Theme Park Insider

Disney sets December 2027 debut for new cruise ship

Wed, 07 Oct 2026 21:10:00 GMT

By Robert Niles: Disney Cruise Line's new Disney Believe will set sail December 18, 2027, Disney announced today.

The fourth Wish-class ship will call Fort Lauderdale's Port Everglades its home, sailing four- and five-night itineraries to The Bahamas and Caribbean, including Disney's private destinations Castaway Cay and Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point.

I have called the Disney Cruise Line a theater company masquerading as a cruise line, given the number and variety of live entertainment productions on each ship. To that end, Disney Believe will produce Disney's first stage adaptation of "Encanto." The ship also will bring a re-staged version of Disney Magic's "Tangled: The Musical" to its Walt Disney Theatre. Also on the program will be "Disney Seas the Adventure," the character revue that plays on the other Wish-class ships.

Oaken's Table: A Frozen Family Feast will be the dinner show on Disney Believe, which will offer 1923 and Worlds of Marvel as its other rotational dining main dining restaurants. Those two feature on Disney's three other Wish-class ships, as well. The Disney Wish also has a Frozen-themed dinner show, with Arendelle: A Frozen Dining Adventure.

The Believe's lounges will include the Snow White-themed Wishing Well, which will be located outside the Haunted Mansion Parlor, which returns for its third installation across the fleet. The ship's two-level entertainment hub will be Gazelle, themed to Zootopia and featuring a Nick and Judy character meet and case-solving activation. The sports bar will be Skygazers, themed to an astronomer's observatory. And the piano lounge will be The Little Mermaid-themed Sea Notes.

The sweet shop will be Inside Out: Joyful Sweets, a repeat from Disney Wish. And Disney has chosen a Magic Kingdom theme for the Believe's Tower Suite, which you'll pretty much only see via video when invited influencers get to walk through on the press preview in December 2027, unless you have the stupid cash to drop on booking it.

Speaking of, bookings will open for Disney Believe later this month, starting October 12 for select Castaway Club members and then on October 19 for the public.

As the fourth ship in the Wish class, there's not much here to distinguish this new ship from others in the class, save the Encanto theater show. So unless that's a must-see for your family, I would continue to recommend selecting the itinerary that appeals most to your wants and budget. If you haven't been following my DCL coverage, I am a huge fan of Lookout Cay, if you can book a trip with that on the itinerary, regardless of ship.

But, I suspect, most Disney Cruise fans will want to continue to "collect" each ship in the fleet by sailing them all, so demand will be brisk for Believe in its first few months, even if much of its offering is stuff repeated from the rest of the class.

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Walt Disney World reveals holiday overlay set lists

Tue, 06 Oct 2026 19:45:00 GMT

By Robert Niles: Get ready for new holiday tunes on two of Walt Disney World's musical thrill rides, starting next month.

Disney has announced the new holiday playlists for on-ride audio on its Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets roller coasters. Each coaster features a randomly selected musical track on each ride. For the holidays, Disney switches out those tracks for new seasonal selections.

On Disney's Hollywood Studios' Muppets coaster, which just debuted last spring and is celebrating the holidays for the first time, Disney will be adding the tag line "Obligatory Holiday Overlay" from November 4 through January 6, 2027. The ride is getting a refreshed preshow, as Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem rehearse for their holiday concert. Then, on the ride, guests will hear one of four new tracks:

"Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," by The Electric Mayhem featuring Jennifer Hudson
"Holiday Road," by The Electric Mayhem featuring Kermit the Frog and Fozzie Bear
"Little Saint Nick," by The Electric Mayhem
"Silver Bells," by The Electric Mayhem featuring Cyndi Lauper

Over at EPCOT, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind will be featuring its new holiday setlist from November 25 through January 6, 2027.

"Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra
"Christmas Wrapping" by The Waitresses
"It�s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," by Andy Williams

Which song(s) are you hoping to hear?

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First look at Disney's new Monsters, Inc. Monstropolis food

Tue, 06 Oct 2026 19:16:00 GMT

By Robert Niles: Walt Disney World today revealed the second of two restaurants that will open its new Monsters, Inc.-themed land next year.

Monstropolis opens in Disney's Hollywood Studios in 2027. The land's first attraction will be Welcome to Monstropolis, a multimedia production in a reimagined "Glob Theater" building that used to be the home to the old Muppet-Vision show. The anchor attraction in the land will be a suspended indoor roller coaster themed to scare floor doors, but that will not open in 2027. Disney has not announced yet an opening date or name for that ride.

As for the restaurants, Disney previously announced that the land will feature a Harryhausen's sushi restaurant, complete with an animatronic octopus-like sushi chef from the first Monsters, Inc. film. Today, Disney revealed that the table-service restaurant also will serve ramen.

"The dishes will feature familiar, classic ingredients like rich tonkotsu broth and alkaline ramen noodles, plus a few others with playful, monster-y twists like fishcake sliced to look like eyeballs and green eggs," Disney said in its announcement.

The second restaurant in Monstropolis will be Archie's Scare Pig Pizza, which is taking over the former PizzeRizzo (and before that, Toy Story Pizza Planet Arcade) space. Themed to a college-town pizza parlor, the restaurant will continue to serve Disney's quick-service pizza. The menu at Archie�s Scare Pig Pizza also will include the land's "we have to have our IP's version of Butterbeer" drink, Blort.

Themed to Monstropolis' favorite soft drink, Walt Disney World's Blort will be a frozen purple beverage topped with a green "Scream Apple Foam."

You can watch Disney's reveal of its Monstropolis restaurants on its Instagram page.

I would be thrilled if Disney used this opportunity to create an actually decent quick-service pizza restaurant instead of continuing to serve the pizza-flavored puff bread that Rizzo offered. But I am not holding my breath on that. As for the ramen, that's easy to produce but tough to get right. Too many places serve a broth whose only real flavor note is salt. Again, given past experience, I am not going into that with a great deal of confidence, either. But I always hold hope to be surprised.

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How much did Disneyland and Disney World raise prices this year?

Tue, 06 Oct 2026 18:14:00 GMT

By Robert Niles: Disney's U.S. theme parks revealed modest price increases today, with Disney holding the line on many daily tickets as well as annual passes at Disneyland in California.

At Walt Disney World in Florida, however, annual price passes are going up. The top-tier Incredi-Pass, which is available to all guests, is up $120, to $1,749. Prices on other passes, which are open only to Florida residents or DVC members, increased from $10-40, depending upon tier.

Disney World also increased the price of its top-tier one-day ticket by $20, to $229 for the day. That tier only applies to top holidays such as Christmas and New Year's Eve. One-day tickets at WDW's lowest-priced tier remained the same, at $119.

In California, Disneyland did not raise prices for the Magic Key passes that the majority of park visitors use on many dates. In addition, Disneyland announced that it is doing away with no-show penalties for Magic Key holders who do not use their park reservations. Disneyland now will allow Magic Key holders to cancel a reservation at any time, even until the end of the day of the reservation.

Disneyland also kept the prices for one-day, one-park tickets at the top and bottom tiers the same - $104 on the low end and $224 at the top. The price of one-day tickets at the middle tiers has risen modestly, around 3% on average. That's in line with the current U.S. inflation rate.

Multi-day ticket prices also did not go up for one park per day tickets, though the Park Hopper option is up $5-15. Parking remains $40 at Disneyland, while Lightning Lane Multi Pass is up a buck.

All told, it looks like the price of getting in the gate at a Disney theme park in the United States this year is not one of those costs that is rising faster than inflation, for a change.

If you are looking for additional discounts on Disneyland theme park tickets, our partner has a variety of options available at lower than Disneyland's online prices: Discount Disneyland Resort tickets.

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Utah's Lagoon lands first U.S. install of new Intamin coaster

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 17:48:00 GMT

By Robert Niles: America's first Intamin Hot Racer coaster is coming to the Rocky Mountains next year.

Utah's Lagoon has announced J3 Grand Prix will open at the Salt lake City-area theme park next year. It will be the first U.S. installation of Intamin's Hot Racer, which debuted at Australia's Luna Park in 2021.

The 1,746-foot coaster will reach a top speed of 50 mph thanks to a tire-propelled launch and boost. The ride will feature three inversions, including a corkscrew, heartline roll, and an Immelmann.

Here is the park's hype video for the coaster:

J3 Grand Prix joins the Class of 2027 at U.S. theme parks, which includes...

Bakunawa at Six Flags Great Adventure
Cannonball! at Holiday World
Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift at Universal Studios Florida
Forbidden Lair at Lost Island
Miner�s Mountain Express at Silver Dollar City
Sky Hawk at Six Flags Great America
Thrill Glider at Six Flags Magic Mountain, and
Werewolf Gorge at Six Flags Fiesta Texas

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Rope Drop: Who's ready to Believe?

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 22:29:00 GMT

By Robert Niles: As the "rope drop" starts a day at theme parks, the Sunday "Rope Drop" post kicks off the week here at Theme Park Insider. Here is what lies ahead for fans at the parks this week.

The big scheduled news this week is the Disney Cruise Line's reveal of more details about its upcoming Disney Believe ship. Disney Believe is set to begin sailings next year as the fourth ship in DCL's Wish class.

That means that fans should expect the same ship layout as the Disney Wish, Treasure, and Destiny. But there will be unique touches on this ship, as there are on all Disney cruise ships. We are looking forward to hearing details about rotational dining themes, as well as Disney Theatre shows, and themes for the ship's bar and lounge spaces.

I assume that 1923 and Worlds of Marvel will return for Believe's rotational dining. That would leave an opening for the third, dinner-theater-show slot, which is filled with Arendelle: A Frozen Dining Adventure on the Wish, Plaza de Coco on the Treasure, and Pride Lands: Feast of The Lion King on Destiny.

In the Walt Disney Theatre, expect another production of Disney Seas the Adventure, which plays on all Wish-class ships. Each Wish-class ship stages two other shows, with Aladdin and The Little Mermaid on the Wish, Beauty and the Beast and Moana on the Treasure, and Frozen and Hercules on the Destiny.

We also should hear the name of the entertainment hub known as Luna on the Wish, Sarabi on the Treasure, and Saga on the Destiny. The theme and name of the ship's bars also change from ship to ship, with the big question being whether the Believe will get another installation of Haunted Mansion Parlor or another IP.

The reveal comes Wednesday at 4:30pm Eastern. I will have coverage here on Theme Park Insider immediately following, so we can discuss.

Planning a trip?

Here are the current refurbishment schedules from Disneyland, Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando.

October 26: Volcano Bay closes for the season, with a planned return on or before April 1, 2027.
October 29: Walt Disney World Railroad reopens shuttle service.
October 30: It�s a Small World closes at Disneyland for its holiday overlay installation.
November 1: Redwood Creek Challenge Trail closes at Disney California Adventure, with no reopening date.
November 2: Tiana�s Bayou Adventure closes at Walt Disney World�s Magic Kingdom, with no reopening date.
November 3: Animal Actors on Location closes permanently at Universal Studios Florida.
November 4: Hogwarts Express is closed at Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure.
November 20: Jurassic Park River Adventure reopens at Islands of Adventure.
January 4 - February 2, 2027: Popeye & Bluto�s Bilge-Rat Barges closes at Islands of Adventure.
January 25 - February 4, 2027: Fyre Drill closes at Universal Epic Universe.
February 8-19, 2027: Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey closes at Islands of Adventure.
Indiana Jones Adventure and Mad Tea Party are closed at Disneyland, with no reopening date.
Universal�s Horror Make-Up Show is closed at Universal Studios Florida. Estimated reopening in winter 2026.
Carousel of Progress is closed at Walt Disney World�s Magic Kingdom. New show debuts in 2027.

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Walk Time: Splash into the week's theme park news

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 17:15:00 GMT

By Robert Niles: The big news this week was Six Flags Magic Mountain's decision to retire its X2 roller coaster, which had been closed since July. The bad press about brain injury lawsuits and settlements was too much for the park, which made any attempt to smooth the notoriously rough ride not worth the effort. Assuming that any roller coaster manufacturer would take on that task.

Here is our story: Six Flags officially closes X2. Jake and I also talked about Six Flags' decision - and where Magic Mountain needs to go next - in this week's Theme Park Insider Podcast: Can Six Flags restore Magic in its Mountain?

Decisions about when to close, renovate or keep going with aging attractions inspired me to write, How can theme parks best honor and preserve their history?

In better news for the park, Six Flags Magic Mountain this week announced that it has fully energized its 4,315-vehicle solar canopy above its parking lot.

In other roller coaster news this week, Busch Gardens adds free locker time to Iron Gwazi and First test starts on Disney's new Spider-Man roller coaster.

Six Flags Great Adventure has started assembling the cars for its new Bakunawa roller coaster, which opens next year.

Elsewhere, Mattel this week released concept renderings for its first Mattel Wonder Indoor Waterpark, which the company said will open at the end of 2027 in Bellevue, Nebraska, just south of Omaha.

Images courtesy Mattel

The 100,000 square-foot, year-round waterpark will include a Barbie activity pool and FlowRider surf simulator, a Hot Wheels multi-slide tower; a lazy river decorated with Mattel Games IP including UNO, Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots, and Magic 8 Ball, as well as a Fisher-Price-themed water play structure. Additional Mattel Wonder Indoor Waterparks are planned for Orlando, Bradley, Illinois and Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, with a fifth location to be announced.

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Six Flags Magic Mountain goes full power with solar carport

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 20:45:00 GMT

By Robert Niles: Power is flowing full force now from Six Flags Magic Mountain's parking lot solar canopies.

The installation is the largest solar carport in California. It covers 4,315 parking spaces and can generate 20.8 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually. That's enough to offset 100 percent of the annual electricity consumption of the Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park and its Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Los Angeles water park.

"This is a transformative moment for Six Flags Magic Mountain and our sustainability journey," Park President Brian Oerding said. "By investing in renewable energy, we're taking meaningful action to reduce our environmental impact while helping build a more sustainable future for our guests, team members and community. This project demonstrates what's possible when organizations commit to innovation and responsible environmental stewardship."

Heck, I would have been happy just with the shade over more than 4,000 parking spaces at Magic Mountain's formerly sun-baked lot. Generating enough clean energy to power the whole theme park is a bonus.

The 12.37-megawatt solar energy system does not take Magic Mountain off the grid. The system, developed in partnership with Solar Optimum, remains connected to Southern California Edison, with the 637,000 square-foot canopy providing power to the grid when solar production exceeds local demand and battery storage. (There's a 2-megawatt/8-megawatt-hour battery energy storage system as part of the overall system.) When the solar system is not generating enough power for the park, it can pull from the SCE grid.

Six Flags has been installing the system over the past few years, but announced this week that the system is now fully energized.