We’ve seen some BIG changes in Disney World since reopening that have greatly altered the parks as we once knew them.

Since Disney World has been continuing forward with its health and safety initiatives, high-touch surfaces have been reduced in the parks and capacity has been limited. Mask requirements, temperature checks, and more are completely new, but many of the newer features introduced to help guests have started to move towards a virtual format.

Even though Disney is trying to limit the number of people going to the parks at a time, they’re still trying to accommodate as many guests as possible (in the safest way possible, of course).

While we weren’t too surprised to see more of an emphasis on contactless payment methods or shorter wait times on My Disney Experience, we didn’t expect to see so many of these virtual updates that have COMPLETELY switched up our experiences in the re-opened parks!

Walk-Up Dining

Although quick-service spots have re-opened with Mobile Order, and Advance Dining Reservations are available at table-service locations, walk-up options weren’t available initially for restaurants when the parks first opened. However, a month after Disney World started to bring guests back, the resort slowly started to put walk-up dining in place.

Previously, guests would generally be able to go to the hostess stand at a restaurant to reserve a spot that day. Now, walk-up dining has moved to the My Disney Experience app instead. While some restaurants have come and gone from the list, there are new restaurants being frequently added to the mobile list.

Right now, we’re up to 12 (!!!) walk-up locations (all in Disney World hotels), which is a great option for people who want to visit restaurants on a whim! Honestly, we’re kind of shocked this feature wasn’t introduced sooner! This is VERY helpful for families who don’t have a pre-planned table service meal and just want to decide on the fly!

These are all the restaurants you can find on the Walk-Up Dining list!

New Mobile Order Process

Since Disney World is trying to make sure that distancing measures are used frequently throughout the parks, the process to visit quick-service locations is quite different from what we’ve seen in the past. In order to disperse lines so there aren’t large crowds, guests are heavily encouraged to use the Mobile Order option to purchase food and drinks around the parks.

Although guests who have allergies, special requests, or looking to pay with cash are still able to place their order at the counter, the Mobile Order tool is the primary means of picking up meals and snacks around the parks now. After using the My Disney Experience app, guests can go to designated pick-up locations to receive their purchased food and drinks while maintaining distancing.

But, we’re happy to say that Cast Members are still providing cups of free ice water to guests so you can cool off from that Florida heat! Just be sure to tell the Cast Member at the entrance you’d like to get some free water.

While we’ve been back to places like Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe to experience lunch, many of our other favorite treats have started to pop up on Mobile Order as well. Even though the Cheshire Cat Tail has moved locations, fan-favorite Dole Whips like the Kakamora Float, Raspberry Dole Whip, and I Lava You Float are also (finally) back in the parks (so you’ll have plenty of opportunities to test out Mobile Order ).

Should Disney World offer discounts with the new Mobile Order? Here’s what we think!

Mobile Dining Check-in

We’ve been there before — you check-in for your dining reservation at a restaurant, and it takes still take ages for your party to be called. Since Disney World is leaning towards reducing the number of people gathering in one place at a time, Mobile Dining Check-in was put in place for a quicker and more distanced process in the re-opened parks.

Guests are able to put all their information in the app during their virtual check-in (including party size, dietary restrictions, and more). After they’ve completed their process, Disney sends a text to the guests to confirm their check-in and call them back to the hostess stand when the table is ready.

Instead of waiting around near the restaurant to be called, the Mobile Dining Check-in lets everyone walk around the park or chill out while waiting to be texted. Plus, QR code menus are available to scan so guests can look at the menus ahead of time, which reduces contact with the high-touch surfaces of menus.

Here’s everything you need to know about Mobile Dining Check-in!

Disney Chat Feature

Ahead of the original Disney Resorts’ grand re-opening, Disney announced that it would be introducing a new chat feature in the My Disney Experience app that would allow guests to contact the front desk without having to physically stand at the desk. Initially, we had HUGE problems with it taking hours for us to get a response within the app.

However, when it’s working, you’re able to ask questions about housekeeping, room check-in, and even ask for more toiletries or towels.

Find out what unexpected dining feature has returned back to Disney Resorts!

Rise of the Resistance Boarding Passes

Since the ride debuted this past December, it has been crucial to get to Disney’s Hollywood Studios early to snag a Boarding Pass to ride Rise of the Resistance, but this system has seen one of the biggest shake-ups in the parks following the reopening!

Originally, the Boarding Groups were modified so guests weren’t crowding at the entrance of the park first thing in the morning (often HOURS before the park was scheduled to open!). Guests had three chances to join a boarding group at 10AM, 1PM, and 4PM. This was later adjusted to only offer two windows to score a boarding group — 10AM and 2PM instead.

Breaking the distribution up over multiple times throughout the day have been meant to reduce the number of people coming to Hollywood Studios first thing in the morning, but the groups are still going CRAZY fast — usually within a minute or so. If you score a group, My Disney Experience shows the estimated wait time before your group is called so you can hit up a few rides or grab a bite to eat with less worry your group will be called while you’re busy.

But, that isn’t the only giant change that Rise of the Resistance has seen! We were TOTALLY caught off guard the other day when we spotted live Stormtroopers watching over transport vehicles inside (that we luckily escaped!).

We’ve been in the hangar room enough to be comfortable with the very much NOT alive Stormtrooper animatronics, so this was a fun surprise! Be sure to stay alert next time you’re on Rise of the Resistance — you never know who may be in there with you!

These are the three Rise of the Resistance changes you need to know before you go back to Disney World!

While we didn’t expect to see these changes in Disney World, most of these changes have actually improved our experience n the parks! While change might seem scary, it’s exciting to think that there is a whole lot in store for the future in Disney World (and we’ll be here to take you along for the ride with us)!

We’re still surprised these Disney restaurants aren’t open yet in the parks and resorts!

What has been your favorite new feature available through the My Disney Experience app recently? Let us know in the comments below!

We’re super excited for the day we finally get to take our first ride on TRON Lightcycle Run at Magic Kingdom!

We’ve been keeping a close eye on the progress we can see from the ground while we’re visiting the park. And now, we’re checking in with another update on how the TRON construction is moving along!

It looks like the TRON construction is coming along nicely, indeed! This photo shared by @bioreconstruct gives us a glimpse of the exterior of the TRON building which faces the Monorail.

Current exterior of Tron, facing monorail. pic.twitter.com/HKp6kjkCUJ

— bioreconstruct (@bioreconstruct) August 28, 2020

 

And it looks like construction is moving right along on the outdoor canopy as well! Here’s a peek at the progress as seen from Storybook Circus.

Glimpse of Tron outdoor canopy seen from Storybook Circus. pic.twitter.com/6FPZncz7t4

— bioreconstruct (@bioreconstruct) August 28, 2020

 

The attraction has been positioned so that the canopy won’t bury the rest of the features of Tomorrowland once it’s complete. The brown support structures in these photos will eventually hold the canopy.

Tron has been carefully placed so that the canopy doesn’t overwhelm Tomorrowland. Brown structure to hold the canopy, and the outdoor track swoop, hardly impacting the current skyline. pic.twitter.com/rFSvW2AsiW

— bioreconstruct (@bioreconstruct) August 28, 2020

 

We can’t wait to ride this attraction when it’s finally complete! We’ll continue to keep an eye on the construction progress, so stay tuned for more updates!

Click here to learn more about TRON Lightcycle Run!

Which new Disney World attraction are you the most excited to experience? Let us know in the comments!

Waking up to rain on a Sunday in August: surprising! But that’s just what happened in Central Florida today as a westerly flow pushed heavy rain Saturday afternoon and overnight into the area. If you were at Walt Disney World on Saturday you saw some bursts of heavy rain and lightning around the parks. If you’re heading there this week, you can expect more of the same.

This week will begin quite wet, with a steady southwest flow bringing the area both heat and tropical moisture. The ridge axis keeping this flow in place will shift north Tuesday through Wednesday, nudging some big sea breeze collisions both days which will cause heavy rainfall over Central Florida’s interior. Then on Thursday, the Atlantic ridge will build nearby and lift north, creating a southeast flow that will help the west coast get in on the rain action.

Oh, and in the midst of all these storms? Above-average heat. Because Florida, I suppose.

This week’s weather at Walt Disney World

For the rest of today: lots of extra moisture in the air and the low pressure just north of us means plenty of storms in the area. Look out for heavy rain and frequent lightning as these storms move west to east, eventually settling over the Atlantic beaches late in the evening. At least this gives us a slightly cooler overnight, with a low around 74 degrees.

The deep moisture and southwest flow sticks around for Monday, bringing us a 70% chance of thunderstorms. The best chance will be in the afternoon, but there’s a shot at early morning storms moving in from the Gulf as well, with clearing late morning to midday. It will stay steamy, with a high around 91 degrees and a heat index around 102. Storms should clear before midnight, with an overnight low of 76 degrees.

On Tuesday, above normal heat and rain chances continue. Look out for storms developing with the sea breeze collision occurring after noon, with a 60% chance of rain. The wind will shift from southwest to west, then drop off overnight. The high will be around 93, the low around 76.

Wednesday will be hot with a high around 94 degrees. Sea breeze collisions will fire off afternoon thunderstorms. There’s a 60% chance of seeing a storm or two. The overnight low will be around 76.

On Thursday the Atlantic ridge will begin to build, with its axis moving from Cape Canaveral on Thursday to near the Georgia line on Friday and Saturday. With this shift, the winds become southeasterly, then east-southeast by Friday. This will slowly bring rain chances down by the weekend.

Thursday through the weekend, look for about a 50% chance of rain, but with that southeast and then easterly flow, storms will favor the west coast as they first develop in the Orlando area but quickly push west. Highs will stay very hot, around 94 degrees, and lows will be around 76 degrees.

Tropical Weather Update

I was a little surprised when I opened this morning’s Tropical Weather Outlook and saw the red X over Florida. It turns out that all of this weekend rain is going to spin up into something tropical over the next few days—but it’s going to move into the Atlantic and out to sea.

Two tropical waves in the inter-tropical convergence zone are being watched for development, but they have fairly low chances over the next five days. One is far out in the Atlantic, near the Cape Verde Islands. The other is entering the Caribbean Sea and still moving westward. Their chances of development are placed at about 30%.

Why so low during the peak of hurricane season? One reason: a fresh layer of Saharan Dust is moving across the Atlantic and Caribbean this week. This inhibits storm development. We’ll have to wait and see what is left of these waves after the dust settles in a few days.

The post This Week in Walt Disney World Weather — August 30, 2020 appeared first on TouringPlans.com Blog.

As the plethora of new Halloween merch suggests, summer will soon be coming to an end!

Fall flavors have already made their way to Disney World — if you’re a fan of pumpkin spice, now is your time to shine! But there’s still time to send off summer in style. And what better way than with a limited-time specialty cocktail??

Inside Disney’s Contemporary Resort, you’ll find The Wave…of American Flavors. You can head to this restaurant to raise a glass to the changing of the season with a limited-time drink debuting TOMORROW, August 31st!

The End of Summer Splash is made with Hendrick’s Gin, St. Germain, Kettle One Grapefruit Vodka, and rose. You can snag this refreshing, summery cocktail for $15!

But if you want to give this beverage a try, you’ll have to hurry! The End of Summer Splash will be available from August 31st through September 7th. So, head over to The Wave to sip on some summery flavors before fall officially takes over!

Click here to check out our full review of dinner at The Wave…of American Flavors!

Do you plan on stopping by The Wave to try this cocktail? Let us know in the comments!