olaf’s moments from Once Upon A Studio, the Emmy winning short film that gives the whole attraction its shape, in which the snowman sits at an animator’s desk and works out how drawing happens. Guests take a seat and follow the process step by step, guided by recorded tips, techniques and stories from Disney Animation artists, with Olaf supplying the jokes in between.
Nine Characters, Nine Artists
Classes rotate through both the older films and the recent ones, and each one is fronted by an artist who actually worked on the character. Guests may find themselves sketching Mickey Mouse with Dan Abraham, director of Once Upon A Studio and Baymax!, or Minnie Mouse with Hyun Min Lee, an animator on Frozen 2 and The Princess and the Frog. Donald Duck is taught by Austin Traylor, an animator on Once Upon A Studio and Moana 2, and Genie by Eric Goldberg, the animator behind Aladdin and Hercules.
The rest of the lineup runs deep into the studio’s current roster. Moana is led by Encanto and Zootopia 2 story artist Samantha Vilfort, Stitch by Fawn Veerasunthorn, the director and head of story on Wish and Raya and the Last Dragon, and Olaf himself by Trent Correy, a director on Once Upon A Studio and Frozen 3. Ursula is taught by Big Hero 6 and Encanto animator Michael Woodside, and Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde by Byron Howard, who directed both Zootopia films.
The Details Around The Desk
Olaf is perched on a copy of The Illusion of Life, the animation textbook written by Disney Legends Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston that has sat on working animators’ shelves since 1981. The shelves around him are stocked with the kind of clutter a real studio accumulates, including vintage VHS tapes, character maquettes and a figurine of The Black Cauldron.
There is one gag hidden outside the room. On the back of the Olaf Draws! marquee, Olaf has sketched his own tribute to the Jungle Cruise, drawn exactly as badly as a snowman would draw it.
Josh Gad Recorded New Dialogue
Josh Gad returned to voice the figure, recording original dialogue written for the attraction rather than reusing lines from the films. “I’m so thrilled that a whole new generation of kids can dream of becoming animators one day and can actually begin their journey right there on the studio lot,” Gad said in Disney’s announcement.
Olaf Draws! sits alongside Off the Page!, the Drawn to Wonderland playground and the Once Upon A Studio Theater inside the building topped by Mickey’s Sorcerer Hat, which is modeled on the Roy E. Disney Animation Building in Burbank. The wider Walt Disney Studios Lot area around it opened in May, and cast member previews of the attraction itself have been running since September 4.
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