With 2025 just a few days away, I wanted to share ten things I’m looking forward to in Disney World next year. We’ve got new shows, hotel refurbishments, closures, ride strategy updates, and more.
This post isn’t a complete calendar of events / closures / refurbishments, we’ve got that here. And if you’re starting to plan a trip, we have a Disney World Planning Guide, too.
With that said, let’s look ahead! Read on to see what I’m pumped for in Disney World in 2025!
Disney Starlight Nighttime Parade
Debuts Summer 2025
It’s been almost a decade since Magic Kingdom had a nighttime parade. While it took the competition opening an entire brand new theme park to finally push Disney to bring back some lights to the night, we can all be grateful that we’re getting a brand new piece of feature entertainment.
We have exceptionally high expectations for Disney Starlight. To be clear, most of the recent attempts at nighttime entertainment at Disney World have underwhelmed. But this new nighttime parade is perfectly teed up for a home run.
Pop Century Room Refurbishment Begins
Work Begins March 2025
We don’t know much about the upcoming Pop Century room refurbishment. We know it’ll begin March 2025 and is scheduled to last into 2026. We know the Pop Century rooms were among the first to get the current generation of upgrades, back in 2017 (along with Yacht Club, which is also slated for something of a refurbishment, details even less clear).
This news makes me feel old. I’ll still find references on this site to the “new” rooms at Yacht Club and Pop Century. It’s not all my fault—even with the recent Beach Club room refurbishments, Disney decided to leave them short of the quality of the Yacht Club rooms. And various elements at Art of Animation and the moderate resorts still aren’t up to Pop Century “standards.”
There has also been a shift in the room refurbishments of recent years. The debut of rooms like the Incredibles rooms at Contemporary, the Moana rooms at Polynesian, the Mary Poppins rooms at Grand Floridian, and the Under the Sea rooms at Caribbean has been a fantastic turning point, in my opinion.
While I’ve always loved the functionality of the current Pop Century rooms, I agree that this style is a bit too bland. I’m hopeful that this next generation will really shine.
Zootopia: Better Zoogether! opens at Animal Kingdom
Debuts Winter 2025
Zootopia: Better Zoogether! will replace It’s Tough to be a Bug in the Tree of Life theater sometime in 2025. This is set for “winter 2025” which would typically mean early 2025, but with It’s Tough to be a Bug still open it seems more likely this will be a late 2025 debut.
It feels like most of my thoughtful writing this year has been mourning change, and the loss of It’s Tough to Be a Big will be, well, tough. The show was good and, more importantly, hilarious in its ability to shock young and old alike. I’m glad Zoe got to experience it in the age range of 3-4 years old, which was absolutely perfect.
Dinoland USA Closures Begin
Closures begin January 13, 2025
TriceraTop Spin, Fossil Fun Games, Chester & Hester's Dinosaur Treasures close permanently on January 13, 2025.
I’ve been a Dinoland defender since I started this site. That position only strengthened with Zoe’s love of the Boneyard. But c’mon, we all know it’s time. Primeval Whirl met an absolutely pitiful end. The games just…don’t belong. We personally said our goodbyes to the Dino-Rama area in November. It’s time to get the ball rolling on the future.
Disney Villains Unfairly Ever After Show at Hollywood Studios
Debuts Summer 2025
I think this name is super clunky, and I worry the infusion of villains into the parks is coming about a decade too late (of course, the Descendants generation is/will be having kids of their own), but this is overall an upgrade at Hollywood Studios. Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy was a lot of fun for Zoe, but I have to concede it wasn’t the best use of space. Even if Hollywood Studios doesn’t need more live entertainment, replacing an animatronic + screen show with a live performance is an improvement.
Epcot Future World Ride Touring Updates
Expected Late 2025
Okay, this actually comprises two big changes. First, Test Track is scheduled to reopen in late 2025. Second, I hope that Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind will lose its virtual queue sometime in 2025, but that has not been confirmed or even hinted at.
As a purveyor of Disney parks touring advice, it’s been tough to have Epcot rope drop basically in a holding/patchwork pattern for so long. The absence of Test Track isn’t a huge problem for touring (and I’m looking forward to ANY change to that ride, which I did not care for), but the lingering virtual queue at Cosmic Rewind always has us on edge.
Hopefully 2025 brings a return to normalcy in this park. The late 2025 return of Test Track could be the perfect time to finally bring Cosmic Rewind into the regular park touring strategy.
Pirates of the Caribbean Tavern Opens at Magic Kingdom
Opens Late 2025
I sometimes lose track of just how momentous some changes are, but this one is pretty big. See, while Disneyland has Oga’s Cantina (which is in Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World), Magic Kingdom actually remains alcohol-free except in table service restaurants. The Pirates of the Caribbean tavern will be the first bar in Magic Kingdom.
What has me looking forward to this is that Disney has a pretty decent streak of fun new bars going. Not everything has been perfect, but at resorts and onboard cruise ships, they seem to have realized that people like to drink in fun settings. Most recently, the Haunted Mansion bar on the Disney Treasure has been the talk of the town. I think the Pirates of the Caribbean tavern is a good chance to bring this Magic into the Kingdom itself.
Spaceship Earth Lounge Opens at Epcot
Opens Spring 2025
On the flipside of our last entry, a new place to drink at Epcot is…not momentous. Still, having a new, proper bar in Future World (or whatever it’s being called these days) is something to look forward to. With CommuniCore Hall pretty meh, it’s nice to see that this part of the park is still getting some attention.
New Little Mermaid show debuts at Hollywood Studios
Debuts Summer 2025
Okay…my excitement level for this is like…2 out of 10. “The Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure” replaced the old “Voyage of the Little Mermaid” at Hollywood Studios. I think the old show was fine and I’m sure I’ll think the new one is fine.
But it’ll be over five years that this show building was completely closed. And it’s a bit disappointing that all we’re getting in return is, basically, an updated version of an old show.
That said, I’m being a bit nitpicky here. Hollywood Studios has a lot going on these next few years, and plenty of other things haven’t changed in way longer than 5 years.
Tiana’s Bayou Adventure Graduates to Standby
Squeezing into the bottom of our list is our hope that Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will move from virtual queue to standby queue at some point in 2025. For a variety of reasons, the virtual queue for Cosmic Rewind at Epcot causes me more headache than the Tiana’s virtual queue.
But, unlike the Cosmic Rewind virtual queue, the Tiana’s virtual queue persists because of reliability issues. I want those issues to get fixed so that more people can get on the ride. Once those issues are fixed, the ride will switch to a standby queue. Ergo, I look forward to the day we have a standby queue for this ride.
All Your Other Disney World Planning Questions Answered
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Know what to ride with our guides to: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, Epcot rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our guide to Blizzard Beach and our guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.
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