Not every Disney vacation has to involve a rope drop alarm, a Lightning Lane strategy session, and a step count that breaks your fitness tracker before lunch. Aulani, Disney's resort on the western coast of Oahu, exists in a different universe entirely — one where the biggest decision of your morning is which pool to settle into first.

What makes Aulani different: Unlike Walt Disney World or Disneyland, Aulani isn't built around a theme park. It's a full-scale beach resort that happens to be steeped in Disney magic — character meet-and-greets, Disney-themed activities for kids, and that unmistakable attention to detail — without the crowds, queues, or park-hopper math. The resort draws heavily from Hawaiian culture, weaving local art, storytelling, and traditions throughout the property in a way that feels genuinely respectful rather than decorative.

Who this is actually for: Aulani tends to get overlooked by Disney fans who assume a vacation without a park is a vacation wasted. That's a real miss. Families with younger kids, couples looking for something slower, and Disney loyalists who are just a little burned out on the Orlando machine have all found something genuinely restorative here. The pools, the lazy river, the spa, the beach — it's a full itinerary without a single standby line.

Big picture: If you've ever finished a Disney World trip and thought "I need a vacation from my vacation," Aulani is the resort that was quietly built for exactly that feeling.

A third Phineas and Ferb movie is officially happening. Disney Branded Television has greenlit the film, which will begin production later this year and eventually land on Disney+ and the linear Disney Channel. Series co-creators Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh are back at the helm — and this time, they're going after the one thing fans never thought was on the table: the brothers themselves.

The plot, and why it's a little devious: Dr. Doofenshmirtz's latest time-travel experiment accidentally erases the moment Phineas's mom meets Ferb's dad — which means the boys never become stepbrothers, and every day becomes, in the words of the official logline, "merely adequate." That's a genuinely clever premise for a franchise built entirely on the idea that summer is whatever you make it. Pull the thread on the family, and the whole show unravels.

The cast coming back for it: Nearly the entire original voice cast is returning, including Vincent Martella as Phineas, David Errigo Jr. as Ferb, Ashley Tisdale as Candace, Alyson Stoner as Isabella, Dee Bradley Baker as Perry the Platypus, and Povenmire himself as Doofenshmirtz. Writers Kate Kondell and Jeff Howard, director Bob Bowen, and producer Brandi Young round out the creative team.

Why this moment makes sense: The franchise just had a serious comeback. Season 5 launched last summer to strong ratings and landed on Nielsen's Streaming Top 10, drawing nearly 600 million minutes viewed. Disney has also reported 12.8 billion hours watched across linear and streaming since the franchise launched. Two previous films — Across the 2nd Dimension in 2011 and Candace Against the Universe in 2020 — both performed well. Povenmire and Marsh aren't returning out of nostalgia. They're returning because the audience never actually left.

Big picture: A show about two kids who refuse to waste a single day of summer is now making a movie about what happens when those two kids never find each other — and somehow that's the most Phineas and Ferb premise imaginable.

Disney Tourist Blog just dropped a full ranking of every Walt Disney World resort — Values, Moderates, Deluxes, and Villas — and if you've ever argued with someone about whether the Polynesian is actually worth it, this list is going to give you a lot of ammunition.

Why this ranking hits differently: Most resort rankings are just price lists wearing a disguise — the cheapest hotels at the bottom, the most expensive at the top, everyone nods and moves on. This one weights value for money heavily, which scrambles the order in genuinely interesting ways. A Moderate Resort ends up in the top 10. A beloved DVC classic lands near the bottom. And the authors are upfront that this list is built for first-timers and infrequent visitors, not the crowd who remembers the Castle Cake.

The results that will actually surprise you: Port Orleans Riverside — long considered one of the most charming Moderates on property — ranks lower than you'd expect, with the authors admitting they love visiting it more than staying there. All Star Sports, a budget motel by any honest measure, outranks two other All Stars on the strength of better management and newer rooms. And Wilderness Lodge, often overlooked in favor of the monorail resorts, earns a top-tier spot on the strength of theme, price, and what the authors describe as an almost unfair advantage in atmosphere. Caribbean Beach Resort, meanwhile, gets called the "Poor Person's Polynesian" — and then the article argues it might actually be better.

The frame that makes this useful: The top section of the ranking drops the head-to-head comparison format entirely and instead asks what kind of traveler you are — parks and pools people, honeymooners, families with kids who want the full Disney dream — and matches you to a resort from there. It's less a definitive list and more a very opinionated planning tool, which is exactly what it should be.

Big picture: The most useful thing this ranking does isn't tell you which hotel is "best" — it's give you permission to stop assuming the most expensive room is the right one, and start asking which resort is right for your trip.

Temuera Morrison played Boba Fett for seven episodes on Disney+, wrapped in February 2022, and has not suited up since. Now it's 2026, and the update he just gave to Inverse is about as bleak as the Dune Sea.

What Morrison actually said: At a fan convention in 2025, Morrison made a joke — his word — encouraging fans to send faxes, letters, and emails to Lucasfilm lobbying for his return alongside fellow actor Daniel Logan. It was a convention bit. Lucasfilm did not take it that way. Morrison says he got a call shortly after: "Look, you've been put on the shelf, Boba Fett. We might open up the jar later." That's a direct quote. The jar is currently closed.

Why this stings a little extra: Morrison has been candid about how much the role meant to him. After the show wrapped, he was already mentally planning seasons two, three, and four — working alongside Ming-Na Wen, feeling like he'd finally arrived somewhere worth staying. The show earned a devoted fanbase. The character has decades of mythology behind him. And yet here we are, with the galaxy's most feared bounty hunter apparently waiting on a shelf somewhere while Lucasfilm figures out what comes next.

The part worth sitting with: Morrison says he was only joking when he asked fans to campaign for him. Lucasfilm apparently wasn't laughing. Whether that response reflects a deliberate creative decision about where Boba Fett fits in the future of Star Wars — or just institutional sensitivity about talent going off-script at conventions — nobody's saying. What's confirmed is that no Season 2 is in the works, and the man who plays the character doesn't know if he's coming back.

Big picture: The most dangerous thing Temuera Morrison did wasn't ask fans for help — it's that Lucasfilm's answer to a joke was silence, and silence in the Star Wars universe has a way of lasting a very long time.

Disneyland Hotel — the pink-turreted grande dame sitting right at the top of Main Street, U.S.A. — has a new restaurant, and by the sound of it, they are not messing around. La Forêt Secrète (that's "The Secret Forest" for those of us whose French peaked in high school) is the latest addition to what is already Disneyland Paris's most storied address.

Why the location matters: Disneyland Hotel isn't just any on-property resort. It's the flagship — the one that puts guests literally steps from the park entrance, wrapped in Victorian grandeur that feels more like a palace than a hotel. Adding a fine dining concept here isn't a small operational update. It's a statement about what kind of experience the resort wants to anchor its most prestigious address.

What we know so far: Specific menu details, pricing, and reservation availability have not been confirmed in available reporting, so consider this a heads-up rather than a full briefing. What is confirmed is the name and the venue — and both suggest something a little more enchanted-forest, a little less theme-park-cafeteria.

The angle worth sitting with: Disneyland Paris has been on a serious glow-up trajectory, and Disneyland Hotel itself recently completed a major reimagining. Layering a fine dining restaurant into that renovation story suggests the resort is building toward something — a full luxury tier that competes not just with other Disney destinations, but with Europe's best hotel dining.

Big picture: A castle at the end of Main Street is one thing — a reservation-worthy restaurant inside it is the kind of detail that turns a Disney trip into a trip you'd plan around the meal.