food IS a theme park
Five days in Disney World, all packed into ONE mega DFB video!
The Magic of Disney Animation in Walt Disney Studios
WELCOME to our ULTIMATE DISNEY WORLD ITINERARY, filled with NEW attractions, the BEST ride strategies, our top food recommendations, and LOTS more magic to come!
Mickey and Minnie are packing their bags… again! Disney has announced that Vacation Fun, the Mickey & Minnie animated short in the Mickey Shorts Theater at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, will temporarily close at the end of October.
Vacation Fun
And if this sounds like déjà vu, you’re totally not imagining it. This attraction has given us whiplash with its closures and reopenings so far this year, and we’re starting to wonder what exactly Disney is thinking with this back-and-forth. Vacation Fun only reopened on September 28th, which means it lasted about a month before getting the “see you later” treatment. Here’s everything we know.
You may or may not be a Disney Adult if a tiny Disney World app change makes you beam from ear to ear and text your entire family. We also may or may not have done that…
©Disney
We’re pretty obsessed with the Disney World app, since that’s your go-to spot for dining reservations, Lightning Lanes, hotel bookings, and anything else you might need during your trip. We also can’t tell you how often we check the ride wait times on it every day (…it’s a lot). Well, we admire this new change every day.
Remember when Disney+ was $6.99 a month and subscribing felt like an easy little add-on to your entertainment budget? That era has left the building.
©Disney
Disney has rolled out another round of streaming price increases in the United States, and the biggest change is hitting Disney+ Premium subscribers. The ad-free plan has jumped from $18.99 to $21.49 per month, an increase of roughly 13%. And while $2.50 might not sound enormous on its own, the bigger picture is a lot harder to shrug off. Disney+ now costs more than three times what it did when the service debuted in 2019, and plenty of subscribers are starting to wonder just how much higher this thing can climb.
We know we say it all the time, but Disney World during the holidays is truly a different type of magic. Yes, all of your favorite rides are still running, and Mickey Mouse is still waving at you in the parade, but everything is covered with an extra layer of twinkling lights, and there may or may not be Santa hats involved.
Mickey’s Once Upon A Christmas Parade
Everyone who visits Disney World during the holiday season, which runs from November 13th to January 6th this year, gets to experience the Christmas trees and Mickey wreaths, but if you want another layer of magic, you might want to check out the exclusive after-hours events. These events take the holidays to the next level, and they start in about a month, bringing major changes to the parks.
An absolutely quintessential Tomorrowland attraction in Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress is an original ride conceived by Walt Disney himself. It made its debut at the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair, and later opened in Disneyland in 1967 (where it has since closed). It opened at Magic Kingdom in 1975, where it has remained a classic and iconic attraction nearly synonymous with Magic Kingdom itself.
Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress
For many parkgoers, a visit to Magic Kingdom isn’t complete without a spin on the ol’ Carousel of Progress, which takes riders through different decades and (as the name implies) the progress made in each. Earlier this year, Disney announced that the Carousel of Progress would undergo a complete transformation, updating the ride to reflect more recent history and advances. Carousel of Progress closed on July 6th, 2026, for the updates, which will debut in late Spring 2027, and Disney just shared details about one of the new (well, sort of) voice actors!
All of us Disney Loungefly collectors are gathering right here, right now, because there are a TON of new Loungefly bags releasing very soon!
©BoxLunch
While technically BoxLunch hasn’t dropped all the new Disney Loungefly bags just yet, they did make them available for preorder right now. The bags will get shipped to you by either the end of the month or the start of November. So, let’s take a look at what’s coming and the prices!
It’s been an exciting week for food in Disney World. That’s because four EPCOT Food & Wine Festival food booths finally opened this week, and we’ve been making our way around them to get you reviews! Also, Hurly-Burly over at Disney’s BoardWalk finally opened, and we got to attend the grand reopening of Turf Club Bar & Grill.
Kirschwasser Torte
In the meantime, we noticed a few other changes at Disney World restaurants, particularly on their menus, so let’s see what’s changed this week.
New food JUST arrived at Magic Kingdom in Disney World! The Diamond Horseshoe has officially transformed into a cowboy-themed lounge for a limited time this fall.
The Diamond Horseshoe Pop Up Lounge
The Diamond Horseshoe Lounge just opened with a brand-new menu, and we’re trying EVERYTHING so you can find out if this spot is still worth a visit on your next trip to Liberty Square!
Christmas at Disney World comes with a very important logistical question: Where, exactly, should you meet Santa? Because the answer is not quite as simple as you might think. Some Santa meets require a theme park ticket. One requires a separately ticketed Christmas party. A couple involves meals that can turn your Santa photo into a serious line item on the vacation budget. And then there are a few places where meeting Santa doesn’t technically cost anything, although you may pay for it in time and patience instead.
Santa!
So, we’re ranking Disney World’s 2026 Santa experiences from the ones we’d have the hardest time recommending specifically for Santa to the ones we’d choose first.
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