Universal Orlando A patent granted Tuesday to Universal City Studios describes a seat pan holding fluid that changes thickness under an electric or magnetic field. It goes soft to mold around each rider at load, then firms up to hold that shape when the forces come.
Disney World A service mark application filed Tuesday uses a possessive version of the Bay Lake resort's name, and every mention in the body copy on the Disney Parks Blog had already been changed to match before it was filed. The old name is still sitting in the page's own meta description and in the filenames of Disney's concept art.
SeaWorld Orlando The new card covers unlimited visits through December 31, 2027, and it undercuts last year's version by four dollars. SeaWorld says it pays for itself in two visits, which is true against the full gate price and not against the discount the park is running today.
Disney World Two Walt Disney World Resort job listings place a Disney Character Warehouse at Tampa Premium Outlets. WDWMagic reports it would be the third location, with the other two both operating in Orlando. Disney has not announced an opening date or where inside the mall the store will go.
Universal Orlando Universal's blog published a behind the scenes walkthrough of one of its Halloween Horror Nights 35 houses on Wednesday, with a senior show director and a scenic designer on the record, interior photos, and a pro tip that the Tilted Hallway area has a second, steadier route.
Universal Orlando A Behind-the-Screams post from Universal walks through Jack & Oddfellow: Chaos & Control and ends with a pro tip: the final room has two hallways, and the left one is a steadier, more accessible route with the same scareactors. Universal also described the house narration, a popcorn scent effect and heavy use of video.
Universal Orlando Fast & Furious: Supercharged closes for good on Monday, August 17, which makes Sunday, August 16 the final day to ride it. Inside Universal reports Universal has confirmed the attraction will be open during Passholder Nights on August 15 and 16, so the very last riders are lined up to be annual passholders at a free, reservation only party that is already at capacity.
Disney World Blog Mickey published photos of curved steel ribs inside the Monstropolis show building on Tuesday, with multiple pairs of them appearing to be installed, forming the M shaped load and unload station for the Door Vault coaster. The silhouette matches the concept model Imagineering showed at D23 in 2024, and those arches exist to carry what Disney says will be the first vertical lift system at a Disney park.
Legoland Florida The 2026 calendar for Holidays at LEGOLAND is now posted on the official site, and it runs 26 select dates from November 21 all the way to January 3. Last season the same event ran 11 dates, every one of them in December, and the two seasons before that opened the day after Thanksgiving. We can find no press release about any of it.
SeaWorld Orlando Passport to Screams turns August pass member visits into Howl-O-Scream rewards: a free snack in week one, ten dollars in Howl-O-Scream Bucks in week two, and a one time Quick Queue in week three. The asterisk hanging off that third reward is the interesting part, because the event's licensed house, I Know What You Did Last Summer: The Final Catch, is carved out of it.
Disney World Disney has not said how tall the Piston Peak mountains will be, and how much of them will loom over the rest of Magic Kingdom is the sightline question Imagineering publicly addressed back in 2025. A staff photo published on the Disney Parks Blog, shot on location with an Imagineer in a construction vest, may have answered it by accident. In the frame, a small red balloon hangs in the sky behind the walls, floating well above Cinderella Castle's tallest spire from the camera's angle.
Disney World Disney Springs turned on its fall and Halloween season on August 11 and runs it through November 9, a 91 day window that is nine days longer than 2025. The lineup adds a roller skating act called the Harvest Skaters, and Disney has not published a single performance time or location.
Disney World A popular Walt Disney World money-saving move is to buy Disney Gift Cards at a discount and spend them on property like cash. At Disney Springs, that just stopped working at some stores. Guest Relations told WDW News Today that third-party contracts have changed, Zara and Vera Bradley are out, Sephora is still in, and neither report includes a full list.
Disney World Horizons: A Carousel of Progress is the main parks event of D23 weekend, and in 2024 D23 pointed the public to just a segment of it, inside Fortnite. Disney will now stream it live on Disney+ at 7 p.m. PT on Saturday, August 15, with nine Imagineers on stage and four of them carrying Walt Disney World in their titles.
Universal Orlando Universal's blog named the two Passholder Nights exclusives its own website had listed only as coming soon: an Apple Pie Crepe at Central Park Crepes and Pizza Fries at DreamWorks Imagination Cafe. Both are available only on August 15 and 16, at a free after hours party whose reservations filled back in July. The other ten Passholder Appreciation Days items have been public since July 28, and not one of them is at Epic Universe.
Universal Orlando When Universal laid out Passholder Appreciation Days in late July, one perk was left blank: a complimentary specialty item, to be announced soon. It has now been shown, and it is a bright blue fabric wristlet keychain printed with the UOAP logo. Pickup starts August 15 at two in-park shops, while supplies last, and it is not tied to the fully booked Passholder Nights.
Disney World Hades' henchmen used to dance at the rear of the Skeleton Band float, at first inside dark metal cages with glowsticks, and in later years with just the glowsticks. For the 2026 run of Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, Anastasia and Drizella have the spot instead, with no cages and no glowsticks. WDW News Today argues the swap may quietly retire the last of the parade's grown-up streak.
Disney World A water outage that guests say began around 3 p.m. Saturday has left Boulder Ridge, one of the Disney Vacation Club villa buildings at Disney's Wilderness Lodge, with barely any water pressure and toilets that will not flush. Disney is moving some guests to Disney's Old Key West Resort and to Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa, and offering refunds and bill adjustments to affected guests whether they move or stay. It is the second infrastructure failure at the resort in under two months, and this one hit the villa building that June's air conditioning outage appeared to spare.
Disney World WDW News Today reports that the Westward Ho refreshment stand is now gone from Frontierland at Magic Kingdom, torn down roof, serving windows and all. Only the big tree beside it is left, and the open ground gives guests a clear line of sight over the construction walls to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Big Al's is expected to follow as Piston Peak National Park takes over the old Rivers of America area.
Universal Orlando Merchandise for Jack the Clown and Dr. Oddfellow's Infernal Carnival of Nightmares has reached Five & Dime at Universal Studios Florida, and the artwork does more than sell a sweatshirt. The poster puts Eddie Schmidt, Chance, The Caretaker and a young Storyteller alongside this year's two icons, and the tumbler adds three more.
Disney World Magic Kingdom's Space Mountain was closed all day on Friday, August 7, and did not reopen until around 6pm, just in time for the opening night of Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. The day before, the coaster had been running on one side of its dual track and its standby wait climbed to 175 minutes. Disney posted an in-app apology signed by the park's vice president.
Universal Orlando The teaser card is gone. Universal has shown the free annual passholder magnet for Passholder Nights: a brown hieroglyph slab with a gold UOAP logo and a metallic blue scarab where the O belongs. The catch is the same as it was in late July. The only place to get one is the August 15 and 16 after-hours events, and reservations are already full.
Disney World Droid Depot is getting a companion that is not a droid. Disney has announced Batuu Adventure Buddies, starting with an interactive Ewok with LCD eyes, motorized expressions, and optional gear packs whose tools and food attach to its left hand. It goes on sale at Disneyland on August 13, and Disney says the full three-toy collection will debut at Disney's Hollywood Studios later, with no date and no prices announced yet.
Disney World Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party opened August 7, and Magic Kingdom's daily hours changed with it. On party dates through August 21 the park opens at 8am instead of 9am, with resort early entry at 7:30am, and on Halloween party dates it closes to regular admission at 6pm so the party can begin at 7pm. Happily Ever After and the Disney Starlight parade do not run on party nights, and some Extended Evening Hours have moved to Disney's Hollywood Studios or Disney's Animal Kingdom.
Disney World Max Goof's Powerline-inspired dance party has been a roaming Main Street, U.S.A. pre-parade in past seasons, dating back to 2022. On opening night of Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party 2026, it did not run there ahead of the parade at all. It now runs as a stage show with five set showtimes a night, at locations including the Adventureland stage and Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe.
Disney World Opening night of Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party introduced Blair Lockward and Lady Fermotta, two brand new Haunted Mansion characters, plus a rare character appearance by the Grave Diggers. Ten of the season's 38 dates have already sold out.
Universal Orlando Neon purple bins with built-in solar panels have appeared around CityWalk, most of them on the bridges to the parks, using the sun to power internal compactors. They are the same units Walt Disney World started rolling out in June, right down to the hand or foot opening that has already confused Disney guests.
Disney World Disney will host the Department of Defense Warrior Games at ESPN Wide World of Sports in August 2027, its third time, with nearly 200 competitors across 12 adaptive sports. Pickleball is new since the 2024 Games, and Disney has not said whether spectators get in free or whether allied nations return.
Disney World The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District has reinstated theme park passes for its employees. In 2023 the same District called the pass program a "scheme to funnel millions of taxpayer dollars to Disney." A District spokesperson says the new pass fixes what Reedy Creek got wrong, including employees paying taxes on it.
Universal Orlando Universal Studios Florida is filling in the food and street layer of Halloween Horror Nights 35, and among the new arrivals is a blood-splattered draft wagon carrying Edgar Schmidt's name. There is also a Hellraiser food truck outside Springfield, and a stage for Death Eaters inside Diagon Alley.
