Passholders Line Up for a Free Kermit Magnet as Disney World Stretches Its Perks Into Fall
Walt Disney World is giving Annual Passholders a free Kermit the Frog magnet, a free PhotoPass Magic Shot and a key lime milkshake at Disney's Hollywood Studios from August 11 through September 24, 2026. The run fills the gap left by V.I.Passholder Summer Days, and it arrives while passholders are still waiting to see whether a real Annual Pass discount follows.
Walt Disney World is handing Annual Passholders a free Kermit the Frog magnet at Disney's Hollywood Studios, along with a free PhotoPass Magic Shot and a green milkshake built on key lime cake crumbs. The perks run from August 11 through September 24, 2026, and they fill the gap left when V.I.Passholder Summer Days wrapped at the end of July.
Key Details
- Dates: August 11 through September 24, 2026
- Park: Disney's Hollywood Studios
- Free magnet: Mickey Shorts Theater, park open to park close, one per passholder while supplies last
- Free Magic Shot: end of Hollywood Boulevard near Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway, 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM daily
- Not free: the Key Lime Kermit Milk Shake at Dockside Diner
- Bring: a valid Annual Pass card, linked MagicBand, MagicBand+ or Disney MagicMobile pass, plus government-issued photo ID
Where to pick up the free Kermit magnet
The newest passholder magnet features Kermit the Frog, and it is being handed out at Mickey Shorts Theater at Disney's Hollywood Studios from park open to park close, August 11 through September 24, 2026.
Each passholder has to be present in person and show a valid Annual Pass card, a linked MagicBand, a MagicBand+ or a Disney MagicMobile pass, along with a government-issued photo ID. The limit is one magnet per passholder, and supplies are not guaranteed to last the full run.
Magnet distribution days follow a familiar pattern at Walt Disney World. The line is longest on the release day and again on the first weekend, then it thins out quickly. Passholders who can wait a couple of weeks usually walk up with no wait at all, and the resort has generally kept stock available through these runs.
A free Muppets Magic Shot on Hollywood Boulevard
The second freebie is a Disney PhotoPass Magic Shot featuring Kermit playing his banjo. A banjo prop is provided, so guests can pose as though they are playing along with him.
The photographer is stationed at the end of Hollywood Boulevard, near Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway. The Magic Shot is available from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM every day between August 11 and September 24, 2026, and it is exclusive to passholders.
The Key Lime Kermit Milk Shake at Dockside Diner
The one item on the list that costs money is the Key Lime Kermit Milk Shake, sold at Dockside Diner over the same August 11 to September 24 window. It is a vanilla milkshake topped with key lime cake crumbs, key lime sauce and sprinkles, and the green color is the whole joke.
Dockside Diner sits on Echo Lake, a short walk from the Magic Shot location, so a passholder can collect the magnet, take the photo and grab the shake in a single loop of the front half of the park.
One planning note that catches people out: passholders still need valid admission and a theme park reservation for the day to enter Disney's Hollywood Studios, unless they arrive after 2:00 PM or the date is a good-to-go day with no reservation required. Late summer weekdays are usually good-to-go days, but the calendar is worth checking before driving over for a magnet.
Why the perks landed at Hollywood Studios
Offseason passholder offers at Walt Disney World normally point toward Disney's Animal Kingdom, the park that has historically needed the attendance boost most. This run breaks that habit and sends passholders to Disney's Hollywood Studios instead.
The likeliest reason is the tie-in. Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets gives Disney a Muppets hook at Hollywood Studios that no other park can match right now, and the magnet, the Magic Shot and the milkshake all hang off it. Hollywood Studios is also where most of the resort's near-term additions are concentrated, including the upcoming Magic of Disney Animation, so pushing passholders there ahead of those openings has its own logic.
The timing matters too. V.I.Passholder Summer Days ran from mid-May to the end of July and included discounts as deep as 40% off select restaurants. DVC Welcome Home Weeks started shortly after, and this Muppets run keeps something on the board for passholders who are not Disney Vacation Club members. It is not a named event, and it is lighter than the summer program was, but it keeps the calendar from going dark.
What past years say about the next Annual Pass discount
The question passholders keep asking is not about magnets. It is whether an actual Annual Pass discount is coming, and the recent record gives a reasonable shape to the answer.
The most recent Walt Disney World offer was 50% off Annual Pass down payments, which ended June 24, 2026. That one moved the timing of payments around without reducing the total, so anyone who missed it did not miss money.
A year earlier the resort ran something with real value. On July 25 it released a free Disney Gift Card eGift with new Annual Pass purchases, tiered by pass:
- $100 with a Disney Incredi-Pass
- $75 with a Disney Sorcerer Pass, for Florida residents and eligible Disney Vacation Club members
- $50 with a Disney Pirate Pass, for Florida residents
- $25 with a Disney Pixie Pass, for Florida residents
That offer applied to new passes only, could not be stacked with renewal discounts or any other promotion, and ended on September 30, just before the start of the new fiscal year. The sequence is the part worth noticing: a down payment promotion first, then a genuine discount a few weeks later, then a cutoff at the end of September.
Two other data points sit behind that pattern. Walt Disney World ran a guest survey in the spring testing Annual Pass and Lightning Lane discounts worth as much as $400, which is a far larger number than anything the resort has actually offered. And Disney's California resort has since attached a gift card to Magic Key renewals, a first for that program, which suggests renewal-side offers are back on the table across the company.
Leadership changes are the wildcard. Thomas Mazloum is the new Parks Chair, and Joe Schott took over as Walt Disney World President this month. Neither is a reason to expect discounting to stop: Mazloum leaned on discounts during his time running Disneyland Resort, Schott restored deals at Disney Cruise Line, and anything landing in the next few weeks was almost certainly set in motion before he arrived.
The Buzz
- Why it is trending: a free Muppets magnet is the visible half of the story, but passholders are reading it as a signal about what Disney does next on pricing
- The open question: whether the down payment promotion that ended in June is followed by a real discount, the way it was last year
- The deadline pressure: Walt Disney World has historically closed Annual Pass offers at the end of September, before the new fiscal year
What this means for passholders
Anyone already planning a Hollywood Studios day before September 24 should collect the magnet and the Magic Shot, since both cost nothing beyond the walk. Skipping the first weekend is the easy way to avoid the queue.
Anyone weighing a new Annual Pass has a harder call. The pattern from the last two years points to an offer landing before the end of September rather than after it, and offers of this type have consistently applied to new passes rather than renewals. Waiting a few weeks is a reasonable bet, but it is a bet, and there is no guarantee a discount appears at all before prices move.