Universal Orlando Merchandise for Jack the Clown and Dr. Oddfellow's Infernal Carnival of Nightmares has reached Five & Dime at Universal Studios Florida, and the artwork does more than sell a sweatshirt. The poster puts Eddie Schmidt, Chance, The Caretaker and a young Storyteller alongside this year's two icons, and the tumbler adds three more.
Disney World Magic Kingdom's Space Mountain was closed all day on Friday, August 7, and did not reopen until around 6pm, just in time for the opening night of Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. The day before, the coaster had been running on one side of its dual track and its standby wait climbed to 175 minutes. Disney posted an in-app apology signed by the park's vice president.
Universal Orlando The teaser card is gone. Universal has shown the free annual passholder magnet for Passholder Nights: a brown hieroglyph slab with a gold UOAP logo and a metallic blue scarab where the O belongs. The catch is the same as it was in late July. The only place to get one is the August 15 and 16 after-hours events, and reservations are already full.
Disney World Droid Depot is getting a companion that is not a droid. Disney has announced Batuu Adventure Buddies, starting with an interactive Ewok with LCD eyes, motorized expressions, and optional gear packs whose tools and food attach to its left hand. It goes on sale at Disneyland on August 13, and Disney says the full three-toy collection will debut at Disney's Hollywood Studios later, with no date and no prices announced yet.
Disney World Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party opened August 7, and Magic Kingdom's daily hours changed with it. On party dates through August 21 the park opens at 8am instead of 9am, with resort early entry at 7:30am, and on Halloween party dates it closes to regular admission at 6pm so the party can begin at 7pm. Happily Ever After and the Disney Starlight parade do not run on party nights, and some Extended Evening Hours have moved to Disney's Hollywood Studios or Disney's Animal Kingdom.
Disney World Max Goof's Powerline-inspired dance party has been a roaming Main Street, U.S.A. pre-parade in past seasons, dating back to 2022. On opening night of Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party 2026, it did not run there ahead of the parade at all. It now runs as a stage show with five set showtimes a night, at locations including the Adventureland stage and Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe.
Disney World Opening night of Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party introduced Blair Lockward and Lady Fermotta, two brand new Haunted Mansion characters, plus a rare character appearance by the Grave Diggers. Ten of the season's 38 dates have already sold out.
Universal Orlando Neon purple bins with built-in solar panels have appeared around CityWalk, most of them on the bridges to the parks, using the sun to power internal compactors. They are the same units Walt Disney World started rolling out in June, right down to the hand or foot opening that has already confused Disney guests.
Disney World Disney will host the Department of Defense Warrior Games at ESPN Wide World of Sports in August 2027, its third time, with nearly 200 competitors across 12 adaptive sports. Pickleball is new since the 2024 Games, and Disney has not said whether spectators get in free or whether allied nations return.
Disney World The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District has reinstated theme park passes for its employees. In 2023 the same District called the pass program a "scheme to funnel millions of taxpayer dollars to Disney." A District spokesperson says the new pass fixes what Reedy Creek got wrong, including employees paying taxes on it.
Universal Orlando Universal Studios Florida is filling in the food and street layer of Halloween Horror Nights 35, and among the new arrivals is a blood-splattered draft wagon carrying Edgar Schmidt's name. There is also a Hellraiser food truck outside Springfield, and a stage for Death Eaters inside Diagon Alley.
SeaWorld Orlando SeaWorld Orlando's Howl-O-Scream page now carries a third named haunted house, The Crawl Space, set in a tunnel network abandoned after a containment failure. A third all new scare zone, Extermination Order, is on the page too, and it flips the usual setup: the exterminators are hunting you.
SeaWorld Orlando United Parks & Resorts named Brad Gilmour president of SeaWorld Orlando on Thursday, effective immediately, and in doing so quietly undid an org chart it drew up in January 2023. Gilmour has run Aquatica and Discovery Cove since that split; he now adds SeaWorld Orlando, reuniting all three Orlando parks under one president. He succeeds Jon "JP" Peterson, whose departure the company did not explain, and he inherits a soft second quarter and an unresolved union fight.
Universal Orlando Halloween Horror Nights 35 does not open until August 28, and the Tribute Store does not open until August 26, but Universal has already started selling event merchandise at Islands of Adventure and on Shop Universal. UOFan shopped the early drop and photographed the price tags, which gives us an early public price list for the season: the annual house lineup shirt is $35, the matching hoodie is $65, and the refillable Coca-Cola Freestyle tumbler is $28.99.
Disney World Disney teased a nameless Captain Jack Sparrow offering for Adventureland back in June and left every practical question open. Nearly six weeks later the answers landed: it is called Captain Jack's Buccaneer Bash, it takes over the Adventureland stage across from Pirates of the Caribbean, and it runs as a rolling 7 p.m. to midnight window instead of scheduled showtimes. Disney promises a salty pirate band, jugglers and sailor superstitions. It debuts tonight, Friday August 7, on the opening night of Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party 2026.
Universal Orlando Universal has confirmed festive decor for Super Nintendo World and How to Train Your Dragon - Isle of Berk at Epic Universe this season, plus the return of Grinchmas and Universal's Holiday Parade featuring Macy's, and a separately ticketed Universal Holiday Tour. The season runs November 14 through January 3.
Disney World Jason Fuchs is writing and showrunning a Spaceship Earth pilot for Disney+, inspired by the EPCOT ride, with Michael Waldron executive producing and Lee Toland Krieger directing. The official logline sends teenagers from Earth's past and future after a threat as vast as time itself. Casting is underway, and there is no series order yet.
Disney World Holiday Ever After: A Disney World Wish Come True lands Saturday, November 28 on Hallmark Channel and streams on Hallmark+ the next day. Disney calls it the first original movie Hallmark Channel and Walt Disney World have made together, and it was shot around the resort last winter.
Disney World Disney's August 5 details drop for the 2026 EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival revealed the merchandise line, a brand new Waiter Mickey PhotoPass Magic Shot across five World Showcase pavilions, and firm dates and pricing for both scavenger hunts. Remy's Ratatouille Hide & Squeak runs all 87 days of the festival. Pluto's Pumpkin Pursuit covers only 39 of them.
Universal Orlando The half bear, half zombie mascot that Universal Studios Japan created for Halloween Horror Nights in 2021 will finally greet Orlando guests, inside the Five & Dime store at Universal Studios Florida during HHN 35 event hours. He was slated to appear in Orlando and Hollywood last year but ended up meeting guests at Hollywood, while Orlando got just the merchandise. Universal has not announced appearance times yet, and an expanded HamiKuma collection arrives August 24.
Universal Orlando Universal put the show director and scenic designer for H.R. Bloodengutz Presents: A Halloween Fright-Tacular! on the record, and two of the house's scenes now have names: The Grayscale Graveyard, a fully black and white zombie set piece, and Monster's Night Out, a tiki bar. The actor who originated the character in 2011 has recorded a brand new queue video, and the house is staged inside a WKNB studio that has sat boarded up as a crime scene for 15 years. Halloween Horror Nights 35 runs select nights from August 28 through November 1, 2026 at Universal Studios Florida.
Universal Orlando Inside Universal published a first look at this year's Halloween Horror Nights merchandise on Wednesday, and near the end of it are the Tribute Store details. The store is themed to a traveling sideshow, it opens August 26, and it moves back to its original spot next to Revenge of the Mummy. Annual Passholders get in a day early.
Disney World Disney's website now flags Vacation Fun as temporarily closed from August 9, with a reopening planned only for sometime later this year and no date attached. Two days after it goes dark, the same theater starts handing Annual Passholders a free Kermit the Frog magnet, and keeps doing it through September 24.
Disney World The Ocho returns to ESPN Wide World of Sports on Friday, August 7 with 10 live competitions, free admission and complimentary parking. The published grid runs 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., leaves the 1 p.m. hour open, and includes one event that Disney's own lineup never names.
Disney World Disney says an all new interactive cheese exhibit arrives at EPCOT's CommuniCore Hall on September 18, but the EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival opens August 27. That leaves the exhibit covering 65 of the festival's 87 days and missing the first 22. Last year the same space carried almost no festival theming at all.
Disney World Cleaning it was not enough. Twelve days after guests looked up in Magic Kingdom's left Stretching Room and could not find the hanging corpse, Disney has replaced the scrim ceiling outright. The new one has shading around the triangle and octagon designs, and the figure is clearly visible again. The right room's scrim, where the corpse stayed visible, has not been replaced.
Disney World Disney says a limited time food and drink pop-up will take over The Diamond Horseshoe at Magic Kingdom this fall, previewing a charcuterie board, a prickly pear margarita made with LALO Blanco Tequila, and a hot honey lemonade with a chili-lime rim. The family style holiday dinner the Liberty Square music hall was known for stays next door at Liberty Tree Tavern. Disney has not given an opening date, prices, or a name for the pop-up.
Disney World Disney's fiscal third quarter report Wednesday morning singled out Walt Disney World by name, calling it a stand-out quarter, and CFO Hugh Johnston went on CNBC to say the resort's attendance looked better than the competition's and better than Orlando airport traffic. The Experiences segment posted $9.97 billion in revenue, up 10 percent, and $3.02 billion in operating income, up 20 percent, though a roughly $100 million tariff refund accounted for about four of those points. Posted wait time data from June and July tells a more complicated story.
Universal Orlando The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted Universal City Studios a patent Tuesday for a water ride vehicle that carries its own propulsion, using two independently adjustable surfaces dipped into a moving channel of water to accelerate, slow down and steer. Three separate claims cover handing that control to the passenger. The patent names no ride, no park and no character, so the Creature from the Black Lagoon chatter is exactly that.
Disney World Magic Kingdom's Lightning Lane Premier Pass drops to $299 on August 23 and 25, beating the old $329 floor set in October 2024. Both dates are Halloween party nights, so the day ends at 6 p.m. for anyone without a party ticket, but every earlier August party night is still $359.
