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Greetings fellow Rope Droppers,
D23 has become our Apple keynote. Same ritual, same group chat, same guy insisting this is finally the year for a new EPCOT World Showcase pavilion.
We've been on both sides of it. Back when I covered the parks for Orlando news, the big reveals came with embargoes and press badges. Now they come to your couch on Disney+, which is honestly the better arrangement.
Saturday night is called Horizons: A Carousel of Progress, which is a bold name for a company that closed the actual Carousel of Progress last month.
Let's head in.
| 1 | The D23 parks showcase lands Saturday, with a telling name. |
| 2 | Adventureland's new pirate show turned up with a familiar villain. |
| 3 | A DVC building lost its water, and guests lost their rooms. |
| 01 | This Week's E-Ticket A Carousel of Progress Reports |
Disney Parks Blog
Disney confirmed this week that Horizons: A Carousel of Progress, the D23 parks showcase, streams live on Disney+ Saturday, August 15 at 7 p.m. PT, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris (Disney Parks Blog).
The framing is the story. In 2024 the tagline was "we are going to do everything you hear tonight." This year it's "the next chapter of Disney Experiences isn't just being imagined. It's being built."
BlogMickey read that as expectation management, and we think they're right. We ran the full D23 schedule a few weeks back and told you not to assume a parks-heavy night. Disney has now more or less said it out loud.
The nine-Imagineer roster is the other tell. Caroline May leads Villains Land at Magic Kingdom, Chris Beatty and Jason Grandt cover Walt Disney World, and the photo Disney released of Grandt put him in front of the Piston Peak construction site (WDWNT).
The fan sites have spent the week making lists. AllEars wants opening years for Monstropolis and the DinoLand replacement, and spotted "Page 8, Column 15" tucked into Disney's Monstropolis newspaper art, which reads suspiciously like August 15.
Disney Food Blog wants Piston Peak's unnamed rally-race ride to finally get a name. The DIS is making the case for a new World Showcase pavilion, which would be EPCOT's first since Norway in 1988. DVC Fan is watching what any of it means for Disney Vacation Club.
| What fans want Saturday | The buzz |
|---|---|
| Villains Land: a name and its two rides | Everyone's asking |
| Piston Peak: ride names and an opening year | Everyone's asking |
| Monstropolis: an opening year | Widely predicted |
| The DinoLand replacement's timeline | Widely predicted |
| A new World Showcase pavilion | Long-standing wish |
| A Disney Cruise Line answer to DVC | Outlier prediction |
| An all-new Walt Disney World land | The dream scenario |
For your planning:
Saturday, August 15, 7 p.m. PT / 10 p.m. ET, free with any Disney+ subscription. D23 itself runs August 14 through 16 in Anaheim.
Most of what lands Saturday probably won't be bookable, so plan on a watch-and-file night. If something does turn up with an on-sale date attached, we'll have it here next Thursday.
The thing worth writing down is a year. A date on Piston Peak, Monstropolis, or Villains Land is what actually moves a 2028 or 2029 trip.
What are you actually hoping Disney says Saturday night?
That matters less for what gets said Saturday and more for what gets built after. A parks lifer in the CEO chair is why "it's being built" reads like a promise instead of a hedge.
So watch for schedules, not surprises. This year, the reveal that ages well is a date.
| 02 | Ears to That Barbossa Takes the Helm |
Last week we told you Captain Jack's Buccaneer Bash was on the Adventureland schedule and that Disney hadn't said what it actually was. Opening night answered that: Captain Barbossa runs the thing.
A pirate band opens with "Wellerman," then Barbossa commandeers the Adventureland Stage and drafts the crowd into his crew. Pirate call-and-response, a heave-ho contest against an imaginary Kraken, and "Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)" to close (WDWNT). Captain Jack recruits separately, and the Dashing Corsairs juggle.
It runs as a rolling 7 p.m. to midnight window rather than fixed showtimes, so you can catch it around a treat trail instead of building your night around it (BlogMickey). Disney's description never mentions the Rusty Cutlass band that used to hold that spot. The new crew introduces itself as Riptide Riley, Typhoon Taylor, and Kevin.
The rest of what opening night taught us:
Sellout Watch: Twelve of the party's 38 nights are now gone, the newest being Tuesday, October 6. Four August dates remain: the 23rd at $139, the 25th at $144, and the 28th and 30th at $149. (WDWMagic)
Candy, Simplified: Allergy-friendly trick-or-treating dropped the teal-token swap entirely. Go straight to Merchant of Venus or the Liberty Square ticket office and Cast Members hand over a full allergy-friendly bag. That's hours back for families who used to work the trails twice. (Disney Food Blog)
Mansion Muster: The Haunted Mansion's Chief Steward greets on Main Street, and the Hitchhiking Ghosts moved off the Country Bear roof into the Diamond Horseshoe treat-spot queue. (AllEars)
Spelltacular Glow-Up: Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular returned with hooded dancer costumes, hand-held candles instead of candelabras, and a green backlight on the Sanderson Sisters' entrance. Same show, better looking. (BlogMickey)
| 03 | Pardon the Pixie Dust Two Outages, One Lodge |
Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney's Wilderness Lodge lost running water starting Saturday, August 8. Sinks, showers, and toilets went out across the building. Disney handed out bottled water in the lobby and pointed guests toward the pool restrooms (WDWMagic).
When it wasn't fixed by Sunday, Disney relocated guests to other resorts including Saratoga Springs and Old Key West, with partial DVC point refunds and, in some reports, cash adjustments (WDWNT). Copper Creek was unaffected. As of Wednesday, Disney had not said what caused it.
That's twice this summer. In mid-June the main lodge and part of Copper Creek went several days without air conditioning (DVC Fan). Central Florida. June. Two building-wide utility failures at one resort in eight weeks is not a Walt Disney World we recognize.
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| 04 | From Around the Kingdom The Short Line |
Take a Seat: The Beak and Barrel added round barstools at its main bar, a year after opening with standing room only, though WDWNT has since clarified that the map room is still stand-up and the 45-minute limit stays. (WDWNT)
Card Declined: Some third-party Disney Springs shops, Zara and Vera Bradley among them, stopped accepting Disney Gift Cards after contract changes. Sephora still takes them, and every Disney-owned location is unaffected. Worth knowing before you budget a trip on gift cards. (WDWNT)
Hallmark Sets Up Shop: A Holiday Ever After pop-up is coming to Disney Springs, giving the 38-piece Hallmark and Disney collection an on-property home. No opening date or location yet, and the merchandise itself lands in October ahead of the movie's November 28 premiere. (WDWMagic)
Sphere of Influence: Disney+ ordered a pilot for a Spaceship Earth series, a time-travel story about teenagers from Earth's past and future. We'll take anything that puts a little EPCOT in the living room on a random Tuesday. (BlogMickey)
Round and Round: Walt Disney World's first public roundabouts opened August 10 on the new Floridian Way, so drivers headed to the Grand Floridian, the Polynesian's Island Tower, or the Wedding Pavilion now peel off onto temporary connector driveways instead of their usual turns. Deputies are out writing tickets, so take the circles slow. (BlogMickey)
Cast members working Not-So-Scary traded their bat-print shirts and plaid aprons for a black button-up covered in rainbow skeletons, and the fandom has feelings (BlogMickey).
One guest showed up in last year's look anyway. When the parade rolled past, Ursula clocked the old costume and gave it a look we can only describe as grieving.
So settle it for us. Old neon or new skeletons? Hit reply with your verdict →
| 05 | See Ya Real Soon See You Saturday Night |
A parks keynote with the volume turned down, a pirate takeover, and a lodge that could use a plumber. Set a reminder for Saturday at 10 p.m. Eastern, and we'll unpack whatever lands next Thursday.
See ya real soon,
Gabe
