Have you ever wondered what happens to the old props after a Disney attraction closes? Many of them will soon be available at auction!
Disney has announced a new partnership with Heritage Auctions. Starting at D23 in August 2026, fans will have the opportunity to bid on actual theme park memorabilia from retired attractions. This event is being called the Disney Experiences Auction and will feature both live and online bidding for select, verified items.
Bret Iwan, the official voice of Mickey Mouse and a Disney Fine Artist, will be hosting the auction.
Who’s Running This
Instead of selling items directly to fans, as Disney has done before through D23, this time they’re going with a third-party auction house. Heritage Auctions, based in Dallas, is handling everything. They’re not as well-known in Disney memorabilia circles as places like Van Eaton Galleries, but they reportedly sell close to 500,000 items a year, so this might just be the start of something bigger.
One thing to know before bidding, Heritage usually adds a 22 percent Buyer’s Premium on top of whatever the winning bid ends up being, so keep that in mind if you’re planning to go after something.
What’s Actually Up for Sale
So far, items reportedly come from a handful of beloved closed attractions, including Muppet Vision 3D, DinoLand U.S.A., the DINOSAUR ride, Tom Sawyer Island, and the Rivers of America. There’s also a chance some older, mothballed items could show up, including pieces from The Great Movie Ride, which has been sitting in storage since it closed in 2017.
A team inside Disney has reportedly been collecting these items right after attractions close, sometimes moving in fast enough that extra security has been added at recently closed locations just to stop people from grabbing things before the official team gets to them.
This Isn’t Disney’s First Try at This
Disney’s tried selling its own memorabilia before. Back in the early 2000s, there was Disney Auctions on eBay. Then in 2018, there was another attempt to sell Disneyland items without actually saying they came from Disney, which got shut down pretty quickly once it came to light.
Since then, Disney’s actually been really strict about this kind of thing, cracking down on unauthorized prop and memorabilia sales. So this new partnership is honestly a pretty big shift from where things stood just a few years ago.
Apparently, this idea has been floating around internally for a while, too, dating back to when Bob Chapek was CEO, though it was never approved then. Talks with Heritage picked back up in 2025, and everything was finalized after Josh D’Amaro moved into the CEO role.
What This Means If You’re a Collector
If you’ve ever wanted an actual piece of a closed Disney attraction, this is your shot. Bidding kicks off at D23 in August, so if Muppet Vision 3D, DINOSAUR, or the Rivers of America mean something to you, this might be worth keeping an eye on.
Whether fans see this as a cool way to own real Disney history or feel a little weird about it being sold off for profit probably depends on who you ask.
