Closing Out 2025 and Entering 2026 With Some of Last Week's Biggest Stories on LaughingPlace.com
Wrapping up one year and heading into another has been an eventful week in the world of all things Disney, so let’s take a look at some of the notable things that have happened over last week!
Walt Disney World regulars were very excited for a new ad that had a returning persona that was iconic to visits in a certain era.
Actress Stacey Aswad graced in-room televisions across Walt Disney World property, and is now featured in a new spot for the destination. Does this mean we’re getting a new batch of must-dos on our next WDW visit? Perhaps!
The return of Stacey was good news to usher in 2026, but a decent amount of people ushered in the new year with the traditional ABC telecast, Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest - at least, according to Nielsen ratings.
Speaking of ratings - the ratings for the second annual NBA Altcast, Dunk The Halls, which saw Mickey and his friends take to Main Street USA for an animated version of a live game, increased dramatically since last year’s inaugural game.
The new year also means that a swath of Disney animated classics have now entered the Public Domain, and our own Alex Reif has rounded up which ones crossed that legal threshold on January 1st.
While those short films have long been established, the fifth entry in the Toy Story franchise is on its way later this year. Conan O’Brien, who is cast in the film and will be lending his voice to a new character called “Smarty Pants,” has revealed on his podcast that he has officially wrapped production on his role in the movie.
Back at Walt Disney World, just after New Year’s day, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office was called to the Orange Garage at Disney Springs after a dead body was discovered on scene.
Elsewhere at Disney Springs (and around the country), Sprinkles locations are closing permanently as we enter 2026. The eatery, known for their cupcakes and social-media friendly Cupcake ATM, closed suddenly along with the chain’s other locations.
At Magic Kingdom, we saw some closures in 2025 and now as we enter 2026 we’re seeing the land that was once the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island being leveled and prepped for the new Cars-based experiences and eventual Villains Land that will be coming to the park in the future.
Friday, January 2nd, saw the first “Droid Factory Friday” at Disney Store and Disney Parks with the debut of the R5-K6 Astromech droid figure. If you collect each of these every release, you’ll have enough spare parts to build a new droid.
As we approach the 2026 runDisney Walt Disney World Marathon weekend next week, we also got the event calendar of the 2026-27 runDisney season, along with all those ever important registration dates!
Most folks sandwich their Walt Disney World visit with the runDisney events, similar to how some might tack on additional WDW days to their Disney Cruise Line vacation. Or at least, they used to do that with their cruise. Recently, that option was dropped, with WDW visits now being booked separately as opposed to in tandem.
One Cast Member at the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular was injured as the iconic rolling boulder - which is actually a 400 lb. rubber ball - left its trough and bounced across the stage and toward the audience. It was a moment that went viral across sects of social media, and resulted in a modified version of the show.
Along with that rollout, Disney also rolled out a new ad over the New Year that shows two sisters growing up with their family going to Disney Parks, as part of the launch of a new ad campaign.
However, we’ve already noticed some… discrepancies… in the new ad that made us wonder how staged it really is.
These are only a handful of stories from the last week, so be sure to stay tuned to LaughingPlace.com for all the latest updates and breaking stories from across the world of the Walt Disney Company and beyond!