Walt Disney World updated their dining reservation system, the director of the live action “Lilo & Stitch” defended the controversial changes to the ending, and Hollywood Studios scheduled an extended evening hours date for the summer — all this and more in today’s daily recap for Monday, June 23, 2025.
Daily Recap (6/23/25)
Walt Disney World
Magic Kingdom
- Crews are getting ready to test one of the roller coaster trains of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Magic Kingdom after replacing the ride’s track.
EPCOT
- An EPCOT guest dropped their phone on Living With the Land, then fell in the water while trying to retrieve it.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios has been added to this summer’s calendar of extended evening hours, available to guests staying at a Disney Deluxe Resort, Disney Deluxe Villa Resort, or other select hotels.
- New dishes and drinks have arrived at Disney’s Hollywood Studios this week, including a savory salad, an ice cream float, and alcoholic beverages.
- We tried all of the new menu items at Hollywood Studios — check out our reviews!
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
- Construction walls have gone up around the former “It’s Tough to Be a Bug” entrance in Disney’s Animal Kingdom as the attraction is replaced by “Zootopia: Better Zoogether!”
New Merchandise
- A new Pandora jewelry charm available at Walt Disney World represents Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – Riverside.
- A new Walt Disney World t-shirt presents attraction icons like figures in a scientific notebook.
Other Walt Disney World News
- After launching for Disneyland Resort earlier this month, the updated dining reservation search is now available for Walt Disney World via the resort’s website and My Disney Experience app.
- The Walt Disney Archives showed off artifacts like a Figment figure and Rizzo’s Mickey Mouse costume during a presentation at Walt Disney World.
Disneyland Resort
Disneyland Park
- After a 9-month closure for refurbishments, the Tinker Bell meet and greet in Pixie Hollow at Disneyland Park will reopen this weekend.
Tokyo Disney Resort
Tokyo Disneyland
- The Happy Ride with Baymax at Tokyo Disneyland will introduce Standby Pass for the summer.
Disney Store Merchandise
- Items from the Disneyland Resort 70th Anniversary Vault Mickey Mouse & Maps Collection are now available for purchase online from the Disney Store.
- New Starbucks mugs inspired by the four Walt Disney World theme parks and Disney California Adventure are available online from the Disney Store.
The Walt Disney Company
- Disney has hired Ron Faris as their new Senior Vice President of Global Marketing for Disney Consumer Products, their merchandising division.
Universal Orlando Resort
Epic Universe
- See the full menus for The Plastered Owl Bar in Celestial Park at Epic Universe.
Universal Studios Florida
- Another original house for Halloween Horror Nights 34 at Universal Studios Florida has been announced — Hatchet and Chains: Demon Bounty Hunters.
- Guests can once again meet Elphaba and Glinda from “Wicked” for a limited time at Universal Studios Florida.
CityWalk
- Crews have fixed the leaky ceiling in the brand-new Universal Studios Store expansion of Universal CityWalk Orlando.
Entertainment and Media
- “Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten.” Except when they do, Dean Fleischer Camp says in his defense of the ending of the live-action “Lilo & Stitch.”
- A new short film from Disney takes a look at how artifacts are collected, catalogued, and preserved at the Walt Disney Archives.
That’s it for today; we hope you enjoyed this Daily Recap. Thanks for stopping by, and we’ll see you tomorrow!