Oriental Land Co., the operator of Tokyo Disney Resort, named Japan's first Disney cruise ship Disney Imagination at a ceremony at Tokyo International Cruise Terminal on October 14, 2026. Ariel and Sebastian from The Little Mermaid will sit on the stern, which reads "Tokyo." The fifth Wish-class ship is being built by Meyer Werft in Papenburg, Germany, and is the first ship of Disney Cruise Line Japan.

The ship will be about 340 meters long and about 140,000 gross tons, the largest Japanese-flagged vessel, with about 1,250 staterooms and room for up to about 4,000 passengers. Oriental Land is investing about 330 billion yen in construction and related costs. It will mainly sail 2- to 4-night trips from Tokyo starting in spring 2029, with standard-cabin fares of about 100,000 to 300,000-plus yen per person and bookings opening about six months before launch.

Editorial lens: Tokyo Disney Resort operator Oriental Land is turning Disney cruising into its next business pillar, putting about 330 billion yen into Disney Imagination, a roughly 140,000-ton Wish-class ship that will be the largest Japanese-flagged vessel, and selling it as short 2- to 4-night Tokyo sailings that families can pair with a Tokyo Disney Resort trip when it debuts in spring 2029.

Photo: WDWMAGIC — sister ship Disney Wish, docked (Wish-class exterior).

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Disney has greenlit an animated Artemis Fowl TV series for Disney Channel and Disney+. Author Eoin Colfer announced the news on Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026, during the “25 Years of Artemis Fowl” panel at New York Comic Con, and he will serve as an executive producer alongside Emmy and Annie Award winner Ben Juwono (Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Big Hero 6: The Series) and Colleen Evanson (Prep and Landing: The Snowball Protocol, DuckTales, Monsters at Work).

The series follows 13-year-old genius Artemis Fowl as he uncovers an underground world of armed, dangerous and surprisingly high-tech fairies and plots to capture one and steal its magic to heal his dying mom and save his family. Disney says the show will dig deeper into the characters and lore of the books, which began in 2001 and have sold more than 35 million copies in 48 languages. No release date or cast has been announced. It joins a Disney+ animation slate that includes Phineas and Ferb, Big City Greens and the upcoming Kingdom Hearts and Warrior Cats. Disney’s 2020 live-action Artemis Fowl film went straight to Disney+ and has since been removed from the service.

Editorial lens: Disney is taking a second run at Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl, greenlighting an animated series for Disney Channel and Disney+ with Colfer as an executive producer six years after the 2020 live-action film went straight to Disney+ and was later pulled from the service, betting that a 25-year-old book series with more than 35 million copies sold can work for a new generation of kids.

Photo: Eoin Colfer — Stephen Hardman/Getty Images for Penguin/Disney (via Deadline).

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Walt Disney World's operating calendar now shows Tiana's Bayou Adventure at Magic Kingdom closing Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, and reopening Friday, Dec. 18, about six and a half weeks later and one week before Christmas. It will be the Frontierland ride's first extended refurbishment since it opened June 28, 2024, in the former Splash Mountain building. Tiana's Bayou General, the ride's exit shop, closes with it, while Critter Co-Op stays open.

The closure covers Thanksgiving week and most of the holiday season, including most nights of Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, which begins Nov. 8. Disney has described the work only as routine refurbishment and has not released a list of planned changes, and refurbishment dates can shift.

Editorial lens: Walt Disney World's calendar now shows Tiana's Bayou Adventure closing Nov. 2 for its first extended refurbishment since opening in 2024 and returning Dec. 18, which means Magic Kingdom guests will go without the flume through Thanksgiving week and most of the holiday season, with Disney calling the work routine and offering no list of changes.

Photo: WDWMAGIC.com — the bayou outside Tiana's Bayou Adventure at Magic Kingdom.

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Crews at Magic Kingdom have now effectively completely demolished the Frontierland boardwalk to make way for Piston Peak National Park, the Cars-themed expansion replacing Tom Sawyer Island and much of the Rivers of America. As of Friday, Oct. 9, 2026, photos from the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad queue show only a few weathered wooden pillars where the walkway stood, plus a short stub of decking near the former Westward Ho kiosk. Concrete retaining walls now trace the winding edge of the future stream, and excavators and loaders work the muddy ground behind the construction walls.

A tower crane at the site, fully assembled by late September, began operating Oct. 1. Because a tower crane lifts structural steel and precast concrete rather than soil, it signals a move from earthwork and utilities toward the show buildings for the land's two attractions, Cars Ridge Run Rally and Miss Fritter's Daredevil Spin-Along, announced at D23 2026. Disney says it will rebuild the boardwalk along a narrower, winding stream as part of Piston Peak, but has not announced an opening date.

Editorial lens: Magic Kingdom's Piston Peak National Park is shifting from digging and retaining walls to vertical construction, with the Frontierland boardwalk now demolished and a tower crane in place, even as Disney has still not announced an opening date.

Photo: BlogMickey.com — the Piston Peak tower crane rising above Liberty Square at Magic Kingdom.

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Marvel Television and Marvel Animation used their New York Comic Con panel on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, to announce Zodiac, a new live-action “global spy thriller” that will premiere on Disney+ in 2028. Marvel head of television, animation, comics and franchise Brad Winderbaum said the series will begin shooting in London in spring 2027, with casting starting in a couple of weeks. Plot, cast and creative team were not revealed; Winderbaum said the title design holds clues for comics fans. Zodiac is the first new live-action Marvel TV series announced since Ironheart.

The panel also confirmed that Daredevil: Born Again Season 3, arriving in 2027, will be its final season, with Charlie Cox, Krysten Ritter and Finn Jones on stage and new footage shown. Marvel announced three new two-part Marvel Zombies event series (The Winter Soldier for Halloween 2027, The Fist of Khonshu in 2028 and The Last Guardian in 2029), showed first footage from X-Men ’97 Season 3 (2027), and set Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Season 2 for Jan. 13, 2027 on Disney+. The panel closed with a surprise screening of the first episode of VisionQuest, which premieres Oct. 14 on Disney+ and wraps the trilogy that began with WandaVision and Agatha All Along; early reactions were strongly positive.

Editorial lens: Marvel is using its New York Comic Con stage to pair the October 14 VisionQuest premiere and the final season of Daredevil: Born Again with Zodiac, its first brand-new live-action series announced since Ironheart, as it reshapes its Disney+ television slate.

Photo: IGN — the line for the Marvel Television and Animation panel at New York Comic Con 2026.

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Disney Cruise Line revealed the Disney Believe in a livestream on Wednesday, October 7, 2026. The fourth Wish-class ship sails its maiden voyage December 18, 2027 from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale. It will offer only four- and five-night sailings to The Bahamas and the Caribbean, calling at Disney Castaway Cay and/or Disney Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point.

The headline show is the world's first stage adaptation of Encanto in the Walt Disney Theatre, featuring Lin-Manuel Miranda songs like "We Don't Talk About Bruno" and "Surface Pressure," alongside Tangled: The Musical and Disney Seas the Adventure. New venues include Oaken's Table: A Frozen Family Feast, a Moana-inspired Grand Hall, the Zootopia-themed Gazelle, Sea Notes, Wishing Well, Skygazers, Inside Out: Joyful Sweets, Big Hero Sips, Café Kakamora and the Believe Tower Suite. Castaway Club booking opens October 12–15, with general booking October 19, 2026.

Editorial lens: Disney is premiering the world's first Encanto stage musical on a ship that will sail only four- and five-night trips from Fort Lauderdale, putting its newest show within reach of a short Bahamas getaway.

Photo: WDWMAGIC — Disney Believe block float-out at Meyer Werft, Papenburg.

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Walt Disney World raised prices across the resort effective Tuesday, October 6, 2026 — almost exactly a year after the October 8, 2025 round — just as Disney Experiences chairman Thomas Mazloum told CNN that “families are watching every dollar.”

All four Annual Passes rose 2%–7.4%: Pixie Dust $489→$499, Pirate $869→$909, Sorcerer $1,099→$1,139, and Incredi-Pass $1,629→$1,749 (up $120; up $300, or 20.8%, since October 2024’s $1,449). Single-day tickets now on sale through Dec. 31, 2027 peak at $229 at Magic Kingdom and EPCOT (previously $219/$214), with Hollywood Studios at $214 and Animal Kingdom at $189; the cheapest one-day ticket stays $119. Lightning Lane Premier Pass ceiling rises from $449 to $499 per person. Quick-service food is up mostly 50¢–$1 (coffee $4.29→$4.99), and Fantasmic! dining packages rose. Disneyland moved the same day with milder changes — some prices down — while Magic Key and parking stayed unchanged.

Editorial lens: Walt Disney World raises the ceiling on a single day to a $229 ticket and a $499 Premier Pass just as its parks chairman says families are watching every dollar.

Photo: WDWMAGIC — Main Street, U.S.A. / Cinderella Castle crowd at Magic Kingdom.

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