All the Biggest Theme Park News of July You May Have Missed

The vacation season at the theme parks is winding down as Halloween begins to creep into the dead of summer, with its fall events arriving sooner than later.

Here’s a roundup of this month’s happenings at major amusement parks and immersive experiences featuring Disneyland 70, Universal Horrors, and a Wednesday x Wendy’s not-so-happy meal coming soon to a drive-thru near you.

Universal Studios Resorts – Hollywood and Orlando

Let’s kick things off with the biggest news: Halloween Horror Nights has unveiled the majority of its haunted house slate for 2025. Both parks for the most part will share IPs, but true fans know that the creative interpretations of the houses often differ between the East and West Coast teams. Universal Studios Orlando often has more room to do more and create its own original houses for Universal’s horror theme park universe, so we’re most excited for that.

Halloween Horror Nights — Houses at Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Orlando

Amazon Prime Fallout: This post-apocalyptic world will have the Ghoul draw in so many people.

Blumhouse Five Nights at Freddy’s: Jim Henson’s Creature Shop worked on animatronic puppets for these houses, and we cannot wait to see them in action.

Terrifier: Expect all-out gore… or water being splashed on you to simulate the bloodbath Art the Clown conducts in the Terrifier franchise.

Jason Universe: It’s Voorhees, not Bourne, and a romp through his many slasher incarnations.

WWE Presents The Horrors of the Wyatt Sicks: This house is inspired by more recent horror-tinged persona wrestlers, the Wyatt Sicks. Admittedly, it’s way past our WWE time; if you’re like us, you’re more familiar with Kane and the Undertaker as far as spooky wrestling lore goes.

HHN Hollywood Original Houses

Monstruos 3: The Ghosts of Latin America: The West Coast’s HHN has had great houses inspired by Latin folklore with frightful interpretations of legends and cryptids such as La Llorona. We’re definitely looking forward to this one.

Scarecrow Music by Slash: This festive house makes a comeback reimagined with music by Guns n’ Roses guitarist Slash.

HHN Orlando Original Houses

Hatchet and Chains: Demon Bounty Hunters: Promising some Old West horror fun, this house will feature red-hot lava demons versus mystical weapon slingers.

Dolls: Let’s Play Dead: Not for those with fear of dolls, as you’ll be chased by freaky toy creations from one twisted little girl’s mind.

Grave of Flesh: This one sounds fun as you enter your own grave and get hunted by flesh-eating layers of purgatorial mayhem. Sweet.

Gálkn: Monsters of the North: This one digs into some Northern European folklore with fantasy elements in the Fjords.

El Artista: A Spanish Haunting: A remote getaway in Spain for a tortured artist who goes mad? And we get to witness the horrors? Count us in.

Disneyland

Walt Disney LIVES—in animatronic form at least. The figure was unveiled for Disneyland’s 70th anniversary as part of a new attraction, Walt Disney: A Magical Life, where we get to learn more about the man behind the mouse in his own words.

Among the festivities, the celebration’s magic key (not the same thing as the annual pass), which gamifies a new way to unlock interative entertainment around the park, acknowledged the comparisons to the Kingdom Hearts key in a fun reel but still leaves us wanting more from the popular Ubisoft game outside of this and meeting Keyblade-wielding Donald and Goofy at Oogie Boogie Bash.

Speaking of Oogie Boogie Bash, Disney dropped teases for villains that will be crashing the annual Halloween event. We’re geeking out over Syndrome from The Incredibles being hinted at. Tickets for Oogie Boogie Bash are now on sale and will likely sell out soon if they haven’t already. 

Walt Disney World

Halloween merch is now in the parks and online though the Disney Store. The Haunted Mansion headlines the collections with special figures we recently talked to the artist about inspired by the stretching room portraits (read more about them here). And of course there’s new Mickey and Friends festive decor and costumes for Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween parties at the Magic Kingdom.

The Magic Kingdom also debuted its first nighttime parade, Disney Starlight, and reopened a refurbished test track at Epcot.

Immersive activations and pop-up experiences

So what’s been going on beyond the big theme parks? A lot, actually!

SDCC 2025 off-site activations

io9 was able to attend various activations at San Diego Comic-Con, which were clear winners this year in immersiveness and giveaways. The Peacemaker Peacefest had a great photobooth, and you got your own helmet mask. The Alien: Earth and Clown in a Cornfield pop-ups brought the scares, and Adult Swim hosted live reads of animated shows like Smiling Friends alongside adult carnival fun.

Netflix Wednesday x Wendy’s Meal of Misfortune

The stunt Wendy’s Wednesday-themed meal popped up as a drive-through activation in Norwalk, CA, but the meal itself will be available nationwide on August 4, just in time for the Wednesday premiere next week! Ketchup on season one of Wednesday here.

AREA15 expansion

AREA15 in Las Vegas hosts the prime immersive entertainment district in the country, which includes Meow Wolf: Omega Mart. And it’s about to get bigger with a new zone opening up on August 14, which will feature Universal Horror Unleashed, Universal Resorts and Destinations’ year-round horror hub with haunted houses and spooky sips, eats, and thrilling entertainment. Additionally, it will feature Dolls Kill’s flagship store, the Escape Game, Felix & Paul Studios’ Interstellar Arc, iFLY Indoor Skydiving, and the largest-ever Museum of Ice Cream.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.