Walt Disney World has revealed some major Audio-Animatronics updates, including unveiling Zootopia: Better Zoogether!’s Clawhauser figure and announcing that Frozen Ever After’s Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff will be updated to feature more realistic faces and no longer use the projection mapping they currently do. Oh, and Disney also shared a Summer 2026 opening window for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets!
All the details were revealed on Disney Parks Blog, and we’ll kick things off with Benjamin Clawhauser himself. He will be in the theater with us when Zootopia: Better Zoogether! opens on November 7 in Animal Kingdom, but this time he will ditch his ZPD uniform and instead be “decked out from head to tail with a brand-new look: glow necklaces and his favorite, gliterry Gazelle tee shirt.”
He will have high hopes in being picked as the V.I.Z., or the Very Important Zootopian, as the lucky winner gets “special access to the Zoogether Day performers.” Sadly, when he doesn’t win, he decides to “take matters into his own paws.”
Over at EPCOT, some of the biggest characters in Frozen Ever After will receive a big update in early 2026, and these upgrades are all taking inspiration from World of Frozen in Hong Kong Disneyland.
Frozen Ever After debuted in 2016 and featured the first attraction to have all electric Audio-Animatronics figures and to combine electric motors and 3D printing. However, the faces of some characters have been a point of contention as they utilize projection mapping to bring them to life.
Soon, Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff will have a “more true-to-film look,” and you can get an idea of what they might look like from the image below from Hong Kong Disneyland.
Here is what they currently look like at EPCOT.
As for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets, which will replace the current attraction starring Aerosmith in Summer 2026 at Hollywood Studios, it will feature the first-ever Scooter Audio-Animatronics figure. While Disney isn’t ready to reveal more, they did mention he “might not be the only Muppet Audio-Animatronics figure joining the attraction.”
These are only a few of the ways Disney World and Walt Disney Imagineering are planning to continue to evolve and delight guests with Audio Animatronics figures, as they are also hard at work bringing Walt Disney to Carousel of Progress following his addition to Disneyland in Walt Disney – A Magical Life.
For more, check out all the details on the price increases that recently hit both Walt Disney World and Disneyland and how there are still ways to save money or not spend more than before.
Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst, Instagram, and TikTok, and listen to his show, Talking Disney Magic.
