Happy Friday from the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World! Thankfully, we’re bringing you updates on a dry and sunny day, including the return of some Splash Mountain merchandise, a couple other new pieces of merch, and plenty of character sightings throughout the park.

One of the first notable sightings when we entered the park, a team of Disney management were assessing the setup at the silhouette portraits location outside of Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe.

The same was true for the parasol cart, which looks to have been getting a final lookover before reopening. Unfortunately, neither of these artistic outlets opened today, but their return may be very soon.

Heading over to Frontierland, Splash Mountain was experiencing a delayed opening, as it commonly does these days.

Splashdown Photos, on the other hand, was not only open but had quite a line shortly after park opening. As we all know by now, a line at Splashdown Photos means Splash Mountain merchandise has been restocked (more on that later).

While delayed openings are no fun, they’re far better than months of downtime, like the situation at the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover. One thing you won’t notice in this picture, because there is no signage, is that the PeopleMover queue entrance is now the Astro Orbiter queue entrance.

Speaking of signs, Stitch’s Great Escape recently had its signage removed, but Stitch didn’t seem particularly concerned with this on the Tomorrowland stage.

Elsewhere, characters appeared as part of various Character Cavalcades, unlike Stitch.

Some of those Character Cavalcades also include a team of dancers who bookend the floats.

For other characters, the Main Street train station is their stage, greeting guests from high above Main Street itself.

Let us not forget, though, that the opposite side of that train station has some important details of its own.

At the nearby Town Square Theater, the shop within the building is has a nice stock of the recently-returned MagicBand slap bracelets. While The Emporium will also have little or no stock due to the amount of shoppers through it, this store rarely has more than a handful of guests.

One of the benefits of The Emporium is its wide selection, though, and this new set of Indiana Jones magnets is a perfect example of the unique items you can find there.

At Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe, a new “merry and bright” light-up ornament made its debut. While The Emporium has a small selection of ornaments, Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe is the premiere store for all things Christmas.

Over in Fantasyland this morning, Peter’s Pan Flight experienced a bit of downtime. That didn’t dissuade guests from remaining in a very long line, though.

Unfortunately, Big Al’s, the kiosk shop across the walkway from The Country Bear Jamboree, did not open at all today. While it’s known to close down during poor weather, that wasn’t the case today.

Things were not so quiet elsewhere in Frontierland, with Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain having 50 and 45 minute waits, respectively.

Surprisingly, even hours after opening, Splashdown Photos still had a couple Splash Mountain merchandise items remaining. Most notably, these recently-released pins and a tumbler which debuted in July were both available into the afternoon.

Another recurring event, similar to Splash Mountain merchandise, was additional downtime for Peter Pan’s Flight. During the afternoon downtime the entire queue was cleared, unlike in the morning.

Beginning to wrap up our day, we were treated to some lovely views of what appears to be a completed Cinderella Castle after its makeover.

We’re hoping that City Hall, which has now been under refurbishment for seven months, will have its big reveal soon.

Finally, on the way out of the Magic Kingdom, markers on the ground for the Express Monorail queue have been updated to some slightly clearer markings. The queue utilizes a section of the entrance gates, in preparation for times of higher capacity.

Thanks as always for following along on our magical adventures. For more great photos and stories from Disney parks around the world, be sure to follow @WDWNT on Instagram!