Credit: Ken Lund, FlickrLongtime Hollywood Studios visitors have a small but genuinely welcome reason to celebrate this week. Vacation Fun, the beloved animated short featuring Mickey and Minnie, has officially reopened to the public after being closed for close to two months straight. For guests who rely on this quiet, air conditioned corner of the park as a break from the heat and crowds, the wait has finally paid off.
If you’ve got a Hollywood Studios visit coming up, here’s why this reopening matters, along with a rundown of everything else new happening around the park right now.
Why Vacation Fun Kept Disappearing This Year
This wasn’t the show’s first closure of 2026. Vacation Fun actually shut down twice this year for unrelated reasons. It first closed to become a special merchandise location tied to May the 4th, then closed again on August 9th to serve as a pickup spot for the beloved Annual Passholder Kermit the Frog Magnet. Closing twice in a single year for retail purposes is a fairly unusual pattern for a standing theater attraction, and it left fans of the show without their usual go to spot for a while.
That second closure stretched on for nearly two months before the show finally reopened to guests on September 27. For a park that’s constantly shuffling its offerings, that’s a long stretch for any single attraction to sit dark, especially one people have come to rely on as a reliable, low key escape during a long park day.
What Actually Makes This Show Worth Your Time
Vacation Fun is an original animated short that follows Mickey and Minnie as they prepare for a vacation of their own, flashing back to some of Mickey’s previous trips along the way, none of which went quite as planned. Given his track record, it makes total sense why he’d be a little nervous heading into another one.
The show runs around ten minutes long, with showings scheduled throughout the day, making it an easy stop to work into an itinerary without much advance planning. It’s not the flashiest attraction in Hollywood Studios by any measure, but it offers something genuinely valuable, a cool, dark, air conditioned place to sit down for a few minutes. Longtime park visitors know this kind of low pressure attraction can be just as valuable as a headline ride, especially during a hot Florida afternoon when everyone in your group needs a breather.
Hollywood Studios Has Been Busy With Other New Additions Too
The Vacation Fun reopening comes during an especially active stretch for Hollywood Studios overall. The Magic of Disney Animation recently opened days ahead of its scheduled September 14 debut, completing the transformation of the former Animation Courtyard into the new Walt Disney Studios Lot. The space leans into hand drawn artwork, classic Disney references, and character encounters that feel more spontaneous than a typical scheduled meet and greet.
Inside, guests can experience Drawn to Wonderland, a creative drawing focused space, along with Olaf Draws! and the Once Upon a Studio Theater, which celebrates Disney’s broader animation library rather than centering on one specific film. Pencil sketches from older animated features are also on display throughout the building, including artwork tied to The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949) and The Fox and the Hound (1981). Operating hours have shifted slightly since opening too, with the building settling into a 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. schedule starting September 28, a noticeably smaller window than guests had access to during the first couple weeks.
Over in Toy Story Land, a new character named Lilypad has also joined the mix. Lilypad is a frog shaped smart tablet introduced in Toy Story 5 (2026), and rather than walking around as a traditional character, she lives on a large screen within the land, offering interactive games and activities guests can enjoy without waiting in a ride line. Games include guessing what character Lilypad is drawing and solving scrambled puzzles that reveal characters like Partysaurus Rex, along with playful home videos featuring the toys.
Lilypad also comes with an expanded soundtrack for the area, including remixed Toy Story music, brand new original songs like “Spin It Back, Lilypad” and “Pizza Planet Promo,” a nod to Partysaurus Rex (2012) through its own anthem, and even an instrumental version of “I Knew It, I Knew You,” the Taylor Swift written track from Toy Story 5.
How All of This Could Shape Your Next Visit
None of this new activity should require major changes to a trip already planned, but it does mean there’s genuinely more to explore around Hollywood Studios than there was just a few months ago. If your family typically splits up during a visit, with one person riding an attraction while another waits with younger kids, both the reopened Vacation Fun and the new Lilypad activities in Toy Story Land give everyone something worthwhile to do in the meantime rather than just standing around.
It’s also worth building in time for The Magic of Disney Animation given its shortened hours starting September 28. If exploring that space is part of your plan, checking the current schedule before heading into the park that day will help you avoid missing the window entirely.
Between a returning classic and several brand new additions, Hollywood Studios is genuinely worth a fresh look right now, even for guests who’ve visited plenty of times before. Sometimes the smaller, quieter additions end up being just as memorable as the big ticket attractions everyone rushes toward first.
Excited to see Vacation Fun back open, or planning to check out Lilypad on your next trip? Let us know in the comments what you’re most looking forward to experiencing at Hollywood Studios.
