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Disney just posted a great recap of things happening at the Magic Kingdom and around the whole Walt Disney World resort in 2026! https://disneyparksblog.com/wdw/2026-disney-world-calendar-and-details/ 2026 is going to be full of great deals (did someone say Disney World Free Dining Plan for Kids in 2026?) and also: ten new and reinvigorated attractions and experiences; nine returning festivals and special events, giving you more than 200 days of supercalifragilistic-extra-lidocious fun; and lots of ways to create memories for the whole family with some of your best-loved Disney, Pixar, and Lucasfilm stories. Early 2026 Earlier this fall, we shared that Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff Audio-Animatronics figures at Frozen Ever After at EPCOT will receive new updates, taking inspiration from the advancements seen in figures at World of Frozen in Hong Kong Disneyland. Today, I’m delighted to share that you can see these updated figures in February 2026! I can’t wait to sail through this beloved story and get “Let It Go” stuck in my head while enjoying the latest and greatest in Audio-Animatronics figure technology. And while I’m at EPCOT early in the new year – and belting out songs – you know I’m going to stop by the 2026 EPCOT International Festival of the Arts from January 16 to February 23 for artisanal dishes, beautiful artwork, and sing-your-heart-out Broadway showtunes from my favorite DISNEY ON BROADWAY shows and stars. What’s the best way to end your Walt Disney World day? With Disney After Hours, of course! Your favorite after-park-close separately ticketed event is back in 2026. Whether you want to go on an adventure at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, explore the world at EPCOT, or be enchanted at Magic Kingdom, there will be fun, magic, and included snacks and beverages waiting for you! Spring 2026 During springtime in Florida, the sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and the flowers are blooming… especially at the 2026 EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival, returning from March 4 to June 1. Get ready to stroll past whimsical topiaries and lush gardens, savor mouthwatering bites at Outdoor Kitchens, and jam to live tunes during the Garden Rocks Concert Series. Keep an eye out on the Disney Parks Blog for more details coming soon! Speaking of fresh air… fresh mountain air will be calling your name when Big Thunder Mountain Railroad reopens this spring at Magic Kingdom, with touches of new magic and a crevasse-deep to mountain-top refurbishment. You might remember that we shared details about beautiful – yet menacing – Rainbow Caverns deep in the heart of this mysterious mountain. I have a feeling we might find more trouble than gold in that thar wilderness! Across Magic Kingdom in Tomorrowland, I’m ready to take on Evil Emperor Zurg with the help of updated ride vehicles, cool new handheld blasters, and interactive targets at Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin… and guests of all ages won’t need to wait too long to try for that Galactic Hero rank, because the attraction reopens spring 2026! Summer 2026 Get ready to dance at GoofyCore in EPCOT, play games with favorite characters while out and about in the parks, and enjoy new and refreshed attractions this Cool Kids’ Summer when even more family fun comes back to Walt Disney World in 2026! Plus, new family-friendly offers and deals for summer vacations are coming, so check back in January for more information about ways you and your family can save on a vacation to The Most Magical Place On Earth. Start your vacation with a *splash* this summer when you check into one of the Disney Resorts Collection hotels. Whether you dream of being surrounded by a tropical paradise or a watery wintery wonderland, you and your family can enjoy free Disney Water Park admission on your arrival day, included in your stay! Speaking of water parks at Walt Disney World, keep an eye out for the return of Disney H2O Glow After Hours at Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon! During this separately ticketed event, you can splash the night away with a DJ dance party, meet up with fun Disney pals, enjoy your favorite watery attractions, and indulge in complimentary ice cream novelties, popcorn, and select beverages – all after the sun goes down and the water park closes. If your summer memories need a chorus of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” then this next one is for you – for the first time ever, Banana Ball is headed to ESPN Wide World of Sports at Walt Disney World May 29 to 30. Whether you’re team Loco Beach Coconuts or team Party Animals, the trick plays, diving catches, and on-the-field shenanigans are sure to deliver a home run of fun. The Banana Ball Ticket Lottery List is currently closed, but a limited number of Tickets Inclusive of Food & Beverage will be available for fans to purchase soon, so keep your eye on the ball! Beginning in summer 2026 at Walt Disney World Resort, you’ll be able to take a fun excursion to Conservation Station in Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park, where you can play and dance with Bluey and Bingo! Play some of your favorite games from Bluey episodes with a fun animal twist, like butterfly keepy uppy. Grab the whole family and snap some pictures alongside your Blue Heeler pals to remember this one-of-a-kind adventure. Plus, as part of your wild excursion, step outside to discover an experience with animals native to Bluey’s home country of Australia! Over at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, “Disney Jr. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Live!” will debut this summer packed with upbeat tunes. You’ll be dancing along with Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse as they embark on a road trip to find some of their best pals – Goofy, Daisy and Pluto, of course – for the party. You may have seen this show over at Disneyland Resort in California, and soon you’ll be able to join in on the fun in the newly reimagined Walt Disney Studios area at Walt Disney World. Later in the summer, “The Magic of Disney Animation” will open and invite us all inside the world of Walt Disney Animation Studios and its beloved, playful creations. Just like in the award-winning short Once Upon a Studio, animated characters come to life; characters will leap from their portraits, draw with us, and invite us into a “Drawn To Wonderland” playground inspired by Disney Legend Mary Blair’s original Alice in Wonderland concept art. And that’s just the beginning! You’ll also be able to venture into “Off the Page!,” a stunning area born of collaboration between Walt Disney Animation Studios and Walt Disney Imagineering. Each space offers incredible photo opportunities: you can meet Mulan in the Story department, posing in front of an oversized storyboard panel. Or, step into the Layout department where Rapunzel awaits in a setting inspired by the classic multiplane camera. Align your photo just right, and you’ll see layers of backgrounds and painted cells come together like magic! And if we rock on over to Sunset Boulevard, there’s a Muppetational transformation going down – Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets will open summer 2026. Looking to take another ride with Aerosmith before rolling out the red carpet for The Muppets? You can keep ridin’ and rockin’ (and rollin’) until spring 2026! A new mission is touching down in Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Walt Disney World on May 22. The all-new adventure is centered around The Mandalorian and Grogu – you can read here for more details on this thrilling new storyline. Not only is 2026 a great time to visit Walt Disney World, it’s also the 250th anniversary of the United States of America! The Walt Disney Company, founded over a hundred years ago in Los Angeles, California, recently announced “Disney Celebrates America,” a company-wide celebration commemorating this milestone anniversary of the United States – including Soarin’ Across America, an immersive flight experience across new scenic vistas aboard the beloved Soarin’ attractions at Disney California Adventure park and EPCOT. Soarin’ to tower, we’ll be ready for takeoff on this all-new American adventure at Walt Disney World by Memorial Day 2026! Fall 2026 What says fall more than the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival? Nothing! Come Eat to the Beat (IYKYK) and explore all that EPCOT has to offer while soaking in the fall vibes … and munching on some delicious bites. With global flavors to explore, you’re sure to mark off a worldwide spree of good eats in your Festival Passport. Let the gourd times roll when Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party returns in 2026 at Magic Kingdom! Get ready to boo-gie with fan-favorite eerie entertainment, enjoy spellbinding sips and bites, and well-loved mysterious character greetings to celebrate the spooky season with this separately ticketed event on select nights. Winter 2026 At Disney’s Hollywood Studios, the separately ticketed event that combines holiday cheer and Hollywood glam will return on select nights in 2026! Get ready to celebrate the season in style with themed entertainment, festive food and beverage offerings, character greetings galore, and of course, all things glitz and glamour at Disney Jollywood Nights. Cocoa, cookies, and Santa – oh my! Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom is tied with a bow and returning on select nights in 2026. This separately ticketed event is packed with seasonal entertainment, delicious food, and cozy merchandise that will make you fall in love with the holiday season all over again. And rounding out the holiday events at the parks is the always-wonderful EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays presented by AdventHealth, also returning for 2026. From the tales far and near told by Holiday Storytellers, the delicious comfort foods at Holiday Kitchens, to the glorious Candlelight Processional, this festival will always have a special spot in my heart. Now, that’s a lot of fun to be had across the theme parks and resorts – and we would never forget Disney Springs! LEVEL99 is coming to Disney Springs West Side. This powerhouse of play will open in 2026 with over 60 themed challenge rooms, duels and art hunts that will test the mental and physical prowess of you and your friends and family. I’m free to join any team, so long as we can snag a drink and one of LEVEL99’s signature Detroit-style pizzas at the venue’s 2-story bar once we finish our games.

Europa Park Day one continued: it was time to head over to Greece, and Atlantis Adventure, the park's shooting dark ride. Cassandra's Curse - a fantastic Madhouse (that is included in Traumatica, but with a much more gory overlay): Poseidon - the park's watercoaster. . that not only soaks, but I always find very rough on the coaster sections: that's Matterhorn Blitz doing it's thing across the lake in the background. whee! We're on a Log Flume! (sorta/kinda) a closer zoom on Matterhorn Blitz as we walked around the lake to get to the last coaster in this section Pegasus. . a jr coaster. which is also included in the Traumatica event (it takes place just outside the main gates, and in the 2024 event, opened up into the Greek section of the park for some rides) it had one of my favorite pumpkins I saw at the park. I never got a chance to ask who made it, but I assume a child visitor. Love it ! walk around spooky cast members were out in force on this day. loved her "ghost dog" the park is SO well decorated. some of the folks I was hanging out with really wanted ALL the coasters. . . so we headed to Ireland. so they could ride Ba-a-a-Express - the park's kiddie coaster. i didn't ride, and just took pictures no shame, at all. . . LOL and since we were over on this side of the park now. . . I was ready to ride Arthur, the Mack powered inverted coaster that is just amazingly WTF. to get there, we took the back way across the "obstacle course" Paddington Bear! I think we were behind the England section over here. and some appropriately spooky Halloween stuff. the entrance gate into Fairy-Tale land. I don't understand it at all. . even after riding it more than a dozen times. But I so enjoy the Arthur coaster. luckily, they have a GREAT skip the line system here, as well as a single rider line on this coaster. . so never really had to wait in the lengthy lines for this one. awww. . a bear. a bear or a throne. . . a sure way to guarantee I'll stop for a pic we decided to go ride EuroSat - Can-Can coaster again, so headed back that way, passing this adorable kiddie car ride. but before we got to EuroSat, it was remembered that there's another amazing dark ride right next to it - that again, is always walk on, because folks just don't realize there is a ride there. not sure what the "real" name is, but I call this the Dinosaur Birthday Party ride. . .and I rode this at least 5 times too this visit. notice the dino poop in the cat box! details and they pump the smell of honey into this scene. . along with the sound of beez awwww. .they are making a cake! it's a Dinosaur Birthday Party! and then next door onto EuroSat Can-Can coaster again. . tho this time I took some actual pics in the queue line. it was starting to get late in the afternoon, and I believe they had announced the park was closing at 7 instead of at 6 . . so we headed back towards the resort gate hitting stuff along the way. no "parade" per se, but lots of characters out and about. I discovered this visit, that Europa has a Church on site. and apparently? one can get married there! a MUST stop was another "hidden" dark ride that so many don't even realize is there! it's down some stairs next to a shop. it was built as a fun "advertisement" for the waterpark, but proved so popular, they have kept it. "Snorri Touren" (Snorri is the octopus mascot of the waterpark) I ended up buying this hat in the gift shop. and this is also a picture framed on our wall. . as this is when I KNEW I had found the right person again. I had sent this home, and instead of saying, "what the F do you have on your head?". . the response was: "you go, Hilda!" so yeah. . right then I completely fell in love. it was cold-ish today, but we had been told about this particular opportunity at the park, and no way in heck was I (or others) passing this up. so time for some custom ice cream! so good! some folks wanted to ride the Atlantica Supersplash (over in the Portuguese area) that was on the way back to the hotel. I wasn't wanting to get wet, and have ridden this Mack Supersplash at SWSA, so I passed and just took pics. day 1 to be concluded. . .

Day 7 - 1st full day at Europa Park this is a wonderful park, and I seem have over 700 pics from the two days we spent there (!) But I'll severely edit down in hopes of quicker updates today we started out the day with some ERT on Euro Mir (which sadly the park has announced they will be removing to make way for a new coaster in this spot). I love this coaster, as it's a spinner with a super unique layout . . and the "disco lifthill" that plays funky techno the whole way up (tho for our visit, they had already switched the music over to Halloween music, so it was odd to ride it without hearing the blasting tchno). I love that you never know for sure if you're going down the first drop forwards or backwards. . it's just luck of the draw on your ride. I just love the way it winds among the glass towers (one of which hides the spiral lift hill) before the drop. and the space themed station is great too. after rides on Euro-Mir, the group backtracked to get some ERT on Blue Fire before the park opened to the public. love how Wodan looks in the morning fog. since I'm on this train, thanks for this pic go to Elissa. and since Elissa is IN this one? thanks to either Andy or Robb after a few rides on Blue Fire, the park opened for general guests, and we were cut lose for the day. tho a good number of TPR trip folks stuck together as a group of 8-10 to hit things up together. Voltron was first up, to grab in the morning before lines got too long. since it's a launch, it was running just as great first thing in the morning as it had at end of day yesterday. I believe we next headed towards the front gate, to grab a ride on Silver Star (the park's B&M Hyper), passing a bunch of rides on the way including Matterhorn Blitz (the Wild Mouse with the elevator lift hill). . but we'd come back for that. and Euro Sat (the Can-Can coaster) very cool they had the original trains from Euro Sat (before it converted to Can-Can coaster) on display outside the ride. monorail notes Oktoberfest as it passes overhead. noted! if I'm recalling correctly (it's been over a year!), Silver Star was having some issues this morning and hadn't quite opened yet. So we went next door to ride Can-Can Coaster it's such a good ride. Myself, Nick and Andrew walking the empty queue (everyone was at Voltron. . LOL) since we were near the front gate, we decided to go ahead and knock out this park's version of Soarin, that flies over Europe. . it's really well themed, but if you've been on Soarin? you've been on it. tons of cool stuff and photo ops in this front area of the park tho by the main gate. Such as this: and the Italy Section. . which houses one of my favorite rides in the park. but we'd come back to this area, as we wanted to head up to the front gate as I'd never come in that entrance and wanted some pics the park's mascot was out doing meet and greets and some street entertainment welcoming guests to the park. Silver Star was now starting to cycle. . so we'd head to that shortly . . . but first stepping out front for a picture! also on display near the main entrance to the park? an original part of the Berlin Wall. very neat to see, and counts as "culture" in my book! going up the steps in the Voletarium (the Soarin ride) - yeah, pic is a little out of order, sorry. stilt walkers greeting park guests these guys seemed to be local celebrities, as there was quite the queue to take pics with this scene, where you could pic a song, and the projected guys in the car would sing along to it. a quick ride on Silver Star (great as always) and we headed back over to Italy. . . for Europa's version of the Haunted Mansion. Europa has a LOT of dark rides. many of them extremely silly/bizarre, and slow moving. . and they are "hidden" just everywhere. Silly / bizarre / stupid is right up my alley, so of COURSE i love this park. . . but this Horror dark ride is among my favorites here. it's NOT the "haunted mansion". . but is very inspired by it in places. Particularly the queue, where you go into a trick room that has a hanged man in it. the Italy section also has bewbs. (tho it's Europe, so there are multiple places in this park with bewbs). another slow / silly dark ride I love: Piccolo Mondo - think of the very basic things you would boil down to "Italian". . and put them all into one ride. is it racist? slightly. but is it amazing and makes me laugh? yup! and the ride vehicle is a Gondola.. paddled by a Parrot. what's not to love? Pizza and Breadsticks. . . Italian! Leonardo Da Vinci / Mona Lisa . . . Italian! Gelato . . Italian! Canals and gondolas . . . Italian! it really is so much fun. after these dark rides, it was time for the observation tower to get some great views of the park and the surrounding area. there are lots of walk around characters too.. .not sure if all the "Country" sections have their royalty represented, but I met this Queen over by Norway. a "haunted tunnel" set up for Halloween activities within the park (Traumatica - the big Fright party is a separately ticketed event and does not include most of the park) Europa is one of those parks that's so lovely, it's easy to forget you're actually in a theme park. I'd held it off long enough. . so I noodged the group I was with to ride my *favorite* dark ride at Europa, it's over in Russia, and it's lovingly called by fans "Bench: the ride" the operator is giving me that look because we were literally the only ones in the queue for it, and it was walk on every time I rode it. but I love it so, and i hope they never get rid of this stupid ride. whee! frozen / dead king of the north? Never quite figured it out, but I love it. Russia is kinda close to Holland. . so next stop HAD to be Piraten in Batavia - the park's Pirates of the Caribbean style ride. It had completely burned down in 2018. and was rebuilt from the ground up to reopen in 2020. and it's still amazing. this is all in the queue line! bewbs. and a wonderful photo op outside too. Arrrrghh! a pirate themed Stilt walker was over here. and tho i tend not to ride Teacups rides? they had wrapped their Koffiekopjes ride completely and made it "spooky". . so we had to check it out. TPR Ready to ride. looked like they had just hung some spooky pics on the walls. but once the ride started? lasers, fog, some lights - it was really a lot of fun. and an easy thing to do for Halloween by any park. starting to get hungry, so we decided to head to find some food. . . but found a food fight instead, with the angry corn display in one of the nice grassy areas. with Schweizer Bobbahn just above us? of course we ended up going to the Swiss area. it was time for Raclette! one of the very best reasons to visit this park. yummmmmmmmm pumpkin bug has got back! and since right here? of course gonna ride Schweizer Bobbahn before leaving. It's a Mack Bobsled, and is a lot of fun, tho my favorite part are the wood carvings in the station. and sorta next door to it? the Matterhorn Blitz wild mouse, that also has a wonderful queue with some really basic but great animatronics in the queue. whee!!! to be continued. . .

You wanna go hang out in a sun-drenched desert valley all day where the temps reach 120+ on the regular? No sir. I spent nearly a decade in Vegas. Desert life is an indoor and nighttime life.

K Pop Demon Hunters TR: I have never been interested in being first and so was never going to join a 7 hour line or visit the park when it was that packed but knowing my son is a fan of the movie, I promised we'd head out once crowds died down. This weekend crowds seemed to be hovering around 30 minutes so we headed out to the park. We picked up one of the after 3pm tickets and joined the entrance line with the express purpose of K-Pop Demon Hunters (so no second panda house in this TR). Most people in at 3 PM heading for K-Pop Demon Hunters or the new panda house. Our son just hit 130cm so wanted to try a ride he'd hit the height for: T Express, Hurricane & Championship Rodeo. We beelined for T Express but he changed his mind because of all the 'screaming', the RMC track parks make it sound like the whole train is full of people screaming over the airtime hills, so we walked back and he rode the breakdance. For anyone hoping for any sign of the RMC Giga, this was the only construction wall we saw. Apart from the K-Pop Hunters, there's also a Wizard of Oz overlay in the park. I know TPR are fans of the col-pop, and Everland have upped their game there. The K-Pop zone had attracted quite a crowd so we opted to head back at night since most of it is inside anyway. The outside photo zone for those who don't want to queue. Some of the snacks on offer, the stand up tables outside were themed to giant ramyeon cups but there were just too many people to get a picture. The line had died down to 30-40 minutes so we joined the line ready to head in. The area has 5 areas. A Huntrix area and Saja Boys area both with photo zone and 2 mini games, a DDR area, Derpy mini-game and merchandise store. And plenty of outdoor artworks to pose and take photos with. The reward area for playing all 4 mini-games. Huntrix area consisted of a Golden photo zone, airplane photo zone as well as a light gun shooting and whack a mole mini-game. Most of the merchandise we saw was either themed around these ramyeon cups (key chains) or the tiger (headbands or Everland's panda mascot dressed as the tiger) We didn't stop in the store because it looked crowded and there was a strict 2 item policy since a lot of it has been out of stock and resold online. Saja Boys area was indoors and dark so I didn't take photos but had a tilting ball mini-game and button mashing to the lyrics of songs. DDR with one minute tracks of Golden or Soda Pop was included but not needed for the mission reward. The Derpy area was a single chance to win a bonus sticker if you could tip the flower pot upright in less than 5 seconds. Only our son succeeded. Each mini-game gave you a stamp, that filled out the card above and rewarded you with a random Saja Boys or Huntrix card but they would switch cards for children to get who they wanted. A very popular area for Everland and a successful collabaration but unless you have someone whose a fan maybe not worth waiting if the line is long, and definitely not 7 hours for. If this was anywhere but Asia I'd assume this was a meet n greet as part of the park. But we've seen so many amazing cosplayers across Japan and Korea that I can't tell anymore and since I couldn't find a single mention of them on Everland's Social Media, I've blurred out the faces just in case (See post above about Everland's rules on posting). Either way all credit to these girls, who despite the cold, once a line formed let every child have photos with them and do a selfie and gave every child a great memory. The final collabaration was a sing a long fireworks shows set to some of the hits from the show. I've attached a video, I'm not sure how well it will show on the forum so please let me know if you can't see it and I'll try to save it to my google account for Youtube. Sorry for the bumps but two problems I had: 1) Korea has a mat reservation problem (all parks, not just Everland). Imagine the hotel sunbeds and towels situation but across the parade routes and viewing areas. At least in Japan people stuck with their space but here they throw a mat down and leave for hours. Everland in theory, has a strict no mats policy and signs everywhere. Unfortunately it's impossible to enforce, because when there's 100s of mats and personal belongings how do you take them away without guests exploding or overwhelming lost and found. Also imagine that Titanic door scene but there are 5 Jack's and they all want to live. The tiny mats next to our space would have families of 6 show up and then all try to squish into their space and step over people 5 minutes before start time so I got knocked by some elbows a few times while filming. 2) Korean theme parks sell those telescopic stools everywhere. Since the fireworks are a sit down show, a lot of people used them to not touch the cold ground. However, once the crowds came in I noticed a few would slightly extend theirs just enough to give themselves a boost but not enough to be obvious to staff. Since I was shooting from below head height to not disturb people there wasn't much I could do about some of the heads in front. 27.MOV

Not worth all that money (+ Time) to get there, etc. IMhO