A ride overlay is coming to Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters ahead of its closure at Tokyo Disneyland, Genie+ getting rebranded and advance Lighting Lane purchase coming to Walt Disney World, and Big Thunder Mountain reportedly closing for refurbishment as part of the Magic Kingdom expansion project — all this and more in today’s daily recap for Tuesday, June 25 and Wednesday, June 26, 2024.
Daily Recap for June 25 and 26, 2024
Walt Disney World
Magic Kingdom
- Disney has filed a permit for refurbishment of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, possibly indicating the start of the “Beyond the Big Thunder” expansion at Magic Kingdom.
- Magic Kingdom park pass reservations are no longer available for Annual Passholders to visit during the opening weekend of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
- Sleepy Hollow at Magic Kingdom has updated its menu to include new Mickey waffle dishes, and we reviewed them all.
EPCOT
- The Shanghai Disneyland exhibit found in the China Pavilion at EPCOT is getting an update to include the park’s new Zootopia-themed land.
- The brush fire scene aboard Living With the Land at EPCOT has been refreshed.
- The cars normally on display in the Test Track interior showroom have been moved outside while the ride is closed for reimagining.
Disney Springs
- Flavors of Florida is returning this summer to Disney Springs with limited-time menu items to enjoy and a new scavenger hunt.
Walt Disney World Resort Hotels
- Construction walls have come down around the Blue Ribbon Corn Dogs stand at Disney’s BoardWalk.
New Merchandise
- The Grinning Loth-Cat mug at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is a different variant from the one released at Disneyland Resort, so we had to visit the park to pick one up.
- New merchandise celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort is now available.
- We spotted a new “Up”-themed Loungefly mini backpack featuring Kevin’s babies from the end of the Pixar film.
- A slew of new MagicBand+ designs have arrived at Walt Disney World this week, including those inspired by Mickey Mouse, “Star Wars,” Disney Princesses, and more.
Other Walt Disney World News
- Disney has announced that Genie+ will be rebranded, and advance purchase Lightning Lane is coming to Walt Disney World Resort.
- With these changes, international guests visiting Walt Disney World will not be able to purchase and select Lightning Lane options in advance of entering the United States.
- Following the announcement of Disney’s changes to Genie+, Walt Disney World’s new Lightning Lane Multi Pass option will reintroduce attraction tiers for guests to choose from when pre-booking experiences.
- Walt Disney World has shared the full list of limited-time new and returning menu offerings for Fourth of July 2024.
- Select guidemap languages are no longer available on the displays at Walt Disney World theme park entrances.
- The runDisney Virtual 12Ks of Christmas medals have been revealed.
Disneyland Resort
- Ticket pre-sales opened to Inspire Key holders on June 25 for Oogie Boogie Bash 2024 at Disney California Adventure.
- Those Inspire Key pre-sale tickets for Oogie Boogie Bash promptly sold out on the same day.
- On June 26, all Magic Key pre-sale tickets for Oogie Boogie Bash 2024 sold out.
- Disneyland Resort has also shared their list of food and beverage offerings coming to the resort to celebrate Fourth of July.
- After sales were paused as a result of technical issues, a new registration date for the 2025 Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend was announced.
- An official opening date has been announced for Din Tai Fung in the Downtown Disney District.
- The Anaheim Ducks have reintroduced their original Donald Duck-inspired Mighty Ducks logo with new jerseys.
Tokyo Disney Resort
- A special overlay of Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters will return for a limited time ahead of the ride’s closure at Tokyo Disneyland.
Disneyland Paris
- New concept art has been released of the complete makeover coming to The Sports Bar in Disney Village at Disneyland Paris.
Hong Kong Disneyland
- Hong Kong Disneyland shared that the resort achieved profitability and a major attendance rebound in fiscal year 2023.
Disney Cruise Line
- Disney Cruise Line has released more details about the newest ship, Disney Adventure, which will set sail next year.
- Disney Cruise Line also shared new concept art of the staterooms that will be aboard the Disney Adventure.
- Before you sail away aboard Disney Cruise Line, check out our full guide to pre-booking activities like spa services, shore excursions, and more.
Entertainment and Media
- A release date has been announced for Epic Mickey Rebrushed, a remake of the 2010 video game.
- Kevin Feige has revealed the production start date for “The Fantastic Four” film.
- After just 12 days in theaters, “Inside Out 2” has crossed over into the top 10 highest-grossing animated films of all time domestically.
WDW News Today
Is Alcohol a Problem at Disney? – The WDW News Today Podcast: Episode 39
Nana Tries the New Mickey Waffles at Magic Kingdom
Expedition Everest – 4K Roller Coaster POV | Multi-Cam
Disney-ish Rooms, Vampire Basements, and Chaos Theory Abound!
We’re Celebrating Stitch – Discussing The Movie That Started The Series, “Stitch:The Movie!”
That’s it for today; we hope you enjoyed this Daily Recap. Thanks for stopping by, and we’ll see you tomorrow!