MickeyBlog News for August 15th, 2026
Greetings from MickeyBlog! If you somehow haven’t noticed, our staff is quite busy.
Our reporters and writers are exhaustively covering the 2026 D23 Expo.
So, this week’s MickeyBlog News will take you behind the scenes at the event.
What We’ve Seen So Far
I’m writing this before this year’s theme parks panel, the seminal biennial event.
As such, I won’t be covering the huge announcements in this week’s news.
Fortunately, all you need to do is keep reloading MickeyBlog to learn everything!
We’ve blanketed the event to bring you all the news updates as they happen.
I realize that there’s been a lot, and you may have missed some stuff.
Let’s quickly cover the various D23 updates, starting with the big ones.
For starters, here’s the ride vehicle for the new Encanto attraction at the Tropical Americas.
What jumps off the page to me is the cleverness of this design.
The premise here appears to be that riders will hop on various pieces of furniture from Casa Madrigal.
Look at that piano! You’re going to ride in that! How cool is that???
Along those lines, Disney showed off the ride building for Indiana Jones.
The setting looks like an abandoned ancient temple that seems like it has a face.
I particularly adore the very small ladder at the bottom as a nice touch.
Otherwise, Indiana Jones couldn’t climb up the collapsed stairs at the bottom.
These are the thoughtful touches Imagineers utilize to enhance ride immersion.
And I’m just getting started! In fact, let’s discuss the namesake attraction.
This year’s theme park panel is called Horizons: A Carousel of Progress.
Obviously, the redesign of A Carousel of Progress is a point of pride for Disney.
As part of the preview event, Disney displayed the new character designs for this classic ride.
Disney also reassured fans that Rover will still have a home. Otherwise, we would have rioted.
Rover is even in the animated picture, as is…a robot? How odd.
The images also show the new Walt Disney addition, although it’s not detailed.
Other Early D23 Highlights
Disney unveiled a model of the thing we’ve all been anticipating: Villains Land!
The first thing our staff noticed was an artist’s rendering of the upcoming themed land.
Those clouds don’t look friendly, and neither do the cliff facings for that matter.
The entire visual fosters a lingering sense of dread and foreboding.
That fact alone should give you some comfort that Disney’s gonna get Villains Land right.
Disney brought some scale figures of various parts of the area.
A tree somehow looks threatening in the “Dark Forest.”
For fans of Beastly Kingdom, that name may excite you.
The themed land that never was should have included a unicorn maze in a similar setting.
CEO Josh D’Amaro, a Disney superfan himself, may have had a hand in these similarities.
The dark and scary forest has been an oft-recurring theme in classic Disney animation, too.
Imagineers drew inspiration from Snow White.
Photo: Disney Parks Blog
On the other side of Magic Kingdom, Disney displayed more details about Piston Peak.
Imagineers had already provided plenty of details about the Cars themed area.
Now, we’ve seen the ride vehicles for the main attraction, the off-road thrill ride.
You also may notice a yellow bus in the model. That’s Miss Fritter from Cars 3.
Given the family-friendly nature of this character, her presence here makes a lot of sense.
I won’t speculate on the second ride yet, as you should know that within the day.
Still, the early renderings of Piston Peak hint at a vibrant community for park guests to explore.
I’m also giving Disney bonus points for the tagline of “The Wheelderness calls.”
Yes, it’s a punny dad joke, but it’s charming and memorable.
Even More D23 Highlights
Circling back to the Tropical Americas, Disney also hinted at details about its carousel.
Classic Disney characters such as Eeyore and Pua will apparently appear on this ride.
Switching to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Imagineers displayed four new Monstropolis creatures.
Three of them are adorable, but the two-headed pigeon will haunt my dreams.
As MickeyBlog’s Justin Hermes notes, we think we know the name of the new Monstropolis show, too.
The Glob Theater appears to be announcing Welcome to Monstropolis! With Sulley & Mike.
Switching coasts, Pandora is officially a go at Disneyland Resort!
Imagineers have clearly put some thought into the visuals of this themed land.
The second Pandora looks every bit as breathtaking as the original, maybe even more so.
As a retro tribute to the company’s roots, there’s also a Walt’s Barn display this year.
Oh, and Disney Cruise Line has a display as well, one with a fittingly beachy setting.
On the merchandise side, we brought you a first look at this year’s goodies.
I’m here to tell you that Disney Iconics plushes are about to be one of the hottest holiday gifts.
These things are a steal for $20 and a perfect stocking stuffer.
You can buy them at the Disney Store starting on August 17th. Yes, you can win the holiday season in mid-August.
By the way, we also showed you the exclusive D23 merch from this year’s event.
I fully expect the Topps and especially Magic the Gathering merch to show up on eBay for five times the price.
Overall, D23 has already been amazing, and the park panel isn’t until tonight!
