Disney Tips Your Guide To A Great Disney Vacation
There is a very specific kind of Disney World fan who is about to have an excellent morning.
You know the one. The person who has a Savannah Bananas shirt in the laundry rotation, who has watched the backflip catches and the dancing first base coach a hundred times, and who also happens to plan their year around an Orlando trip. For a long time those were two separate hobbies.
They are not anymore.
The Banana Ball Open is coming to ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort from April 15 to 18, 2027. All six Banana Ball teams will be there. Tickets start at $35. And the lottery list is open right now, with a deadline that is closer than you think.
If you have never fallen down this particular rabbit hole, the short version is that Banana Ball took baseball and decided the rules were negotiable, but the entertainment was not. Two-hour time limit. Foul balls caught by fans count as outs. Players dance. Nobody walks. It started in Savannah, Georgia, and grew into something that fills stadiums and sells out faster than most major league clubs.
And Disney has quietly become its most important partner.
The Event Details
The announcement came during the “Banana Ball Selection Show” on ESPN2, which revealed the full 2027 schedule.
Dates: April 15 to 18, 2027
Location: ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort
Format: Four games plus a fan experience, with all six Banana Ball teams involved and four squads competing head-to-head
Tickets: Starting at $35, with the ticket lottery list open through October 31 at BananaBall.com
The six teams in the Banana Ball Championship League are the Savannah Bananas, Loco Beach Coconuts, Firefighters, Party Animals, Indianapolis Clowns, and Texas Tailgaters.
This Is a Much Bigger Deal Than the First Visit
Here is the detail that is getting glossed over in most coverage.
Earlier this year, ESPN Wide World of Sports hosted two Banana Ball games. Packed crowds, great response, everybody had fun.
The 2027 event is four games, across four days, with all six teams present.
That is not a repeat booking. That is an escalation from a tour stop into a destination event.
Two games is a weekend series you attend if you happen to be in town. Four days with the entire league on site is something you build a vacation around, which is exactly the distinction Disney cares about. One fills seats. The other fills hotel rooms.
Getting All Six Teams in One Place Is the Real Flex
Worth pausing on that roster detail, because it is more significant than it reads.
Banana Ball is a touring product. The teams spread out across the country, which is how the league covers as many markets as it does.
Putting all six in one complex at one time means the entire league stops traveling and converges on Walt Disney World for four days. That is a genuine scheduling commitment, not a logistical afterthought.
It is also why they can call this an Open rather than a series. The fan experience has access to every roster in the league.
The Date Is Smarter Than You Might Realize
April 15 to 18, 2027 is a well-chosen window for anyone combining this with a park trip.
Mid-April lands after most spring break crowds have cleared out and before the Florida summer turns a park day into an endurance event. It is one of the better stretches on the Disney World calendar for both weather and crowd levels.
It also spans four days, which means a long weekend rather than a full week off work.
About That $35 Price Tag
Tickets starting at $35 deserve a moment of appreciation, because that is less than a fraction of a single-day Disney park ticket.
One important clarification for anyone planning: ESPN Wide World of Sports sits on Disney property, but it is not a theme park. Event admission is separate from park tickets. A $35 Banana Ball ticket gets you into the Banana Ball event, not into Magic Kingdom.
That actually works in your favor. It means this can be an affordable non-park day in the middle of an expensive trip, which is the kind of thing park-weary families start craving around day four.
Get on the Lottery List Before October 31
This is the actionable part, so do not let it slide.
The ticket lottery list is open through October 31 at BananaBall.com. The event is six months later.
Banana Ball runs on a lottery because demand consistently outstrips supply. Games sell out, and the list is how they manage it. Joining costs nothing and commits you to nothing, so there is no real argument for waiting.
If you are even loosely considering a spring 2027 Disney trip, put your name in now and decide later.
A Documentary Is Coming to Disney+ and Hulu
For fans who cannot get to Florida, there is a second announcement worth knowing about.
A music-driven Banana Ball documentary arrives on Disney+ and Hulu in fall 2027, tracing the ten-year journey from humble beginnings in Savannah to the phenomenon now billed as “The Greatest Show in Sports.” A teaser trailer is already out.
The creative lineup is heavier than a typical sports documentary. David Beilinson directs. Producers include Connor Schell’s Words + Pictures and Ampersand, the company run by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.
The film features 11 original songs from Pasek and Paul, the EGOT-winning songwriting duo whose work plenty of Disney fans already know by ear, with additional songwriters including Ashley Gorley, Cal Shapiro, Ben Johnson, Adam Yaron, Jake Sinclair, Brandon Bomer, Jarius Jones and Jesse Cole.
Banana Ball followers will clock that last name on the list.
Eleven original songs makes this structurally closer to a musical than to a standard sports retrospective, which is a fitting choice. Banana Ball’s entire thesis is that baseball should be entertainment first. Making the documentary a musical applies the same logic to the film.
Disney Is Not Just the Venue Here
Look at the full collaboration list, and a pattern shows up that reframes this whole announcement.
- “Banana Bowl: Presented Ad-Free by Liberty Mutual Insurance” streamed live on Disney+ and Disney YouTube
- Savannah Bananas games streaming across ESPN and Disney+
- Savannah Bananas player Jackson Olson appeared on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars”
- Savannah Bananas Day at Disneyland Resort in California
- A Banana Ball game at ESPN Wide World of Sports
- A marquee summer event at Dunkin’ Park in Hartford, Connecticut, near ESPN’s headquarters
Disney+, Hulu, ESPN, ESPN2, ABC, Disney YouTube, Disneyland, Walt Disney World.
That is not a sports complex renting space to a touring act. Banana Ball content is moving through nearly every distribution channel Disney owns, and the live events at Wide World of Sports are the in-person component of a media relationship rather than a standalone booking.
Which is a good sign for anyone hoping this becomes an annual thing.
One Planning Tip
ESPN Wide World of Sports hosts other events worth building around, including ESPN8: The Ocho, which has returned for a second year.
If you are putting together a spring 2027 trip, check the complex calendar alongside the park schedule. There is often more happening there than people realize.
Mark April 15 to 18, and get on that lottery list before Halloween.
Sources: Chip and Company reporting, the Banana Ball Selection Show on ESPN2, and BananaBall.com.
