The Muppets Just Took Over Hollywood Studios and It Rips

Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring the Muppets Lands With Fans

Previews are rolling for Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring the Muppets at Disney's Hollywood Studios, and the early consensus is surprisingly emphatic: the Muppets belong on a launch coaster. Attractions Magazine reports that fans online are praising the new soundtrack, the chaotic ride energy, hidden Easter eggs, and what they call a "surprisingly strong fit" for the Muppets franchise. AllEars documented over 14 hidden details scattered throughout the attraction's queue and ride experience, the kind of density that rewards repeat visits and the obsessive guests who slow-walk through every queue scene with their phones out.

TouringPlans published Len Testa's first-look review, calling it a spoiler-heavy deep dive into what Imagineering rebuilt inside the existing coaster shell. The attraction retains its signature launch and inversions but wraps them in a completely new overlay. WDW News Today notes that the courtyard background music loop alone features over 30 songs, which gives you a sense of how deeply the team committed to the bit. The new soundtrack, hidden details, and chaotic Muppet energy run throughout the experience, moving far beyond a simple reskin with a fresh coat of paint and a Kermit decal.

What makes this work, editorially, is the risk Disney took in matching the Muppets with a high-intensity coaster. The Muppets are anarchic, irreverent, and fundamentally silly. A launch coaster is loud, fast, and physically intense. Those two energies could have clashed. Instead, early reactions suggest the chaos of the Muppets maps perfectly onto the chaos of a coaster that throws you into three inversions in the dark. The Muppets have always been at their best when things go slightly wrong on purpose, and a roller coaster is the perfect stage for that energy.

Disney has also opened more Passholder park reservations for previews, according to WDW News Today, which suggests confidence in the attraction's readiness and a desire to build word-of-mouth before the general opening. Hollywood Studios needed a refreshed headliner that could pull crowds beyond the Star Wars and Toy Story corridors. The Muppets, improbably, might be exactly that.

The Parks

The biggest structural news this week has nothing to do with attractions and everything to do with who runs them. Disney Experiences announced a trio of senior leadership changes that reshape the management of three major resort properties. Joe Schott has been appointed President of Walt Disney World Resort. Natacha Rafalski moves to President of Disney Signature Experiences. And Christophe Murphy has been promoted to President of Disneyland Paris. According to the Disney Experiences announcement, these appointments "reflect depth of expertise leading the segment's most ambitious era of expansion."

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Schott's resume reads like a world tour of Disney operations, with over 40 years of leadership across Asia, Europe, and beyond. He most recently served as president of Disney Signature Experiences, where he oversaw the launches of the Disney Destiny and Disney Adventure. Before that, he led Shanghai Disney Resort through its Zootopia expansion and the milestone of surpassing 100 million guests in under a decade. The announcement notes that Walt Disney World is where Schott began his Disney career as a Jungle Cruise Skipper. He returns to a resort undergoing what Disney calls the largest expansion in Magic Kingdom's history, with new lands also in development at Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom.

Rafalski, who led Disneyland Paris and its roughly 20,000 Cast Members since 2018, spearheaded the resort's massive transformation of Walt Disney Studios Park into Disney Adventure World, a project the announcement describes as roughly doubling the park's footprint. Murphy, who joined Disneyland Paris in 1991 during the resort's pre-opening phase, brings more than 35 years of company experience to his new role. These appointments are strategic moves made when the investment pipeline demands operators who have already proven they can deliver expansion at scale.

Elsewhere in the parks, new dark side lightsaber parts have arrived at Savi's Workshop. BlogMickey reports that the Power and Control theme at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge in both Hollywood Studios and Disneyland has received its first new hilt pieces since the limited-time Reclaimed and Reforged theme debuted last May. The new parts include redesigned emitters, sleeves, and pommel caps with aggressive angular styling and red accent details. Disney's description frames them as "rumored remnants from the Sith homeworld and abandoned temples." For guests who have been building lightsabers at Galaxy's Edge since opening day, fresh parts are the difference between a repeat experience and a genuinely new one.

Over at EPCOT, WDW News Today reports that the front-left entrance to the pyramid in the Mexico World Showcase Pavilion has reopened after months of closure. Scaffolding remains on the structure, and Cast Members appear to be adding Mesoamerican-inspired theming to the building's exterior. The far left entrance remains closed, with a scrim-covered column blocking the doorway from inside. The offerings inside the pyramid, including merchandise locations, San Angel Inn Restaurante, and Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros, remain open and operating normally.

At Disneyland, MickeyBlog highlights new menu items at Royal Street Veranda in New Orleans Square, including a New Orleans Mint Julep Float with mango sorbet and a Cajun Caesar Chicken Po'Boy. These join a wave of new food arriving across the resort, from patriotic seasonal items to Star Wars bites and Trader Sam's 15th anniversary offerings at the Disneyland Hotel. WDW News Today reports that details on the anniversary tiki mug and menu have been revealed for Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar.

Disney Food Blog confirmed the themes for the 2027 runDisney Princess Half Marathon Weekend, scheduled for February 25 through March 1, 2027. The 5K is themed to Princess Tiana, the 10K to Princess Snow White, the Half Marathon to Princess Jasmine, and the Disney Princess Fairy Tale Challenge to Princess Ariel. For runners who plan their race calendar a year out, these theme reveals are the starting gun.

And one practical update for Walt Disney World guests: WDW News Today reports that park passes are now bookable directly in the My Disney Experience app, a quality-of-life improvement that consolidates one more planning step into the tool most guests already use daily.

The Screen

Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu opens in theaters this Friday, May 22, and the promotional infrastructure around the film has reached full scale. D23 published an extensive behind-the-scenes feature with director Jon Favreau, Pedro Pascal, and Dave Filoni. Favreau describes the film as "a standalone adventure designed to welcome new audiences while also honoring longtime fans," set between Return of the Jedi and the sequels. Pascal notes that the relationship between Mando and Grogu has evolved substantially. "Through their incredible adventures, they have become deeply bonded to one another," he says. "Mando has now placed his focus on protecting his son and preparing him for the future." The film also stars Sigourney Weaver and Jeremy Allen White, with music by Ludwig Göransson.

Favreau frames the story's emotional core in personal terms: "As a dad, it taps into the sense of the hero as a protector. You're trying to create a safe world that you're leaving behind for the next generation." Filoni adds that the father-son dynamic is "heartfelt and relatable" and calls the film a story about apprenticeship and "one generation teaching the next." For millions of fans who followed this duo across multiple seasons on Disney+, the leap to IMAX carries real weight. After multiple Emmy-winning seasons, Pascal says the transition felt natural: "The Mandalorian always felt 'big screen' to me."

According to early box office projections reported by Deadline, as noted by The DisInsider, the film is tracking for a potentially massive opening weekend, with estimates reportedly landing between $80 and $95 million domestically. If those numbers hold, it would mark a significant moment for Lucasfilm's theatrical strategy.

The Mandalorian's reach is extending well beyond the multiplex. The Walt Disney Company announced a collaboration with Epic Games that brings an interactive Mandalorian and Grogu Watch Party Island to Fortnite. The experience, developed with Lucasfilm, Favreau's Fairview Portals studio, Beyond Creative, and Epic Games, lets players explore Nevarro, complete quests, interact with characters like Marshall IG-11, and watch a 10-minute sneak peek of the film. An exclusive Q&A with Favreau is scheduled for May 26 within the island. Alongside the Watch Party Island, Lucasfilm and Epic introduced the official Star Wars Toolkit, which Disney calls "the largest IP toolset in Fortnite," enabling creators to build entirely new Star Wars experiences within the platform.

Disney Parks Blog shared a heartwarming story about the film's premiere: Jennifer Baillere, a Disneyland Cast Member and area manager at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, was surprised with an invitation to attend the world premiere at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood. Baillere, whose Star Wars fandom runs deep enough that she and her husband met through a Star Wars fan group and named their children Anakin and Amidala, called the experience surreal. "Working in Galaxy's Edge has been, in the words of Hondo, 'the opportunity of a lifetime,'" she said.

The Vault

LEGO has announced a new Disney Main Street U.S.A. set priced at $400, and Disney Tourist Blog calls it "fantastic" and "worth every penny." The set pays homage to the iconic opening stretch of both Magic Kingdom and Disneyland. WDW News Today also confirmed the announcement through the Disney Store. For LEGO collectors and Disney parks obsessives, the Venn diagram is nearly a circle, and a set at this scale signals that LEGO sees the Disney parks themselves as IP worth building around, not just the characters who inhabit them.

Disney Cruise Line is investing heavily in its summer 2026 entertainment lineup. Lightning Brain's cruise coverage reports a fleet-wide refresh, with the biggest changes landing on Alaska sailings aboard the Disney Wonder and Disney Magic. Those ships will feature revamped Frozen experiences designed specifically for the Alaska season, leaning into the natural resonance between Frozen's Nordic landscapes and the glaciers outside the stateroom window. The fleet is also getting a new take on Pirates in the Caribbean, the signature deck party night, along with broader refreshes spanning Broadway-style shows and destination-inspired entertainment. The philosophy seems to be that where you sail should shape what you see onstage, not just what you see from the rail.

The Disney Adventure continues generating buzz out of Singapore. DCL Blog published personal navigators from a 4-night sailing that departed April 9, 2026, under Captain Wesley Dunlop with Cruise Director Stephen Cloete. For the subset of Disney fans who treat personal navigators like primary source documents, these daily itineraries offer the most granular look at what life aboard the newest ship actually looks like.

Sources

AllEars · Attractions Magazine · TouringPlans · WDW News Today · Disney Experiences · BlogMickey · MickeyBlog · Disney Food Blog · D23 · The DisInsider · Walt Disney Company · Disney Parks Blog · Disney Tourist Blog · Lightning Brain · DCL Blog