Category: Disney Deets Daily

Smugglers Run Evolves with a New Mandalorian Mission and Next-Gen Tech

Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run has always been a technical marvel, a full-motion simulator that puts guests in the cockpit of the most famous ship in science fiction. Now it is getting a significant evolution. Disney Experiences confirmed that a brand-new mission featuring Din Djarin and Grogu is live at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort, timed to launch day-and-date with the theatrical release of Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu.

The update goes deeper than a reskin. According to Disney Experiences, Imagineering upgraded the core rendering engine from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5, paired with new Nvidia compute hardware and graphics cards. Asa Kalama, Executive of Creative and Interactive Experiences at Walt Disney Imagineering, explained that the visual fidelity leap let the team rethink how the adventure unfolds. The original attraction followed a largely linear path. The new mission introduces branching possibilities, giving flight crews the ability to choose which adventure they take.

That creative ambition was shaped by early conversations with director Jon Favreau and Lucasfilm President Dave Filoni. “Before we got into any real technical development or detailed experiential design, we spent a lot of time just talking through story,” Kalama said in the Disney Experiences piece. The team aimed to extend the story into a physical, interactive medium instead of retelling the film beat for beat. Kalama described the narrative work required to make Hondo Ohnaka’s framing, the characters’ relationships, and the film’s iconic locations all feel like part of one cohesive story, where the park adventures could conceivably be happening just off camera from the movie.

Disney Food Blog notes that the changes are already live, with guests finding new stories and experiences each time they board. The simultaneous debut across film and attraction is a first for Disney, and it signals a philosophy worth paying attention to: the parks are no longer trailing theatrical releases by months or years. They are arriving in lockstep, treating the theme park experience as a parallel storytelling canvas rather than a delayed promotional tie-in.

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The Parks

The Smugglers Run update lands during one of the busiest operational weeks Walt Disney World has seen in months. Disney Food Blog reports that multiple attractions opened ahead of schedule this past week, including FØØD by Swedish Chef and The Walt Disney Studios at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, along with Soarin’ Across America at EPCOT. All three were originally slated for May 26th but are already welcoming guests. More closures are set to reopen on that date as well, which marks the official start of Cool KIDS’ SUMMER.

Among the changes at Magic Kingdom, The Diamond Horseshoe is closed and will reopen May 26th as the home of Jessie’s Roundup, a temporary kid-focused space for crafting, dancing, and indoor activities. According to Disney Food Blog, the restaurant is expected to return to its normal table service format around September 8th when Cool KIDS’ Summer wraps. Elsewhere in Magic Kingdom, Pete’s Silly Sideshow remains temporarily unavailable since January 2026, though the characters have relocated to other spots in Storybook Circus. Big Top Souvenirs also remains closed, and Disney Food Blog spotted that the entire top of the structure is gone, with no reopening date announced.

Away from the parks, a small but meaningful piece of Disney retail news: MickeyBlog reports that two limited-time Disney Store locations are opening in collaboration with Go! Retail Group. The first opened at Ross Park Mall in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and a second location at Westfield Garden State Plaza Mall in Paramus, New Jersey, will follow this fall. These stores carry merchandise found only through the Disney Store, which matters because the company has spent years shrinking its physical retail footprint. MickeyBlog attended the Pittsburgh opening and described scenes of overwhelming demand, with the QR-based return time system running out of slots through the following day.

On the collectibles front, WDW News Today reports that Disney Legend Bob Gurr is selling autographed posters of classic Disney Park attractions through his online shop, linked from his Instagram bio. Gurr, the Imagineer behind Autopia and the Monorail among other attractions, is offering over 35 poster styles for a limited time. For fans who care about Imagineering history, a signed piece from one of the original architects of Disneyland is about as close to a primary source artifact as you can get.

Disney Experiences also announced a series of senior leadership changes this week. Disney Parks Blog reported that Thomas Mazloum, now Chairman of Disney Experiences, announced several appointments, including Natacha Rafalski as President of Disney Signature Experiences (the division overseeing Disney Cruise Line and premium offerings) and Joe Schott as President of Walt Disney World Resort. The company framed the moves as part of “a period of transformative growth” and “an era of ambitious expansion.” Rafalski’s appointment is particularly notable for cruise fans. Disney Cruise Line is operating more ships across more regions than at any point in its history, with the Disney Adventure sailing from Singapore and the Disney Treasure running Caribbean voyages out of Port Canaveral. Whoever holds this role shapes fleet expansion, new itineraries, and private destination development. Now the name is on the door.

Speaking of the Disney Adventure, DCL Blog has published Personal Navigators from a 3-night cruise departing Singapore on April 20, 2026. Captain Wesley Dunlop commanded that sailing with Cruise Director Stephen Cloete handling entertainment. For anyone planning a future Adventure voyage, these navigator documents offer granular detail on dining rotations, show times, and character meet schedules.

The Screen

Star Wars is back on the big screen, and the reverberations extend well beyond the parks. D23 unveiled “Disney Blockbuster Summer,” a cross-company campaign anchoring a season that includes Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story 5, and Disney’s live-action Moana. The Mandalorian and Grogu merchandise wave is already substantial. D23 highlights new LEGO sets including an AT-RT Attack set and an Ultimate Collector Series N-1 Starfighter, Hasbro’s Ultimate Grogu animatronic with over 250 lifelike animations, and new Funko Pop! figures spanning the film’s cast. Hasbro’s Action Buddy Grogu, a 10-inch animatronic with over 50 sound and action combos, is positioned as a theater companion piece.

The merchandise blitz connects to a larger strategic narrative that played out at Licensing Expo in Las Vegas. The Walt Disney Company reports that Disney Consumer Products anchored its presence with the theme “Icons Unleashed,” framing its portfolio as living cultural forces designed to move across fashion, wellness, sports, and music. Paul Gitter, EVP of Global Brand Commercialization, described licensing as “a central way Disney storytelling shows up in consumers’ everyday lives.” The expo brought together senior leaders from across the company, including Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, Lucasfilm’s Dave Filoni, and Frozen 3 director Trent Correy. The showcase also featured talent from the upcoming Disney Channel Original Movie Camp Rock 3 and West End performers from Disney’s Frozen musical. The message from Las Vegas was scale and intentionality. Disney wants licensees to view its characters as evolving cultural properties worth long-term investment through holiday 2027 and beyond, rather than static images to slap on products.

The Vault

Disney Experiences earned 10 awards at this year’s Telly Awards and two honors at the Shorty Awards. Disney Parks Blog detailed the wins, which span video and digital storytelling projects many fans have encountered across social media, Disney+, and YouTube over the past year. The standout is Disneyland Handcrafted, which took home three Telly Awards: Gold for Best Sound and Sound Design, Gold for Best Use of Archival Footage, and Silver for Best Documentary, Long Form. The documentary explores the days leading up to Disneyland’s opening in July 1955, capturing the pressure of tight deadlines and the hands-on craftsmanship required to build the original park.

Awards ceremonies rarely make fans’ hearts race, but these wins matter for a specific reason. They validate Disney’s investment in telling its own history with the production quality of a prestige documentary rather than a promotional featurette. Disneyland Handcrafted winning for archival footage and sound design suggests the team treated its source material with the seriousness it deserves. The Imagineers and construction crews who built Disneyland in barely a year left behind a story that rivals anything the studio has put on screen. Recognizing that story with proper craft is a form of respect for the people who made the parks possible, and for the fans who have spent decades trying to understand how it all came together.

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Sources

Disney Experiences · Disney Food Blog · MickeyBlog · WDW News Today · D23 · Walt Disney Company · Disney Parks Blog · DCL Blog · Lightning Brain

Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run Evolves With a Mandalorian Mission and Next-Gen Tech

For the first time in the attraction’s history, guests stepping into the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge can choose which mission they fly. That alone would be news. But the way Walt Disney Imagineering got there, and the technology powering it, makes this the most significant update to a marquee attraction in years.

As detailed by Disney Experiences, the new Mandalorian and Grogu mission launched day-and-date with the film’s theatrical debut, marking the first time Disney has simultaneously released a movie and a corresponding attraction experience. Asa Kalama, Executive of Creative and Interactive Experiences at Walt Disney Imagineering, described the process as deeply collaborative, with Imagineers sitting down early with director Jon Favreau and Lucasfilm’s Dave Filoni to map out how the attraction’s story would extend the film rather than simply retell it. “We spent a lot of time just talking through story,” Kalama said, noting that the team worked to make the in-park adventure feel like something happening “just off camera from the film.”

The technical leap is substantial. According to Disney Experiences, Imagineering upgraded the attraction’s core engine from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5, paired with new Nvidia compute hardware and graphics cards. That upgrade allowed the team to push visual fidelity well beyond what the original attraction could render and, more importantly, to rethink the structure of the experience itself. The original Smugglers Run followed a largely linear path. The new version introduces branching choices, giving flight crews agency over their adventure in a way the attraction has never offered.

WDW News Today also reports a “secret Grogu mode” now available on the attraction, adding another layer for guests who want to dig deeper into what the updated cockpit can do. The update is live at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort, making it one of the rare attraction overhauls that rolls out simultaneously on both coasts.

What makes this worth watching beyond the obvious cool factor is the precedent it sets. If Imagineering can swap in new story modules powered by real-time game engines, Smugglers Run becomes less of a static attraction and more of a living platform. Kalama’s language about “extending” stories rather than repeating them suggests this is a template rather than a one-off stunt. The Falcon may never fly the same mission twice.

The Parks

The Avengers Campus expansion at Disney California Adventure continues to take shape, and WDW News Today reports that recent construction progress has revealed some telling details. The white steel canopy frame remains largely unchanged, but fewer boom lifts are visible underneath it, suggesting that phase of work is winding down. The biggest visual shift involves the bathroom structures, where scaffolding has been reduced and scrim removed from the tops of the pillars, exposing the square facade shape for the first time. The expansion will include two new attractions: Avengers Infinity Defense, a multiverse battle against King Thanos, and Stark Flight Lab, which stars Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man.

Planning your Disney trip? Download Lightning Brain from the App Store or visit lightningbrain.app to optimize every minute of your park day.

Over at Walt Disney World, BlogMickey reports that Imagineering has filed a third extension of the permit tied to the Encanto attraction under construction at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The amended Notice of Commencement, recorded just days ago, pushes the permit expiration to May 2027. The address, 610 DinoLand Drive, falls within the footprint of the former Dino-Rama section, now well into its transformation into the Tropical Americas land. Whiting-Turner remains the general contractor. BlogMickey notes that the final steel beam for the ride building was signed by the Imagineering team back in February 2026, and crews have since begun work on the queue building and interior scenes. The Encanto attraction will be the first ride-through experience themed to the Academy Award-winning film.

Soarin’ Across America is now open to all EPCOT guests, according to WDW News Today, with a new marquee revealed at the park. Custom Test Track driver’s licenses have also debuted at EPCOT, giving guests a personalized keepsake from the attraction. Meanwhile, damaged palm trees at EPCOT’s entrance have been removed.

At Disneyland, a new Pixar Short Film Spotlight has opened, and BDX droids are meeting guests at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. WDW News Today also reports that a kids-only pin trading station has launched at Disneyland, and the Edelweiss Lodge seating structure is now open in Fantasyland. Disneyland Resort restaurants are honoring Memorial Day with “Fallen Hero” tables, a quiet and meaningful tradition. And in a detail that speaks to the creativity of Cast Members everywhere, Disney Skyliner teams at select Walt Disney World locations have mounted fake dragonflies on their control panels to deter real yellow flies. Sometimes Imagineering happens at ground level.

According to reports from The DisInsider, Disneyland has revealed “Ultimate Summer” plans for 2026, including discounted tickets, hotel deals, late-night entertainment, and character experiences. The resort is positioning this as one of its most stacked summer lineups in recent memory.

Disney Food Blog, meanwhile, offers a passionate case for Nomad Lounge at Disney’s Animal Kingdom as the single best restaurant in all of Walt Disney World. The lounge serves small plates from the Tiffins kitchen alongside handcrafted cocktails, including The Pachyderm and The Pollinator, a gin cocktail inspired by The Elephants and Bees Project, a real conservation effort that uses beehive fences to keep elephants from raiding crops. At $6.59, the Lychee Ginger Lemonade is the kind of small discovery that makes a park day feel special.

AllEars has been fielding questions about Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets at Walt Disney World, addressing what fans most want to know about the attraction’s Muppet-themed transformation. WDW News Today also captured a video interview with the Muppets themselves, because of course they did.

Mickey and Minnie have debuted new patriotic costumes at Walt Disney World in celebration of America’s 250th anniversary, per WDW News Today. And Orlando International Airport estimates nearly one million travelers for the Memorial Day 2026 holiday weekend, which means the parks are about to feel it.

The Screen

Disney’s “Blockbuster Summer” campaign is now in full swing, and D23 has published a detailed look at the merchandise and collectibles arriving alongside The Mandalorian and Grogu’s theatrical debut. The lineup includes LEGO sets inspired by scenes from the film, including an AT-RT Attack set and a new Ultimate Collector Series N-1 Starfighter. Hasbro’s Ultimate Grogu animatronic, with over 250 lifelike animations including toddling steps and environmental response technology, is available for preorder. Funko has released a cinematic assortment featuring Din Djarin, Grogu, Zeb Orrelios, and an Imperial Remnant Trooper. The merchandise wave is calibrated to a specific moment: families who see the film and want to bring a piece of it home the same day. Combined with the Smugglers Run update, Disney is running a coordinated cross-platform launch that ties theaters, parks, and retail into a single experience.

On the streaming side, MickeyBlog reports that Disney+ and Hulu are bringing back the Throwbacks campaign for summer 2026, expanding last year’s event to include classic movies, curated collections, and a pop-up experience. Premium subscribers can tune into the returning Throwbacks Stream starting May 22, featuring a marathon of the top 50 Disney Channel Original Movies. New content arriving on the platform includes The Brave Little Toaster and Seasons 1 and 2 of The Weekenders on May 25. MickeyBlog also notes that Camp Rock 3 is coming in August and a new season of Wizards Beyond Waverly Place arrives later this summer. A Throwbacks Mini Mall pop-up will take over Westfield Century City in Los Angeles on June 6 and 7, featuring interactive stations including a Glee Photo Op, a Princess Diaries Slide, and a Mystery Pin Machine.

Disney Consumer Products, meanwhile, used Licensing Expo in Las Vegas to lay out its franchise roadmap through holiday 2027 and beyond. The Walt Disney Company published details of the “Icons Unleashed” showcase, which framed Disney’s portfolio as living cultural forces meant to be reinterpreted across fashion, wellness, streetwear, and gaming. The event brought together senior leaders including Kevin Feige, Dave Filoni, and Lisa Baldzicki, alongside talent from Camp Rock 3 and Disney’s Frozen: The Hit Broadway Musical. Paul Gitter, EVP of Global Brand Commercialization, described licensing as “a central way Disney storytelling shows up in consumers’ everyday lives.”

The Vault

Disney Experiences earned 10 awards at this year’s Telly Awards and two honors at the Shorty Awards, as detailed by Disney Parks Blog. The standout winner was Disneyland Handcrafted, the documentary exploring the frantic construction of Disneyland before its 1955 opening day. It took home three Telly Awards, including two golds for Best Sound and Sound Design and Best Use of Archival Footage, plus a silver for Best Documentary, Long Form. Disney Parks Blog also highlighted recognition for collaborations with Kylie Kelce and Dude Perfect, as well as the We Call It Imagineering series. In total, the projects reflect how Disney Experiences has built a serious content operation across social media, YouTube, and Disney+.

Nostalgia for Disney retail is having a moment as well. Attractions Magazine published a look inside the new “Disney Store Limited Time” concept in Pittsburgh, a physical pop-up that represents Disney’s latest attempt to maintain a brick-and-mortar retail presence after years of store closures. The magazine notes that for longtime fans, the concept may not fully recapture the magic of the original Disney Store experience. Disney Tourist Blog published a separate essay making the case for bringing back the Disney Store in earnest, anchored in the kind of childhood mall memories that resonate with a generation that grew up treating those stores as pilgrimages. Whether the Pittsburgh concept is a stepping stone toward something bigger or simply a licensing play, the hunger for a real Disney Store is clearly still there.

And one small detail from the merchandise side that connects past and present: WDW News Today spotted a new hat at Disney California Adventure featuring the park’s original logo, complete with the original name, Disney’s California Adventure, and the Grizzly Peak design. It is priced at $32.99. For a park that has spent two decades evolving away from its rocky debut, selling that original logo as a nostalgia item is a quiet acknowledgment of how far the park has come.

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Sources

Disney Experiences · WDW News Today · BlogMickey · Disney Food Blog · D23 · MickeyBlog · Disney Parks Blog · Attractions Magazine · Disney Tourist Blog · AllEars · The Walt Disney Company · The DisInsider

The Mandalorian and Grogu Arrives With a Park Strategy Unlike Anything Disney Has Tried Before

Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu opens in theaters and IMAX nationwide today, May 22, 2026. That alone is a significant moment. It has been nearly seven years since a Star Wars film debuted on the big screen, and as director Jon Favreau told D23, an entire generation of young viewers has never experienced the franchise in a movie theater. Pedro Pascal returns as Din Djarin alongside Sigourney Weaver and Jeremy Allen White, with Favreau directing from a script he co-wrote with Dave Filoni and Noah Kloor.

But what makes today genuinely unprecedented is everything happening simultaneously outside the theater. Disney Experiences confirmed that Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort is launching a brand-new Mandalorian mission, day and date with the film. According to Disney Experiences, this marks the first time Disney has synchronized a theatrical release with a same-day attraction update at the parks. Guests can watch the movie and then climb into the Falcon’s cockpit to fly alongside Din Djarin and Grogu the very same afternoon.

The technical ambitions here are worth pausing on. Asa Kalama, Executive of Creative and Interactive Experiences at Walt Disney Imagineering, told Disney Experiences that the team upgraded the attraction’s core engine from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5, paired with new Nvidia compute hardware and graphics cards. The visual fidelity leap allows for what Kalama described as a meaningfully less linear experience, with greater interactivity and branching moments during the flight. Disney Tourist Blog has published a guide to unlocking a hidden “Grogu Mode” within the new mission, which suggests Imagineering layered in discovery elements designed to reward repeat flights.

The creative process was deeply collaborative. Kalama described early story sessions with Favreau and Filoni, working through how Hondo Ohnaka frames the adventure within Galaxy’s Edge and ensuring the ride’s narrative feels like something happening “just off camera from the film.” That philosophy, treating the parks as a living extension of the cinematic universe rather than a promotional echo of it, is the kind of Imagineering ambition that makes a theme park attraction feel essential rather than decorative.

Favreau himself framed the film as both a continuation and a fresh entry point. He told D23 that when he and Filoni emerged from the industry strikes, they pivoted from a planned fourth season of the Disney+ series to a theatrical film, knowing they could not assume audiences had watched all three prior seasons. “For a big movie like this, we had to be open to not just the audience that was familiar with everything that happened, but also a new audience that might be open to experiencing Star Wars in the theaters for the first time,” Favreau said.

Meanwhile, the merchandise machine is already running at full speed. WDW News Today reports a wave of Mandalorian-themed products at Disneyland Resort, including a Mythosaur skull water bottle with Aurebesh text translating to “This is the Way,” BDX droid popcorn buckets, a Grogu jetpack sipper, and an exclusive stainless steel tumbler. WDW News Today also notes that Mandalorian and Grogu decorations have appeared at Disney Springs alongside Toy Story 5 and Frozen displays. And at the Walt Disney Company’s “Icons Unleashed” showcase at Licensing Expo in Las Vegas, the company laid out a roadmap through holiday 2027 and beyond, with Star Wars among the franchises positioned for expanded lifestyle and product collaborations.

The editorial read here is clear. Disney is stress-testing a model where film, park attractions, merchandise, and consumer products all activate in concert, reinforcing each other in a single cultural moment. If it works, expect to see this playbook applied to every tentpole franchise in the pipeline.

The Parks

The biggest non-Mando news lands at EPCOT, where Soarin’ Across America is preparing for its May 26 debut. MickeyBlog reports that the new signage, replacing the “Around the World” branding with “Across America” in red letters on a white background, has been installed at the attraction. The updated film takes guests through American landmarks and locations as part of the broader “Disney Celebrates America” initiative honoring the nation’s 250th anniversary. Annual Passholders have already previewed the new experience, and MickeyBlog’s footage suggests a sweeping, patriotic tone fitting the semiquincentennial celebration.

That same Disney Celebrates America initiative reached Disneyland this week in a particularly moving way. Disney Parks Blog reports that the resort hosted more than 100 Sailors, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen for LA Fleet Week, marking both the event and the 250th anniversaries of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. The highlight was a flag retreat ceremony on Main Street, U.S.A., featuring what the Parks Blog described as one of the largest U.S. Navy bands ever to perform at Disneyland, capped by an F/A-18E Super Hornet flyover from Strike Fighter Squadron 94.

May 26 is shaping up as a major day across Walt Disney World. Disney Food Blog and AllEars both previewed two new Cool Kids’ Summer entertainment offerings debuting that day. Bluey’s Wild World arrives at Animal Kingdom’s Conservation Station, where Bluey and Bingo will meet guests, host games from the show, and spotlight animals native to Australia. Over at Magic Kingdom, Jessie’s Roundup brings Toy Story characters to the Diamond Horseshoe, with Woody, Jessie, and friends performing line dances and songs. Disney Food Blog notes the characters are already sporting their Toy Story 5 looks.

At Disney’s Hollywood Studios, BlogMickey reports the Walt Disney Studios Lot land is now open to guests ahead of the May 26 debut of Disney Jr. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Live! The new area occupies the former Animation Courtyard footprint and draws its design directly from the real Walt Disney Studios campus in Burbank. BlogMickey details theming touches including the Pluto’s Corner street sign at the intersection of Mickey Ave and Dopey Drive, a Silly Symphony mural, and character handprints embedded in the pavement. The Little Mermaid show continues operating in a building now branded as “Studio Theater,” while The Magic of Disney Animation is expected later this summer.

A few operational notes from yesterday worth flagging. WDW News Today captured video of a Test Track ride vehicle whose hood opened mid-attraction at EPCOT. Nobody was harmed, but it is the kind of moment that reminds you these are extraordinarily complex machines running thousands of cycles per day. Separately, WDW News Today reports that the projector at Country Bear Musical Jamboree in Magic Kingdom is currently not working, and that the Yak and Yeti restaurant at Animal Kingdom has raised prices across almost its entire food menu.

Lightning Brain’s daily park report from May 21 showed a striking split across Walt Disney World. Animal Kingdom posted a median wait of just 13.5 minutes, down 55% from its 30-day average, while Hollywood Studios ran the busiest numbers on property at a 6/10 (Average) with a noon median of 45 minutes. Magic Kingdom landed at a comfortable 4/10 (Moderate) despite multiple attraction closures, including Peter Pan’s Flight going offline for 101 minutes and TRON Lightcycle / Run closing for 37 minutes right after park open. Temperatures hit 91.5 degrees under mostly clear skies, the kind of late-May heat that tends to compress touring patterns toward mornings and evenings.

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According to one report from The DisInsider, Disneyland has revealed its “Ultimate Summer” plans for 2026, including discounted tickets, hotel deals, and late-night entertainment. If the details hold, it could be one of the more stacked summer lineups the resort has offered in recent memory.

The Screen

Beyond the Mandalorian film itself, the Walt Disney Company used Licensing Expo in Las Vegas to telegraph its franchise priorities for the next 18 months. A Walt Disney Company press release describes the “Icons Unleashed” showcase as a roadmap stretching through holiday 2027, with Disney Consumer Products positioning Mickey Mouse, Marvel, Disney Princess, Frozen, Pixar, and Star Wars as lifestyle brands that extend far beyond traditional merchandise. The company confirmed that senior leaders from across the entire ecosystem were present, including Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, Lucasfilm’s Dave Filoni, Frozen 3 director Trent Correy, and Disney Branded Television president Ayo Davis. The press release also revealed that rising talent from an upcoming Disney Channel Original Movie, Camp Rock 3, appeared alongside West End performers from the Frozen musical.

Paul Gitter, EVP of Global Brand Commercialization at Disney Consumer Products, framed the approach plainly: “By expanding our iconic characters and stories across product categories and lifestyle collaborations, we deliver year-round engagement and unlock new opportunities for our licensing partners.” That language matters because it tells you Disney sees consumer products as a parallel business that content is designed to fuel, rather than an afterthought. When WDW News Today reports that Disney Consumer Products is already preparing for Mickey’s 100th birthday, you can see the gears turning years in advance.

Disney Cruise Line is also refreshing its entertainment lineup for summer sailings. Lightning Brain’s cruise report notes that Alaska voyages aboard the Disney Wonder and Disney Magic are receiving dedicated Frozen-themed programming, leaning into the natural pairing of Arendelle and glacial landscapes. The fleet is also getting a revamped Pirates in the Caribbean deck party and what DCL describes as new entertainment spanning high-energy deck parties to Broadway-style shows. Separately, Touring Plans has published early impressions from ten days aboard the Disney Adventure, the new ship sailing from Singapore, offering the first detailed look at DCL’s expansion into the Asian market.

The Vault

TouringPlans published a deep look at the queue and props inside the newly rebranded Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets at Hollywood Studios, and the piece hints at layers of detail worth unpacking. The Muppets have always thrived on the comedy of specificity, the background gags, and the throwaway jokes that reward attention. By TouringPlans’ account, the new queue delivers on that tradition. The attraction’s official opening is set for May 26.

The Walt Disney Studios Lot land at Hollywood Studios is worth a second look through a historical lens. BlogMickey’s reporting on the area’s design details reveals deliberate callbacks to Disney’s own creative history. The Silly Symphony mural references the series of 75 animated shorts that began with The Skeleton Dance in 1929. The Pluto’s Corner street sign recreates a real landmark on the Burbank lot, one made famous in part by The Reluctant Dragon, the 1941 film that gave audiences a self-guided tour of Walt’s studio. And the character handprints outside The Magic of Disney Animation building nod to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, which itself inspired the park’s centerpiece. It is a land built from the company’s own origin story, the working studio where the art was made, rather than from fantasy. For a park that opened in 1989 as a celebration of filmmaking, this new area feels like a return to first principles.

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Sources

Disney Experiences · D23 · Disney Tourist Blog · WDW News Today · MickeyBlog · Disney Parks Blog · Disney Food Blog · AllEars · BlogMickey · TouringPlans · Walt Disney Company · Lightning Brain · Lightning Brain · The DisInsider

Hollywood Studios Unleashes Its Biggest Week in Years

Something remarkable is happening at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. In the span of a single week, the park is opening a new land, debuting a reimagined headliner coaster, and launching an upgraded Smugglers Run mission that introduces technology no Disney attraction has used before. Any one of these would be a headline. All three arriving together makes this the most consequential stretch for Hollywood Studios since Galaxy’s Edge opened in 2019.

The Walt Disney Studios Lot, which replaces the former Animation Courtyard, soft opened on May 20 with its courtyard area now accessible to guests. BlogMickey reports that the new mini-land takes its design cues directly from the real Walt Disney Studios campus in Burbank, California. Existing buildings have been repainted and dressed with architectural details inspired by their real-world counterparts. The building housing The Little Mermaid now carries Studio Theater branding, and the courtyard features a recreation of Pluto’s Corner, the beloved intersection of Mickey Ave and Dopey Drive from the actual lot. According to BlogMickey, character handprints, footprints, and pawprints are embedded in the pavement in front of The Magic of Disney Animation building, a nod to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. A Silly Symphony mural graces the area as well, referencing the series of 75 Disney animated shorts that began with The Skeleton Dance in 1929.

MickeyBlog captured what happens to the space after dark. The Sorcerer Mickey hat atop the Animation Building illuminates with twinkling lights at sunset, creating a visual anchor for the courtyard that transforms the area into something genuinely atmospheric in the evening hours.

Disney Parks Blog confirms the broader plan. Opening May 26, the courtyard officially becomes “The Walt Disney Studios,” with Disney Jr. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Live! debuting the same day in the soundstage that previously housed Disney Jr. Play and Dance!. The bigger reveal is what comes later. In late summer 2026, the former Star Wars: Launch Bay space will become The Magic of Disney Animation, an experience where, as Disney Parks Blog describes it, “the animators have temporarily stepped away… but the building is still buzzing with activity as the characters have come to life and they’re ready to play.” The building will feature a Sorcerer Hat topper modeled after the Roy E. Disney Animation Building in Burbank.

Then there is Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets, which WDW News Today confirms has officially taken over from the Aerosmith version at Hollywood Studios. MickeyBlog attended a special preview event that included a live performance by The Electric Mayhem, appearances from Kermit, Pepe, Bean Bunny, Rizzo, and Scooter, and a surprise cameo from John Stamos. The attraction’s official public debut is May 26, aligning with the Walt Disney Studios Lot opening for a coordinated one-two punch.

And the Smugglers Run overhaul, which we will get to below, ties the entire week to the theatrical release of The Mandalorian and Grogu on May 22. Hollywood Studios is executing a strategy that treats the park itself as a storytelling platform synchronized with Disney’s biggest film release of the summer. Such coordination between Imagineering, Lucasfilm, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and park operations is rare.

The Parks

The Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run update deserves its own spotlight because of how fundamentally it changes the attraction. Disney Experiences published a detailed look at the creative process, and the scope is larger than a simple overlay. Asa Kalama, Executive of Creative and Interactive Experiences at Walt Disney Imagineering, explained that the team upgraded the core technology from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5, along with new compute hardware and the latest Nvidia graphics cards. The result is a visual fidelity leap that enabled Imagineering to rethink how the adventure unfolds.

Three new missions have been added starring Din Djarin and Grogu. Disney Food Blog details one mission that takes guests to Tatooine to capture a pirate and two imperial officers. But the structural change is more significant than the narrative one. Engineers, long the least engaging crew position, now have a Grogu cam for real-time communication with the character and get to choose the Falcon’s destination. Disney Food Blog notes that potential destinations include Bespin, the wreckage of the second Death Star around Endor, and the newly announced city-planet Coruscant. That crew-choice mechanic is new to the attraction and, as Kalama told Disney Experiences, reflects a deliberate push to “really increase” the sense of agency for every seat in the cockpit.

AllEars confirmed it rode the updated version at Disneyland, and Disney Experiences notes the update is rolling out at both Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort. Kalama emphasized that conversations began early with director Jon Favreau and Lucasfilm’s Dave Filoni. “For the first time ever, we’re allowing people the opportunity to on the same day, go to the movie and then later come down to the park and actually go on an adventure ride alongside them,” Kalama said. That day-and-date synchronization between a theatrical release and an attraction update is unprecedented at this scale in park history.

Elsewhere in the parks, WDW News Today reports that Walt Disney World has updated its complimentary hotel amenities for families with young children. The same outlet notes that a new loading procedure at Expedition Everest has made the single rider wait time significantly longer than it used to be. And at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Tropical Americas construction continues with more entrance structure steel and steady progress, per WDW News Today.

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Over at Disneyland, several projects are in motion. WDW News Today reports that construction walls have gone up at Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree and around Plaza Inn. A covered sign and bronze spires have been added to a mystery structure near Edelweiss Snacks. And a complimentary Youngling Saber Building Expo is coming to Savi’s Workshop at Disneyland, alongside a complimentary Mickey’s Park Rangers Activity Book for summer 2026. The DisInsider reports that Disneyland has revealed its “Ultimate Summer” plans for 2026, which include discounted tickets, hotel deals, late-night entertainment, and character experiences.

Disney Tourist Blog highlights that Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin has received a significant recharge at Walt Disney World, arguing it now makes a case as the resort’s top interactive dark ride.

On the water, Disney Cruise Line is refreshing entertainment across its fleet for summer. Lightning Brain’s cruise digest reports that Alaska sailings aboard the Disney Wonder and Disney Magic will receive dedicated Frozen-themed enhancements, while a new Pirates in the Caribbean experience updates the beloved Pirate Night tradition with new music, refreshed choreography, and potentially new character interactions.

The Screen

Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu opens in theaters and IMAX on May 22, and D23 published an extensive behind-the-scenes feature that frames the film’s ambitions. Director Jon Favreau describes it as a standalone adventure designed to welcome new audiences while honoring longtime fans. Pedro Pascal notes that the father-son dynamic between Mando and Grogu has deepened considerably. “Through their incredible adventures, they have become deeply bonded to one another,” Pascal told D23. “Mando has now placed his focus on protecting his son and preparing him for the future.” The film also stars Sigourney Weaver and Jeremy Allen White, with music by Ludwig Goransson.

Favreau connects the story to something personal. “As a dad, it taps into the sense of the hero as a protector,” he told D23. “You’re trying to create a safe world that you’re leaving behind for the next generation.” Dave Filoni adds that the apprenticeship dynamic, one generation teaching the next, is the film’s emotional spine.

The Mandalorian and Grogu’s cross-platform footprint extends well beyond theaters and theme parks. The Walt Disney Company announced a collaboration with Epic Games to bring the story into Fortnite. The Mandalorian and Grogu Watch Party Island is now live in the game, offering a 10-minute sneak peek of the film, quests, and interactions with characters like Marshall IG-11. Lucasfilm and Epic also introduced the official Star Wars Toolkit, described as the largest IP toolset in Fortnite, enabling creators to build original Star Wars experiences for the first time. An exclusive Q&A with Favreau, answering questions submitted by the Fortnite community, goes live on May 26.

Meanwhile, WDW News Today reports that Toy Story 4 is getting a primetime ABC airing ahead of Toy Story 5, and new character posters for Toy Story 5 introduce a character named Lilypad alongside Woody, Jessie, and Buzz.

The Vault

The Walt Disney Studios Lot at Hollywood Studios is worth pausing on from an Imagineering philosophy standpoint. BlogMickey notes that the former Animation Courtyard dated back to the park’s original 1989 opening. The Hollywood Studios archway that had long welcomed guests into the area was demolished as part of the transformation, removing a meaningful piece of park history in service of a new creative direction.

The replacement concept, a recreation of the Burbank studio lot, is an unusual move for a theme park. Most Disney lands transport guests to fictional worlds or historical fantasias, but this one transports them to a real place where real artists make the films guests love. The Reluctant Dragon, the 1941 film that sent Robert Benchley on a self-guided tour of the Burbank studio, is specifically referenced in the Pluto’s Corner installation, according to BlogMickey. This deep archival pull is the kind of detail that separates Imagineering’s work from generic themed entertainment.

WDW News Today reports that former Disney CEO Bob Iger was honored with a New York arts and culture award. And in a smaller but charming note, WDW News Today mentions that Pinocchio and Geppetto, Meeko, and other characters made rare appearances at Hollywood Studios, a reminder that the park’s character program continues to rotate in surprises that reward guests who pay attention.

The Smugglers Run technology upgrade also deserves a place in the Imagineering record book. Moving an operating attraction from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5, with new Nvidia hardware, while simultaneously adding branching narrative paths and crew-choice mechanics, is a fundamental rearchitecting of how a marquee attraction works, performed on a live ride system at two resorts simultaneously. Asa Kalama told Disney Experiences that the team spent extensive time in early conversations with Favreau and Filoni doing “narrative work to understand how all these things connect, and how they all feel like they’re a part of one broad cohesive story.” That approach, story first, technology in service of story, is the oldest principle in the Imagineering playbook, now running on the newest hardware money can buy.

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Sources

BlogMickey · MickeyBlog · MickeyBlog · Disney Parks Blog · WDW News Today · Disney Experiences · Disney Food Blog · AllEars · D23 · Walt Disney Company · Disney Tourist Blog · Lightning Brain · The DisInsider

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring the Muppets Lands With Fans

Previews are rolling for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring the Muppets at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and the early consensus is surprisingly emphatic: the Muppets belong on a launch coaster. Attractions Magazine reports that fans online are praising the new soundtrack, the chaotic ride energy, hidden Easter eggs, and what they call a “surprisingly strong fit” for the Muppets franchise. AllEars documented over 14 hidden details scattered throughout the attraction’s queue and ride experience, the kind of density that rewards repeat visits and the obsessive guests who slow-walk through every queue scene with their phones out.

TouringPlans published Len Testa’s first-look review, calling it a spoiler-heavy deep dive into what Imagineering rebuilt inside the existing coaster shell. The attraction retains its signature launch and inversions but wraps them in a completely new overlay. WDW News Today notes that the courtyard background music loop alone features over 30 songs, which gives you a sense of how deeply the team committed to the bit. The new soundtrack, hidden details, and chaotic Muppet energy run throughout the experience, moving far beyond a simple reskin with a fresh coat of paint and a Kermit decal.

What makes this work, editorially, is the risk Disney took in matching the Muppets with a high-intensity coaster. The Muppets are anarchic, irreverent, and fundamentally silly. A launch coaster is loud, fast, and physically intense. Those two energies could have clashed. Instead, early reactions suggest the chaos of the Muppets maps perfectly onto the chaos of a coaster that throws you into three inversions in the dark. The Muppets have always been at their best when things go slightly wrong on purpose, and a roller coaster is the perfect stage for that energy.

Disney has also opened more Passholder park reservations for previews, according to WDW News Today, which suggests confidence in the attraction’s readiness and a desire to build word-of-mouth before the general opening. Hollywood Studios needed a refreshed headliner that could pull crowds beyond the Star Wars and Toy Story corridors. The Muppets, improbably, might be exactly that.

The Parks

The biggest structural news this week has nothing to do with attractions and everything to do with who runs them. Disney Experiences announced a trio of senior leadership changes that reshape the management of three major resort properties. Joe Schott has been appointed President of Walt Disney World Resort. Natacha Rafalski moves to President of Disney Signature Experiences. And Christophe Murphy has been promoted to President of Disneyland Paris. According to the Disney Experiences announcement, these appointments “reflect depth of expertise leading the segment’s most ambitious era of expansion.”

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Schott’s resume reads like a world tour of Disney operations, with over 40 years of leadership across Asia, Europe, and beyond. He most recently served as president of Disney Signature Experiences, where he oversaw the launches of the Disney Destiny and Disney Adventure. Before that, he led Shanghai Disney Resort through its Zootopia expansion and the milestone of surpassing 100 million guests in under a decade. The announcement notes that Walt Disney World is where Schott began his Disney career as a Jungle Cruise Skipper. He returns to a resort undergoing what Disney calls the largest expansion in Magic Kingdom’s history, with new lands also in development at Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom.

Rafalski, who led Disneyland Paris and its roughly 20,000 Cast Members since 2018, spearheaded the resort’s massive transformation of Walt Disney Studios Park into Disney Adventure World, a project the announcement describes as roughly doubling the park’s footprint. Murphy, who joined Disneyland Paris in 1991 during the resort’s pre-opening phase, brings more than 35 years of company experience to his new role. These appointments are strategic moves made when the investment pipeline demands operators who have already proven they can deliver expansion at scale.

Elsewhere in the parks, new dark side lightsaber parts have arrived at Savi’s Workshop. BlogMickey reports that the Power and Control theme at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in both Hollywood Studios and Disneyland has received its first new hilt pieces since the limited-time Reclaimed and Reforged theme debuted last May. The new parts include redesigned emitters, sleeves, and pommel caps with aggressive angular styling and red accent details. Disney’s description frames them as “rumored remnants from the Sith homeworld and abandoned temples.” For guests who have been building lightsabers at Galaxy’s Edge since opening day, fresh parts are the difference between a repeat experience and a genuinely new one.

Over at EPCOT, WDW News Today reports that the front-left entrance to the pyramid in the Mexico World Showcase Pavilion has reopened after months of closure. Scaffolding remains on the structure, and Cast Members appear to be adding Mesoamerican-inspired theming to the building’s exterior. The far left entrance remains closed, with a scrim-covered column blocking the doorway from inside. The offerings inside the pyramid, including merchandise locations, San Angel Inn Restaurante, and Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros, remain open and operating normally.

At Disneyland, MickeyBlog highlights new menu items at Royal Street Veranda in New Orleans Square, including a New Orleans Mint Julep Float with mango sorbet and a Cajun Caesar Chicken Po’Boy. These join a wave of new food arriving across the resort, from patriotic seasonal items to Star Wars bites and Trader Sam’s 15th anniversary offerings at the Disneyland Hotel. WDW News Today reports that details on the anniversary tiki mug and menu have been revealed for Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar.

Disney Food Blog confirmed the themes for the 2027 runDisney Princess Half Marathon Weekend, scheduled for February 25 through March 1, 2027. The 5K is themed to Princess Tiana, the 10K to Princess Snow White, the Half Marathon to Princess Jasmine, and the Disney Princess Fairy Tale Challenge to Princess Ariel. For runners who plan their race calendar a year out, these theme reveals are the starting gun.

And one practical update for Walt Disney World guests: WDW News Today reports that park passes are now bookable directly in the My Disney Experience app, a quality-of-life improvement that consolidates one more planning step into the tool most guests already use daily.

The Screen

Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu opens in theaters this Friday, May 22, and the promotional infrastructure around the film has reached full scale. D23 published an extensive behind-the-scenes feature with director Jon Favreau, Pedro Pascal, and Dave Filoni. Favreau describes the film as “a standalone adventure designed to welcome new audiences while also honoring longtime fans,” set between Return of the Jedi and the sequels. Pascal notes that the relationship between Mando and Grogu has evolved substantially. “Through their incredible adventures, they have become deeply bonded to one another,” he says. “Mando has now placed his focus on protecting his son and preparing him for the future.” The film also stars Sigourney Weaver and Jeremy Allen White, with music by Ludwig Göransson.

Favreau frames the story’s emotional core in personal terms: “As a dad, it taps into the sense of the hero as a protector. You’re trying to create a safe world that you’re leaving behind for the next generation.” Filoni adds that the father-son dynamic is “heartfelt and relatable” and calls the film a story about apprenticeship and “one generation teaching the next.” For millions of fans who followed this duo across multiple seasons on Disney+, the leap to IMAX carries real weight. After multiple Emmy-winning seasons, Pascal says the transition felt natural: “The Mandalorian always felt ‘big screen’ to me.”

According to early box office projections reported by Deadline, as noted by The DisInsider, the film is tracking for a potentially massive opening weekend, with estimates reportedly landing between $80 and $95 million domestically. If those numbers hold, it would mark a significant moment for Lucasfilm’s theatrical strategy.

The Mandalorian’s reach is extending well beyond the multiplex. The Walt Disney Company announced a collaboration with Epic Games that brings an interactive Mandalorian and Grogu Watch Party Island to Fortnite. The experience, developed with Lucasfilm, Favreau’s Fairview Portals studio, Beyond Creative, and Epic Games, lets players explore Nevarro, complete quests, interact with characters like Marshall IG-11, and watch a 10-minute sneak peek of the film. An exclusive Q&A with Favreau is scheduled for May 26 within the island. Alongside the Watch Party Island, Lucasfilm and Epic introduced the official Star Wars Toolkit, which Disney calls “the largest IP toolset in Fortnite,” enabling creators to build entirely new Star Wars experiences within the platform.

Disney Parks Blog shared a heartwarming story about the film’s premiere: Jennifer Baillere, a Disneyland Cast Member and area manager at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, was surprised with an invitation to attend the world premiere at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood. Baillere, whose Star Wars fandom runs deep enough that she and her husband met through a Star Wars fan group and named their children Anakin and Amidala, called the experience surreal. “Working in Galaxy’s Edge has been, in the words of Hondo, ‘the opportunity of a lifetime,’” she said.

The Vault

LEGO has announced a new Disney Main Street U.S.A. set priced at $400, and Disney Tourist Blog calls it “fantastic” and “worth every penny.” The set pays homage to the iconic opening stretch of both Magic Kingdom and Disneyland. WDW News Today also confirmed the announcement through the Disney Store. For LEGO collectors and Disney parks obsessives, the Venn diagram is nearly a circle, and a set at this scale signals that LEGO sees the Disney parks themselves as IP worth building around, not just the characters who inhabit them.

Disney Cruise Line is investing heavily in its summer 2026 entertainment lineup. Lightning Brain’s cruise coverage reports a fleet-wide refresh, with the biggest changes landing on Alaska sailings aboard the Disney Wonder and Disney Magic. Those ships will feature revamped Frozen experiences designed specifically for the Alaska season, leaning into the natural resonance between Frozen’s Nordic landscapes and the glaciers outside the stateroom window. The fleet is also getting a new take on Pirates in the Caribbean, the signature deck party night, along with broader refreshes spanning Broadway-style shows and destination-inspired entertainment. The philosophy seems to be that where you sail should shape what you see onstage, not just what you see from the rail.

The Disney Adventure continues generating buzz out of Singapore. DCL Blog published personal navigators from a 4-night sailing that departed April 9, 2026, under Captain Wesley Dunlop with Cruise Director Stephen Cloete. For the subset of Disney fans who treat personal navigators like primary source documents, these daily itineraries offer the most granular look at what life aboard the newest ship actually looks like.

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Sources

AllEars · Attractions Magazine · TouringPlans · WDW News Today · Disney Experiences · BlogMickey · MickeyBlog · Disney Food Blog · D23 · The DisInsider · Walt Disney Company · Disney Parks Blog · Disney Tourist Blog · Lightning Brain · DCL Blog

A New Captain for Walt Disney World

Disney Experiences Chairman Thomas Mazloum announced a sweeping series of senior leadership appointments yesterday, and the headliner is this: Joe Schott is now President of Walt Disney World Resort. As Disney Experiences confirmed, Schott brings more than 40 years of leadership across Disney destinations in Asia, Europe, and beyond. Most recently he served as president of Disney Signature Experiences, where he oversaw the launches of two new cruise ships, the Disney Destiny and Disney Adventure. Before that, as president and general manager of Shanghai Disney Resort, Schott led the resort through a major expansion phase, including the opening of the Zootopia-themed land, contributing to that resort surpassing 100 million guests in under a decade.

The poetry of the appointment is hard to miss. According to Disney Experiences, Schott began his Disney journey as a Jungle Cruise Skipper at the very resort he now leads. He went on to serve as chief operating officer of Disneyland Paris for five years and as executive managing director of Walt Disney Attractions Japan. The man has operated on nearly every stage Disney has built.

He inherits a property that Disney Experiences describes as the world’s most frequently visited vacation resort and the largest single-site employer in the United States, with approximately 80,000 Cast Members spanning four theme parks, two water parks, more than 30 resort hotels, the Disney Springs retail and entertainment district, and ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. And the job is about to get much bigger. Walt Disney World is undergoing a significant era of investment, with the largest expansion in Magic Kingdom’s history currently underway and new lands in development at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Filling Schott’s former role, Natacha Rafalski has been appointed President of Disney Signature Experiences. DCL Blog reported on the move, noting that Rafalski led Disneyland Paris since 2018, where she spearheaded the resort’s €2 billion transformation of Walt Disney Studios Park into Disney Adventure World. That project roughly doubled the park’s footprint and added franchise powerhouses Marvel Avengers Campus and World of Frozen. Meanwhile, Christophe Murphy, a 35-year Disney veteran who joined Disneyland Paris during its pre-opening phase in 1991, has been promoted to President of Disneyland Paris.

Read the appointments together and a pattern emerges editorially. Disney is stacking operational veterans, people who have opened lands and launched ships, into the seats that will oversee the company’s most capital-intensive expansion cycle in decades. These are builders being handed blueprints.

The Parks

If you have ever wrestled a suitcase through Orlando International Airport while your kids melted down near the Chick-fil-A, Walt Disney World just made your life meaningfully easier. BlogMickey reports that beginning May 19, the resort’s Airport Luggage Transfer service is expanding to include American Airlines and United Airlines, joining Southwest Airlines as eligible carriers. The service allows guests staying at select Disney Resorts Collection hotels to have their checked luggage transferred directly between Orlando International Airport and their resort, eliminating the need to haul bags through the airport on either end of a trip. Currently the service is available at Disney Value Resort hotels, and guests staying at Moderate or Deluxe Resorts can transfer to a Value Resort for their final night to take advantage of the offering. Disney noted in its announcement that the expansion is designed to make travel “even easier for Guests, while creating opportunities to grow the service over time,” language that suggests further airline additions could follow.

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Over at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, a beloved dining destination is marking a milestone. Disney Parks Blog highlights that Tiffins Restaurant is celebrating 10 years of globally inspired cuisine, and its adjacent Nomad Lounge has debuted new flavors for the occasion. WDW News Today also noted the new Nomad Lounge offerings. Tiffins, nestled in Discovery Island near the Tree of Life, was designed as a love letter from Imagineering to Africa, Asia, and South America, its walls filled with paintings, photo collages, and sculptures inspired by field notes Imagineers created during their research trips. Disney Parks Blog notes that Disney Imagineer Joan Hartwig, who helped define and build Animal Kingdom’s legacy, is currently preparing to bring the new Tropical Americas land to life.

On the crowd front, Lightning Brain’s Daily Park Report for May 18 showed a notable split across Walt Disney World’s four parks. EPCOT ran at a 5/10 (Average), a 30 percent jump above its 30-day average, while Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom sat at 3s and 4s in the Moderate range. The Flower and Garden Festival is clearly doing its job pulling guests into World Showcase. Lightning Brain noted that Frozen Ever After was offline for nearly three combined hours during the afternoon and evening, and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure also went down for about an hour, leaving EPCOT’s headliner roster thin for guests who were there primarily for attractions.

At Magic Kingdom, the Disney After Hours event on May 18 sold out, per WDW News Today, though Lightning Brain confirmed day guests were completely unaffected by the hard-ticketed evening event. Separately, WDW News Today reports that patriotic decorations have arrived at Magic Kingdom for the summer holidays. Disney Tourist Blog adds that Walt Disney World has revealed bonus nights of Fourth of July fireworks at both Magic Kingdom and EPCOT for Independence Day 2026 weekend.

The refurbishment beat continues at Disney’s Pop Century Resort, where WDW News Today reports that work on the giant “POP” sign outside Classic Hall is entering its final stages. A fresh coat of orange paint is being applied from left to right, and the back of the letters already sports a clean, glossy coat of vibrant blue. No official completion date has been announced, but the outlet estimates work could wrap by the end of May.

At Disneyland, WDW News Today reports that a paved road has appeared at the future Coco attraction site in Disney California Adventure. And over at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, a second crane has arrived at the Monstropolis construction site, per WDW News Today, a sign that vertical construction on the Monsters, Inc. themed area is picking up momentum.

According to one report from The DisInsider, Bluey and her little sister Bingo are officially heading to Disney’s Animal Kingdom beginning May 26 as part of Walt Disney World’s Cool Kids’ Summer celebration.

The Screen

The Walt Disney Company is framing this summer as a three-tentpole season, and the marketing machine just kicked into high gear. In a press release, Disney announced “Disney Blockbuster Summer,” an all-new campaign uniting Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu (arriving in theaters May 22), Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story 5 (opening June 19), and Disney’s live-action Moana into one coordinated push across films, parks, streaming, and consumer products. “Whether you want to travel through hyperspace with the Mandalorian and Grogu at Disney Parks, stream a Toy Story movie marathon with friends and family on Disney+, or unlock the power of play with new Moana-inspired toys, there is something for everyone to live their best Disney summer,” said Asad Ayaz, Chief Marketing and Brand Officer. The campaign includes the new Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run mission at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at both Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort, tying the park experience directly to the theatrical release.

WDW News Today reports that Jim Cummings has revealed when he recorded new Hondo lines for that updated Smugglers Run experience, and separately, a new projection show called “The Curious Child,” inspired by The Mandalorian and Grogu, has debuted at Disneyland.

While Disney ramps up its theatrical slate, its streaming arm is quietly building a pipeline of new series. MickeyBlog reports that Disney+ is developing a new series based on 2004’s Ella Enchanted, with Anne Hathaway producing. According to a report from Deadline cited by MickeyBlog, the show will draw inspiration from both the original film and the Gail Carson Levine book on which it was based, moving away from the Cinderella roots of the movie to focus on Ella’s coming-of-age story at boarding school. The series will be written by Ilana Wolpert and showrun by Bet Schwartz.

Hathaway’s Disney connections are only deepening. D23 spotlighted how the Walt Disney Archives provided key costume pieces for The Devil Wears Prada 2, which has earned nearly $440 million at the global box office over its first two weekends, according to D23. The Archives episode featured Director of Operations and Business Strategy Joanna Pratt alongside the sequel’s costume designer Molly Rogers, exploring how signature wardrobe pieces, including the iconic cerulean sweater, served as both inspiration and a direct connection to the 2006 original.

On the docuseries front, Lightning Brain’s Cruise Deets Daily reports that season three of Behind the Attraction, the Disney+ series that pulls back the curtain on how parks and experiences are created, will premiere on June 24 with a two-episode special devoted entirely to Disney Cruise Line. The episodes will trace the fleet’s origin story and follow the narrative forward to the making of the Disney Destiny. Executive producers Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia, and Brian Volk-Weiss are attached to the season. WDW News Today also confirmed the two-episode DCL special.

The Vault

Tom Kane, the voice actor who brought life to the Walt Disney World Monorail spiels, the Happily Ever After fireworks narration, and Star Wars characters including Yoda and Admiral Yularen, has died at age 64. WDW News Today reported the news. For a generation of Walt Disney World guests, Kane’s voice was the sound of arrival, the calm baritone welcoming you aboard the Monorail as you crossed the threshold from the real world into the resort’s orbit. His contributions to Star Wars extended his presence across parks, films, and animated series. A voice that steady, woven into that many experiences, becomes part of the architecture of the place itself.

Speaking of things that endure, WDW News Today shared a first look at a Disneyland Main Street, U.S.A. LEGO set arriving next month. Details are still emerging from a leaked image, but the set joins a growing line of Disney Parks LEGO products that let fans build miniature versions of the places they love. Meanwhile, the Disneyland 70th Anniversary Finale Collection, per WDW News Today, includes a $500 ear headband, placing it firmly in the collector tier. And the 2026 Disney Pride Collection has arrived at Walt Disney World, with WDW News Today reporting that the lineup includes a $36.99 ear headband with rainbow stripes on simulated leather, a $36.99 Mickey t-shirt, a $59.99 pullover sweatshirt, and a $19.99 tote bag.

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Sources

Disney Experiences · DCL Blog · BlogMickey · Disney Parks Blog · WDW News Today · Lightning Brain · Walt Disney Company · MickeyBlog · D23 · Disney Tourist Blog · The DisInsider · Lightning Brain

Smugglers Run Gets a New Mandalorian Storyline Starting May 22

Disney Parks Blog announced that Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run will launch an all-new adventure featuring Din Djarin and Grogu on May 22, 2026, at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort. The timing is deliberate. That same day, Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu arrives in theaters, and Disney is treating the film’s premiere as a reason to rewire one of its most high-profile attractions across both coasts simultaneously.

The new storyline sends guests to Tatooine, where Hondo Ohnaka has caught wind of a high-stakes deal between ex-Imperial officers and a band of pirates. You take possession of the Falcon, join forces with Mando and Grogu, and chase a bounty across the stars. Each mission can carry you to Bespin, the remains of the second Death Star near Endor, or the cityscape of Coruscant. The engineer position gets a particularly notable upgrade: a new interactive feature lets engineers check in on Grogu throughout the mission and make the pivotal planet choice that charts the course. That single mechanical change shifts the engineer role from the least glamorous seat on the Falcon to arguably the most narratively interesting one.

The overlay extends well beyond Smugglers Run. Disney Parks Blog details new food and beverage offerings themed to the duo at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at both resorts, including Grogu Cookies at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, plus a Sweet-and-Spicy Puffer Pig Pasta exclusive to Walt Disney World. Themed sippers and droid buckets round out the merchandise push. And at Disneyland, a limited-time projection show called “The Curious Child” is already running at Galaxy’s Edge, transforming the spires of Batuu after “Shadows of Memory: A Skywalker Saga” with scenes of Grogu testing his power to recall fond memories. That show began May 16.

Meanwhile, WDW News Today reports that Pedro Pascal himself surprised guests as the Mandalorian in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland, adding a real-world celebrity moment to a week already saturated with Mandalorian content. When a studio coordinates an attraction overlay, a theatrical release, themed dining, projection shows, and an in-person actor appearance within the same seven-day window, the strategy is clear: Galaxy’s Edge was always designed to evolve with the stories Disney tells, and this is the most aggressive demonstration of that philosophy to date.

The Parks

DisneylandForward just took a concrete step forward. MickeyBlog reports that Disneyland has filed two confidential building permits with the City of Anaheim for the Toy Story parking lot. According to a report from the OC Register cited by MickeyBlog, the permits relate to plans for a Disney Springs-style shopping district rather than a rumored third gate. The eastward expansion would include hotels, dining, entertainment, stores, and what Disneyland has described as “theme park elements.” Concept art for the project shows a central lagoon surrounded by shopping and dining establishments, with a parking structure near the corner of Katella Avenue and Haster Street. Disney Tourist Blog separately published an analysis debunking the third-gate speculation, noting that while a third park remains a long-term possibility, these permits point toward a retail and entertainment district. For context, the City of Anaheim approved the broader DisneylandForward initiative over two years ago, with Disney pledging $1.9 billion in investment. The permits suggest that pledge is slowly becoming physical infrastructure.

At Walt Disney World, the summer transportation picture just got meaningfully better for water park guests. BlogMickey reports that Disney has expanded direct bus service to both Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon from select resort hotels. Guests at Disney’s Port Orleans Resort, Riverside and French Quarter now have direct bus access to Typhoon Lagoon, bypassing the old Disney Springs transfer. For Blizzard Beach, three additional resorts have been added to the direct service list: Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, and Disney’s Pop Century Resort, joining Disney’s Coronado Springs and the All-Star Resorts. Both water parks are open simultaneously through September 8, 2026. If you have stayed at Pop Century or Caribbean Beach and dreaded the Animal Kingdom transfer to reach Blizzard Beach, this is a real quality-of-life improvement timed perfectly to summer crowds.

Bluey is heading to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Attractions Magazine reports that “Bluey’s Wild World” is coming to Animal Kingdom, while “Bluey’s Best Day Ever” is now open inside the Fantasyland Theatre at Disneyland. According to The DisInsider, the Animal Kingdom experience begins May 26 as part of Walt Disney World’s “Cool KIDS’ SUMMER” celebration, featuring Bluey and Bingo. Editorially, the dual-coast Bluey rollout mirrors the Mandalorian strategy of using both resorts to amplify a single franchise moment, though the Bluey push targets a distinctly younger audience that has been underserved by recent attraction investments.

Sunday’s crowd data at Walt Disney World told an interesting story. Lightning Brain’s daily park report recorded Magic Kingdom at just 3/10 (Moderate), well below expectations for a May Sunday, with a median wait of just under 12 minutes. EPCOT, meanwhile, was the busiest park in the resort at 5/10 (Average) with an 18-minute median, driven by Flower and Garden Festival traffic that produced a 30-minute median peak at 8:00 AM. Both Hollywood Studios parks came in light. The reopening of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was expected to pull guests back to Magic Kingdom, but that surge simply did not materialize in the wait data. EPCOT had an operationally uneven day: Frozen Ever After went offline for about an hour during the midday peak, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure had a 47-minute closure in the early evening, and Spaceship Earth logged two brief closures totaling about 50 minutes across the afternoon. Journey Into Imagination with Figment was the standout outlier, running at double its typical wait, possibly because festival guests used it as a shady midday break.

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Over at Disneyland Paris, Disney Experiences published a detailed look at how Cast Members were trained to open World of Frozen at Disney Adventure World. Nearly 15 months before the land opened on March 29, 2026, the resort launched a recruitment effort that combined internal mobility, targeted recruitment, and a European casting tour to welcome more than 1,200 Cast Members into new roles. Just 350 were selected as Arendelle “villagers,” each receiving what became known as the “letter from the village,” an invitation written in character by Fredrik, royal emissary of Queens Anna and Elsa. Cast Member Dorine Hermier described being chosen for the opening guest flow team as a “heart-stopping surprise.” The piece illustrates something easy to overlook about new land openings: the storytelling begins long before guests arrive, with the Cast Members themselves as the first audience.

The Screen

The Devil Wears Prada 2 continues to perform. D23 reports that the 20th Century Studios sequel has topped the global box office for two consecutive weekends, earning nearly $440 million to date. But the D23 piece focuses less on the numbers and more on the role the Walt Disney Archives played in production. Costume designer Molly Rogers and Walt Disney Archives Director of Operations Joanna Pratt explained how signature pieces from the original 2006 film, including the famous cerulean sweater, were pulled from the Archives to serve as both inspiration and direct connection for the sequel. Pratt noted that as The Walt Disney Company has grown to include brands like 20th Century Studios, the Archives’ collection has expanded accordingly. It is a small but revealing detail about how Disney’s institutional memory functions as a creative resource rather than just a museum.

On a very different screen, Disney Cruise Line is building what amounts to a floating Frozen festival for its Alaska sailings this summer. Lightning Brain’s cruise report details a daylong immersive Frozen experience aboard the Disney Wonder and Disney Magic, anchored by “For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration,” a live show performed on the upper deck with Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff against the real-world backdrop of Alaska’s glaciers. The day fills in around the show with Anna’s Frozen Fun Hunt, Oaken’s Maypole Swirl and Twirl in the atrium, and a dedicated Frozen-themed dining experience with dishes inspired by the film. Beyond the Frozen programming, DCL is adding a Broadway Stars Series on select Wonder and Magic sailings and promises a new “Pirates in the Caribbean” experience across the broader fleet. The strategic logic is sound: Alaska earns Frozen in a way no other itinerary could, and tying entertainment to destination creates the kind of cohesive experience that justifies the premium DCL charges.

The Vault

The Walt Disney Family Museum is presenting “Preserving Pixie Dust” with Walt Disney Imagineering, according to WDW News Today’s daily recap. Details in the recap are slim, but the title alone signals a program focused on the intersection of archival preservation and Imagineering’s creative legacy. It sits in interesting company this week alongside the D23 piece on the Walt Disney Archives and the Devil Wears Prada costumes. Two separate stories in the same news cycle, both centered on how Disney’s past is actively maintained and deployed as a creative tool for present-day projects. The Archives supplied wardrobe to a billion-dollar sequel. Imagineering’s history is being presented as a public-facing museum program. The common thread is that Disney treats its institutional memory as a working resource instead of a warehouse.

WDW News Today also flagged that Disney gave a young fan an exclusive look inside the Imagineering Robotics Lab during Week of Wishes. And in Hong Kong, Lord Henry Mystic and Albert have debuted as meet and greet characters at Hong Kong Disneyland, bringing two of the most beloved original characters from Mystic Manor into the parks in a way guests can interact with directly. Mystic Manor remains one of the finest attractions Imagineering has ever built, and giving its characters a physical presence outside the attraction suggests Hong Kong Disneyland recognizes the cult following that attraction has earned among park enthusiasts worldwide.

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Sources

Disney Parks Blog · WDW News Today · MickeyBlog · Disney Tourist Blog · BlogMickey · Attractions Magazine · The DisInsider · Lightning Brain · Lightning Brain · D23 · Disney Experiences

Smugglers Run Launches a Full Mandalorian Overhaul on May 22

Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run is getting its most significant story update since the attraction opened, and the timing is no accident. Disney Parks Blog confirmed that a brand-new Mandalorian and Grogu storyline launches May 22 at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort, timed precisely to the theatrical release of Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu.

The new mission puts guests in the middle of a pursuit across Tatooine’s desert, where Hondo Ohnaka has caught wind of a deal between ex-Imperial officers and a band of pirates. You take the Falcon’s controls, team up with Din Djarin and Grogu, and chase a bounty through the stars. Disney went further than simply refreshing the framework.

According to Disney Parks Blog, each mission can now route through multiple iconic Star Wars destinations, including Bespin, the wreckage of the second Death Star near Endor, and the galactic capital of Coruscant. The most clever addition is a new interactive feature for the engineer position. Engineers can check in on Grogu throughout the flight and, critically, make the pivotal planet choice that determines the mission’s course. This is a meaningful mechanical change. The engineer seat has historically felt like the least engaging role on Smugglers Run, and giving that position narrative agency is exactly the kind of design thinking that turns a good attraction into a repeatable one.

The rollout extends well beyond the cockpit. At Disneyland, a limited-time projection show called “The Curious Child” begins playing after “Shadows of Memory: A Skywalker Saga” at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, featuring Grogu using the Force to recall memories of his adventures with Mando. Disney Parks Blog notes that new food and beverage offerings are arriving at both coasts, including Grogu Cookies at Galaxy’s Edge, Sweet-and-Spicy Puffer Pig Pasta exclusively at Walt Disney World, and a Mandalorian and Grogu Jetpack Sipper and BDX Droid Bucket at both resorts.

Disney is treating this film launch the way it once treated major park expansions: full ecosystem activation across attractions, dining, and merchandise, all synchronized to a single release date. For a franchise that began as a streaming series, the level of park integration signals just how central Mando and Grogu have become to Disney’s storytelling ambitions.

The Parks

Over at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Imagineers are proving that you can honor what came before while building something entirely new. Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets officially opens May 26, and the early details trickling out reveal a team that cared deeply about the attraction’s 27-year history. BlogMickey reports that Imagineers tucked at least two deliberate Aerosmith easter eggs into the new Muppets pre-show. The first is a black Gibson Les Paul guitar sitting in the background behind Scooter’s audio-animatronic figure. Longtime fans will recognize it instantly. In the original pre-show, guitarist Joe Perry would ask a Cast Member playing “Chris” to grab that exact guitar and carry it out through a nearby door. It was one of those interactive details that rewarded repeat guests. Now it lives on quietly inside G-Force Records under new Muppets management.

The second easter egg is subtler. BlogMickey spotted a mug on Scooter’s desk reading “Hey! Hey! Hey!” and “#1 Studio Manager,” a direct callback to the original pre-show dialogue when actress Illeana Douglas, playing the band’s frantic manager, burst into the recording studio with that exact phrase. Meanwhile, WDW News Today reports that Statler and Waldorf from MuppetVision 3-D now heckle guests aboard the attraction itself, carrying the spirit of those two beloved grumps from one Hollywood Studios classic into another.

Elsewhere in Magic Kingdom, aerial photography from WDW News Today shows that the Mike Fink Keel Boat Landing has been removed as Piston Peak construction continues to reshape Frontierland. The same outlet also reports that Disney has filed permits for something called “Project Fedora” at Hollywood Studios. No details beyond the name exist, but Disney permit filings with evocative codenames have historically preceded significant projects.

At Disneyland Paris, Disney Experiences published an extensive behind-the-scenes look at how the resort trained more than 350 Cast Members to become “villagers of Arendelle” for the World of Frozen opening. The process began nearly 15 months before opening day and involved an ambitious recruitment effort including internal mobility, targeted recruitment, and a European casting tour. Disney Experiences reports that more than 1,200 Cast Members joined new roles and opportunities as Disney Adventure World took shape. Each selected Cast Member received what became known as the “letter from the village,” an invitation written in character from Fredrik, royal emissary of Queens Anna and Elsa. Cast Member Dorine Hermier described being chosen for the opening guest flow team as a “heart-stopping surprise.”

The DisInsider reports that Bluey and Bingo are officially heading to Disney’s Animal Kingdom beginning May 26 as part of Walt Disney World’s “Cool KIDS’ SUMMER” celebration. According to the report, this could become one of the hottest family offerings at the resort this year, though details beyond the characters’ arrival remain limited.

Saturday’s park conditions across Walt Disney World told an interesting story. Lightning Brain data shows that Magic Kingdom finished the day at a 4/10 (Moderate) with a median wait just under 15 minutes, essentially flat against its 30-day average, a surprising result for a May Saturday. Hollywood Studios ran the busiest at 5/10 (Average) with a 37-minute median, while both Animal Kingdom and EPCOT landed in comfortable territory. The afternoon brought real disruption at Hollywood Studios, though. Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance went offline for nearly an hour around 6:00 PM, and Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway closed twice during the day. When Runaway Railway’s second closure overlapped almost exactly with the Rise outage, it left Galaxy’s Edge and the adjacent area short on premium headliners simultaneously. EPCOT’s Flower and Garden Festival continued drawing its characteristic mix of food-booth grazers without hammering attraction queues. Temperatures hit 91 degrees with 74% humidity.

Planning your Disney trip? Download Lightning Brain from the App Store or visit lightningbrain.app to optimize every minute of your park day.

The Screen

James Cameron wants to make Avatar movies twice as fast at two-thirds the cost. During a recent appearance on The Empire Film Podcast, Cameron confirmed he is actively working on Avatar 4 and Avatar 5, according to MickeyBlog. His approach will shift significantly from prior installments. “We’re gonna be looking at some new technologies to try and do them more efficiently, because they’re hideously expensive and take a long time,” Cameron said. “I want to do them in half the time for two-thirds of the cost, that’s my metric.” He noted it will take about a year to figure out the technical path forward, during which he will be writing and working on other projects. Avatar: Fire and Ash earned nearly $1.5 billion globally, a significant number by any standard, but its $400 million production budget raised questions about diminishing returns relative to the first two films’ record-setting grosses.

The Avatar franchise’s connection to Disney parks runs deep through Pandora at Animal Kingdom, which makes Cameron’s commitment to continuing the saga meaningful for Walt Disney World guests who have walked through the Valley of Mo’ara and flown on Flight of Passage. The filmmaker’s push toward efficiency rather than escalation is a pragmatic acknowledgment that the industry’s appetite for half-billion-dollar productions has limits.

On the fashion front, D23 published a look inside the Walt Disney Archives’ role in The Devil Wears Prada 2, which has topped the global box office for two consecutive weekends and earned nearly $440 million to date. D23 reports that filmmakers pulled items directly from the Archives, including signature wardrobe pieces from the original 2006 film, to serve as both inspiration and a direct connection to the first movie. Walt Disney Archives Director of Operations and Business Strategy Joanna Pratt noted that “costuming is quite literally the fabric of the storytelling, helping to capture the world of high fashion while also revealing the personalities and transformation of the film’s starring characters.”

Early Cast Member previews of Soarin’ Across America are generating mixed reactions, according to Attractions Magazine. Many fans are praising the attraction’s scenic visuals, emotional tone, and classic Soarin’ feeling, while others say some transitions still feel uneven. Attractions Magazine notes that Disney did improve one common fan complaint, though specifics on what was addressed remain limited in the early reports.

The Vault

Disney CFO Hugh Johnson laid out the company’s pricing philosophy at the MoffettNathanson Media, Internet and Communications Conference this week, and it was remarkably direct. Disney Food Blog reported Johnson’s comments on what the massive Walt Disney World expansion projects, including Piston Peak and Villains Land at Magic Kingdom, Monstropolis at Hollywood Studios, and Tropical Americas at Animal Kingdom, mean for future ticket prices. “It actually offers some ability to charge more because essentially, you’re offering something new that wasn’t there before,” Johnson said. He then went further: “Yes, we have the ability to grow attendance as we expand capacity. I would expect to see both pricing and attendance growth over any 3- or 4-year time frame.”

The statement is notable for its candor. Disney executives rarely frame pricing strategy this explicitly in public settings. Johnson is essentially confirming what most Disney fans have long suspected. The expansion projects currently reshaping three of Walt Disney World’s four parks aim to create the justification for a higher price floor rather than simply adding capacity. When Piston Peak, Villains Land, Monstropolis, and Tropical Americas all come online, the argument will be that guests are getting a fundamentally different product than what exists today, and the pricing will reflect that.

AllEars also covered the pricing discussion, noting simply that Disney Parks are going to continue to get more expensive. For families already stretching their budgets to visit, the expansion era presents a paradox: more to do than ever before, at prices that will keep climbing to match.

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Sources

Disney Parks Blog · BlogMickey · WDW News Today · Lightning Brain · MickeyBlog · D23 · Attractions Magazine · Disney Food Blog · AllEars · The DisInsider · Disney Experiences

The Galaxy’s Edge Takeover Begins Now

Disney has been teasing Mandalorian and Grogu tie-ins for months, but the full scope of what launches next week is staggering. According to Disney Parks Blog, Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort will debut an entirely new storyline on May 22 in which guests join Din Djarin and Grogu on a Hondo Ohnaka-brokered bounty mission across Tatooine, Bespin, the wreckage of the second Death Star near Endor, and Coruscant. The engineer position gets a new interactive feature that lets guests check in on Grogu throughout the flight and make the pivotal planet choice that determines the mission’s course. Pilots, gunners, and engineers each get fresh gameplay moments, new interactions, and what Disney calls “unexpected surprises.”

That alone would be a significant update to one of Galaxy’s Edge’s flagship attractions. But the rollout extends far beyond the cockpit. Disney Parks Blog confirms that a new nighttime experience called “The Curious Child” begins tomorrow, May 16, at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Disneyland park. The show features Grogu testing his power to recall memories of his adventures with Mando, using projection effects that transform the spires of Batuu near the Millennium Falcon. It plays after “Shadows of Memory: A Skywalker Saga,” giving Disneyland guests a double feature of nighttime storytelling anchored in two different eras of the Star Wars timeline.

The food and merchandise push is equally aggressive. Disney Parks Blog reports that Grogu Cookies arrive at Galaxy’s Edge on both coasts, while Walt Disney World guests can also try the Sweet-and-Spicy Puffer Pig Pasta. WDW News Today adds that full Mandalorian and Grogu menus have been revealed for both resorts, alongside a BDX Droid Bucket and Grogu Jetpack Sipper available at Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort, limited to two per person per transaction. Disney Tourist Blog notes that Docking Bay 7 in particular is getting a menu overhaul on both coasts, framing it as a badly needed refresh for what was once the top counter service restaurant in Galaxy’s Edge.

What makes this rollout notable is its simultaneity. Disney often staggers experiences between coasts or reserves the best activations for a single resort. Here, Smugglers Run gets the same new mission at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland on the same day. The food and sippers land everywhere at once. The nighttime show is Disneyland-exclusive, but the attraction overlay is universal. For a franchise that has struggled at times to translate streaming-era Star Wars into park-level excitement, this coordinated push signals that Disney sees Mando and Grogu as a tentpole property worthy of the full theme park treatment, rather than just a meet-and-greet and a popcorn bucket.

The Parks

The biggest non-Star-Wars story this week is a genuinely historic one. BlogMickey reports, with aerial photo confirmation from Bioreconstruct, that assembly has begun on a fourth Magic Kingdom ferryboat near the Seven Seas Lagoon. Disney has officially confirmed the new vessel will be 120 feet long, designed to match the existing fleet in capacity and appearance, and named the Meg Gilbert Crofton after Walt Disney World’s fourth president. Meg began her Disney career in 1977 as a marketing manager and served as president of Walt Disney World from 2006 to 2013, overseeing the New Fantasyland expansion that brought Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Be Our Guest Restaurant to the park. According to BlogMickey, the boat is being shipped in pieces to Walt Disney World property for on-site assembly, painting, and finishing, with a debut planned for 2027. The fleet has not grown since 1976, making this the first expansion in over fifty years, and it arrives ahead of what Disney has signaled will be Magic Kingdom’s largest growth era ever.

Over at Hollywood Studios, the Muppets are making their presence felt in a big way. WDW News Today published first-look photos and video of the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets pre-show, revealing Audio-Animatronics in action, repainted ride vehicles captured in new on-ride photos, a painted gate, car details, and a FØØD banner among the latest additions. The outlet also revealed the full FØØD by Swedish Chef menu, which includes nachos, churros, and more. New Muppets-themed merchandise is arriving alongside the attraction’s transformation. For fans who have followed this retheme from announcement to execution, the pieces are visibly coming together.

WDW News Today also reports that Soarin’ Over California has received an announced closing date, while Soarin’ Across America has debuted at Walt Disney World. The two stories are connected: the California version’s departure at Disneyland makes way for the next chapter of the Soarin’ franchise, while Walt Disney World guests get a version that spans the full country. Meanwhile, Hollywood Studios is already dressing for summer with Toy Story 5 banners installed outside Toy Story Land, according to WDW News Today.

On the Disneyland Resort side, WDW News Today reports that Disneyland has filed permits for a shopping mall to replace the Toy Story parking area, instead of a third theme park. For fans who have speculated about what DisneylandForward might bring to that parcel, the permit filing offers a concrete, if perhaps less thrilling, answer about the near-term future of that land.

Animal Kingdom is preparing for a different kind of invasion. According to one report from The DisInsider, Bluey and Bingo are officially heading to Disney’s Animal Kingdom beginning May 26 as part of Walt Disney World’s Cool Kids Summer celebration. If the enthusiasm around these characters is any indication, this could quickly become one of the hottest family offerings at the resort this summer. Lightning Brain’s daily park report noted that Animal Kingdom posted just a 2/10 (Light) crowd level on Friday, May 15, a 44 percent drop from its 30-day baseline on a clear 90-degree day with no obvious crowd suppressor. Magic Kingdom, by contrast, hit 5/10 (Average) and peaked at 7:00 PM with a 20-minute median wait, a pattern consistent with Friday arrival surges. Space Mountain had a particularly rough day, spending over five collective hours offline across three separate closures, including one that covered the park’s entire peak evening period. TRON Lightcycle/Run overlapped with one of those closures, leaving Tomorrowland’s two flagship attractions simultaneously unavailable for 44 minutes in mid-afternoon.

Planning your Disney trip? Download Lightning Brain from the App Store or visit lightningbrain.app to optimize every minute of your park day.

For families weighing summer plans, Walt Disney World’s water parks are offering a notable perk. MickeyBlog reports that resort guests receive free water park admission on their check-in day this summer, covering either Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon but not both and not transferable to another day.

The Screen

The Devil Wears Prada 2 continues to dominate at the global box office. D23 reports the sequel has earned nearly $440 million across its first two weekends, topping the global charts both times. The D23 piece goes behind the scenes at the Walt Disney Archives, where costume designer Molly Rogers and Archives Director of Operations Joanna Pratt discuss how signature pieces from the original 2006 film, including the iconic cerulean sweater, were pulled from the Archives to serve as both inspiration and direct connection for the sequel. Pratt notes that as The Walt Disney Company has grown to include brands like 20th Century Studios, the Archives’ collection has expanded alongside it. The original Devil Wears Prada is currently streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.

Staying in the Star Wars galaxy, the Mandalorian and Grogu film’s premiere took place May 14 at TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, with reviews embargoed until May 19. WDW News Today flags that early social media reactions have been mixed, with the outlet’s recap noting descriptions ranging from “emotionless” to “thrilling.” The film opens May 22.

The Vault

The naming of the Meg Gilbert Crofton ferryboat deserves a moment beyond the construction update. According to BlogMickey, Disney confirmed that the tradition of naming ferryboats after Disney legends was established in 1997, and the existing fleet honors Admiral Joe Fowler, General Joe Potter, and Richard F. Irvine. Each of these figures played foundational roles in building Walt Disney World itself. Meg Crofton’s addition to that lineage is significant: she is the first woman honored with a ferryboat name, and her portrait will hang on the first deck alongside a plaque sharing her story with guests for generations to come.

Her tenure as Walt Disney World’s fourth president coincided with a period of genuine creative ambition at Magic Kingdom. BlogMickey notes she oversaw New Fantasyland, the first major Magic Kingdom expansion in decades, which introduced Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Be Our Guest Restaurant. She also contributed to the opening of Disney’s Art of Animation Resort in 2012. That the ferryboat bearing her name will debut ahead of Magic Kingdom’s next major expansion era feels like Imagineering drawing a deliberate line between the park’s past growth and its future.

Separately, the Cast Member training program behind World of Frozen at Disneyland Paris offers a fascinating window into how Disney builds immersion from the inside out. Disney Experiences reports that nearly 15 months before opening day, Disneyland Paris launched a recruitment effort combining internal mobility, targeted hiring, and a European casting tour. More than 1,200 Cast Members joined new roles across Disney Adventure World, with just 350 selected specifically to become Arendelle’s “villagers.” Each received what became known as the “letter from the village,” written in character from Fredrik, royal emissary of Queens Anna and Elsa. Cast Members received official name badges identifying them as Arendellians, and they were formally welcomed as villagers during a dedicated celebration at the resort. Cast Member Dorine Hermier, an attractions operator and trainer, described being chosen for the opening guest flow team as a “heart-stopping surprise,” adding that she felt “speechless, excited, honored, and already imagining the magic ahead.” Three weeks after the land opened on March 29, 2026, the impact of that preparation is, by Disney Experiences’ account, unmistakable. The approach reflects a philosophy that immersion involves more than just architecture and Audio-Animatronics, as it starts with the people who greet you at the gate.

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Sources

Disney Parks Blog · WDW News Today · BlogMickey · Disney Tourist Blog · D23 · The DisInsider · Lightning Brain · MickeyBlog · Disney Experiences

Disney Cruise Line’s Summer 2026 Entertainment Blitz

If you have been waiting for Disney Cruise Line to flex its entertainment muscles, summer 2026 is the season. BlogMickey reports that the cruise line has unveiled a sweeping entertainment refresh across the entire fleet, headlined by a full day of Frozen programming on Alaska sailings, an updated pirate night experience, expanded deck parties, and the return of the Broadway Stars Series. This top-to-bottom entertainment investment signals that Disney sees its cruise business as a growth engine rather than a sideline.

The centerpiece is a dedicated Frozen day aboard the Disney Wonder and Disney Magic during Alaska sailings. According to BlogMickey, the main event is For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration, a live show performed on the upper deck featuring Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff, with Royal Historians guiding guests through the story as on-screen lyrics invite sing-along participation. Set against the glaciers and coastline of Alaska, the pairing of source material and scenery feels almost too perfect. Supporting experiences fill the rest of the day: Anna’s Frozen Fun Hunt (a scavenger hunt for families), Oaken’s Maypole Swirl & Twirl (an atrium dance party), and a Frozen-themed dining experience featuring traditional Nordic fare alongside dishes inspired by the film.

Beyond Alaska, the fleet gets several new or expanded offerings. Mickey & Minnie’s Pirates in the Caribbean debuts on select sailings as an updated take on the classic pirate night experience. Mickey’s Color Spin Dance Party expands to additional ships this spring, including a May debut on the Disney Magic. And the Broadway Stars Series returns on select Alaska sailings, curated by Susan Egan, the Godmother of the Disney Destiny, and Adam J. Levy of 10th & Main Productions, bringing Broadway and West End performers aboard for live performances and behind-the-scenes storytelling. Talent varies by sailing.

The signature sailaway show, Let’s Set Sail, hosted by Captain Mickey Mouse and Captain Minnie Mouse, also continues its rollout across the fleet in 2026.

Meanwhile, the Disney Adventure is pioneering a new revenue category at sea. WDW News Today reviews the ship’s first-ever additional-charge fireworks dessert party, called Dazzle and Delight Fireworks. Priced at $49 per guest, the experience runs from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. and includes champagne (or fruit punch for kids), a selection of desserts including orange almond cake, macarons, a pineapple-topped pastry, chocolate-covered strawberry pops, and brownies. Guests watch The Lion King: Celebration in the Sky, a fireworks show narrated by Bollywood’s Shah Rukh Khan, who voiced Mufasa in the Hindi-language version of Disney’s live-action The Lion King. WDW News Today notes that the party was supposed to be bookable through the Navigator app but required a call to Guest Services during their sailing. The included souvenir pin, a “Hakuna Matata” design, is not exclusive to the party. For fans tracking Disney’s premium add-on strategy, this is worth watching. A $49 dessert party at sea follows the same playbook that has become standard at Walt Disney World, and its reception will likely determine how aggressively the cruise line pursues similar upsells.

The Parks

The biggest news on land starts at Disneyland, where Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run is about to get a significant update. MickeyBlog reports that the attraction will debut a new mission featuring the Mandalorian and Grogu on May 22, alongside additional tasks for Engineers and new planets to explore. The timing is deliberate, as May 22 is also the theatrical debut of The Mandalorian and Grogu. To celebrate, Magic Key holders can pick up a complimentary Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run poster featuring the galactic duo starting May 19 at Star Wars Trading Post in Downtown Disney, one per holder, while supplies last.

Planning your Disney trip? Download Lightning Brain from the App Store or visit lightningbrain.app to optimize every minute of your park day.

Over at EPCOT, Soarin’ Around the World has closed and patriotic decorations are in place as the attraction prepares for its transformation into Soarin’ Across America. WDW News Today reports that more locations and a new score have been announced for the updated attraction, a significant detail for fans who have been following this project closely. The same outlet notes that the former MuppetVision Theater at Disney’s Hollywood Studios continues its transformation, with the purple gutter now gone and drywall installed.

At Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Bluey is arriving, and this one matters for every family with young kids. WDW Prep School reports that Bluey’s Wild World at Conservation Station opens May 26 as part of Cool KIDS’ SUMMER at Walt Disney World Resort, and crucially, this is a permanent addition. The experience uses a virtual queue, with spots available through the My Disney Experience app at either 7 a.m. or 10 a.m. on the day of your visit. You will not be able to simply walk up and wait. For families planning around this, the virtual queue detail is the single most important planning fact to know.

At Disney Springs, Level99 continues racing toward its summer 2026 opening. WDW News Today reports that construction walls have shifted forward, now extending past an outdoor seating area and blocking one of CityWorks’ doorways. The venue will feature 60-plus life-sized mini-games and challenges, hosting upwards of 1,000 players at a time, with a central bar serving handcrafted cocktails, local beers, and Level99’s signature Detroit-style pizza.

Thursday’s crowd picture at Walt Disney World told an interesting story. Lightning Brain’s daily park report gave Magic Kingdom a 6/10 (Average) crowd rating, which stood in sharp contrast to lighter traffic at the other parks. The real story, though, was mechanical. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was offline for over four hours during the park’s busiest window. Space Mountain closed for nearly two and a half hours in the afternoon. Under the Sea closed at 2:35 p.m. and never reopened. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh had three separate downtime windows totaling over two hours. When multiple major attractions go down simultaneously, the remaining options absorb all that displaced demand, and Fantasyland felt it acutely. EPCOT, by contrast, came in at a comfortable 4/10 (Moderate) with the Flower and Garden Festival in full swing.

A brief morning lightning hold between 9:00 and 10:04 a.m. closed Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and both Walt Disney World Railroad stations, but skies cleared quickly and the afternoon hit 88 degrees under mostly clear conditions.

At Disneyland Resort, TouringPlans reports that the Star Wars Galactic ID, a popular new souvenir, has arrived, with some fans waiting over an hour to get one. And at Hong Kong Disneyland, BlogMickey reports that Lord Henry Mystic and his travel companion Albert will step outside Mystic Manor to meet guests for the very first time beginning May 17. The debut falls on the 13th anniversary of Mystic Point’s opening and serves as the grand finale of Hong Kong Disneyland’s year-long 20th anniversary celebration, “The Most Magical Party of All.” The two characters will take turns appearing, with Albert joined by a new zoologist companion named Charlotte.

Across the Atlantic, Disney Experiences published a fascinating inside look at how Disneyland Paris trained more than 350 Cast Members to become “villagers of Arendelle” ahead of World of Frozen’s opening. The recruitment effort began nearly 15 months before opening day and included a European casting tour. Selected Cast Members received what became known as “the letter from the village,” an invitation written in character by Fredrik, royal emissary of Queens Anna and Elsa. As Cast Member Dorine Hermier described it, being chosen for the opening guest flow team was a “heart-stopping surprise.”

The Screen

The Devil Wears Prada 2 continues its dominant theatrical run, and The Walt Disney Company reports that the 20th Century Studios sequel has earned nearly $440 million at the global box office after just two weekends. The company also shared a look inside the Walt Disney Archives, where costume designer Molly Rogers and Archives Director of Operations Joanna Pratt discussed how signature pieces from the original 2006 film, including the iconic cerulean sweater, served as both inspiration and direct connection for the sequel’s wardrobe. As Pratt noted, “Costuming is quite literally the fabric of the storytelling.”

The film’s star Anne Hathaway also made waves at the Disney Upfront 2026, where D23 reports she was announced as a new Disney Legend. Hathaway introduced Josh D’Amaro to the stage for his first upfront presentation as Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company. The event included a string of major entertainment announcements: Conan O’Brien will return to host the 99th Academy Awards, Paul Anthony Kelly joins the 13th installment of FX’s American Horror Story alongside returning cast members, and first looks were unveiled for FX’s Cry Wolf (starring Brie Larson and Olivia Colman), FX’s The Shards (a Ryan Murphy thriller), Hulu’s The Land (a Dan Fogelman football family drama starring Christopher Meloni, William H. Macy, and Mandy Moore), Hulu’s Count My Lies (Lindsay Lohan, Shailene Woodley, and Kit Harington), and Hulu’s The Spot (Claire Danes and Ewan McGregor). Disney also confirmed it will host four of 2027’s most significant cultural moments: the College Football Playoff Championship Game, the GRAMMYs, Super Bowl LXI, and the Oscars.

The Vault

Disney CFO Hugh Johnston appeared at the 2026 MoffettNathanson Media, Internet & Communications Conference and made a claim that Disney Tourist Blog found worth dissecting: Walt Disney World cannot increase attendance because the parks are already “filled up.” Disney Tourist Blog covers his comments and the parallels to past statements by company leadership, and argues there is a distinction between what he gets right and what qualifies as corporate puffery. Editorially, the tension between “our parks are full” and “we expect attendance and pricing to grow with expansions” (a separate point noted by WDW News Today from recent Disney executive comments) is worth watching. Both statements can technically be true, but they serve very different audiences. One reassures Wall Street that demand outstrips supply, while the other reassures families that new capacity is coming. The question is whether both promises can be kept simultaneously.

Johnston also teased something potentially transformative, according to WDW News Today: a “super app” that would combine parks, cruise, shopping, and streaming into a single platform. Details remain thin, but the concept tracks with Disney’s broader push to deepen the relationship between its physical and digital experiences. A separate Disney executive, also cited by WDW News Today, described in-person parks and cruise experiences as “more valuable than ever” in a screen-based world. That framing matters. If Disney views its physical experiences as the premium tier of a unified ecosystem, the super app becomes the connective tissue linking a streaming subscriber to a park guest to a cruise passenger, all within one interface.

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Sources

BlogMickey · WDW News Today · WDW News Today · WDW News Today · MickeyBlog · WDW Prep School · Lightning Brain · TouringPlans · BlogMickey · Disney Experiences · The Walt Disney Company · D23 · Disney Tourist Blog