Disney quietly killed the Mary Poppins ride

In August 2019, Disney brought Dick Van Dyke — 93 years old, the man who played Bert in the original 1964 film — onto the D23 Expo stage after a troupe of chimney sweep dancers performed "Step In Time," and announced a Mary Poppins-themed attraction for EPCOT's UK Pavilion. The crowd lost its mind. Then COVID hit. Then the money got tight. Then the ride quietly ceased to exist.

How a dream becomes a ghost: The concept was genuinely right for World Showcase — guests would stroll down Cherry Tree Lane, past Admiral Boom's house, and into Number 17, the Banks family home. One piece of concept art was released. No timeline, no details. When Disney paused capital spending after the parks reopened in July 2020, the project was labeled "postponed." By July 2022, it had been removed entirely from The EPCOT Experience promotional loop — no statement, no fanfare, no explanation.

Why "postponed" is doing a lot of heavy lifting: Disney has never officially used the word "canceled." They never will. But the attraction has vanished from every website, every promotional video, and every piece of official communication, and has gone years without a single update. There's also a newer complication: in 2024, the British Board of Film Classification flagged the original 1964 film for a racial slur, adding a layer of IP baggage that didn't exist when the ride was announced. The UK Pavilion still has no ride. The space that was meant to hold Cherry Tree Lane sits empty.

The part that makes it sting: To be fair, the broader EPCOT overhaul delivered real things — Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, Journey of Water. The park genuinely changed. But the Mary Poppins attraction had concept art. It had an Imagineer-designed layout. It had Dick Van Dyke on a stage. It was close enough to feel real, which is exactly what makes losing it feel like more than just a canceled project.

Big picture: Disney will probably never say the word "canceled" out loud — but a ride that disappears from every screen, every website, and every conversation for years isn't in a holding pattern. It's gone, and the UK Pavilion is still just a perfectly pleasant place to grab a scotch egg and wonder what could have been.

Disney World has confirmed six attractions and experiences that are either already closed or closing in 2026, and the mix of temporary, permanent, and in-between is genuinely complicated. Before you finalize any travel plans this year, you need to know what you're walking into.

The permanent losses, first: DINOSAUR closed on February 2, and Restaurantosaurus went with it. The entire DinoLand U.S.A. footprint is being cleared to make room for Pueblo Esperanza, an 11-acre land themed to Indiana Jones and Encanto, with a planned opening in 2027. If riding DINOSAUR was still on your list, that window has officially closed. Animal Kingdom already feels different without that corner of the park.

The closures that come with a trade-off: Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith closes March 2 — meaning March 1 is your last shot at the original — and will reopen in summer 2026 as a Muppets-themed version, with the same launch and track but a completely new storyline and a first-of-its-kind Muppet animatronic. Rafiki's Planet Watch closed February 23 to make way for a Bluey experience at Conservation Station, arriving summer 2026. Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin has been dark since August 2025 and is expected back in spring 2026 with redesigned vehicles, handheld blasters, and a new character named Buddy. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad has been closed since January 2025, also targeting a spring 2026 return with what Disney is calling "a little bit of new magic." And Pete's Silly Sideshow in Storybook Circus has been closed since January 4, with no confirmed reopening date through at least mid-April.

What this actually means for your trip: Several of these closures overlap in timing, which means spring 2026 visitors could arrive to find Big Thunder, Buzz Lightyear, and Rafiki's Planet Watch all still behind walls simultaneously. That's not a minor inconvenience — it reshapes crowd flow, wait times, and the rhythm of entire park days.

Big picture: Disney World is clearly mid-transformation in 2026, and the park you visit this year will look meaningfully different from the one that comes out the other side — but the park you visit this year is also missing some things you might have been counting on, and that distinction is worth building your itinerary around before you book.

Zootopia 2 is now 2025's top-grossing film — and it's not close.

Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde just lapped the entire field. Zootopia 2 has officially claimed the title of highest-grossing domestic film of 2025, surpassing A Minecraft Movie with $424.2 million at the U.S. box office — and that's just the domestic number.

The full picture is staggering: By day 91 in theaters, Zootopia 2 had pulled in $1.425 billion internationally and $1.85 billion worldwide. Of that domestic haul, $337.9 million was earned within 2025 alone — which is what locked in the top spot. This wasn't a photo finish. It was a victory lap.

Why this matters beyond the box office: The sequel arrives at a moment when the theatrical industry has spent years asking whether animated films can still command this kind of audience. Zootopia 2 answered that question loudly. It also outpaced A Minecraft Movie — a film with one of the most built-in fanbases on the planet — which says something real about the staying power of original animated universes with beloved characters. Families didn't just show up opening weekend. They came back. Repeat viewings drove this thing.

The part that deserves more attention: Zootopia 2 earned a 96% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and collected nominations from the Academy Awards, Golden Globes, BAFTAs, and Critics' Choice Awards. It's not just a commercial juggernaut — it's the rare blockbuster that critics and audiences agreed on completely. Disney also holds nine of the top ten Thanksgiving openings of all time, and this film is now its second-biggest Thanksgiving debut domestically, behind only Moana 2.

Big picture: When a movie about a bunny cop and a con-artist fox can out-earn a global gaming phenomenon and still get Oscar nominations, it's a pretty good sign that Disney's animated universe isn't just alive — it's running the table.

After a nearly two-month journey spanning the Atlantic, the Panama Canal, Los Angeles, and Tokyo, the Disney Adventure is almost home. The largest ship in the Disney Cruise Line fleet officially begins its maiden voyage from Singapore on March 10, 2026 — and the buildup has been a whole thing.

Why this ship is genuinely different: The Disney Adventure isn't just a bigger version of what came before. It's the first Disney Cruise Line ship to feature an onboard roller coaster (Ironcycle Test Run), the first to carry a World of Disney store, the first to have a dedicated Duffy and Friends Shop, and the first to debut a National Geographic Store at sea. The stern characters — Captain Mickey and Captain Minnie, each 18 feet tall — are also a fleet first. Four funnels instead of the usual two. Nearly 17,000 square feet of retail space. This ship was built to make a statement.

What families will actually do onboard: The entertainment lineup includes "Remember," a Broadway-style show built around WALL-E and Eve with live puppetry, plus a fireworks spectacular called "The Lion King: Celebration in the Sky" — narrated by Shah Rukh Khan, who voiced Mufasa in the Hindi-language versions of both Lion King films. Rotational dining spans restaurants inspired by Tangled, Frozen, Pixar, and the golden age of Hollywood, with menus that lean hard into Southeast Asian flavors alongside the classics. The storybook castle centerpiece in Disney Imagination Garden stands three decks tall and is the first Disney castle ever built for a ship.

Big picture: Robert Downey Jr. is serving as the ship's Godparent at the christening in Singapore — and his quote about bestowing "a gargantuan blessing" on the largest ship in the Disney fleet is exactly the energy this whole launch has.