Walt Disney World Resort
Orlando, FL
---- THE LATEST BUZZ ----
(10/10/2026) A Pricy Big Change May Be Coming To The Parking Toll Plazas
(10/7/2026) Walt Disney World Ticket Prices Increase For All
(9/7/2026) Wolfgang Pucks To Close For Good at Disney Springs Next Week
(6/17/2026) Big Change Coming To Walt Disney World Transportation Next Week
Resort Rehabs - The following information is subject to change:
Typhoon Lagoon - NOW CLOSED Sept. 9, 2026 through TBD
Blizzard Beach - NOW OPEN
Disney Skyliner - Jan. 24, 2027 through Jan. 30, 2027
 General Resort News - (10/10/2026) One thing that was left untouched by the latest ticket price increases at Walt Disney World was the cost of parking to visit one of the four major theme parks. However… this too could potentially be set to change in the future, possibly in the worst possible way. Various social media sources are reporting that Walt Disney World has filed construction permits to perform new work to the parking toll plazas at all four theme parks in the near future. The exact scope of the work is not known at this time, but there is some speculation that instead of leaving the current $35 a day static parking price in place, Disney may be considering borrowing a well despised tactic from their neighbors over at SeaWorld Orlando.
It was first reported in late June 2018 that SeaWorld Orlando had begun testing out what would be called Dynamic or Surge based pricing for parking at the theme park. In other words, on slow days guests arriving at the park would be charged $30 to enter the parking lot, while on busy or peak days, especially if they were expecting a surge in guests to arrive for a popular concert that was scheduled, the cost of parking was said to increase anywhere between $45 to $55 out of nowhere for basic tier parking. To aid with this tactic the park set up pricing signs at the toll plaza that I believe feature little magnetic number stickers than can be swapped at will.
The fear right now is that Walt Disney World, being more “boujie” than SeaWorld, could be getting ready to install new electric signs at all four toll plazas so that the resort can automatically control and update all the parking prices remotely from the corporate offices, rather than rely on parking workers to go out and update the pricing signs by hand.
File this as just rumor right now, but I’m hoping that this is wrong and that Disney is just getting ready to roll out some new impressive placemaking / point of arrival signage at the toll plazas… but unfortunately adding surge pricing to the parking lots does sound like a likely Disney tactic when they already have different pricing at each of the four theme parks, each with 7 different dynamic tiers based on how busy they expect each park to be. So you can feel free to make your own assumption about what is likely to come from this. Currently, I believe the price to park at any of the Walt Disney World theme parks (and Universal) is $35.
(9/7/2026) It’s been confirmed that the Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill at Disney Springs will close for good on Sept. 13th. This brings an end to the presence of the “Wolfgang Puck” name at the site after being there in one form or another since the late 1990’s when the first site opened at Downtown Disney’s new “West Side”.
(6/17/2026) A big transportation change is coming to Walt Disney World. Starting on June 28th guests visiting Disney Springs will be required to show proof that they are staying at a Walt Disney World Resort before they will be allowed to board any of the busses or ferries going to any of the resorts. Guests will either need to show a room key, magic-band, or some sort of proof that they are current guests at the resort, or that they have reservations at a restaurant, spa, or other activity at one of the resorts.
This is Disney’s way of closing a “loophole” in the experience, that allowed people to part for free at Disney Springs, jump on a bus or boat to one of the resorts, and then switch to another bus or boat heading from the resort directly to one of the theme parks in order to avoid having to pay to park.
 Ticket Pricing Updates - (10/7/2026) The ticket prices to visit the Walt Disney World theme parks just went up this week. Unfortunately, admission to WDW remains as confusing as ever, with different ticket prices in effect for each of the parks and new increased pricing for the various tiers.
A one-park / one-day ticket to the Magic Kingdom on the top tier day went up $10 to $229
A one-park / one-day ticket to Epcot went up $15 on a top tier day to also cost $229
A one-park / one-day ticket to Hollywood Studios on a top tier day went up $5 to $214.
A one-park / one-day ticket to Animal Kingdom on a top tier day went up $5 to $189.
Annual Pass prices also increased across the board, with the cheapest pass (Pixie Dust) going up $10 to $499, while the Incredi-Pass went up $120 to $1749.
Big price jumps have also been said to be in effect for things light Lightning Lane Premier Pass, Park Hopper Tickets, Lightning Lane Multi Pass and more.
2027 - Disney’s Lakeshore Lodge - In Development - (2/22/2026) While it still won’t be ready to open until 2027, Bioreconstruct has posted a few pictures of the current state of Lakeshore Lodge, the new Walt Disney World Resort currently under construction.
(7/5/2025) Things are progressing rapidly on the new Disney Lakeshore Lodge complex that is being built on the site of Disney’s former River Country waterpark that closed back in 2001. You can get a quick look from the air in photos posted by Bioreconstruct on X/Twitter as well as view how things look from the ground and from the water in the latest update from MouseSteps taken yesterday. According to the update the new Lakeshore Lodge towers will ultimately be 10 stories tall and including a series of A-Frame cabins that are being built near the shoreline, the resort will have about 900 rooms, putting it just ahead of the Grand Floridan.
(11/28/2024) The former “Reflections - A Disney Lakeside Lodge” DVC Resort project for Walt Disney World that was put on indefinite hold shortly after starting the initial site clearing due to the pandemic is now back… kind of. Disney has spent the years revising the concept and has announced a new project on the same site (where the old River Country water park used to be) that will be called Disney’s Lakeshore Lodge. New permits have been filed and work has restarted with the goal of opening this new resort sometime in 2027. Beyond that, few details are known, other than it will be similar in size and scope and theme to the original Reflections concept.
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 ???? - New Magic Kingdom Resort - (7/5/2025) Back in 2021 we reported that Walt Disney World had filed plans to re-route Florida Way away from the current path towards the Grand Floridian and instead put the road further west where they would reclaim a hole or two of the nearby golf course in order to run a new road along the backside of a cast parking and backstage facilities area for the resort. It would then reconnect with the existing road back near Reedy Creek Fire Station 3, which is also the backstage entrance road into where all the current Magic Kingdom construction is taking place for Big Thunder and the removal of the Rivers of America. The end result of removing the road was the ability to link together two sections of property on either side that would actually allow for a good size new resort to be placed eventually in a way that would allow for easy walking access to the Magic Kingdom. Or… if Disney is thinking REALLY LONG TERM… it could also allow for an expansion of the Magic Kingdom to happen behind Adventureland if they ever opted to remove the canal where they park the Electrical Water Pageant barges during the day. (But that’s a thought for another day…)
Regardless, after all this time has passed it looks like they’re finally moving along on this new road project along with a general widing and replacement of Florida Way all the way from the Magic Kingdom parking lot and past the new expansion towers at the Polynesian Resort.
For the moment, some of this land that was speculated to be for a new resort is being cleared along that canal run, which is likely going to be used as backstage project space and storage for the tons of construction that will be entering into the Magic Kingdom back here for the removal of Tom Sawyer’s Island & Rivers of America, the construction of the new Cars themed land that will replace it, and eventually followed by the clearing and construction of the new Villains themed land that will come next. (Credit for all photos below to Bioreconstruct on X/Twitter)
(10/23/21) Is Walt Disney World planning some kind of new resort for the Magic Kingdom area? New permits filed by Walt Disney World for a “World Drive Phase III” now show plans to move the existing Floridan Way road as it approaches the Grand Floridian. The roadway will turn to the left and cut through a small section of the Magnolia Golf Course that will essentially wipe out Hole 16 to get around a backstage work and parking area and then head North again with an all new road to eventually reconnect with the existing road at the intersection of Maple Rd.
I drew up a quick graphic showing the approximate location of the new planned route for Floridian Way and how it would open up a rather large piece of land just to the north of the Grand Floridian along an undeveloped section of the Seven Seas Lagoon. Well, almost undeveloped… you may recall that Disney management FINALLY completed the “decades in the making” walkway from The Magic Kingdom to the Grand Floridian resort with the construction of two bridges and a pathway. While the pathway was announced a long long time ago, the reveal of this new piece of the puzzle makes me wonder if they finally had a good reason to finish this pathway after all these years to provide walking access to the Magic Kingdom from any possible new resort they might choose to put there. (The distance isn’t far enough to bother with adding yet another monorail stop between the park and Grand Flo…)
Now don’t go expecting to see a new building rising in the next year or so. This is a fine example of Disney’s long term strategy at work here, and I think they’re just setting the stage for something special to come in the future… but not until they are ready.
???? - New Theme Parks - (7/2/2025) The latest plan for the Walt Disney World Resort approved through the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (formerly known as Reedy Creek back when Disney still controlled it themselves) has given permission for the company to build two minor theme parks and a major new theme park by 2045. According to the report the major park can open anytime 2035 and 2045 and minor parks would be expected by 2030 and 2035. If the growth level is achieved, Walt Disney World could welcome an approximate 99.3 million guests a year by 2045, up from the estimated 51.2 million they served in 2023 according to the TEA/AECOM report.
That said… just because Disney has permission now to build new parks, doesn’t necessarily mean that they will. Having them on the books now however will make it easy to ask for extensions to those time windows as needed however. While a 5th major park does seem like something they might need, especially since the last new Disney park in Florida was Animal Kingdom which opened way back in 1998, Disney has been spending more time and effort than ever to renovate and expand their existing four parks in ways previously never imagined. So maybe once those latest projects are done, then we can start to dream about something entirely new.
???? - Walt Disney World Transportation Updates - (5/2/2026) According to local news sources, Walt Disney World will be adding a new Ferry boat to travel between the TTC and the Magic Kingdom in 2027. Currently there are three Ferry Boats that travel the waters of the Seven Seas Lagoon: The Admiral Joe Fowler, General Joe Potter and the Richard F. Irvine. The new vessel now under construction will be named after former WDW President, Meg Gilbert Crofton, and increase the active fleet up to four vessels.
The interesting thing is that this is said to be the first addition to the fleet since 1976, which does make me wonder “Why now?” if they are not planning on retiring any of the existing craft. The Ferry fleet serves as an alternate form of access to the Magic Kingdom from the main parking lot along side the Walt Disney World Monorails. The same monorails that have become very long in the tooth themselves and subject to some very high profile breakdowns from time to time… such as the one that just took place on April 4th when Monorail Teal broke down in the middle of the EPCOT beam.
So if Walt DIsney World is preparing to increase the capacity of the Ferry fleet,,, is this also a sign that they may be preparing for a time in the not too distant future when the Monorail’s will have to run at a reduced capacity as well? Possibly preparing for a time when the Monorails may have to be closed, or running at a reduced capacity around the Magic Kingdom line (maybe with only one beam available) as they perform some kind of construction on the beams or replacement of the trains themselves. Since the Ferry is the least popular of the two methods of transportation, there must be a reason they are preparing to increase the Ferry systems capacity. Of course, they could also be preparing to sent out the older ships for extensive and lengthy overhauls as well, one at a time, and having a new boat ready to go will help make that process less painful as well.
I'll leave you with some facts… the potential capacity of each Walt Disney World Monorail is 360 passengers. Each of the six cars that make up a train can theoretically hold 20 sitting passengers and 40 standing passengers, depending on how many gigantic strollers are loaded into each one, so we realize that real-world capacity these days is far less than that, There are also 12 Mark VI monorails in the fleet at this time, though the number that are actually active at any given time across the three beamways can vary from day to day, as maintenance and crowd levels issues come and go. A trip from the TTC to the Magic Kingdom station on the express beam usually takes about 8-10 minutes.
In comparison, the Ferry boats can each hold about 600 guests at once (so about twice the capacity of a monorail train) and can actually navigate the one-way journey across the lagoon in about 6 minutes. The process of loading and unloading however can add another 4 to 6 minutes on average (sometimes longer), but when running all three Ferries at once, the end result is usually that the Ferries are able to transport more guests than the monorails, which is why you will often see larger lines waiting for the ferry ride at the end of the day when everyone is trying to leave the park at the same time. So you can see where adding a fourth ferry to the system could really increase the number of guests the system can move each hour. Especially if, for whatever reason, the Monorail system were to suddenly close the express beam and only operate the resort beam, which takes longer to move around the loop due to the three extra stops along the route.
(4/6/2026) This is the not the first… nor will it be the last… but news and social media reports over the weekend reported that Monorail Teal broke down in mid-run on the EPCOT line with a full load a guests on a nice hot afternoon. Stuck inside as a the temperatures began to rise, some reports indicated that guests were instructed how to remove a few window panels from the inside to get some relief and fresh air while they waited for one of the diesel powered “tow truck” vehicles to make the run out from the maintenance depot to the Monorail and tow it back.
It also allowed one fun poster the opportunity to make a couple entertaining posts while trapped on-board, which you can see below. But the bigger question now is… as old as the Walt Disney Monorail fleet is now, why has Walt Disney World still not hired out someone to make new trains? The current Mark VI monorail fleet was created for Disney by Bombardier and began replacing the old ones in 1989… so 37 long years ago. These replaced the Mark IV Monorails which only ran from 1971 to 1991, so a few of the Mark IV are 35 years old I guess, but still… 20 years vs 35-37 years is a big difference.
For those wondering, the Mark Vs were for Disneyland, and those ran from 1987 to 2008 (21 years) when they were replaced by three Mark VII trains between 2008 and 2009. The Mark VII’s are said to have been designed/engineered by Dynamic Structures with the bodies put together by a TPI Composites. Dynamic Structures is a related company to Dynamic Attractions, the company behind a number of Disney’s (and Universal’s) most innovative new attractions over the past 25 years, including Soarin’, Harry Potter for the Forbidden Journey, Radiator Springs Racers, and even did the rebuild of Space Mountain for Disneyland that reopened in 2005 to much praise.
I know WDW has taken time to upgrade the systems of the Mark VI fleet so that they would last longer, but are they ready to replace the fleet yet? Have the engaged with anyone to begin the design work to do so? No one seems to know, though at one point it was rumored that they did get a quote from Bombardier for a replacement fleet, and they didn’t like the answer they were given. We obviously don’t have the numbers, but the rumor also suggested that Bombardier’s quote to work on the project may have also required replacement of the current beam system as well.
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