Parks Magic
Vacation Fun goes dark at Mickey Shorts Theater on August 9, two days before Kermit moves in with a free magnet
News

Vacation Fun goes dark at Mickey Shorts Theater on August 9, two days before Kermit moves in with a free magnet

Michael Travels
·
Published

The Mickey Shorts Theater at Disney's Hollywood Studios is about to spend an open-ended stretch with nothing playing, in a building Disney has just given a second job.

The official Walt Disney World website has picked up a closure notice for the theater's film. Disney's wording is that the short "will be temporarily closed August 9, and is planned to reopen later this year." That is the whole promise. No reopening date, no month, no window.

The exterior of Mickey Shorts Theater at Disney's Hollywood Studios, with a marquee reading Vacation Fun, an original animated short with Mickey and Minnie The Mickey Shorts Theater marquee at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Photo: WDW News Today.

Then Kermit turns up two days later

Here is the part that makes the timing worth a second look. The show stops on August 9. On August 11, the very same building becomes the pickup counter for a new Annual Passholder magnet starring Kermit the Frog.

Blog Mickey reported the perk on August 4: "Beginning August 11th, Passholders can pick up a Kermit the Frog magnet at Mickey Shorts Theater." The Muppets Passholder offerings at the park run "August 11th through September 24th," so the theater keeps that job for about six and a half weeks.

Illustrated Kermit the Frog perched on a log over a lily pad pond, playing a banjo, with a rainbow arcing behind him Disney's Kermit artwork for the Muppets Annual Passholder offerings at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Image: Disney and The Muppets Studio, LLC, via WDW News Today.

Disney has not said the two things are connected, and it is worth being careful here: a closure and a magnet giveaway landing 48 hours apart is adjacency, not cause, until somebody at Disney says otherwise. What is certain is that Passholders walking up for the magnet on August 11 will not be able to catch the short while they are there, and Disney has not said when in the run, if at all, that changes.

To claim the magnet you need a valid Annual Pass, either the card itself or one linked to a MagicBand, MagicBand+ or Disney MagicMobile pass, plus a government-issued photo ID and valid theme park admission. Blog Mickey adds that a Theme Park reservation may also be needed depending on the date, unless it is a good-to-go day or you turn up after 2pm, and that Passholder blockout dates still apply. One magnet per Passholder, and Blog Mickey says pickup runs from park open to park close while supplies last.

The rest of the Muppets run

The magnet is not the only thing on offer through September 24. There is a Passholder-exclusive Disney PhotoPass Magic Shot with Kermit, which Blog Mickey places "near the end of Hollywood Boulevard, close to Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway" and says is "available daily from 10am to 4pm." That one has a stricter check than the magnet. Blog Mickey reports that Disney says a physical Annual Pass card will not do it on its own at the photo location, and neither will a MagicBand, MagicBand+ or MagicMobile. Passholders have to open the Tickets and Passes area of the My Disney Experience app, show the Annual Pass ID there, and pair it with a government-issued photo ID.

Dockside Diner is also pouring a Key Lime Kermit Milk Shake across the same window. Blog Mickey lists four components: key lime sauce, key lime cake crumbs, vanilla ice cream and sprinkles, and says it is first come, first served during the location's normal operating hours.

What is actually closing

Vacation Fun is a short film starring Mickey and Minnie Mouse, framed around the pair's favorite vacation memories. It mixes previously unseen animation with clips pulled from the Mickey Mouse shorts series, including Panda-monium, Couples Sweaters, Potatoland, Croissant de Triomphe, Entombed, Dumb Luck, Al Rojo Vivo, Yodelburg and Outback at Ya!

Mickey and Minnie Mouse animated on the Mickey Shorts Theater screen, standing in front of a park main entrance archway, with silhouettes of the audience in the foreground Mickey and Minnie on the Mickey Shorts Theater screen during Vacation Fun. Photo: WDW News Today.

The theater opened on March 4, 2020, the same day as Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway, in the old ABC Sound Studio building, whose earlier tenants included Sounds Dangerous! and, most recently, Star Wars: Path of the Jedi. It is a short-film theater rather than a headliner attraction, and the closure surfaced as a line on Disney's website instead of a wider announcement.

This is also not its first time down. Vacation Fun and the theater went through a refurbishment in spring 2024, reopening that May. If you have been meaning to catch it, August 8 is the last day.

Sources

Image credits: Mickey Shorts Theater exterior and Vacation Fun screen photos by WDW News Today. Kermit magnet artwork by Disney and The Muppets Studio, LLC, via WDW News Today.

Mentioned in this story

Check out our guides for more on each place in this story:

Hollywood Studios Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway Mickey Shorts Theater Dockside Diner

Related News

Disney Swapped Out the Haunted Mansion's Stretching Room Ceiling After a Dirty Scrim Made the Hanging Corpse Disappear

Disney Swapped Out the Haunted Mansion's Stretching Room Ceiling After a Dirty Scrim Made the Hanging Corpse Disappear

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.

August 5, 2026 News
The Diamond Horseshoe Returns This Fall as a Limited Time Small Plates and Cocktail Pop-Up, and Disney Is Pointing Family Style Diners Next Door

The Diamond Horseshoe Returns This Fall as a Limited Time Small Plates and Cocktail Pop-Up, and Disney Is Pointing Family Style Diners Next Door

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.

August 5, 2026 News
Disney Says Walt Disney World Had a Stand-Out Quarter, and Its CFO Told CNBC the Numbers Beat the Competition and Orlando Airport Traffic

Disney Says Walt Disney World Had a Stand-Out Quarter, and Its CFO Told CNBC the Numbers Beat the Competition and Orlando Airport Traffic

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.

August 5, 2026 News