Disney Princess Concert footage from the D23 Expo will air Sunday, Aug. 16 at 8 p.m. on ABC as Disney Princess: The Ultimate Concert Celebration. The broadcast turns a one-night stage event into a TV-and-streaming package for viewers who missed the live gathering.
Jodi Benson and Halle Bailey
Jodi Benson, the original voice of Ariel in Walt Disney Animation Studios’ The Little Mermaid, performed her signature songs and was joined by Halle Bailey. That pairing gives the special a built-in hook: a live handoff between two versions of the same character, one from the animated original and one from the newer film era.
Paige O’Hara, Auli’i Cravalho and Brandy also performed in the concert. O’Hara brought Belle from Beauty and the Beast, Cravalho came from Moana and Moana 2, and Brandy represented Cinderella in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella.
ABC, Disney+, and local affiliates
Disney Princess: The Ultimate Concert Celebration will be available on local ABC affiliates, on DirecTV and Fubo, and free for Disney+ subscribers. That gives the special a wider distribution than a single linear telecast and makes it easier for viewers to catch the performance without having to be in Anaheim.
The concert assembled ten characters and voices, which is a tidy way to measure the scale of the event: enough to build a showcase, not so much that the broadcast should feel like a montage reel. Lea Salonga also joined Brandy for A Whole New World, giving the program one of the few cross-character performances in the lineup.
D23 2026 and Disneyland
The footage comes from night one of D23 2026 at the Anaheim Convention Center next to Disneyland, where the concert was presented as the largest gathering of Disney princess talent ever assembled. The special is also expected to show fireworks and light displays from Disneyland, along with scenes drawn from Disney princess movies from 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to 2024’s Moana 2.
That leaves the basic viewer question in place: how much of the live D23 concert will make it to air on ABC. If the special holds back most of the stage performance and uses the rest for highlights, viewers will get a polished sampler; if it leans on full numbers, it becomes closer to a true concert event than a recap.
