TouringPlans Travel Beat 6-29-2025

At Travel Beat we have all the “other” news from the last week or so—the stuff that wasn’t big enough to stop the presses for. What did the newsroom bring us this week? Bullets are just ahead if you’re in a hurry, and more details follow below. Don’t forget to check out the Headline News Recap, in case there was something you missed!

• Disney Cruise Line Adult Dining Prices Increase
• Elphaba & Glinda Meet & Greet at Universal Orlando
• Pirates of the Caribbean Lightning Lane Closing on July 1 at Disneyland
• Oogie Boogie Bash Tickets on Sale; VIP Tour
• Disney World is NOT Imminently Planning a Fifth Gate
• Magic Kingdom AP Park Reservations at Capacity for Starlight Parade Opening Date
• Universal Parks Announces Second Horror Unleashed Location
• Disney World Fourth of July Fireworks Info
• Test Track Begins Previews
• Disney App Dining Updates Roll Out to Everyone
• Headline News Recap

Can you guess which story inspired this week’s cover image? Leave your guesses in the comments!

Disney Cruise Line Adult Dining Prices Increase

Prices for the upcharge dining experiences at Palo, Palo Steakhouse, Remy, and Enchanté are increasing, with the timing of the rollout based on where your ship is sailing from. Sailings departing from ports in the United States and Vancouver are increasing now, while the pricing on sailings departing from European or Australia/New Zealand ports is not changing at this time.

• Palo and PALO Steakhouse brunch will increase $5 to $55, and
• Palo and PALO Steakhouse prix-fixe dinner menu will increase $5 to $55.
• Remy Champagne Brunch will increase $5 to $85
• Remy Dessert Experience will increase $5 to $70
• Remy prix-fixe dinner menu will increase $10 to $145.
• Enchanté prix-fixe lunch menu will increase $10 to $145.
• Enchanté prix-fixe dinner menu will increase $10 to $145.

Increases are already in place or begin on the next sailing of the Wish, Treasure, Dream, Magic, and Wonder, with the exception of the Wonder’s Australia/New Zealand itineraries. The Fantasy is currently sailing in Europe, and the price change will go into effect in November after her drydock and return to the U.S. The Destiny has not yet launched, but it’s expected that the current pricing for PALO Steakhouse and Enchanté will apply when she does.

Elphaba & Glinda Meet & Greet at Universal Orlando

Elphaba and Glinda are once again meeting and greeting in the Wicked Experience at Universal Orlando, through August 10 of this year. No daily times are published, but this is the first time the characters have been on the schedule since the end of the Wicked Experience’s introductory period.

Pirates of the Caribbean Lightning Lane Closing on July 1 at Disneyland

Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland was added to the Lightning Lane Lineup at Disneyland in January 2024 as a temporary measure to accommodate planned refurbishment work at other attractions. You’d be forgiven for forgetting that the change was temporary, as 18 months have now passed, but on July 1 Pirates will no longer be part of the LLMP options at Disneyland Park.

Oogie Boogie Bash Tickets on Sale; VIP Tour

Oogie Boogie Bash tickets went on sale this week, and a new Oogie Boogie VIP Tour was added to the event’s page as well. The VIP Tour includes both pre-party and during-party touring, with reserved seating for the Frightfully Fun Parade and more. As of this writing, Oogie Boogie tickets are sold out for a bit under half the dates, including the first party on August 17 and the last one on October 31. For more details about the event, including details of the VIP Tour, see Dates and Details for 2025 Oogie Boogie Bash at Disneyland.

Disney World is NOT Imminently Planning a Fifth Gate

You may have seen some headlines this week alluding to Disney World’s plans for a new park in Florida. But, it’s fair to say that many of those headlines were overselling the situation a bit. Here’s what really happened.

When you are a large organization like Disney, things go better if you have some sort of plan. The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District 2045 Comprehensive Plan, approved this week, is one kind of such a plan. In its own words, the purpose of this plan is to: “provide the basis for future decisions regarding land use, development, conservation and infrastructure”. In other words, it specifies what can be done with the land that Disney and CFTOD jointly oversee. But it does not dictate that Disney will make a reality every possible thing that the plan allows.

So: the plan allows Disney to build a 5th gate, no earlier than 2035, if Disney decides that’s the direction they want to go. And actually, the allowance for a 5th gate was built into these plans beginning with the one from 2010! But nothing will happen here unless Disney actually decides it wants a new theme park at the Walt Disney World resort.

Magic Kingdom AP Park Reservations at Capacity for Starlight Parade Opening Date

If you’re visiting Disney World with a regular date-based ticket, park reservations might be something that you heard was an issue in the past. You certainly don’t need to worry about them yourself. But for Annual Passholders and certain special offer tickets, park reservations are still required. When Disney announced the debut of the Starlight Parade on July 20, they also announced that park reservation rules would return in full for the Magic Kingdom as a temporary measure, with no more reservation-less entry after 2 pm in that park for a while.

As of this week, Annual Passholder reservations for July 20 at Magic Kingdom are “sold out”. It’s possible they could become available again in the future, as reservation “buckets” for other special offer ticket types still show availability. And reservations are still available for other parks, so Annual Passholders can tap in there and hop to the Magic Kingdom.

Universal Parks Announces Second Horror Unleashed Location

Universal’s Horror Unleashed franchise is a year-round offering based on the Haunted House concept from its popular Halloween Horror Nights events. The Las Vegas location, with four houses, is set to open in August of this year and is already selling tickets; this week Universal announced a second Horror Unleashed is to be built in Chicago. The location in Chicago will include “mazes, unforgettable scares, themed bars, unique food and beverage offerings, and a retail space,” and is scheduled to open sometime in 2027.

Disney World Fourth of July Fireworks Info

If you’ll be at Disney World over the Independence Day here’s what you need to know about the fireworks sitch. At Magic Kingdom Park, Disney’s Celebrate America! – A Fourth of July Concert in the Sky will be shown at 9:20 pm on both July 3 and July 4. Happily Ever After will not be shown on these nights. At EPCOT, the Heartbeat of Freedom will be shown directly after Luminous, at 9:15 pm on July 4 only.

Test Track Begins Previews

Test Track reopens on July 22, and previews began this week. Our own Len Testa got a chance to ride: his thoughts on the newest version are here: Test Track 3.0 Review: An Improvement

Disney App Dining Updates Roll Out to Everyone

The updates to Disney Dining reservations in the app and website that we reported a couple of weeks ago have now rolled out to everyone.  There are some snazzy new features, like the ability to search multiple days over all restaurants (previously you could only search one), and some really helpful new filters. Most of the changes are easy to follow, but we’ll have our walk-throughs updated early this week anyway.

Headline News Recap

Universal APs rejoice! You might not be able to add Epic Universe yet, but Annual Passholder Appreciation Nights are coming in August: Universal Orlando Annual Passholder Appreciation Nights Return August 2025. Registration is now open.

The closure date was announced for the Buzz Lightyear Refurb: Buzz Lightyear Refurbishment Will Make It a 21st Century Experience – UPDATED! … and a few others Refurbs Begin for Spaceship Earth and Others in Summer 2025

On the plus side, Astro Orbiter is back, and our parks team says it’s better than ever. Astro Orbiter Refurb is Complete!

That’s it for this week’s Travel Beat. What news are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments!