Walt Disney World Update – Character Shortcuts, Price Increases, Construction Progress

Walt Disney World is taking a nice breather after the hectic holiday season. While EPCOT is getting creative with the International Festival of the Arts, the rest of the parks are in a little bit of a lull. That might not sound terribly exciting, but it’s a great time for us to visit the parks with blissfully cool weather and much lower crowd levels. Disney is also taking this time to experiment. And I’m VERY curious if you’ll like what they cooked up to separate more of the money from your wallet.  

Character Counts

Beginning January 26th, select Character Meet & Greet locations at Walt Disney World will be added to Genie+ Lightning Lane selections. While that’s good news for those who are already paying for Genie+, it also means slower standby lines for everyone else. So, unless you are willing to pay, your kids will be waiting longer to meet Mickey. So, does this addition to Genie+ make you more likely to buy, or just upset with more changes to the way you visit the parks? 

Here are the meet and greets being added to Lightning Lane via Genie+:

Magic Kingdom

• • • Mickey Mouse at Town Square Theater
    • Cinderella and a visiting princess at Princess Fairytale Hall
    • Tiana and a visiting princess at Princess Fairytale Hall

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

• • • Olaf at Celebrity Spotlight

Each of these locations will continue to host a standby queue. So, is this good news for you or bad? You could certainly spin it as an opportunity for some, but not everyone is going to benefit from this. 

In other Character news, Kevin (from Pixar’s Up) is back at Disney’s Animal Kingdom!

While Kevin used to roam around the park, she is now stationary at the Character Landing area of Discovery Island (be sure to check the My Disney Experience app for appearance times!). WDW is currently offering modified meet and greets which keep guests at least an arm’s length away; so even though we can’t get too close or hug Kevin, you’ll be able to talk and take some photos with her! 

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New Mousey Strollers

Brand new Mickey and Minnie-themed strollers are now available at mobility rental locations across the WDW resort, including Disney Springs. Available in single and double size, the new strollers feature an additional canopy crossbar for more stability when placing items on top of it, drain holes in the footrest in case of spills or rain, and additional storage pockets.

Rental prices have remained the same; single strollers are available for $15/per day, or $13/per day for a multi-day stay. Double strollers are available for $31/per day, or $27/per day for a multi-day stay. 

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Perusing the Parks

Since we spent some time at each of the Disney World parks this week, we have some news and tidbits from all four! Currently, the crowds seem manageable almost everywhere. This is one of those rare off-season times. And, if you are lucky enough to be visiting right now, the cool Florida weather helps make your park visits all the more enjoyable. 

Magic Kingdom Updates

At Magic Kingdom, we started noticing a round of price increase on food (this is property-wide, not just this park!). What’s interesting is some of the new signage includes tax in the price, while others don’t.

Splash Mountain is undergoing its annual refurbishment and will reopen to guests on February 11th. Workers are visible outside the drained attraction. We were able to see some maintenance happening on Chickapin Hill’s rockwork and replacement of some track pieces. We are curious when the attraction will start its Princess and the Frog overlay, but for now, that’s a project for a later date.

And in Tomorrowland, we’re looking forward to the Kingdom’s next big coaster, TRON Lightcycle Run. The construction pace is racing along now. The paved walkway leading to the attraction’s entrance has been laid, and crews have been actively working on the tunnel for the WDW Railroad to pass through. Progress continues on the coaster canopy, which will eventually be covered and act as an impressive lighting feature at night. 

There is no official opening date for TRON Lightcycle Run just yet (fingers crossed for details released at D23 Expo 2022). When the attraction does open, you’ll be able to enter the Grid and board a two-wheeled lightcycle vehicle for a “thrilling race through the digital frontier.” Until then, we have another coaster to look forward to…

EPCOT Updates

Let’s hop over to EPCOT! Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind opens this summer, inside what was once the Energy Pavilion. Imagineer Zach Riddley shared a first look at a major milestone for the attraction: the 51-foot tall Nova Corps Starblaster ship that is actively being installed at the entrance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Zach Riddley (@thezachriddley)

Once complete, this ship will be the signature icon of the Wonders of Xandar pavilion, establishing the Xandarian storyline guests will discover inside.

EPCOT’s International Festival of the Arts is currently running now through February 21st. If the visual, culinary and performing arts don’t already draw you in… then the Rainbow Connection points-of-light on Spaceship Earth sure will! Sung by Kermit, Miss Piggy, and friends, this song and light performance seems to embody the imagination and inspiration of this festival. Nightly performances begin just after sundown. This temporary segment is absolutely worth a park-hop over to take in a few times before the festival ends!

Here’s a little peek at the show’s most colorful act:

Disney’s Hollywood Studios Updates

Over at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Mickey and the gang led us down Hollywood Boulevard to the tune of “Nothing Can Stop Us Now”.

We have our first look at the entry tunnel guests of the upcoming Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser will use to access Galaxy’s Edge. The tunnel is blocked by temporary planters and is located next to First Order cargo and the TIE Echelon ship. Guests will enter the land through this tunnel after taking a bus disguised as a space transport from the Galactic Starcruiser. The Starcruiser will host its first 2-night voyage for guests on March 1st if all goes according to plan.

At last November’s Destination D23 event, Fantasmic! was announced to return sometime in 2022, along with an entirely new show segment featuring new characters, stunt performers, and animation. We’re still waiting on an exact timeframe, so stay tuned! 

Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular returned to the park on December 19th after an 18-month closure, and this was our first opportunity to view the modified show. The stunts and story are the same, with a few dialogue changes, but there is no audience selection or participation at this time. Instead, each of the stunt performers are introduced at the start of the show. The set elements have received a fresh coat of paint during its extended closure, and we heard some new sound effects. It’s nice to have this little piece of “behind-the-scenes” magic back at the park!

Disney’s Animal Kingdom Updates

Lastly, we visit Disney’s Animal Kingdom! 

With Kevin once again meeting in Discovery Island (see above), we’re hopeful for more Character Meet & Greets returning to DAK soon. Currently, the Adventurer’s Outpost and Dinosaur Trail, that once hosted character opportunities, sit empty and closed today.

Nemo will return to the park’s lineup in an updated show, “Finding Nemo Musical – Big Blue & Beyond” sometime this year. For now, this corner of the park is pretty quiet with the Theater in the Wild and Expedition Everest currently closed.

Expedition Everest is currently closed for refurbishment, set to last through mid-April.

During the several-month planned closure, the refurb will reportedly address issues with the ride system. No repairs are planned for the “Disco Yeti”. However, this subtle update near the attraction’s entrance gives me a tiny sliver of hope: 

It’s tough visiting this park and not getting to experience Everest. This isn’t a park with a lot of attractions. So, for now, Animal Kingdom seems like an easy half-day or park-hopping option since there are quite a few closed attractions. Plan accordingly!

Speaking of closed attractions… Primeval Whirl was the park’s very first roller coaster. It opened in the DinoLand section of the park in 2002. After being reduced to a seasonal schedule in mid-2019, and never reopening with the parks in 2020, the ride vehicles and track were removed starting late 2021.

Peeking through the fence, the site that Primeval Whirl once occupied is now completely flattened. It’s sort of odd to have a Disney attraction close and be entirely removed without any replacement announced, even if it was a common wild mouse coaster. There’s been talk of other intellectual properties moving into this area, including Indiana Jones. Or how about the original plan for DinoLand? A wooden roller coaster named The Excavator… YES, PLEASE.

What do you think of DinoLand U.S.A.’s fate? Are the dinosaurs here to stay? If not, what would you like to see in its place? We’ll add this to our wishlist for D23 Expo announcements…

Let’s Hear From You

We took a whirlwind tour of Walt Disney World today to catch up on the latest happenings. What do you think about Character Meet & Greets being added to Genie+? What are your thoughts on the recent price hikes on food around WDW? With so many projects happening around the resort, what are you most looking forward to finishing up? Let us know in the comments! 

That’s all for now, see you real soon!

More theme park reading: 

Universal Orlando Update – Beautiful Days and Mardi Gras on the Way!

Busch Gardens Tampa Update – The Big Easy Rolls In