There is a lot happening at Walt Disney World in 2026. From ride re-imaginings and improvements, to new shows, and favorite festivals, all year has something to make any trip magical. We’ll dive into what’s happening and when, with a focus on early 2026 for good reason!
So the strangest thing happened. You see, I really wasn’t planning on a trip to Disney World in 2026. This past year was a busy one that saw us travel twice for destination weddings on top of a trip overseas. It didn’t look like we would be making our yearly winter pilgrimage to the World. I suppose that turned out to be technically true. We won’t be back in the winter; but we will be back in early Spring!
If I’m being entirely honest with myself I knew something like this was inevitable. I can’t help but stalk the Disney site waiting for discounts to drop and I know generally when to expect them to be released. So, as the time drew closer for the early 2026 deal drop I found myself checking Disney and the usual sites for any news of discounts. Lo and behold in late September they appeared!
After a bit of comparison shopping between packages and dates I landed on a 2/28 arrival and 3/6 departure. Based on my research this would likely put us on site for the start of EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival. I’ve been looking for a chance to go back ever since our first visit together in May 2015. As it turns out, that’s exactly what happened! Disney just announced that Flower and Garden would start on Wednesday 3/4. I love it when a plan comes together! I’ll save the specifics and financials of the trip for another post, so be on the look out for that if you’re a logistics and numbers kind of person.
Speaking of Festivals, the first announcement Disney made was that the EPCOT Festival of the Arts would run from January 16th through February 23rd. We’ve attended this festival for the past 3 years and couldn’t recommend it any higher. It’s the favorite festival of many seasoned visitors for a reason and I’m a bit sad we’ll miss it this year.
Also in early 2026 Disney announced they will be closing Frozen Ever After to update the technology used to display the faces on several of the animatronics, specifically Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff. The ride will close after January 5th and reopen sometime in February. They’ll be using technology used elsewhere so it stands to reason they know how this will go and will probably want to quickly re-open what remains an extremely popular ride before one of the busiest travel times of the year. Expect this to reopen by President’s day week. I’ll report back on how the ride looks post refurb after my trip!
I mentioned earlier that the EPCOT Flower and Garden festival would begin on March 4th and it will run for almost exactly the same amount of time as last year before wrapping up on June 1st. Rest assured there will be copious photos and reviews coming shortly after opening.
Also in Spring, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad will re-open. Disney didn’t say exactly when but several sources have reported that they are already doing test runs. Barring any complications I wouldn’t be surprised with, and I’m actively hoping for, an early reopening. Again, maybe even before President’s Day week. The ride was already down during our trip in Mid-January last year and it’s one of our favorites. It would be a treat to go on it soon after what I imagine must be substantial improvements have been made to the ride experience.
Also sometime in Spring 2026, a revamped Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin will open as well. Though this was never a favorite of ours, I’m willing to give it another chance post improvements. All the need is some sort of aiming mechanism or better feedback! Nothing like randomly firing a light gun into the void of neon and just hoping you were hitting the target. I do know plenty of people that love this ride so maybe it’s us more than that ride. But i don’t think anyone would complain about some minor improvements. I’m honestly excited to see what changes. Though, I’m not as confident that this one reopens by the time we’re there.
Also recently announced by Disney is that the closing date for the Rockin’ Roller Coaster to undergo it’s transformation into a Muppets themed coaster. The ride’s last day of operation as is will be March 1st! To me this is a long overdue update. I wish that Muppetvision 3d didn’t have to die to make this happen, but beggars can’t be choosers as they say! Aerosmith just really isn’t, and hasn’t been, relevant for quite some time.
Even though we could go to Hollywood Studios on the last day of operation, we won’t. Neither of us are huge fans of this coaster as is and we’ve ridden it plenty of times before. March 1st is a Sunday and we plan to go to Magic Kingdom that day. If we switched it up and went to Hollywood Studios instead we would move Magic Kingdom to Monday/ Monday is typically the most busy day at Magic Kingdom as folks starting their vacations on the weekends flock to the most popular park. So we will wave goodbye to Aerosmith as we head to the Tower of Terror the following day.
There is plenty more happening at Walt Disney World in 2026, but I don’t want this to turn into a 5000 word essay. I am excited to check in on the progress for the major construction going on at the Magic Kingdom to accommodate Cars land and the expansion by Frontierland. We’ll also get to see what’s going on at the UNESCO world heritage site that was Muppet’s Courtyard, so look for more updates in the coming months!
Until then, I’ve got some planning to do. So look out for a few more planning posts covering everything from our Dining plans, to our plan of attack for hitting the parks while not running ourselves ragged. Slow travel at Disney World, is it possible? Tune in to find out!
