Category: Blog Mickey

Walt Disney World has announced that merchandise locations along Disney’s BoardWalk will be refurbished in phases starting this month. The work is expected to last through May, and Disney plans on keeping at least two merchandise locations open to guests at all times throughout the work. Here’s the announcement. BoardWalk Merchandise Locations Phased Refurbishment From January 2025 through May 2025, the merchandise locations along Disney’s BoardWalk will be refurbished in phases. Two merchandise locations will remain available for Guests throughout the refurbishment. During this time, Guests may see and hear construction activity in the area.Walt Disney World statement For a look at all of the planned refurbishments and projects around Walt Disney World, check out our refurbishments page below! 2025-2026 Walt Disney World Refurbishments & ProjectsA comprehensive list of the Walt Disney World refurbishments and major theme park projects scheduled for 2025, 2025, and beyond!blogmickey.com As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!

As we continue to keep an eye on the construction of a Pirates of the Caribbean-themed tavern in Magic Kingdom, we made it out to Magic Kingdom recently to find that some significant progress has been made on the exterior of the bar. As you may remember, crews began construction of what we believe will be a second room at the tavern back in November. This new space took over a portion of the Plaza del Sol Caribe Bazaar, which is the Pirates of the Caribbean gift shop. Now, crews are building some new gift shop cabinets on the exterior of the wall of that new room. Let’s take a look. Concept art for new Pirates of the Caribbean tavern Latest on Pirates of the Caribbean Bar Peeking past the top of the construction walls, we can see that the exterior of this new tavern room has been themed and new theming elements have been added. From here, it almost looks like this could be an entrance to the new bar experience, but we’ll soon see that’s not the case. It’s only when taking a peek over the walls that we see that Disney is installing merchandise cabinets on the exterior of the new venue. This makes a ton of sense given that merchandising lost a significant amount of space to the new tavern, and I’m sure they’d like to reclaim a bit of it. If I had to guess, the bar seen

The 2025 EPCOT International Festival of the Arts kicks off January 17th, and in addition to the normal lineup of Instagram-worthy food and drink offerings (full menus), Disney’s specialty Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine has also returned this year. Here are the details! Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine 2025 Use your Festival Passport as a guide to look for special menu items. Purchase any 5 of the color stroll items, and be sure to collect a stamp for each.Once you collect 5 stamps, bring your stamped Festival Passport to Deco Delights (near Port of Entry) to receive a sweet reward. You can complete this stroll at your leisure—but only during EPCOT International Festival of the Arts. Menu Items & Locations Note that there are more menu items than you need to collect. In order to complete the Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine, purchase and get stamps for any 5 of the following items: Enchanted Rose (Opening Bites in CommuniCore Plaza)Milk chocolate rose with raspberry and rose center Deconstructed Key Lime Pie (The Deconstructed Dish in World Discovery)Flexible key lime curd, “key lime” mousse, graham cracker cake and meringues Almond Frangipane Cake (Deco Delights near Port of Entry)Layered with raspberry jam and Belgian chocolate Avocado-Coconut Custard Tart (Tangierine Cafe in Morocco)with pomegranate cream and henna-inspired gelee veil Chorizo and Potato Empanada (Vibrante & Vivido between Morocco and France)with turmeric aïoli and annatto aïoli Citrus-Braised Beet Tartare (Gourmet Landscapes in Canada)with golden beet “egg” yolk, mustard

While visiting Magic Kingdom today, we stopped in to ride Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin in Tomorrowland. The attraction was the target of some fan speculation on social media after a permit was filed to install projectors. The speculation said that the permit was part of a bigger plan to re-imagine or update the attraction. As it would turn out, the permit was simply for the “routine maintenance” of projectors at the attraction. Either way, there was a short wait when we visited, so we decided to hop on and see what we could. Buzz Lightyear Audio-Animatronic Behind Curtain Before we could even board the ride, we noticed that the Buzz Lightyear Audio-Animatronic in the queue was behind a themed curtain. The curtain can be dropped in front of Buzz Lightyear for a variety of reasons, including a malfunctioning Animatronic or for maintenance.It doesn’t seem like this curtain has been in place long, less than a week for sure. It’s not clear how long Buzz will be behind this curtain, but we’ll keep an eye on it. Here’s a look at what Buzz Lightyear typically looks like in the space. It’s unclear if Buzz missing is part of the permitted projector work or not, but the ride was not expected to close for the projector work, which would make sense if it was to maintain Buzz. That said, my initial thought remains my current thought – that the permit is

The Magic Carpets of Aladdin attraction in Adventureland at Magic Kingdom has not operated at all today, despite efforts from maintenance to get it running again. Even if the ride was operating, it’ll be running at a reduced capacity given that four of the sixteen ride vehicles have been taken out of service. Magic Carpets of Aladdin Closed Unexpectedly at Magic Kingdom The Magic Carpets of Aladdin attraction has not operated at all today, and Cast Members are unsure if it’ll be working for the rest of the day. As Disney prepares for an extensive refurbishment of another spinner in Magic Kingdom, the Astro Orbiter, perhaps the Magic Carpets of Aladdin will be up next! Covered ride vehicle is taken out of service Back in May 2023, the attraction was really struggling – averaging more than 5 hours of downtime per day during its worst stretch. While reliability has been a bit of a concern of late, it’s not nearly as bad as it was in 2023. Ride vehicles have been out of service for weeks, if not longer. Hopefully Disney is not only able to get the attraction operational again today, but to fix the broken ride vehicles as well. As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!

Guests looking to celebrate 25 years of Disney Pin Trading can now purchase a 25th Anniversary lanyard. We found the lanyard in Magic Kingdom, but it should be rather widely available. The lanyard joins the recently released 25th Anniversary Mickey & Friends pins available at the Walt Disney World theme parks and resorts. Here’s a look at the 25th Anniversary lanyard! Disney Pin Trading 25th Anniversary Lanyard | $19.99 As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!

The Big Thunder Mountain Railroad refurbishment is full steam ahead at Magic Kingdom, and we made it out to Walt Disney World’s original theme park to get an updated and detailed look at the roller coaster track removal progress. The removal of the roller coaster track confirms a rumor that dated back to the first half of last year when word first surfaced that a track replacement project was on the horizon. A number of pieces of track have been removed from the roller coaster as part of a refurbishment that will last into 2026. Let’s take a look! Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Track Removal at Magic Kingdom We’ll start with a view from the Liberty Square Riverboat, which offers a good view of the large piece of track that was removed yesterday afternoon. These early photos also offer one of the better in-park perspectives of how tall the crane is that will be doing the work. The fact that it was able to reach one of the furthest pieces of track should bode well for only having a single crane for the project. From the riverboat, we get our first hint that there is some work taking place on the back side of the attraction as well. We’ll get a much better look from the Walt Disney World Railroad in a minute. The top of the first lift

Guests taking a ride on the Walt Disney World Railroad will notice some updated audio as they pass by the closed Big Thunder Mountain Railroad attraction. Big Thunder, as you may know, is closed until 2026 for refurbishment that will include a full track replacement for the nearly 45-year-old attraction. Updated Railroad Audio for Big Thunder Mountain Closure Work began yesterday on removing the first pieces of track, and we made it out to Magic Kingdom today to get an updated look at the progress. First, here’s the updated audio from our ride on the Walt Disney World Railroad. There it is, Big Thunder Mountain. Now, normally folks around here have a one-track mind for gold, but mining seems to have been derailed. They’ve been working on that railroad all the live long day, and they’ll be full steam ahead in no time. Hopefully, with some new bells and whistles.New Walt Disney World audio To track the latest news, info, and photos from the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad track replacement project, check out our project tracker page below! 2025-2026 Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Track Replacement ProjectWalt Disney World news, photos, and reviews! We provide you with daily news from the Walt Disney World theme parks and beyondblogmickey.com As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!

Walt Disney World has released a first look at the Annual Passholder exclusive merchandise coming to the 2025 EPCOT International Festival of the Arts. The Festival of the Arts begins January 17th! 2025 EPCOT Festival of the Arts Annual Passholder Merchandise Make your visit to the EPCOT International Festival of the Arts even more memorable with items made just for Passholders. From January 17 through February 24, 2025, Passholder-exclusive merchandise celebrating EPCOT International Festival of the Arts will be available while supplies last at Creations Shop in EPCOT during regular Park operating hours, including these delightful souvenirs: Shirt Pin Journal and Pen Important InformationTo enter EPCOT, Passholders must have valid admission and a theme park reservation for EPCOT (or may visit after 2:00 PM or on a good-to-go day without a theme park reservation, subject to blockout dates). Theme park reservations are limited and are subject to availability. At the time of purchase, Passholders must present their valid Annual Pass ID located in the “Tickets and Passes” section of their My Disney Experience app and a valid government-issued photo ID. Merchandise is for personal use only. An Annual Pass may not be used to purchase merchandise with the intent to resell the merchandise.All offerings, dates, hours of operation and locations are subject to availability, change, closure or cancellation without notice or liability. As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news,

Just in time for temperatures to dip into the 30s in Central Florida, Kali River Rapids is closed for its annual refurbishment at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The you-will-get-soaked water ride is located in the Asia section of the theme park, and it typically closes every year around this time for a refurbishment. Of course, the timing is intentional, and it coincides with the coldest months of the year when nobody would want to ride it anyway. We stopped by Disney’s Animal Kingdom recently to take a look at the work. Kali River Rapids Closed for Refurbishment Kali River Rapids will be closed through sometime in March. Walt Disney World typically aims for the middle of the month, but so far they have only said that the attraction will reopen sometime in March. Here’s a look at the attraction, which has been drained and scaffolding has been installed in places for crews to refresh and clean the attraction. We’ve also included photos from when the ride is operational to show that the crews are walking in the ride trough. For a look at all of the planned and ongoing refurbishments and projects for 2025, 2026, and beyond at Walt Disney World, check out our refurbishment page below! 2025-2026 Walt Disney World Refurbishments & ProjectsA comprehensive list of the Walt Disney World refurbishments and major theme park projects scheduled for 2025, 2025, and beyond!blogmickey.com As always,