Disney Headlines for March 18th, 2025
Is baseball coming back to Orlando? And what are people missing about Lilo & Stitch?
I love everything about both of this week’s Disney Headlines.
I Miss Baseball at Disney
(Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
For Disney fans, a sad thing happened a few years ago.
My beloved Atlanta Braves moved to a new Spring Training facility in 2019.
Atlanta Braves
Before that, Major League Baseball’s greatest franchise had spent several years playing Spring Training games at Walt Disney World.
My fellow baseball/Disney fans and I delighted in the opportunities to watch meaningless baseball after park visits.
MagicBand
ESPN’s broadcast crews loved it as well. Live SportsCenter segments would provide chuckles.
Famous ball players would provide commentary, while studious observers noted they were wearing MagicBands.
Photo: Wikipedia
As soon as the afternoon baseball ended, everyone knew these folks were heading to the parks.
Alas, most Spring Training travel involves buses, causing inconvenience for Atlanta’s Spring Training roster.
Photo: MLB
The players spent too much time on buses since all the other teams in Florida were further south.
Atlanta Braves
So, Atlanta built a Spring Training facility southwest of Disney in Sarasota, Florida.
Since then, Central Floridians have craved the return of MLB action in the area.
While the Brightline will take people north to Tampa, it’s not quite the same.
Also, we know from the recent attendance of the Tampa Bay Rays that nobody’s doing that.
The Rays averaged a paltry 16,515 people per home game last year. For comparison, Atlanta’s was 37,647 people. So, yeah.
NY Times
Well, some excitement occurred in the wake of a tragedy last year.
You may recall that Hurricane Milton destroyed part of the mesh roof at Tropicana Field.
Photo: WESH
By the end of that dreadful evening, everyone knew the Rays couldn’t pay at Tropicana Field in 2025.
MLB
Other options quickly arose, one of which was an MLB return to ESPN Wide World of Sports at Walt Disney World.
Disney understandably chose Steinbrenner Field, a lovely minor league stadium in Tampa, instead. But the seeds were planted.
Could MLB Come to Orlando?
Fox News
One of the reasons why ownership didn’t repair Tropicana Field was that plans were already underway to build a new stadium.
MLB
That facility should have been ready in a couple of years. So, spending the money to fix the old place didn’t make any sense.
Given Tampa’s attendance struggles, everyone felt okay with using temporary quarters this year and then going from there.
Those feelings changed the other day when the new stadium plan collapsed, not unlike the roof at Tropicana Field.
Photo: Getty
Tampa Bay’s owner, Stu Stenberg, refused to pay several hundred million dollars out of his own pockets.
Now, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has decided that he’s tired of Stenberg’s skinflint ownership practices.
Photo: Getty
I don’t view any of this as Tampa’s fault per se, as the attendance numbers naturally raise questions about the new stadium’s financial viability.
Maybe new fans would attend if the stadium were better, but Tampa has fielded remarkably competitive teams lately.
Despite this fact, attendance numbers have remained near the bottom of the league, including 28th (of 30) in 2024.
Will This Happen?
ESPN
Even though Manfred technically works for owners like Stenberg, the Commissioner is over it.
Manfred wants new ownership for the current Tampa Bay Rays franchise, and he’s not opposed to the team moving to Orlando.
MLB
The Orlando Sentinel has provided a mixed report on the possibility.
Potential owners of the Orlando Dreamers claim that they have the financial backing needed to acquire the Tampa MLB team.
Photos: istock
According to the report, ownership has planned a “state-of-the-art, 45,000 capacity domed stadium right in the middle of the tourist corridor…”
Obviously, this wouldn’t be on the Disney campus, but it would be somewhere that takes advantage of tourism in the area.
Photo: Universal
Presumably, that would place it close enough for Universal Epic Universe and Walt Disney World guests to visit conveniently.
The Sentinel splashes a dose of harsh reality on the possibility of this plan coming together quickly, noting:
Photo: Universal
“Any effort to bring Major League Baseball to Orlando has daunting obstacles to overcome, from private funding to political support to the whims of Major League Baseball’s owners, who must bless any move.”
So, nothing is close to happening here, and Nashville, Tennessee, appears ahead of Orlando as the next MLB destination city.
Photo: Major League Baseball
On the plus side, Orlando’s NBA team, the Magic, currently ranks in the top ten in league attendance in 2025.
There’s reason to believe that Orlando can and will support professional sports teams. So, the idea makes sense.
Photo: Disney Clip Art
Disney fans may yet get to combine baseball and theme parks again!
Lilo & Stitch Ascendant
Photo: Disney
For years, I told you that Disney wasn’t capitalizing enough on the popularity of Moana.
Less heralded metrics underlined the movie’s lasting impact, which Nielsen later confirmed.
MOANA 2 – © 2024 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
According to them, Moana is THE most-watched movie in the history of streaming, a statistic that kinda screams “Sequel!”
Meanwhile, anyone who has ever set foot in a store at a Disney theme park innately knows who the other sleeping giant is.
Stitch merchandise flies off the shelves, almost like people possess a compulsion to buy it.
During the past few years, Disney has released monthly themed Stitch merchandise such as the recent Stitch Attacks Snacks.
I joked a couple of weeks ago that 2025 could be the Year of Stitch, and now I’ve got the data to prove it.
As Justin Hermes discussed the other day, the Lilo & Stitch live-action reboot is drawing a shocking level of attention.
Photo: Disney
According to Deadline, people watched the full-length Lilo & Stitch trailer 158 million times during its first 24 hours.
Folks, that’s the second-best Disney live-action performance ever, trailing only the 2019 remake of The Lion King.
Photo: Disney
Now, I’m not saying that Lilo & Stitch will earn $1.6 billion like that film, but here’s a goal I do consider achievable.
Because Disney woefully botched the release of the original Lilo & Stitch, that film only earned $273 million at the box office.
Photo: Disney
I’m growing more and more confident that the live-action reboot will blow past that total in just ten days.
People haven’t figured out yet how popular Stitch has become in the Chinese and Japanese markets.
Photo: Disney
This trailer reached #1 in trending on China’s Douyin social media platform, a rarity for Hollywood titles.
So, its international box office is going to be a lot better than anyone currently realizes.
Photo: Disney
Like Moana 2, Lilo & Stitch was at one point planned as a streaming exclusive movie.
Disney’s probably going to make at least another half-billion dollars by putting the film in theaters instead.
Photo: Disney Store
I’m not counting all the new Stitch merchandise when I say that, either. You know what a massive number that will be.
Thanks for visiting MickeyBlog.com! Want to go to Disney? For a FREE quote on your next Disney vacation, please fill out the form below, and one of the agents from MickeyTravels, a Diamond Level Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, will be in touch soon!
Feature Photo: Disney
