At D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event 2026, Alice in Wonderland fans stepped into 75 Years of Nonsense, a Walt Disney Archives Stage presentation that looked at one of Disney Animation’s strangest and most fascinating classics from two very different angles.
The first half explored the history, artwork, story changes, reference material, and creative development behind Alice in Wonderland. The second half moved into the ongoing Alice in Wonderland Restoration, including restored material that was shown only in the room.
This was not just a 75th anniversary tribute. It was a look at how Disney built Wonderland, how artists made nonsense feel intentional, and how the studio is working to preserve that original vision for a new generation.
Before the Rabbit Hole
Disney’s connection to Alice goes back long before the 1951 animated classic. The presentation reached back to Walt Disney’s early fascination with the story, including the silent-era Alice Comedies, which mixed a live actress with animated characters and worlds. That history gave the session a wider frame. Alice in Wonderland did not appear out of nowhere. Walt had been circling Wonderland for decades.
That early history matters because it shows how long Disney searched for the right way into the story. Wonderland is not a traditional fairy tale. It does not move in a straight line. It jumps, twists, interrupts itself, and changes shape whenever Alice thinks she understands it.
In other words, Disney had to make nonsense work.
The Long Road to Wonderland
Tori Cranner and Fox Carney guided the first half of the session through rare material from the Disney Animation Research Library. The production art showed how many versions of Wonderland existed before the final film found its familiar rhythm.
Some pieces felt close to the movie fans know today. Others showed different moods, different designs, and different ways the story might have moved.
The David Hall artwork gave the session a very different texture. Those early pieces leaned into a storybook quality while still searching for the right visual language. They also made clear that Alice in Wonderland was always a design challenge.
How do you make a world feel unpredictable without making it confusing? Disney answered that question through shape, color, rhythm, and character.
Characters Before They Were Finished
The character development pieces were some of the most interesting images from the session.
Early sketches of the Mad Hatter, the Queen of Hearts, Alice, the White Rabbit, and the Cheshire Cat showed how Disney artists refined personalities through line and expression before final animation.
Those sketches are fun because you can see the characters becoming themselves. The Mad Hatter had to feel wild, but not random. The Queen of Hearts had to feel ridiculous and threatening at the same time. Alice needed to anchor the chaos without losing the curiosity that makes the story work.
That balance is easy to miss in the finished film because the movie moves so quickly. Seeing the artwork slowed everything down.
Mary Blair’s Wonderland
The Mary Blair artwork brought the color story into focus.
Her visual development pieces showed a Wonderland built on bold shapes, unexpected color, and dreamlike composition. In the presentation, those pieces helped explain why the film still feels so different from other Disney animated classics.
Blair’s art does not simply decorate Wonderland. It helps define it.
The flowers, pathways, interiors, and strange shifts in scale all feel playful, but they also guide the viewer through a movie that refuses to behave like a normal story. That is the trick.
Wonderland does not need to make everyday sense. It needs to make visual sense.
More Alice Artwork From D23 2026
Some of the most interesting moments from the first half came from the original sketches, reference material, and visual development art preserved by the Disney Animation Research Library.
Seeing those pieces on the big screen changed the way Wonderland felt.
The finished film can seem loose, strange, and unpredictable. However, the artwork shown during the session made it clear how much design work sat underneath all of that nonsense. Artists had to shape the characters, refine the staging, and guide the audience through a world that was never supposed to behave normally.
That reel captures some of the rare artwork and session details that made 75 Years of Nonsense: Alice in Wonderland such a strong D23 2026 presentation. It was not just about looking back at a classic. It was about seeing the creative process behind one of Disney Animation’s most unusual worlds.
The Tea Party, the Models, and the Line Work
The Mad Tea Party material may have been the best example of controlled chaos.
The artwork showed how Disney artists staged one of the film’s wildest sequences with careful composition. Cups, chairs, characters, and props all pull the eye across the scene. The result feels loose and unpredictable, but the design is doing a lot of work.
The clean-up drawings and model sheets added another layer. They showed how artists refined expression, movement, and character consistency after the broader visual ideas took shape.
That is what made the first half of the session so strong. It did not just say Alice in Wonderland looked different. It showed how that difference was built.
Alice Beyond the Animated Classic
The presentation also looked beyond the 1951 feature.
That larger Alice story included Disney’s earlier projects, live-action reference, park connections, and other ways Wonderland became part of Disney history. One especially interesting image connected the film to One Hour in Wonderland, the 1950 television special.
That bigger context matters because Wonderland never stayed in one place. It became a film, a television moment, a park presence, a design influence, and a recurring part of Disney’s identity. Guests know it through the animated classic, the Mad Tea Party, character appearances, merchandise, live-action versions, and decades of Disney artwork.
When the Cameras Had to Stop
The second half of the session shifted into restoration. That portion was off-limits for photos and video, which made the transition feel deliberate. After walking through the history, art, reference material, and story development, the room moved into a closer look at restored material and the preservation work behind the anniversary release.
The first half showed how Disney built Wonderland. Then the second half showed how Disney is protecting it.
That made the session feel complete, even with cameras put away. The artwork gave fans a look at the creative path. The restoration section pointed toward the future.
