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Home » Disney World Closures & What’s New: Everything to Know

Disney World Closures & What’s New: Everything to Know

By Author Meg Frost

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Disney World is not immune to routine maintenance and permanent closures.

Fortunately Disney is usually pretty great on staying on top of things and can give us a timeframe for such things!

If you’ll be visiting this year, check out this list of Disney World closures and what’s new before you book, so you can avoid disappointment with missing out on your favorite attraction or checking out the latest and greatest.

Closures and openings are subject to change at any time, including dates. This post will be continuously updated throughout the year as information is provided by official Disney sources.

Table of Contents show

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Photo of Avatar banshees projected onto Animal Kingdom's Tree of Life at night.
Photo by David Roark, courtesy of Disney.

What’s closed

  • TriceraTop Spin, Fossil Fun Games, Chester & Hester’s Dinosaur Treasures, and It’s Tough to Be a Bug!, and The Boneyard are all permanently closed.
  • Dinosaur, Donald’s Dino-Bash meet-n-greet, and Restaurantosaurus are still open but expected to close starting February 2, 2026.

What’s new & coming

  • Zootopia: Better Zoogether will open November 7, 2025 in the previous spot held by It’s Tough to Be a Bug!
  • DinoLand USA will be replaced by a new area themed after the Tropical Americas, complete with Encanto and Indiana Jones attractions, but an opening date hasn’t been announced yet.

Epcot

Photo of the Harmonious nighttime show at Epcot.
Photo by Matt Stroshane, courtesy of Disney.

What’s closed

  • Spaceship Earth is closed for refurbishment and will reopen later in 2025.

What’s new

  • GEO-82, a 21+ lounge set in Spaceship Earth is now open and accepts reservations.
  • Test Track reopened July 22, 2025 with a new experience.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Photo of a food spread of menu items from the new Roundup Rodeo BBQ restaurant at Hollywood Studios' Toy Story Land.
Photo courtesy of Disney.

What’s new & coming

  • The Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure opened on May 27 and is in the same space previously held by Voyage of the Little Mermaid.
  • Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After opened May 27 in the same space previously held by Lightning McQueen Racing Academy.
  • Millenium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run will have a new experience featuring The Mandalorian & Grogu starting in May 2026.

Magic Kingdom

There’s lots going on at the Magic Kingdom this year!

Photo of the Walt Disney World Railroad train stopped at the Magic Kingdom main station.
Photo by Courtney Kiefer, courtesy of Disney.

What’s new

  • McKim’s Mile House, a lounge exclusively for DVC members is now open in the space previously held by the Frontierland Shootin’ Arcade.
  • The Beak & Barrel, a new cocktail lounge located next to The Pirates of the Caribbean is now open. Good luck getting reservations!

What’s closed

  • Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is closed until early 2026 for a big refurbishment.
  • Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin is closed until 2026 while it implements new ride vehicles and a revamped experience.
  • In addition, Tom Sawyer Island, the Liberty Belle boat ride, and all of Rivers of America are permanently closed to make way for a new Cars-themed mini land.

What’s coming

  • A mini Cars land and Villains Land are finally in the works! An opening timeline is not yet available, but ground has been broken.
  • A revamped experience for Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin is expected to open some time in 2026.

Disney’s Blizzard Beach & Typhoon Lagoon water parks

Photo of Olaf and some snowgies at Blizzard Beach water park.
Photo by Courtney Kiefer, courtesy of Disney.

In 2025, all Disney resort guests get free admission to a water park on their day of arrival. If you’ve never checked out the water parks, 2025 is the year to change that!

Disney Springs

  • Level99, an interactive gaming spot, will open in late 2025 or early 2026, where DisneyQuest and the NBA Experience used to be.

Are you ready to book your next trip?

I hope this post helped you with planning your Walt Disney World vacation.

Be sure to check back before you visit, as this post is updated frequently, as new opening, closure, and refurbishment dates for the theme parks and resorts are announced.

For more trip planning tips, check out these posts:

About the author

Photo of Meg Frost on Buzz Lightyear: Space Ranger Blast at Disney World's Magic Kingdom.
Photo by Meg Frost, All rights reserved.

Meg Frost is the creator of The Park Pixie, where she covers Disney World, Disney+, and Disney fandom.

She holds an M.A. in Journalism from Northeastern University and B.S. in Communication & American Studies from University of Miami in Florida.

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This post was originally published January 28, 2023. It was last updated September 13, 2025.