Disney Night Theme Week Format and Broadcast Details
Disney Night is a themed week in the current season of Dancing with the Stars where celebrity contestants and professional dancers perform routines inspired by Disney films, characters, and franchises. The episode typically features two performance rounds, a live audience, and a results segment that determines which couple is safe and which faces elimination. The broadcast airs on ABC in the United States and is streamed internationally on Disney+ and Hulu, with exact air times published on the official ABC schedule page ABC Dancing with the Stars official schedule. Production is handled by Disney Branded Television in partnership with ABC Studios, with judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli, and Len Goodman returning for the current season.
Disney Night 2025 follows the same multi-week structure used in prior seasons, where each professional partner is assigned to a celebrity contestant for the full run of the competition. The theme week is scheduled in the middle of the season to allow enough rehearsal time for complex choreography and costume design. Disney Theatrical Group and Walt Disney Animation Studios provide licensed music and character guidance for select performances. The episode is filmed before a studio audience at a designated production facility in Los Angeles, with security and logistics managed by Disney Live Entertainment and the show's production team.
Cast, Professional Dancers, and Disney Performance Categories
The current cast of Dancing with the Stars includes a mix of actors, musicians, athletes, and reality personalities paired with returning professional dancers from prior seasons. For Disney Night, the professional roster includes veterans such as Witney Carson, Brandon Armstrong, and Mark Ballas, who have previously reached the finals and won the Mirrorball Trophy. Contestants are assigned Disney-inspired categories that range from classic animated films to modern Pixar and Marvel storylines, with each routine judged on technique, storytelling, and musicality. Full cast bios and dance partner assignments are updated weekly on the official show website Disney official Dancing with the Stars hub.
Disney Night performance categories often include Ballroom, Latin, Jazz, and Contemporary styles adapted to Disney music and narrative themes. Judges score each routine on a 30-point scale, with individual scores for technique, partnership, and overall presentation. The episode typically features a dedicated segment highlighting the choreography process, costume design by Disney costume designers, and behind-the-scenes interviews with the cast. Disney licensing teams coordinate with music supervisors to secure performance rights for iconic songs from films such as Frozen, The Lion King, Moana, and Encanto.
Scoring, Results, and Viewer Voting Impact
During Disney Night, each couple receives individual judge scores that are averaged into a single nightly score, which is then combined with a weighted viewer vote to determine the weekly rankings. The scoring system uses a cumulative leaderboard that tracks each couple's total points across all theme weeks, with the bottom two couples facing a dance-off for survival. Viewer votes are cast through the official ABC app, Disney+ platform, and the show's dedicated website, with vote totals contributing a defined percentage to the final weekly score ABC Dancing with the Stars official voting page. The results are announced live during a dedicated segment following the final performances of the night.
Disney Night results directly influence the season's progression toward the semifinals and the finale, where the Mirrorball Trophy is awarded based on cumulative scores and viewer support. Historical data from previous seasons shows that Disney Night often produces standout performances that shift standings in the middle of the competition. The episode's ratings are tracked by Nielsen and reported by industry outlets such as Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, with Disney-branded theme weeks typically drawing strong viewership among family demographics.