Ways Disney Has Changed during the Past Year

Walt Disney World is constantly changing. Park officials work hard to add magic whenever possible.

Imagineers and cast members often succeed. However, Disney’s hit-or-miss ratio has dropped a bit due to the pandemic. So, not all the differences are good.

Here are the ways that Disney has changed for the better…and also the worse.

Good:

“When he reached the New World, Cortez burned his ships.”

This Hunt for Red October quote applies to much of what has transpired with Disney lately.

Management faced unprecedented challenges during the pandemic. These struggles forced innovations that we’ll all appreciate indefinitely.

Conversely, the pandemic delayed some projects and amenities that have only recently debuted/returned. Let’s take a look at the list.

Character Greetings

Park officials methodically reintroduced character interactions over the past two years.

In July of 2020, Walt Disney World reopened with character experiences. Effectively, socially distanced cast members would put on a show for guests.

Gradually, Disney brought back more personal interactions as pandemic guidelines updated.

As of this summer, character interactions are back the way that you’ve wanted! You can hug Mickey and Minnie Mouse again!

Not coincidentally, the lines for Disney character experiences like Adventurers Outpost, Princess Fairytale Hall, and Town Square Theater have grown in size.

Everyone else missed the character greetings just as much as you!

Fireworks Presentations

During the first year of the pandemic, nothing generated headlines like fireworks testing.

 

A MickeyBlogger who lives close to the magic livestreamed one such test, and it proved quite popular. People missed nighttime presentations that much!

Thankfully, Disney has since brought back the fireworks at various parks.

You’ll find Disney Enchantment at Magic Kingdom and Harmonious at EPCOT. Fantasmic! still hasn’t returned yet, while Rivers of Life is now defunct.

So, fireworks fans must spend their evenings at Magic Kingdom or EPCOT to enjoy the festivities. Disney has promised the return of Fantasmic! in 2022, though.

Free Virtual Assistant

You may have heard some Disney fans complaining about the new service, Disney Genie+. I understand those frustrations.

However, you shouldn’t confuse Disney Genie for Disney Genie+. The latter is the paid FastPass service, which we’ll discuss later.

Conversely, Disney Genie qualifies as the world’s first theme park virtual assistant.

Disney has programmed Genie with all the park knowledge in existence. So, it can answer all your questions and thereby streamline your park visit.

You can and should familiarize yourself with Disney Genie+, which you’ll find within the My Disney Experience app.

You ain’t never had a friend like Disney Genie.

New Attractions

The week before the pandemic shut down Disney theme parks worldwide, Hollywood Studios unveiled its latest masterpiece.

The timing on Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway might have proven poor, but the ride is perfect.

Once the parks reopened, management faced challenges in determining the best time to open new attractions.

Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure finally debuted in October of 2021, 16 months after its expected arrival date.

For a while, Ratatouille proved the most popular attraction at EPCOT…until Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind debuted.

So, EPCOT has gotten a LOT better during the pandemic. Meanwhile, Disney still has another ace in the hole.

Tron Lightcycle Power Run will reportedly debut during the next 12 months, possibly as soon as this Fall!

New Resort

During the pandemic, Disney’s resources were at a premium. Still, executives prioritized one project due to the otherworldly demand.

In March, Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser finally opened…and it’s sold out every day since then.

Fans relish the opportunity to live out their Star Wars stories in what is an immersive, improvisational locale.

Frankly, tracking the perception of Galactic Starcruiser has become one of my favorite things during the pandemic.

First, the buzz was off the charts. Then, a poorly received ad led people to turn on the new hotel, swearing it was a bomb.

Once the Star Wars Hotel opened, people raved about it again, although that hasn’t stopped the internet from clickbait nonsense.

Some folks bet against Disney here. And that’s almost always a sucker bet.

Paid Line Access

Don’t worry! I’ll list this one as a negative as well.

However, whenever I think about the new Lightning Lane program, I think about a friend of my wife’s.

Early in the pandemic, he took his daughters to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Their one goal that day was to ride Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.

The family would have happily paid more to ensure that they could. Alas, that wasn’t an option at the time.

Soon afterward, Disney unveiled Lightning Lane, and I couldn’t help but lament the timing.

If this system had arrived just a bit sooner, they would have gotten their wish. Instead, they left the park disappointed that day.

Lightning Lane allows guests to pay a set fee of up to $20 to experience E-ticket attractions.

You’re paying more than the standard price of admission to ensure that you get to ride the best thing that the park has to offer.

Only you can decide whether the attraction is worth the money, but it’s nice to have the option.

Return of Parades

In early February, Magic Kingdom fans finally learned the great news. The Festival of Fantasy Parade would return in March.

Specifically, Disney brought back the parade on its eighth anniversary, although it’s only operated for six years. It was on the shelf for the body of two years during the pandemic.

Now, fans once again watch cast members dance and sing their way down Main Street, U.S.A.

We can all go back to answering the infamous question, “What time is the 3 O’clock Parade?”

Not So Good:

Look, the pandemic forced Disney to make some hard choices. Some essential parts of theme park vacations gained prioritization.

However, Disney also used this unprecedented opportunity to reevaluate some of its business practices.

The pandemic directly influenced two of them, while the other was a long time coming.

Annual Passes

Hoo boy, this one’s a mess.      

Nearly a year ago, Walt Disney World brought back annual passes, albeit with new names and tiers.

Frankly, the updated annual passes lacked some of the features of prior versions…or offered them for a fee. So, it wasn’t great.

Then, something unexpected happened. A similar program at Disneyland, the Magic Key annual pass system, came with some inexact language.

Disney expected its guests to know that they’d need Park Passes even after they purchased valid admission.

Longtime Disneyland loyalists scooped up the annual passes, expecting them to work similarly to previous versions. That…didn’t happen.

Park Pass sellouts proved problematic. When Disneyland fans complained, the complaints went viral.

Soon afterward, Disney recognized its potential legal liability when some annual passholders filed a class action suit.

As a precautionary measure, Disneyland and Walt Disney World alike stopped selling most forms of their annual passes.

Now, unless you’re a Florida resident, you’re currently unable to purchase an annual pass…even though they’re technically still on sale to some. It’s weird.

Magical Express

We are eight months into this change, yet I still cannot believe that Disney did it.

At the start of 2022, Disney ended the Magical Express program, a decision we all lament.

Management definitely had its reasons. Mears Transportation had proven an unreliable contractor, having fired virtually all their trained bus drivers.

Still, we all miss those magical bus rides to Walt Disney World…and even the tragic ones back to Orlando International Airport.

Paid FastPass

Technically, the term is Disney Genie+, but some ill-considered naming conventions have caused too much confusion here.

I previously mentioned the positive of Lightning Lane, which guarantees you a ride on a park’s most popular E-ticket attraction.

Technically, Disney Genie+ employs the Lightning Lane as well. That’s what Disney calls the shorter line queue now.

However, when I say “paid FastPass,” everyone gets the point. Park officials took something that had been free with the price of admission. Now, it comes at a price.

Remarkably, more than half of Disney customers are apparently purchasing Disney Genie+.

Thankfully, the attraction wait times somehow aren’t expanding disproportionately.

Still, Walt Disney World was the last significant holdout against paid line queue access. So, it’s a bummer that management finally gave in and passed the bill along to customers.

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Feature Photo: Greg Angel/Spectrum News 13