Disney Headlines for June 10th, 2025
This week in Disney Headlines: We trade Muppets, Prince Harry recreates his youth, and Disney brags about its money.
Yes, I said Prince Harry and the Muppets. It’s been one of those weeks at Disney.
Many of Us Can Identify
I pay less attention to the royals than I do to the sport of curling. Well, that’s a bad example because I love watching curling.
The point is that I couldn’t even tell you which royal is currently next in line to the throne of King Charles III.
(Photo by Daniel Leal – WPA Pool/Getty Images)
That’s partially because I spent my entire adult life hearing that Prince Charles would eventually take the throne.
That didn’t happen until the dude was 73 years old. The royals are ridiculous. But don’t tell my mother I said that.
Photo by Terry Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty Images)
Mom is one of those folks who reads every story about the royals, and her favorite was always Princess Diana.
I once spent countless hours researching one eventful Disney vacation Prince Di had just so that I’d have something new to tell mom.
Well, that research came in handy this week as a long-forgotten story from 1993 suddenly gained newfound relevance.
Members of the media, especially the British press, breathlessly tracked every detail of Prince Harry’s family vacation.
Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
Honestly, all that I know about Prince Harry is that he’s married to Meghan Markle and that his family doesn’t like her.
Personally, I watched Suits and very much like Markle, but that’s beside the point. The story is that the couple took their kids to Disneyland.
Updated Sleeping Beauty Castle Banners – 70th Celebration
Why is that a big deal? For starters, Lilibet, the granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II, celebrated her fourth birthday at Disney! How cool is that?
View this post on Instagram
Also, this vacation mirrors one that Princess Di took with Harry when he was but a boy in 1993.
At the time, Diana had just VERY publicly separated from Prince Charles. Thus, the vacation earned more media attention than you can imagine.
I cannot think of a comparable media frenzy for anything in the 2020s. You had to be there.
The Muppets Trade
Muppets Courtyard
You don’t see many trades in the theme park industry. Sure, professional sports are teeming with them, but that’s a different ballgame. Literally.
That’s why many people cocked their heads in confusion this week as Disney sought to defuse a combustible situation.
PizzeRizzo
On Saturday, Muppets Courtyard closed, which left everyone feeling quite sad.
MickeyBlog’s reporters attended the final showing of Muppet*Vision 3D. Here’s our final farewell:
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I watched a livestream of the final showing, and I can say one thing with complete sincerity. Many people were angry.
Some MickeyBlog writers, including myself, have expressed our sadness over the closure of this significant attraction.
While we don’t claim to speak for the whole site, we share the same frustration. Personally, I feel like this show didn’t have to close.
Disney could have found another place for it. Alternatively, the upcoming Monstropolis themed land could have gone elsewhere.
Judging by the sheer volume of Muppets fans lining up at Muppets Courtyard on Saturday evening, many others shared this belief.
To Disney’s credit, the company anticipated this unfocused anger and warded it off with an announcement.
The Muppets will take over Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith in 2026, which is probably a bit faster than expected.
This revelation was calculated in that Disney made it on a Saturday rather than a weekday.
They wanted to remind fans that the Muppets remain an integral part of Disney’s present and future.
I’m happy that Disney has thrown its staunch support behind this franchise. Now, we’re just waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Photo: Disney
If the Muppets take over Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster in 2026, the Aerosmith version must be closing at some point in 2025, right?
What do you think about all of this? Do you like the trade(s)?
$67 Billion Is a Lot
Walt Disney Company
During the Florida Feud, The Walt Disney Company went on offense by publishing plenty of data.
Executives wanted the world to know just how much Disney meant to the Sunshine State, which frankly should have gone without saying.
(Photo by Kevin Lorenzi/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Those were a weird couple of years. So, Disney did feel the need to say it. In the process, the company learned the value of this tactic.
During the activist investor battle with Nelson Peltz – err, the second one – Wall Street’s deep-pocketed shareholders told Disney as much.
Nelson Peltz
So, the company sometimes posts a “Mom! Look at me!” type of PR statement about its economic impact.
I’m bad about leaving browser tabs open for months on end. So, I still had the last one pulled up, quietly nagging me to write an article about it.
Walt Disney Company
Then, Disney published yet another study. This one emphasizes that Disney adds $67 billion annually to the American economy.
That’s a staggering sum and one that I must admit I struggle to put into context. Still, a few stats stood out to me as staggering.
Photo: Disney
Disneyland Resort and The Walt Disney Studios anchor the company’s presence in Southern California.
That’s the place where the Disney Brothers originally made their name. So, it seems fitting that Disney generates $16.1 billion of economic impact in this region.
Photo: Disney
Notably, Disney has directly and indirectly created 102,000 jobs in Southern California, which is 25 percent of Disney’s total job generation of 403,000.
A Stunning Impact
Disney presumably published this story to celebrate Disneyland 70.
If anything, Disney’s presence in Central Florida is more significant, though. The study shows that 5 percent of all jobs in Southern California are due to Disney.
Remarkably 12.5 percent of all jobs in Central Florida have been created thanks to Disney’s presence here.
When Walt Disney sneakily purchased the land for the Florida Project in the 1960s, he fundamentally changed this part of the country.
The Walt Disney Company
That same statement applies to the decision by the Disney Brothers to move west and seek their fortune in Hollywood.
That one choice by two siblings has created more than 400,000 total jobs and $67 billion (!) annually in revenue.
The Walt Disney Company
That’s the invisible hand of Disney providing a subtle yet overwhelmingly powerful impact on society and the economy.
We should take Disney for granted, and that’s why I like it when the company posts these economic impact studies.
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Feature Photo: Disney
