Disney

A Young Manatee Named Calfuccino Has Joined the Tank at EPCOT’s The Seas

Calfuccino arrived at The Seas with Nemo & Friends for short-term care, joining Cider and Tanimura. Disney has not said how long she will stay. A park ticket gets you to the tank, and Disney After Hours adds 15 EPCOT nights through August 19, 2027.

Todd Ruffner-Schoenfeld Editor in chief. A knack for the fine print. 18 Oct 2026 4 min read 11 sources

A Florida manatee with algae on its back swims in clear blue-green water above a sandy bottom, with a school of small fish beneath it. — A Florida manatee swims among fish. Photo: Keith Ramos, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, public domain (cropped), via NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries and Wikimedia Commons.

Details as of the morning of October 16, 2026. WDW News Today reported Calfuccino’s arrival on October 15. Disney has not published her age, where she was found, her medical history or when she will leave. The After Hours dates and prices come from Disney Tourist Blog’s 2027 rundown.

The Seas with Nemo & Friends is one of the places I go when I need to slow down. There is something hypnotic about watching the fish and the bigger animals move through that big tank. You can stand there and let the day settle. A young female manatee named Calfuccino has just joined the tank for short-term care.

Three manatees in the tank

WDW News Today and KennythePirate.com name two manatees already with her. Cider is described as the biggest of the three, and the other is Tanimura (WDW News Today writes Tani). An earlier manatee, Soleil, arrived in February 2026 and was released in May after rehabilitation. The 5.7-million-gallon saltwater aquarium also holds fish and hosts feedings, and WDW News Today says the manatee rehabilitation center is on Levels 1 and 2.

A manatee rests low in a dim aquarium tank with its gray back filling most of the frame and a small fish near the top. — A manatee in the tank at The Seas with Nemo & Friends, photographed in September 2007. Photo: Matanya, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Short stays, then release

In January 2025, WDWMagic reported that the manatees Lil Joe and Inigo had been moved to another aquarium, that the manatee area was closed to guests, and that Cast Members expected new residents within a few weeks. KennythePirate.com now reports that manatees at The Seas should stay six to nine months, the general plan for animals being prepared for release. WDW News Today says it is unclear how long Calfuccino herself will stay.

WDW News Today describes the care as a collaboration between Disney, MRP Manatee and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and KennythePirate.com gives the full name as the Manatee Rescue & Rehabilitation Partnership. Short-term care here means rest, recovery and rehabilitation for a manatee before release.

Release, and a video of one

Release is the goal of a stay like this. In November 2022, CBS Miami showed three male manatees going back into a canal in the Florida Keys after rehabilitation at SeaWorld Orlando.

Three male manatees are released into a Florida Keys canal. CBS Miami, November 30, 2022.

A manatee is a large, slow-moving marine mammal that grazes on seagrass. The Marine Mammal Commission puts the latest statewide estimate for Florida at 9,790, up from 8,810 in the previous count, based on aerial surveys from 2021 and 2022. It lists boat collisions, cold stress, seagrass loss and red tide toxins among the threats, and says prolonged exposure to water below 65 degrees Fahrenheit can be lethal.

A die-off that began in December 2020 killed 1,255 manatees during an unusual mortality event, the federal term for such a die-off, which ran to April 2022. Partners rescued 137. The commission says the event was officially closed on March 14, 2025.

A manatee faces the camera head-on in clear turquoise water, flippers tucked in, with a school of small fish gathered below it. — A Florida manatee swims near the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge in February 2008. Photo: Keith Ramos, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Manatees at rest and on the move

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says manatees rest between 2 and 12 hours a day, usually for several hours at a time, floating near the surface or lying on the bottom. A resting manatee can hold its breath for up to 20 minutes, so it may not move or rise for a long stretch. An active one comes up for air every three to five minutes and can spend up to eight hours a day grazing. The Columbus Zoo says manatees can be active day and night, so no hour is a sure thing, and none of the reports on Calfuccino gives a feeding or viewing schedule. If the tank looks still when you arrive, that may just be rest, and a return visit costs nothing extra on the same ticket.

Getting in front of the tank

There are two ways in. The first is a one-day EPCOT ticket. For 2027, The Money Overview puts the price at $129 on the cheapest dates, in August and September, up to $229 on December 31. Theme Park IQ agrees on the $129 low and lists $214 as the peak for January through October, so every 2027 date falls between $129 and $229. Check the Walt Disney World website for more up to date ticket pricing.

The second is Disney After Hours, a separate-ticket evening event at EPCOT. It runs 15 nights from January 21 to August 19, 2027, from 9:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., and ticket holders can enter at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $159 to $189 plus tax, with $30 off for Annual Passholders and Disney Vacation Club members. Disney Tourist Blog lists The Seas among the attractions open on those nights.

The After-Hours dates are January 21, February 18, April 1, April 15, April 22, May 6, May 13, June 3, June 12, July 8, July 22, July 29, August 7, August 12 and August 19. Disney has not said whether Calfuccino will still be in the tank by then.

Sources & Further Reading

WDW News Today, October 15, 2026, “Young Manatee Calfuccino Arrives at The Seas with Nemo & Friends in EPCOT”
KennythePirate.com, October 16, 2026, “A New Manatee Now Calls Disney World Home”
WDWMagic, January 15, 2025, “EPCOT’s Manatee Exhibit Closed as New Residents Expected at The Seas with Nemo and Friends”
Disney Tourist Blog, “2027 After Hours at Disney World: Party Dates, Ticket Costs, Ride Roster, Price Increases & Discounts”
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, “Florida Manatee”
Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, “Florida Manatee”
The Money Overview, “Walt Disney World’s 2027 single-day ticket prices peak at Magic Kingdom and EPCOT”
Theme Park IQ, “Walt Disney World Raises Prices: $229 Tickets, Passes, Tours”
Marine Mammal Commission, “Florida Manatee”
CBS Miami on YouTube, November 30, 2022, “Injured Manatees Released In Florida Keys”
Further reading from HeadLines Decoded: Choosing Our 2026 Candlelight Processional Night at EPCOT

Checked against WDW News Today, KennythePirate.com, WDWMagic, Disney Tourist Blog, the Marine Mammal Commission, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Columbus Zoo, The Money Overview and Theme Park IQ as of October 16, 2026.

Editor written. AI used for spelling and grammar only.

Written by Todd Ruffner-Schoenfeld Editor in chief. A knack for the fine print.

Todd Ruffner-Schoenfeld has spent his working life being handed things he did not yet understand. He started at the bottom, a developer in a bullpen, and worked his way up to running IT. The places were a strange assortment: consulting firms, accounting firms, a biotech startup, a tech startup in Silicon Valley and, of all places, Chiquita. Four small businesses of his own along the way. The work never really changed. Get into something unfamiliar, find out what is actually going on, and help someone make a hard decision with it. HeadLines Decoded is that job, pointed at the news.