Disney Dining

Woody is no longer the only sheriff in town. Disney has spent decades positioning Woody (Tom Hanks) as the emotional center of the Toy Story franchise. From his rivalry with Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) to his final decision in Toy Story 4 (2019), the cowboy has traditionally driven the series’ biggest moments. Credit: Pixar That hierarchy changed with Toy Story 5 (2026), which arrived in theaters last month.

Most Disney resort news falls into a predictable pattern: a new restaurant, a refurbished pool bar, a room category update. This one is different. The Convention Center at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort is heading into a yearlong refurbishment starting August 10, 2026, and running through late September 2027. That’s 13 months of work on one of the most substantial meeting and event facilities in all of Walt Disney World.

Disney is taking another swing at live-action – this time, with Princess and the Frog. After years of remaking its animated classics, the studio has reached an awkward point. Some projects have earned more than $1 billion, while others have struggled under enormous budgets and intense scrutiny from longtime fans. That problem became more obvious with Snow White in 2025 and Moana in 2026. One was criticized for changing too much. The other was accused of copying its animated predecessor too closely.

The journey to Walt Disney World rarely begins beneath Cinderella Castle. It starts hours—or sometimes months—earlier, when a family compares airfare, chooses seats and wonders how much discomfort they can tolerate before the vacation has even begun. For travelers flying into Central Florida, that first day can be surprisingly unforgiving. Crowded airport terminals, overhead-bin battles and tightly packed rows can drain away some of the excitement before anyone reaches the resort.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom is in that in-between phase right now, where a big chunk of the park is still a construction zone, but the shape of what’s coming is finally visible enough to get genuinely excited about. The former DinoLand U.S.A. is long gone, the walls have been up for a while, and the Tropical Americas project is now at the stage where aerial photography is showing real progress instead of just cranes and dirt.

The upcoming game Jurassic Park: Survival promises players a “fully realized Isla Nublar” featuring iconic locations from the 1993 film alongside areas that audiences have never seen before. But one of the game’s biggest surprises may have nothing to do with dinosaurs at all.

Universal Studios has already proven that some of the biggest entertainment franchises in the world can become even bigger when they jump from screens into immersive theme park experiences. Now, as the company prepares its upcoming Universal United Kingdom Resort, one unlikely franchise could be a perfect fit for the new destination: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

When Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012 and announced a brand-new Star Wars trilogy, expectations were impossibly high. For many fans, the sequel trilogy represented the chance to finally return to the galaxy far, far away and continue the story of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Han Solo (Harrison Ford), and Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) decades after Return of the Jedi (1983). Instead, the trilogy became one of the most divisive chapters in Star Wars history.

SeaWorld Orlando is one of those parks that comes pre-loaded with opinions. The debate around it is long, complicated, and not going anywhere, and that’s fine, because nuance is allowed. What’s also true is that this week, nine green sea turtles paddled back into the Atlantic Ocean because a rescue team spent months working around the clock to make sure they could. Both things are true at once. Keep that in mind.

The first notes will likely hit before guests understand what they are seeing. A familiar guitar riff. A distant scream. Perhaps the silhouette of a throne emerging through the fog as thousands of Halloween Horror Nights fans move deeper into Universal Studios Florida. For metal fans, the sound alone could be enough to make the moment feel electric—and unexpectedly emotional. Halloween Horror Nights has always lived at the intersection of fear and fandom.