Walt Disney World simply wrapped up a quiet summer season, opening a pair high quality stage reveals and new nighttime parade, however no new points of interest or any “reply” to Epic Universe. The shock sleeper of the season was Cool Child Summer time, which introduced new family-focused experiences to Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom. This explains the teachings realized from this shock success that punched above its weight and made some magical reminiscences.

In case you missed it, Cool Child Summer time featured dance events, additional character appearances, hands-on actions, and a variety of interactivity. Highlights included the Goofy takeover of CommuniCore Corridor at EPCOT, in any other case referred to as GoofyCore Corridor. As a substitute of being a competition heart, GoofyCore Corridor was a Goofy-led immersive expertise, with video games with foolish twists, like Crazy Limbo and Parachutes ‘n’ Pipsqueaks all in wonderful air con.

Over at Animation Courtyard at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, there have been video games and crafts, magicians and leap rope performers, shock character appearances, and a vigorous indoor DJ dance occasion the place little ones can develop into additional indoctrinated into the Cult of the Sizzling Canine Music. It was the same story in Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom, the place there have been dance events, sing-alongs, and different such silliness.

Along with this, characters have been additionally out within the parks sooner than regular for Walt Disney World resort lodge visitors in the course of the every day Early Entry interval. How this occurred was by no means actually defined in official Walt Disney World communications, however my statement was that it usually occurred as a pop-up, free roaming ‘road occasion’ kinda deal, with particular music reducing into the traditional background loops and signaling the arrival of characters.

Equally, visitors staying at Artwork of Animation, Pop Century, Caribbean Seashore and Wilderness Lodge have been all capable of take pleasure in extra Disney-themed actions designed for households with youngsters. This included character visits with set look instances that can assist you plan your day and an expanded itinerary of issues to do with your loved ones all through your keep at these 4 resorts. So mainly, the Character Caravan however with a broadcast schedule.

Anecdotally, I additionally observed extra shock & delight “Character Paloozas” throughout my most up-to-date go to to Walt Disney World.

For individuals who are unfamiliar with them, Character Paloozas are spontaneous meet & greets with a lot of uncommon characters in out of the way in which areas. They normally occur fairly near backstage entry factors, for fast entry and exits.

The true objective of Character Paloozas is giving Solid Members on the job coaching in decrease stakes environments. That is additionally why the characters featured are uncommon or rare-ish, because the “character integrity” bar is decrease. Huge Al or Wendell performers have far more, ahem, autonomy for interactions than Mickey Mouse, who should keep on-brand.

I’ve all the time thought that Character Paloozas are probably the greatest issues Walt Disney World does with meet & greets, despite the fact that the aim is generally about coaching in a decrease stress setting. We’ve got fond reminiscences from the Toontown Teardrop approach again within the day, and nonetheless take pleasure in stumbling upon a Character Palooza every so often. It’s the stuff of surprising magical reminiscences.

The sheer quantity of Character Paloozas I noticed within the lead-up to Labor Day may’ve been due to some large waves of Faculty Program arrivals.  It most likely had extra to do with that than being a shock Cool Child Summer time providing or paradigm shift in character encounters.

I’m nonetheless together with Character Paloozas as one thing Walt Disney World ought to do extra, purposefully, outdoors of Solid Member coaching. They’re win-win, and an instance of Walt Disney World getting one thing proper, possibly with out realizing how impactful it’s to the visitor expertise.

As for Cool Child Summer time, it was nothing particular this yr on paper. The unique announcement struck me as an “occasion” that was thrown collectively in a short time as Walt Disney World tried to market to households and fight mainstream media reviews that Walt Disney World was “turning its again” on center class households with kids. (See Disney’s Response to Rising Prices Criticism.)

In apply, Cool Child Summer time was the scrappy little occasion that brightened up days and introduced a little bit of magic to blighted corners of the parks. Animation Courtyard felt like a lifeless mall that was somewhat-alive for the primary time in years. Simply in observing youngsters fishing with ‘Trip’ Goofy, coloring with Clarabelle or partaking in antics with Donald, my sturdy suspicion is that visitor satisfaction was increased amongst those that visited Animation Courtyard than those that didn’t. I extremely doubt that was true earlier than this summer season!

Animation Courtyard was probably the most pronounced instance, however Cool Child Summer time injected a variety of pleasure round varied hotspots of the parks. I’d likewise hazard a guess that the households who stopped for particular moments with the characters behind Cinderella Fortress had higher qualitative experiences than those that raced on to Peter Pan’s Flight. Similar goes for many who took the time to decelerate in Storybook Circus, Discovery Island or in GoofyCore Corridor.

Nobody goes to accuse Walt Disney World of dreaming too huge with Cool Child Summer time. As seasonal occasions go, it was a minor one. There wasn’t a lot of a decor bundle to talk of, and it was thrown into a number of underutilized venues round Walt Disney World. So simply to be abundantly clear, we’re not saying it was really nice or imploring you to plan a visit round Cool Child Summer time in 2026.

It additionally had a blink and also you’ll miss it high quality. I wouldn’t be stunned if over half of visitors visiting this summer season had no clue Cool Child Summer time occurred. Not simply that they couldn’t determine it by title (that quantity might be even increased), however that in addition they didn’t expertise something I’ve simply described.

Cool Child Summer time was straightforward to miss. When you weren’t eligible for Early Entry or didn’t keep at on of the handful of lodges with additional choices, you wouldn’t have skilled that. When you didn’t enterprise into some out of the way in which areas the place it was held (they’re underutilized for a purpose!), you additionally wouldn’t have seen any of that.

What we’re saying is that there’s room for refining and bettering on the idea with a full yr of lead-time to plan the 2026 Cool Child Summer time. That the occasion has potential and its good concepts may (and will!) be applied full-time, past summer season.

Most significantly, Cool Child Summer time demonstrated Walt Disney World lastly “will get” the enchantment of Disneyland-style free roaming characters. That is one thing we’ve been discussing right here for some time, particularly again with the debut of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in 2019.

One of many largest questions at the moment was whether or not free-roaming characters would translate to Walt Disney World given visitor demographics. The priority was that once-in-a-lifetime visitors needed posed photographs with characters, to not “play” with them.

That is regardless of free-roaming characters being a staple of the Disneyland expertise for years. So lots of Disneyland’s finest moments with characters unfold in an natural and spontaneous method as characters like Mary Poppins, Peter Pan, or the Evil Queen wander the park.

(It additionally helped that Cool Child Summer time didn’t completely eschew conventional meet & greets in favor of character ‘play’ experiences; Animation Courtyard added a variety of each. We’re cognizant that many first-timers need the picture of their youngsters posing with characters, getting an autograph, and many others. This isn’t an both/or proposition. And as a complete, DHS has quietly develop into an ideal park for assembly characters.)

Primarily based on my observations, Cool Child Summer time definitively demonstrated that spontaneous character experiences not solely work at Walt Disney World, however are an enormous hit with visitors. Animation Courtyard was the very best proof of this, and I hope what was provided there this summer season was proof of idea for the kind of ‘play’ that’ll be featured within the reimagined Walt Disney Studios Lot.

There’s one thing particular about these spontaneous encounters, getting an opportunity to briefly play with characters versus posing for a photograph, assembly-line fashion. That is the stuff that ‘core reminiscences’ are made from. Though Cool Child Summer time clearly didn’t come anyplace close to being an “reply” to Epic Universe, I wouldn’t be in the least stunned if a few of the character encounters at Walt Disney World left equally highly effective lasting impressions.

Hyperbolic because it may appear, that is formative stuff. We’ve usually confused that it’s the “little issues” that kind the muse of nostalgia and sentimentality, and forge new Walt Disney World followers within the course of. Clearly blockbuster new points of interest and lands are vital, however getting these little issues proper is the ‘secret sauce’ for Walt Disney World.

Though Cool Child Summer time was nothing noteworthy on paper, and positively not the kind of factor anybody deliberate journeys round (aside from Walt Disney World’s unprecedented summer season reductions that basically provided 2019 pricing), it did handle to punch above its weight and provide one thing particular to lots of the visitors who bought to expertise it.

The seasonal occasion additionally advised that Walt Disney World is lastly beginning to get the enchantment of enjoying with characters or having spontaneous and memorably interactions, and would possibly use Cool Child Summer time as a template for future character encounters. That alone could be an enormous win, and truthfully, it’s sort of wild that they didn’t study this lesson from Disneyland a decade or extra in the past.

As for the seasonal occasion itself, I’m cautiously optimistic about Cool Child Summer time getting a sophomore season in 2026. Hopefully the inaugural yr was a studying expertise, and it returns larger and higher subsequent yr with (presumably) extra lead-time for planning it. Though that is concerning the character part, I hope extra emphasis is positioned on the cool facet of Cool Child Summer time, as there are such a lot of artistic methods for Walt Disney World to assist visitors beat the summer season warmth.

With regards to characters, the massive factor on my want record for some time has been 90s nostalgia. The latest Vacation spot D23 did this rather well each with its panels and the distinctive Kuzcotopia Evening at Hurricane Lagoon. Hopefully that was proof-of-concept for in-park choices, and possibly even a tough ticket occasion.

Doing extra with Disney Afternoon, Disney Channel, and cult classics animated movies from the late Nineties could be superior. Folks my age adore these animated movies from the second half of the Nineties, together with Rescue Rangers, Darkwing Duck, TaleSpin, and DuckTales. We’re additionally now the audience of the parks, whether or not we’re Childless Disney Millennials or mother and father who need to share our personal childhood nostalgia with our children.

As coated beforehand in our High 10 Uncommon Characters We Want Walt Disney World Would Carry Again, we will’t be the one millennials who would overpay for a 90s nite at Magic Kingdom or Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Possibly Walt Disney World may weave that along with Cool Child Summer time, and pull deeper from the 2000s playbook by providing a “Pirates, Princesses & Friends Occasion.”

Regardless, I’m trying ahead to seeing what they do with the occasion in 2026, and hopefully we don’t have to attend nearly a yr to see Walt Disney World apply classes realized from this summer season to spontaneous character encounters across the parks. There’s great unrealized potential for Disney to leverage its beloved characters in playful methods, and the chance to make new lifetime followers of the parks by way of these little moments of magic.

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YOUR THOUGHTS

Did you expertise any of the character encounters throughout Cool Child Summer time? What did you consider these spontaneous experiences? Any particular lasting reminiscences from ‘enjoying’ with the characters? Do you hope Walt Disney World learns classes from this particular occasion and applies them year-round? Will you be visiting for Cool Child Summer time 2.0 if the occasion is expanded upon and improved in 2026? Ideas on the brand new character experiences/encounters on the parks & resorts this summer season? Any questions? Listening to your suggestions about your experiences is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas or questions under within the feedback!