Bluey Takes Over Disney Parks With New Merch and Experiences

Bluey's Disney Takeover Goes Coast to Coast

Disney Parks Blog announced this week that a full collection of Bluey-themed merchandise is heading to both Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World, timed to ride the momentum of "Bluey's Best Day Ever!" at Disneyland park and the upcoming debut of "Bluey's Wild World" at Conservation Station in Disney's Animal Kingdom on May 26. The lineup includes character plush wearing detachable Mickey Mouse Ear headbands, Create-Your-Own headbands, a booster pin set, apparel ranging from sweatshirts to socks, bubble wands, and bags including a hip pack, backpack, and tote. Disneyland Resort will be the first destination to stock the collection later this spring, with Walt Disney World following ahead of the Animal Kingdom experience.

What makes this rollout significant is the scope. Disney is not dabbling in Bluey. It is building an ecosystem. The Disneyland merchandise features the Disneyland logo with Bluey and Bingo alongside fireworks, balloons, Mickey ice cream bars, and a castle, while the Walt Disney World collection swaps in the classic Walt Disney World logo. According to Disney Parks Blog, the Animal Kingdom items will be stocked across the park ahead of opening day for "Bluey's Wild World," where guests can hop off the Wildlife Express Train and dive into interactive fun with Bluey and Bingo. Disneyland guests can already find some selections throughout Fantasyland, alongside themed food offerings like the Pizza Girls Baked Potato and Poffertjes from Troubadour Tavern.

The dual-coast merchandise strategy, paired with dedicated park experiences on both ends, signals that the Heeler family is being treated less like a licensing add-on and more like a pillar of the Disney Parks portfolio.

The Parks

Annual Passholders at Walt Disney World just got a reason to spend more time at EPCOT this summer. BlogMickey reports that Restaurant Marrakesh in the Morocco Pavilion will reopen as an exclusive Annual Passholder Lounge from May 1 through July 31, running daily from 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM. The lounge is part of the V.I.PASSHOLDER Summer Days activation and will offer complimentary snacks, water, and Moroccan mint tea, plus a complimentary Passholder button and a new Disney PhotoPass Service Animated Magic Shot. Air conditioning and a place to sit down in World Showcase without buying a meal? That alone is worth the detour.

Meanwhile, Disney Tourist Blog notes that the 2026 Free Dining Plan discount for summer through Christmas is ending soon. Walt Disney World released the deal last month, and the booking window is closing. Disney Tourist Blog is speculating about whether a new wave of discounts could follow, though nothing has been confirmed. If you have been eyeing a summer or fall trip with the dining plan included, the clock is ticking.

On the ground this past Friday, Lightning Brain's daily park report painted a sharp picture of how crowds distributed across Walt Disney World on April 24. Magic Kingdom hit a 7/10 (Heavy) crowd level with a 19.6-minute median wait, driven by cheer championship families and Boston spring breakers who overwhelmingly chose the castle park. The 11:00 AM peak reached a 25-minute median as guests hammered Fantasyland headliners early and then spread thin through the afternoon. Animal Kingdom, by contrast, settled into a 4/10 (Moderate) with waits running 28% below the 30-day baseline. Lightning Brain reports that Zootopia: Better Zoogether! averaged just 10 minutes against a typical 15. EPCOT also landed at 4/10 (Moderate) with a 15.4-minute median despite hosting the Flower and Garden Festival, as festival guests ate, wandered, and largely ignored the queues. Hollywood Studios came in at 6/10 (Average) with a 40-minute median, exactly matching its 30-day average.

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The downtime story was less pleasant. Lightning Brain reports that "it's a small world" suffered a 20-minute morning hiccup followed by a 195-minute afternoon closure starting at 12:05 PM. Losing a high-capacity dark ride for over three hours during peak hours pushed Fantasyland demand toward The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, both of which then went down themselves between 11:35 AM and 1:30 PM. A rough stretch for anyone caught in that midday crunch.

Looking ahead to fall, Disney Food Blog is already placing bets on which menu items will return to the EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival. The menus have not been released yet, but Disney Food Blog highlights returning favorites they expect to see, including the Roasted Lamb Chop with mint pesto and crushed salt and vinegar potato chips from Australia, the Belgian Waffle with berry compote from Belgium, and the divisive Pickle Milk Shake from Brew-Wing Lab. The Cheddar Cheese and Bacon Soup from Canada, the Smoked Corned Beef from Flavors From Fire, and the Griddled Cheese with pistachios and honey from Greece round out their predictions. None of this is confirmed, but if you are already mentally planning your festival strategy, this is a useful shortlist of dishes that have earned repeat loyalty.

The Screen

The Mandalorian and Grogu arrives in theaters on May 22, and Disney is letting the duo's chemistry do the promotional heavy lifting. Disney Food Blog covered a friendship test interview where Pedro Pascal and Grogu fielded questions from Star Wars, revealing that Grogu was actually cast before Pascal for The Mandalorian series, and that the puppet was the reason Pascal accepted the role. The interview is charming and low-stakes by design, with Pascal calling Grogu a "good, honest boy" after the little green alien claimed victory in the nap category. Director and producer Jon Favreau has said the prospect of bringing the Mandalorian and his apprentice to the big screen is "extremely exciting," while Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy called the new story "a perfect fit for the big screen." For a franchise that has lived on Disney+ since launch, the jump to theatrical release represents a significant bet that the audience built through streaming will show up in multiplexes.

While one Disney franchise heads to the big screen, another is preparing its farewell on the small one. D23 reports that Wizards Beyond Waverly Place will return for a third and final season this summer on Disney+, Disney Channel, and Disney Channel On Demand. The concluding run will be a four-part event, and the headline news is that executive producer Selena Gomez will make her directorial debut with the premiere while also reprising her role as Alex Russo in multiple episodes. Jennifer Stone returns as Harper, and Gregg Sulkin is back as fan-favorite Mason Greyback. According to D23, the story picks up with Billie, played by Janice LeAnn Brown, discovering that rescuing her mother means reuniting with her long-lost father, and the Russo family's combined power becomes the key to defeating the evil plaguing them. For fans who grew up with Wizards of Waverly Place and followed the continuation, this is a proper send-off with original cast members embedded throughout.

And speaking of nostalgia turned into viewership, The Walt Disney Company shared a behind-the-scenes look at how the Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special came together. According to the company, Miley Cyrus essentially manifested the special into existence by promoting it before Disney Branded Television gave it the greenlight, following advice from Dolly Parton to "start promoting something before it's real." The strategy worked. Following its March 24 premiere on Disney+ and Hulu, the special notched 6.3 million views in just three days, and the entire Hannah Montana catalog saw a near 1,000% increase in views that week. The Walt Disney Company also notes that the Hannah Montana catalog has amassed more than half a billion hours streamed globally on Disney+ to date. Several of the special's biggest champions turned out to be Disney Cast Members and employees who attended the taping dressed in outfits inspired by the fictional pop star.

The Vault

Mickey Mouse's 100th anniversary is still on the horizon, but the fashion world is already gearing up. Disney Experiences announced a new Visionary Designer Initiative in partnership with Vogue, inviting select fashion leaders to reimagine Mickey Mouse through their distinct creative lenses. Designers are being given access to Disney's archives to explore Mickey across decades of design, drawing on vintage silhouettes, graphics, and storytelling as inspiration for contemporary reinterpretations. Vogue contributing editor Mark Holgate, who identified the designers for the initiative, called Mickey "an enduring cultural figure known the world over" and said the collaboration is "a reminder that creativity is always at its best when there's an openness to reimagining what we all already know and love."

Ami Paris founder and creative director Alexandre Mattiussi will be the first to launch his collection in early 2027. Mattiussi said working with Disney on the road to Mickey's 100th "feels both surreal and deeply personal," adding that Mickey "is more than a character, he is a universal symbol that transcends generations." Lisa Baldzicki, President of Disney Consumer Products, framed the effort as honoring Mickey's legacy as a cultural symbol while inviting new interpretations that reflect how he continues to inspire creativity and style. The partnership launch was celebrated on April 23 at an intimate reception hosted at Canal in Notting Hill, London, underscoring the global ambition of the centennial celebration.

On a smaller but genuinely fascinating note, DCL Blog spotlighted a conservation story from Disney Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point in the Bahamas. As part of the Disney Conservation Fund's 30th anniversary, The Walt Disney Company is highlighting 30 biodiversity conservation and environmental sustainability stories, and one of them involves Disney's Animals, Science, and Environment team at Disney Cruise Line using a 3D-printed Great Lizard-Cuckoo to advance ornithology research. The details are niche, but the through-line matters. Disney has spent three decades funding conservation work, and the intersection of Imagineering-adjacent technology with real scientific research is the kind of story that rarely makes headlines but quietly defines what the company does beyond the turnstiles.

Sources

Disney Parks Blog · BlogMickey · Disney Tourist Blog · Lightning Brain · Disney Food Blog · Disney Food Blog · D23 · Walt Disney Company · Disney Experiences · DCL Blog