Blockbusters Take Over Theme Parks for a Mega Movie Summer
Over at the Disney Parks, Walt Disney World gears up for Test Track's reopening. Meanwhile, Old Navy and Disney collab on one heck of a roadtrip across America with their new summer Mickey & Friends collection.
And just in time for the release of DC Studios Superman, Six Flags gets the Justice League to unite for new superhero experiences!
Mega Movie Summer at Universal Studios Hollywood
Iconic blockbuster movies abound as new entertainment, fandom foodie offerings, and more. To celebrate Jaws' 50th anniversary, the hanging shark makes its return to the theme park with a special Quint and Brody meet and greet, which is delightful and the actors doing their Robert Shaw and Roy Scheider impressions are fantastic. Hey if the kids can meet Mario and Luigi, letting the adults meet the Orca crew is a great compromise. There's also more Amblin amusement park presence, with Doc Brown, his pal Marty McFly, and his trusty first time traveler Einstein the dog in the DeLorean. Both films get awesome curated cinematic cuisine at the parks too.
For Jurassic franchise fans, there is now a Mosasaur roar on Jurassic World: The Ride and a new tiny triceratops meet and greet (which was temporarily in London for the premiere of Jurassic World: Rebirth). Wicked fans will also be happy to learn they can meet Elphaba and Glinda in an alternating capacity and there's tons of new Wicked merch in its designated store.
Universal Horror Unleashed: Universal Monsters – Area15 Las Vegas
All of the Universal Monsters will be featured in one haunted house at Universal Horror Unleashed, which is sharing more updates ahead of its arrival at Las Vegas' immersive experience destination Area15.
'We've got four incredible haunted houses that put you right in the middle of iconic and terrifying scenes. In the Universal Monsters House, you get to follow Van Helsing as he battles all of your favorite classic monsters. Our legacy of creating horror in Universal Studios goes all the way back to the beginning of the film itself. We've been creating iconic horror movies that have stood the test of time. Our Universal Monsters Haunted House takes you through the stories of all of the classic Universal Monsters. All of them are there, and you get to walk into their world,' Universal Creative's Lorelei Lee shared in the video you can watch above.
We can't wait for this one, especially since The Creature from the Black Lagoon's Gill-man will be represented at last in Horror Unleashed's Universal Monsters house.
Shelby Honea, executive producer at Universal Creative added, 'We're bringing something entirely new to Las Vegas. It is a year round destination, and so is our horror brand.' The destination is currently slated to feature houses in the universes of The Exorcist, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and Horror Nights original canon characters. There will also be performers, walk-around scare-actors, themed frightful foods, and scary sips! For more info check out the recent Discover Universal podcast that outlines whats to come at Universal Horror Unleashed.
M3GAN 2.0 at Universal Studios Florida
Just in time for M3GAN 2.0, the army of dancing M3GANS make their theme park return in limited appearances during the day at Universal Studios Florida. Images of their return courtesy of Park Hop on IG.
Walt Disney World announces Test Track opening date
The Epcot cars ride (not that one) is set to reopen with new theming and a refreshed look July 22.
io9 met Laufey at House of Mouse Los Angeles
Check out our chat with musical artist Laufey live from House of Mouse Los Angeles, where she shared with us the different ways Disney was one of her first fandoms. 'I grew up in Iceland, which is definitely a very, very different climate and a different world. I always knew of Mickey. And that was one of those first characters that I became aware of,' Laufey said. 'It's so classic, my dad loved watching very classic cartoons growing up. So I grew up watching the really, really old Mickey Mouse ones.'
The singer also revealed her fave childhood Disney toys. 'I had the whole Winnie the Pooh zoo. I had Winnie and I remember specifically I have a Piglet. It's really, really special.'
The Disney Style pop-up party is currently on a global tour at major cities where fandom and fashion collide.
Disney and Old Navy go on a road trip across America
To celebrate the summer Disney and Old Navy have dropped a Mickey & Friends collab for the whole family. Combining options for all sorts of weather, the Disney Americana-inspired collection features swim, tees, sweaters, kidswear, and accessories to suit the season wherever you happen to be. If you're in Chicago this weekend, you can hit up the Disney x Old Navy road trip van which will feature immersive photo-ops, treats, and a showcase of the collection with a summer bbq vibe on the 21st. The van will also stop at the Santa Monica Pier on June 28.
Shop the collection online here.
Disney Jr. Let's Play – The Disneyland Resort
Kids can have more fun with Mickey and friends as Disney Jr. Let's Play returns to the Disneyland Resort August 8-10.
DC Heroes at Six Flags Magic Mountain
DC Heroes and Villains Fest arrives at Six Flags to get superhero fans hyped up as we head into a Superman movie summer. It's filled with action stunt shows, character meets, music, and more, and DC fans can enjoy these offerings on Friday and Saturday nights from June 20-July 26.
Kung Fu Tea x How to Train Your Dragon
Kung Fu Tea locations across the nation will be featuring special drinks inspired by Universal Pictures' How to Train Your Dragon until June 30 with drinks and collectible cups/stickers. The flavors include:
Toothless Soaring Slush – a frosty swirl with milk cap magic
Stormfly's Dragonfruit Splash – citrusy zing + chia seeds that pop
Monstrous Flight Tea – dragonfruit base, honey boba finish
Pop Mart x Pride
The toy collectible giant currently taking over the world with Labubu launched its Pride collection at LA Pride recently with a float and LGBTQIA+ collectibles creators. Check out the Peach Riot and Hug You limited releases with special Pride colorways online now.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Not just Big Bird: Things to know about the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and its funding cuts
Not just Big Bird: Things to know about the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and its funding cuts The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helps pay for PBS, NPR, 1,500 local radio and television stations as well as programs like 'Sesame Street' and 'Finding Your Roots,' said Friday that it would close after the U.S. government withdrew funding. The organization told employees that most staff positions will end with the fiscal year on Sept. 30. A small transition team will stay until January to finish any remaining work. The private, nonprofit corporation was founded in 1968 shortly after Congress authorized its formation. It now ends nearly six decades of fueling the production of renowned educational programming, cultural content and emergency alerts about natural disasters. Here's what to know: Losing funding President Donald Trump signed a bill on July 24 canceling about $1.1 billion that had been approved for public broadcasting. The White House says the public media system is politically biased and an unnecessary expense, and conservatives have particularly directed their ire at NPR and PBS. Lawmakers with large rural constituencies voiced concern about what the cuts could mean for some local public stations in their state. They warned some stations will have to close. The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday reinforced the policy change by excluding funding for the corporation for the first time in more than 50 years as part of a broader spending bill. How it began Congress passed legislation creating the body in 1967, several years after then-Federal Communications Commission Chairman Newton Minow described commercial television a 'vast wasteland' and called for programming in the public interest. The corporation doesn't produce programming and it doesn't own, operate or control any public broadcasting stations. The corporation, PBS, NPR are independent of each other as are local public television and radio stations. Rural stations hit hard Roughly 70% of the corporation's money went directly to 330 PBS and 246 NPR stations across the country. The cuts are expected to weigh most heavily on smaller public media outlets away from big cities, and it's likely some won't survive. NPR's president estimated as many as 80 NPR stations may close in the next year. Mississippi Public Broadcasting has already decided to eliminate a streaming channel that airs children's programming like 'Caillou' and 'Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood' 24 hours a day. Maine's public media system is looking at a hit of $2.5 million, or about 12% of its budget, for the next fiscal year. The state's rural residents rely heavily on public media for weather updates and disaster alerts. In Kodiak, Alaska, KMXT estimated the cuts would slice 22% from its budget. Public radio stations in the sprawling, heavily rural state often provide not just news but alerts about natural disasters like tsunamis, landslides and volcanic eruptions. From Big Bird to war documentaries The first episode of 'Sesame Street' aired in 1969. Child viewers, adults and guest stars alike were instantly hooked. Over the decades, characters from Big Bird to Cookie Monster and Elmo have become household favorites Entertainer Carol Burnett appeared on that inaugural episode. She told The Associated Press she was a big fan. "I would have done anything they wanted me to do,' she said. 'I loved being exposed to all that goodness and humor.' Sesame Street said in May it would also get some help from a Netflix streaming deal. Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. started 'Finding Your Roots' in 2006 under the title 'African American Lives.' He invited prominent Black celebrities and traced their family trees into slavery. When the paper trail ran out, they would use DNA to see which ethnic group they were from in Africa. Challenged by a viewer to open the show to non-Black celebrities, Gates agreed and the series was renamed 'Faces of America,' which had to be changed again after the name was taken. The show is PBS's most-watched program on linear TV and the most-streamed non-drama program. Season 10 reached nearly 18 million people across linear and digital platforms and also received its first Emmy nomination. Grant money from the nonprofit has also funded lesser-known food, history, music and other shows created by stations across the country. Documentarian Ken Burns, celebrated for creating the documentaries 'The Civil War,' 'Baseball' and 'The Vietnam War', told PBS NewsHour said the corporation accounted for about 20% of his films' budgets. He said he would make it up but projects receiving 50% to 75% of their funding from the organization won't. Influence of shows Children's programing in the 1960s was made up of shows like 'Captain Kangaroo,' ''Romper Room' and the violent skirmishes between 'Tom & Jerry.' "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood' mostly taught social skills. 'Sesame Street' was designed by education professionals and child psychologists to help low-income and minority students aged 2-5 overcome some of the deficiencies they had when entering school. Social scientists had long noted white and higher income kids were often better prepared. One of the most widely cited studies about the impact of 'Sesame Street' compared households that got the show with those who didn't. It found that the children exposed to 'Sesame Street' were 14% more likely to be enrolled in the correct grade level for their age at middle and high school. Over the years, 'Finding Your Roots' showed Natalie Morales discovering she's related to one of the legendary pirates of the Caribbean and former 'Saturday Night Live' star Andy Samberg finding his biological grandmother and grandfather. It revealed that drag queen RuPaul and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker are cousins, as are actors Meryl Streep and Eva Longoria. 'The two subliminal messages of 'Finding Your Roots,' which are needed more urgently today than ever, is that what has made America great is that we're a nation of immigrants,' Gates told the AP. 'And secondly, at the level of the genome, despite our apparent physical differences, we're 99.99% the same.' Audrey Mcavoy, The Associated Press
The Verge
26 minutes ago
- The Verge
Today I'm toying with
Skip to main content The simple joy of gadgets — that's what 'Today I'm Toying With' is all about. It's our video series where we try to encapsulate that joy of playing with technology, sharing what it's like to experience gadgets that not all of us get to touch! Like a 3D printer that prints delicious chocolate, or the realized dream of a Transformers toy that actually transforms into a walking, talking robot, or a dual-screen handheld game system like nothing the world has ever seen. Sometimes even simple, handy stuff you might not be aware of, like USB-C cables with tricks up their sleeves, or delightful novelties like tiny TVs. We're always looking for new gadgets to toy with... particularly exclusive first-looks! If you've got a worthy product, hit me up at sean@ with 'Today I'm toying with' in your subject line.
Yahoo
41 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Luka Doncic's Fiancée Is Getting Noticed After Saturday's Contract News
Luka Doncic's Fiancée Is Getting Noticed After Saturday's Contract News originally appeared on The Spun. The Los Angeles Lakers got a two-fold bargain with NBA megastar Luka Doncic, first by acquiring him in a blockbuster trade in February and now by signing him to a lucrative extension six months later. On Saturday, the Lakers reportedly signed Doncic to a max contract for three years and $165 million. The deal keeps him in L.A. through the end of his 20s and potentially the end of LeBron James' time with the team. "I just signed my extension with the Lakers. Excited to keep working to bring championships to LA and make Laker Nation proud. Grateful to the Lakers, my teammates and all the fans who've shown so much love since day one. This is just the beginning," he proudly announced this morning. "Today I'm also committing $5 million to help 77 young athletes around the world chase their dreams, just like I did. Basketball gave me everything, and I'm lucky to be able to give back and help the next generation." A happy family Though he was already a wealthy man, the contract ensures that Doncic will have generational wealth to support both his fiancée Anamaria Goltes and their two-year-old daughter Gabriela. Doncic and Goltes have been inseparable since meeting in Croatia as teenagers and are nearing a decade together. Goltes has built a nice career for herself as a digital creator and boasts over a quarter-million followers on Instagram. Though she has not posted much in the past few months, everything she shares gets tons and tons of love from Doncic's many fans. "People have [a] best friend, boyfriend, true love. I'm lucky they are all the same person," Goltes wrote on an Instagram post in 2018. At the start of Luka's new career in Los Angeles, she and Gabriela showed up to one of his first games with the team, both sporting adorable Lakers shirts with his No. 77 number on the back. "New chapter 💛💜," she wrote on February 11. Goltes and Luka have been very careful to keep their daughter's face hidden from cameras (a smart move given what some people can do with children's faces on the internet these days), but she is more than willing to pose for the camera when the situation arises: When she's not spending time with Doncic himself, Goltes can be seen caring for one of several adorable furry friends: What does the future hold? Doncic and Goltes got engaged in July 2023 but there are a slew of reasons that the wedding itself hasn't happened yet. Security could certainly be a reason. The couple's home was burglarized back in December. On the court, things look very bright for Doncic. Even if he doesn't win an NBA title with LeBron James at his side, he is primed to be the face of L.A. basketball for the remainder of the decade and potentially beyond. He'll have his soon-to-be-wife at his side for the rest of the journey. Now if Doncic can just learn to stay in shape for 82 Doncic's Fiancée Is Getting Noticed After Saturday's Contract News first appeared on The Spun on Aug 2, 2025 This story was originally reported by The Spun on Aug 2, 2025, where it first appeared.
