Epic has been busy but perhaps not as slammed as imagined due to its own daily capacity restrictions. Universal now has multiday tickets \u2013 starting at the three-day level \u2013 that allow \u201cfree travel\u201d between Epic Universe and its other parks. That can be a workaround for rides with long queue histories.<\/p>\n
As always, read the fine print for restrictions. Ticket prices vary with dates, but generally, the longer the stay, the lower the per-day cost. Yes, one should do math during Spring Break.<\/p>\n
![\"Guests](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/TOS-L-pano3c-beak-barrel_0009-Pano.jpg\")
Beak and Barrel, a pirate-themed tavern, opened at Magic Kingdom’s Adventureland last summer. (Joe Burbank\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n
\u2022 Walt Disney World<\/a> introduced a couple of lounges, one for grown-ups and one that\u2019s family-friendly. Epcot\u2019s GEO 82<\/a> is adults-only, has a chichi but sometimes sweaty vibe, and offers a view of the World Showcase Lagoon from its perch inside the Spaceship Earth attraction. Magic Kingdom\u2019s Beak and Barrel<\/a> explores a pirate theme with a storyline, an animatronic bird named Rummy, a limited menu (but with octopus tentacles), both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages and a time limit of 45 minutes.<\/p>\n Advance reservations are required for both spots. If you\u2019re foiled on that front, it doesn\u2019t hurt to check again later, even on the desired date.<\/p>\n \u2022 Magic Kingdom is lit again, but that\u2019s unrelated to Beak and Barrel. For the first time in several years, the park offers a nightly nighttime parade, \u201cDisney Starlight: Dream the Night Away.\u201d<\/a> The floats are fanciful and character-heavy, leaning into films such as \u201cMoana,\u201d \u201cEncanto,\u201d \u201cFrozen\u201d and \u201cPinocchio.\u201d Nightly step-off is 8:30 p.m., but during peak season, there\u2019s a 10:30 p.m. one scheduled on select nights, too. (My Disney Experience app tells all.)<\/p>\n \u2022 Two stage shows have debuted at Disney\u2019s Hollywood Studios. \u201cDisney Villains: Unfairly Ever After,\u201d<\/a> in a theater near Tower of Terror, features various baddies in competition and uses screens creatively. \u201cThe Little Mermaid \u2013 A Musical Adventure\u201d<\/a> sticks to Ariel\u2019s familiar script and, unlike the previous \u201cMermaid\u201d production, tosses in \u201cKiss the Girl,\u201d too.<\/p>\n Our 2026 Foodie Award winners list revealed \u2014 see who won<\/a><\/p>\n \u2022 Disney\u2019s Animal Kingdom is now home to \u201cZootopia: Better Zoogether,\u201d<\/a> a 3D show within a show within the park\u2019s Tree of Life. It replaced \u201cIt\u2019s Tough to Be a Bug,\u201d reworking the theater and deleting that pesky back-poke effect.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0 SeaWorld Orlando<\/a> has opened its flying-theater attraction called Expedition Odyssey<\/a>. It simulates movement over the Arctic. After landing, visitors can explore a real-life animal exhibit with beluga whales and walruses.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0 For that new coaster smell, your best bet is Legoland Florida<\/a>, which last month opened Galacticoaster<\/a>, a space-themed, family thrill ride. It\u2019s not terribly intense, but there\u2019s a punchy launch early in the attraction. Also at the Winter Haven resort is the new Sea Life Florida Aquarium<\/a>, a separately ticketed attraction.<\/p>\n \u2022 You won\u2019t go hungry at Orlando\u2019s theme parks with three major festivals, stocked with grazing options. Underway are Universal\u2019s Mardi Gras celebrations at Universal Studios, the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival and, on select days, the Seven Seas Food Festival at SeaWorld Orlando.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0 Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition<\/a>, an attraction on International Drive, added a black-glass necklace found in the debris field of a famed ship to its displays, and later started offering a virtual-reality add-on experience where visitors sit and tour parts of the ocean liner.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0 Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex<\/a> bus tour added the Gantry at LC-39<\/a> to its stops. It includes an interactive rocket-design experience and has a test-fire simulation as its centerpiece.<\/p>\n \u2022 Madame Tussauds Orlando<\/a> put in a few fresh star-powered wax figures, including Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez and Jeff Goldblum.<\/p>\n Not yet<\/p>\n \u2022 Icon Park<\/a> has a handful of projects in the works. Blue Man Group<\/a> will start performing a new show in a new theater near the base of the Orlando Eye as of May 1. Work is well underway on Ripley Crazy Golf, an indoor course, there and a multilevel Build-A-Bear store near the corner of I-Drive and Via Mercado.<\/p>\n \u2022 A suspended and submersible-themed ride called SEAQuest: Legends of the Deep<\/a> is under construction at SeaWorld Orlando. The park says it will open in 2026.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0 The renovated domed theater at Orlando Science Center<\/a> is expected to open this summer.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0 Magic Kingdom has a pair of under-renovation rides expected to return sometime this spring. Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin will return with enhanced ride vehicles, targets, sound effects and blasters, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad will come back after more than a year of shutdown.<\/p>\n \u2022 At Disney\u2019s Hollywood Studios, Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roller Coaster Starring the Muppets<\/a> is slated for a summer debut. The Aerosmith version finished its nearly 27-year run this month.<\/p>\n Nope, not this year<\/p>\n \u2022 Multiple down-the-road Disney World projects have prompted the closure of some theme park staples.<\/p>\n Gone are Tom Sawyer Island, Rivers of America and the Liberty Belle boat from Magic Kingdom. An enormous construction wall separates visitors from the future site of two \u201cCars\u201d-based attractions and a villains-centric land.<\/p>\n At Hollywood Studios, MuppetVision 3-D closed as part of the prep for a \u201cMonsters, Inc.\u201d land, and Star Wars Launch Bay did not survive the conversion of the area into a salute to animation (a short film, playground, drawing experience and meet-and-greets are in the works).<\/p>\n The Dinosaur ride was the last piece of Animal Kingdom\u2019s Dinoland to go away. It\u2019s being converted into an \u201cIndiana Jones\u201d attraction that will form the Tropical Americas land, along with \u201cEncanto\u201d elements.<\/p>\n \u2022\u00a0 Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit roller coaster was dismantled at Universal Studios, and now work is underway in that general vicinity on a thrill ride called Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift<\/a>. The new coaster is set to open next year. We can\u2019t exactly say it\u2019s last call for the Fast & Furious: Supercharged, the current attraction, but Universal Orlando does confirm it\u2019s going away \u2026 eventually.<\/p>\n Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com<\/a>. BlueSky: @themeparksdb. Threads account: @dbevil. X account: @themeparks. Subscribe to the Theme Park Rangers newsletter at orlandosentinel.com\/newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s that time of year when Spring Break-ing families make annual sojourns to Central Florida attractions, and perhaps…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188593,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[558,2659,104,28,29,9571,114,19041,266,5077,2609,115,1335,139,141,140,2043,109,76687,76688,76689,2411,106,1316,107,3434],"class_list":["post-188592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-business","tag-disney-world","tag-entertainment","tag-florida","tag-florida-news","tag-lake-buena-vista","tag-latest-headlines","tag-legoland","tag-local-news","tag-movies","tag-music-and-concerts","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-seaworld","tag-social","tag-social-entertainment","tag-social-theme-parks","tag-social-travel","tag-theme-parks","tag-things-to-do","tag-tourism","tag-travel","tag-universal-orlando"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Kennedy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/tos-l-ksc-gantry1670.jpg\")
Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center guests check out the Gantry at LC-39, which includes a test-fire simulation. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/TOS-L-SNAP3-muppetvision3D_1602f2.jpg\")
A guest takes photos in the backstage-themed pre-show area of MuppetVision 3D. (Joe Burbank\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n