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!
The post Guest Falls in Water at Living With the Land While Retrieving Their Dropped Phone & More: Daily Recap (6/23/25) appeared first on WDW News Today.
