Our in-parks team is in Walt Disney World theme parks every day recording wait times, trying food, soaking in the atmosphere, and looking for any changes that might impact your vacation. Here’s the changes that stood out to us this week.
Hooray for More Mobile Ordering at Magic Kingdom
We’re such fans of mobile ordering, because who wants to wait in line, especially when you’re hungry? Magic Kingdom added more restaurants this week to their mobile order roster including Friar’s Nook in Fantasyland, Sunshine Tree Terrace in Adventureland, and Sleepy Hollow Refreshments in Liberty Square. We tried out both Friar’s Nook and Sunshine Tree Terrace and are so pleased that these are now options!
New Monorail Charts
A minor change to hopefully help speed up the loading process, the Monorail Station at Magic Kingdom now has a “loading chart” to help you know where you will be seated once you board the monorail.
Self-Service Drink Stations Are Coming Back
One of the necessary COVID changes was the suspension of self-service drink stations at Disney quick service restaurants. With new CDC guidance about transmission rates on surfaces, Disney has started to reopen self-service drink stations.
Beatrix On Hold
In the saga of will it/won’t it at Disney Springs, it looks like people excited for the opening of Beatrix may need to wait for a while longer, but not totally give up hope. As reported by BlogMickey, the status continues to be “postponed indefinitely”. Here’s how the site looked this week. There’s talk of possibly setting it up as a green space until construction resumes, which would be a wonderful option and in line with the philosophies of Beatrix’s parent company, Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises.
Plastic-Free (and Frustration-Free) Packaging at WDW
There’s nothing like buying a toy for your kid and then needing an entire box of tools to try and get the packaging open. This week we noticed that Disney was starting to sell their signature dolls in plastic-free packaging. Not only do these look great, but they also are so much easier to open — and they’re more eco friendly. Thank you Disney for making a change that’s better for the environment and moms and dads everywhere, too.
More Queue Switchbacks Added to Kilimanjaro Safaris
At least for now, extended queues are here to say. We saw new switchbacks being added out into Africa for the crowds at Kilimanjaro Safaris. Although these are thankfully temporary, it certainly does seem to hint that Disney may be expecting larger crowds for the summer season.
What do you think of this week’s changes at Walt Disney World? Let us know in the comments!
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