Disney fans, grab your phones. The My Disney Experience app just rolled out a new batch of profile characters, and yes, you can finally be a villain. But while everyone argues over whether to pick Scar or Orange Bird, there’s a much bigger shake-up headed for the app, and it involves artificial intelligence.
Here’s everything that’s new, everything that’s coming, and a few red flags worth knowing about before Disney changes the way you plan your vacation.
If you’re the person in your group who handles every reservation, this one’s for you, because the tools you rely on every trip are about to look and work very differently.
Your New Face for Dining and Lightning Lanes
The character you choose in the app is more than a fun extra. It’s your Disney personality, sitting right there while you book dining, lock in Lightning Lanes, and finish online check-in. Disney has been adding to the collection for years, and it now spans dozens of options from Disney films, Star Wars, and the Marvel Universe.
This update adds several newcomers and, for the first time, groups everyone into categories.
Theme Park Scope shared a video of all the selections on X stating, “NEW in My Disney Experience! Disney has updated the profile character selection in the app, giving guests a refreshed lineup of Disney favorites to choose from! 👀✨
The options are now organized into categories like Disney Princesses, Disney Villains, Mickey & Friends, Modern Favorites and more.
Who are you picking for your profile?”
NEW in My Disney Experience! Disney has updated the profile character selection in the app, giving guests a refreshed lineup of Disney favorites to choose from! 👀✨
The options are now organized into categories like Disney Princesses, Disney Villains, Mickey & Friends, Modern Favorites and more.
Who are you picking for your profile?
— Theme Park Scope (@tpscopeofficial) October 5, 2026
The Full Lineup of New Characters
Under “Disney Favorites,” you’ll find Oswald, Launchpad, Judy Hopps, Nick Wilde, Simba, and Genie, plus Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, Hercules, and Meg. And yes, there’s an all new villains collection. Scar, Ursula, Jafar, and Maleficent are all there for the taking.
The classics are still around, including “Mickey & Friends” and “Disney Princesses.” With Halloween right around the corner, the “Paranormal Pals” category has the Hitchhiking Ghosts and Jack Skellington. Pixar and Star Wars are well represented, and “Modern Favorites” has Orange Bird, Hei Hei, and Pua.
Now for the Bigger News
Disney is planning a ground-up overhaul of the app and the Walt Disney World website. Expect a full visual redesign, a Trip Checklist, group planning tools, and a brand new AI-powered search engine. For years, planning a Disney trip has felt like a part-time job, and Disney wants to change that.
The company says its smaller tweaks have already worked. Combining daily schedules into a single “My Plans” flow boosted ease of use by 8%, and improving the dining reservation interface raised guest satisfaction by 5%.
The Chicken Tender Fiasco
Disney didn’t hide how bad the current search is. At a media panel, executives showed what happens when a hungry parent types “Chicken tenders in Magic Kingdom.” The app returns Chicken Guy! as the top result. Great restaurant, wrong location. It’s at Disney Springs, miles from the nearest Fantasyland snack stop.
The new AI search is supposed to fix that. It pulls information from the Walt Disney World website and builds a short summary at the top. In a demo, “ride in space” brought up Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Space Mountain, Mission: SPACE, and Star Tours, with a direct link to book a Lightning Lane or check standby times.
Checklists and Group Chats of the Future
Your home screen will change depending on where you are in your trip. Early on, it’ll show countdowns, hotel check-in tasks, and packing tips. When you step onto Disney property, it flips into an in-park assistant with wait times and virtual queue return windows.
A Trip Checklist will track deadlines like when your 60-day dining window opens. Trip Party should finally make group planning painless, giving everyone a shared space to view and change park schedules and Lightning Lane picks. Native Spanish-language support is also on the way.
Hold On, There Are Problems
Here’s where things get messy. A notice titled “AI Overview” was mistakenly posted on the Walt Disney World website, according to BlogMickey. It claimed a “Cast Preview” phase limited to “most food and beverage questions,” but insiders say it was published by mistake and the real search wasn’t AI powered yet.
Bigger concerns remain too. Disney hasn’t said which language models it’s using, and AI can give wrong answers with total confidence. A made-up Lightning Lane time or the wrong dining location could wreck a family’s day. Sudden changes, like a thunderstorm shutting down a ride, could also trip up the system.
When It’s All Coming
No launch date yet, but Disney says the rollout will happen over the next few months. Until then, double check anything important on official pages, especially dining and Lightning Lane details. If an AI summary ever tells you something that sounds off, trust the official listing over the summary, and take a screenshot of your confirmations so you have them handy in the parks.
Meanwhile, you can lock in the easy decision today. Which new profile character are you picking, a villain, a ghost, or a classic favorite? Tell us in the comments, and let us know how you feel about the AI search coming to your phone.
