The Parks Halloween Time is running its usual takeover of Walt Disney World, and the food team has done what it always does this season: turn a candy holiday into a full menu. Boneyard Cookies and a Scream Sundae at Terra Treats, a Maleficent Funnel Cake at Epic Eats, the returning Ghost Cream Puff at ABC Commissary and Backlot Express. None of this is subtle, nor is it supposed to be. Through October 31, this is the culinary spine of the season, and the returning items matter as much as the new ones, because Disney knows exactly which ghosts guests want to see again every year. Planning your Disney trip? Download Lightning Brain from the App Store or visit lightningbrain.app to optimize every minute of your park day. Down at BoardWalk, something quieter is happening. Atlantic Dance Hall is stepping away from its life as a regular public venue, the old Jellyrolls space is becoming Hurly-Burly, and a Disney Vacation Club publication tucked in a detail that suggests a new quick-service restaurant is coming to the waterfront. BoardWalk has needed a reason to pull guests back for years. A new dining option, even a modest one, changes the math on an evening stroll there. Meanwhile Fun Spot is quietly restructuring its Florida footprint. Three rides currently at Fun Spot Atlanta are officially relocating to Fun Spot Orlando and Kissimmee. Regional parks moving hardware between locations isn’t a Disney story on its face, but it’s a reminder that Central Florida’s ride inventory is a living, shifting thing, and Disney isn’t the only operator playing musical chairs with attractions. The Shows EPCOT’s Eat to the Beat lineup carries real weight this year. New Found Glory had canceled upcoming performances after the death of lead guitarist Chad Gilbert, who passed away on September 20, six months after revealing he was fighting brain cancer. He’d originally been diagnosed with liver cancer in 2021. The band has now reversed course and will play their scheduled EPCOT shows as a tribute to him. A band is choosing to grieve in public, on a stage they’d already booked, because the alternative felt worse. Streaming got its own shake-up. Toy Story 5 landed on Disney+ on September 23 following its theatrical run, and Disney didn’t just drop the file and walk away. The platform experience itself changed overnight around the release, which tells you Pixar’s newest sequel is an event with an interface built to match, rather than a catalog addition. Disney Jr. is bringing back Mickey Mouse Clubhouse+ for a second season, premiering September 30 with a Disney+ debut the following day. Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, and Pluto are all back, which matters less for novelty and more for the parents who grew up on the original Clubhouse and are now the ones pressing play. And Darkwing Duck is officially back. Disney has greenlit a new animated series for Disney+ with Mark Hamill voicing Darkwing himself, Seth Rogen as Launchpad McQuack, Lizzy Caplan as Gosalyn Mallard, and a new character named Duckie played by Lilimar. Hamill taking the cape is the kind of casting that reads like fan fiction until it’s confirmed. It’s confirmed. The Business Bob Chapek is talking again, ahead of a memoir covering his rise, fall, and what he frames as scapegoating. He’s described as “pissed off” that he couldn’t finish what he started as CEO, and he’s defending the price increases at Disney Parks that became one of the defining criticisms of his tenure. The timing isn’t accidental. A memoir needs a fight to sell, and Chapek’s chosen to have his out loud, ahead of publication, rather than let Iger’s version stand as the only one. Disney also opened its doors, literally, for Created in LA, a two-day event with creator Jon Youshaei at the El Capitan Theatre and the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank. Youshaei called it historic, noting that after a century, Disney opened two of its most iconic venues to creators. Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro framed it as part of the company’s continued role in shaping the evolution of storytelling. Disney is courting the creator economy directly now, on its own real estate, rather than treating it as an outside industry to license from. Disney Cruise Line hit a genuine first this month. Disney Dream sailed into Funchal, Madeira, on September 16, carrying 2,645 guests and 1,436 crew members into a port no Disney ship had ever called on. The Administration of the Ports of the Autonomous Region of Madeira marked it with a plaque exchange, the standard formal handshake for a new port relationship. New itinerary territory doesn’t happen often for this cruise line, and Madeira sitting unclaimed by Disney until now says something about how methodically the fleet expands its map. The Details Walt Disney World is testing Gemini AI as part of its vacation planning process, an optional beta aimed at making trip planning easier and more customizable, particularly for first-time guests navigating the resort’s hotel and ticket options. Disney leadership showcased the tech directly, which suggests this is a visible effort rather than a quiet backend experiment. Content creation at the parks keeps testing new boundaries. A man live streaming from Disney World’s new kids’ playground drew pushback from parents on site, a friction point that didn’t exist a decade ago when park footage was filmed, edited, and posted later rather than broadcast live to strangers in real time. The playground is new, but the tension over who’s allowed to film children in it remains. Disney Cruise Line and Make-A-Wish Ireland hosted their first gathering of wish families, bringing more than 30 wish children and their families together during the Disney Dream’s visit to Cork, including a first-of-its-kind afternoon aboard the ship. And for anyone trying to actually build a trip around all of this, TouringPlans has its 2027 Disney Dining Plan guide live, useful given that more than 86% of TouringPlans subscribers who buy the dining plan say they’d do it again. Keep exploring Catch more Disney Deets coverage or get the Lightning Brain app for real-time wait times and routing. Sources Disney Parks Blog Inside the Magic AllEars MickeyBlog The DisInsider Disney Tourist Blog Walt Disney Company Lightning Brain EYNTK Disney Parks Disney Experiences TouringPlans Designed, trained, and directed by humans. Produced by Lightning Brain’s AI. Learn how we make this: https://lightningbrain.app/how-we-make-this Post navigation Peter Pan Goes Dark, DCP Reshuffles, Bond and Darkwing Duke It Out