Bitesize Orlando August 2025 – Issue 50

Welcome to an unexpectedly short Bitesize Orlando August 2025 update this month, and one that focuses only on Disney, as parks have been announcing financial results that are beyond the scope of this website, plus it’s pretty boring reading for first-time visitors. Outside of Disney, it’s been a very quiet month for announcements. But this does give me a chance to update you on my Epic Universe visit and what you can expect should you be visiting before the year is out. Without further ado, let’s get to the good stuff.

I promised last month on my whirlwind trip to Orlando to visit Epic Universe that I was working on 2 new accessibility pages for the website. I’m pleased to say they have been live now for a little over a week. My accessibility guides currently cover Disney World and Universal Orlando, but I am looking at extending them to cover United Parks and Legoland Florida as well in the near future.

If you have mobility or neurodivergent needs, are deaf/hard of hearing, have sight loss or are blind my new guides are the result of 2 months of preparation and research. They have all the planning resources available from the parks to help you plan your trip and have the best holiday all on one page. They even have an overview af accessibility accommodations for each attraction in every park that I have put together myself to make it easier for you to understand. Check out the guides now on the links below, or find them in the planning section of the website under the new accessibility menu item.

• Complete Disney World Accessibility Guide
• Complete Universal Orlando Accessibility Guide

I have also been working on an update to my attraction selector app, which is nearly ready to go live, taking out attractions that have recently closed but adding in the option to search for attractions by queue type. If you’re visiting in the hotter summer months, you will soon be able to search for an attraction based on the ride queue being indoors and air-conditioned or outdoors with no air conditioning.

The hotly anticipated Beak & Barrel Tavern has a revised opening date after a bit of a fiasco with reservation slots opening up earlier this month.

All being well, the new drinking hole should be open as you read this, with a revised opening date of August 29th (pushed back slightly from August 14th). Time slots are limited to 45 minutes, like Oga’s Cantina in Hollywood Studios.

The bar introduces 2 new characters, Rummy and the Tavern’s proprietor, Captain Meridian “Merry” Goldwyn. Beak & Barrel will join a quite exclusive list of venues selling alcoholic beverages in Magic Kingdom, which is traditionally a “dry” park. You can usually only get alcohol with a table service meal. Beak & Barrel will appeal to visitors who would rather not drop that kind of cash just for a tipple. You can, of course, order some snacks to go with your beverages if you wish.

“Zootopia: Better Zoo Together!” has an early opening date announcement. The new show replaces the former “It’s Tough to Be a Bug” show in the Tree of Life Theatre. Presented in carrotvision 3D, Zootopia: Better Zoogether! opens on November 7th at Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park.

The show brings together familiar furry faces and some new characters to celebrate Zoogether Day, a celebration of unity amongst the diverse biomes across the city. Take a closer look at Zootopia: Better Zoogether! in the short youtiube video below.

Disney’s on-site hotels have seen massive investment over the last 18 months, and that trend is set to continue in Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas, which will receive a multi-year, multi-phase refurbishment.

The work begins in October this year with the Kidani Village guest rooms refurbishment lasting through May 2026. Jambo House Villas will then receive the same treatment beginning from May 2026 through January 2027.

All amenities will remain available, but guests may hear occasional daytime construction work. The lengthy refurbishment schedule indicates that the rooms will likely be completely stripped and refurbished, not just a quick paint job and fresh linen.

Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas joins an ever-growing list of resorts that are themselves receiving “hard goods” refurbishments, including Pop Century Resort, Bay Lake Tower at the Contemporary Resort and Disney’s Port Orleans Resort.

In the last couple of weeks, Disney has extended its Minnie Vans service to include airport pickups. Unfortunately, it is only available to guests staying in Deluxe-level accommodations and can only be booked by calling Disney Signature Services in the US at 001 407 939-7777. Here are a few points about the new service.

• Pricing is currently set at $199 plus tax, one way.
• Vans are available for flight departures between 9 am and Midnight, arrivals between 7 am and 10 pm

The usual Minnie Vans service is powered by Lyft, with pickups being ordered within the Lyft app while you are at the resort. Airport transfers, however, can only be pre-booked between 60 days and 2 days out by calling the number above. Presumably, guest services in the hotels will be able to assist with return transfers if needed.

The Minnie Vans are far from cheap but are staffed by Disney Cast Members and provide more space than traditional Uber and Lyft vehicles, sometimes accommodating up to 7 guests, including 2 wheelchair users in accessible vehicles. The saving grace for many young families is that each polka dot coloured van is equipped with not one, but 2 child seats, making them a pricey but convenient option for getting around the resort (and now airport for some).

Universal is bringing back Volcano Bay Nights for another year, this time with added Scooby Doo! Volcano Bay Nights’ inaugural event was held on select nights through April and May this year. Still, Universal is already bringing back the event every Friday night from September 5th through to October 31st.

Enjoy Volcano Bay’s attractions in the dark in a family-friendly event with a live DJ and meet and greets with Scooby, Velma, Fred, Shaggy, Daphne and villains like the Ghost Clown. Free snacks are provided throughout the event, plus special menu items will be available for purchase at the park’s restaurants and select snack stands.

Don’t forget to grab a photo opportunity with the Mystery Machine. Here’s a look at some highlights from the event earlier this year.

It’s the nighttime beach bash you don't want to miss. Slide into an exclusive family-friendly event at Volcano Bay with rides, a live DJ, and meet and greets every Friday night in September and October 2025.

Tickets are now on sale: https://t.co/7rBzEBrYYD pic.twitter.com/ayEDNm73yB

— Universal Orlando Resort (@UniversalORL) August 14, 2025

As the month was closing out, Universal quietly added 2 of the most popular attractions in Epic Universe to Express Pass eligible lists, indicating that ride system reliability issues may have been permanently addressed moving forward.

If you are visiting Epic Universe with Express Passes, you can now benefit from these two huge additions at no extra cost to your pass.

• Donkey Kong Mine Cart Madness
• Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry

Queues have reportedly been surprisingly stable in their first week of operation. The addition of these two attractions will keep Express Pass sales buoyant for many months to come. If you are thinking about booking an Express Pass for your visit, I would urge you to pre-book as passes are known to sell out before the day.

I had originally planned on writing a few quick paragraphs about lessons I learned on my trip to Epic Universe at the end of July, but it quickly became apparent that I had enough to spin off the hints, tips and information into a full-blown article, which is already live. Head on over to that now, while I am busy updating my Epic Universe pages with photos from my visit. The new Epic Universe Overview page should be live in a few days with a bold new visual style I want to slowly roll out through the website.

What I will say here is that Epic Universe is what you make it. It can be as frustrating or as Epic as the attitude you go into it with. If you are visiting this year and only have one day, read the full article, packed with photos, hints, and tips to help you have an Epic time, just like I did.

Stanley Falls Flume, one of Busch Gardens Tampa’s original headline attractions, will be making its final splash on September 7th. The log flume has been a popular feature of many visitors’ memories for over 50 years, but it’s time to make way for something new.

Manufactured by the now-defunct Arrow Dynamics, Stanley Falls Flume was added to Busch Gardens in 1973. It features a 43-foot final drop and meandering pathways through the trees in the centre of the park. Its closure follows a trend from United Parks to replace ageing attractions with fresh, innovative new attractions to remain competitive against Orlando’s other theme parks.

It’s always sad to say goodbye to any attraction, but especially a popular attraction like Stanley Falls. Busch Gardens hasn’t announced a replacement attraction as yet, but rumours suggest it could be a new generation water attraction like “Mission Bermudes”, Mack Rides’ innovative hybrid land and water attraction that opened this past June in Futuroscope in France.

Looking at the footprint of Stanley Falls, Busch Gardens has enough space to create something like “Mission Bermudes” with massive set pieces for the new style vehicles to travel through, but we will have to wait for an official announcement from the park to know what they have planned for the area.

That’s it for this month’s short update. Thanks for reading. I’ll see you at the end of September.