Walt Disney himself was a huge fan of change. He enjoyed talking about change for the sake of progress — and we’ve got a lot of construction wall quotes around Disney World to remind us of that.

Walt saw the Disney Parks as living experiences; to keep up with the changing times, he expected the parks to adapt and grow to stay relevant. But 2021 has been *quite* the year for Disney changes. And some changes really took us off guard, for better or for worse.

A good chunk of the changes we’ve seen take place throughout 2021 has been a direct result of the 2020 shutdown and reopening. Safety measures and new rules took root to protect guests while also restoring that Disney “magic” many missed dearly. (We speak from personal experience, of course.)

So, although there have been so many Disney World changes as of late, we’re going to focus more on the BIG changes that happened in 2021 as a direct result of post-shutdown.

How the 10 Biggest Disney World Changes of the Year Will Impact Your Next Trip

Mask Mandates And Social Distancing Lifted While Park Pass Reservations Remain

Disney World closed its doors to the public starting on March 15, 2020, and stayed closed until their phased reopening in July 2020 — Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom reopened on July 11, while Disney’s Hollywood Studios and EPCOT reopened on July 15.

But Disney World wasn’t the same. Upon reopening, face masks were required for all cast members and guests 2 and older.

Social distancing was also mandatory. Rides, attractions, and quick service locations with queues had social distancing markers to help guests remain 6 feet apart from other guests who were not part of their travel party. Any guest that visited during these times will likely have fond (or not-so-fond) memories of doing the awkward “keep yo distance” shuffle in line to not bump into other guests’ zone!

Further, Disney rides enforced social distancing by only seating guests in every other row of rides. Plexiglass barriers were also placed on rides and in queue lines for extra cautionary measures.

Many of these safety protocols have been scaled back since the initial reopening, but with the COVID variants of Delta and now Omicron, we’re still keeping a lookout for if these guidelines could potentially return.

NEWS: New Face Mask Rules Announced for Universal Orlando

To help regulate the flow of the crowds — and manage and monitor park capacity, Disney also implemented a park pass reservation system. Now, after purchasing your Disney park pass, you’d be required to make a reservation for the day you were wanting to visit.

If you tried to make a reservation on a day that was already booked up, you’d have to try booking one for a later date. But, even if you’d purchased a ticket beforehand, you wouldn’t be allowed park entry unless you made a reservation.

Nearly a year later — on June 15, 2021 — the mask mandate was lifted for fully vaccinated guests EXCEPT while riding Disney transportation (ie: Skyliner, buses, and Monorail). However, on July 30th, 2021, after the CDC updated its guidance suggesting that masks be worn indoors by everyone, Disney World once more began requiring masks indoors.

Social distancing measures were also relaxed. We began seeing every row for rides filled and the plexiglass barriers started to disappear — though they still remain at many guest services locations.

Instead of 6 feet social distancing, Disney was given the all-clear to reduce the distancing. The seemingly mile-long queues that extended WELL past the entrance of rides (due to the forced spacing) were no more, for the most part!

That being said, not *everything* started to trickle back to the way it once was. Today, guests are still required to make a park pass reservation after they’ve purchased a park ticket. Park pass reservations will remain in effect into 2022.

Click HERE for a step-by-step guide to make a Disney World park pass reservation!

Hotels, Restaurants, And Shows Reopen

Despite Disney reopening last year, we were still missing a good chunk of what made these parks our “happy places.” A selection of experiences remained closed or were limited/modified for guest safety.

But in 2021, we watched these experiences start to return. Happily Ever After and EPCOT Forever came back to dazzle guests with their nighttime fireworks spectacular on July 1 — just in time for Fourth of July! But these celebrations were only around until October 1. Then, they were replaced with ALL new fireworks shows for Disney World’s 50th Anniversary celebration!

On May 8, we got to see A Festival of the Lion King return to Disney’s Animal Kingdom — in a modified way. Now, it’s been renamed to A Celebration of The Festival of the Lion King to illustrate that this isn’t the full version of the show. That being said, the cast members and larger-than-life Lion king puppets are just as entertaining and talented as ever.

On August 15th, Beauty and the Beast — Live On Stage returned to Hollywood Studios at the Theater of the Stars. And December saw the return of the Indiana Jones Stunt Show.

Pre-shows for rides also started popping back up! Now, we can hack into the computer systems with Dr. Seeker over at Dinosaur!, experience the Stretching Room alongside the Ghost Host in Haunted Mansion, design our own cars to race in Test Track, plus so many other experiences we didn’t realize we’d miss so much until they were gone.

Almost every Disney resort is also back up and running, except for Disney’s All-Star Sports — that reopening has been delayed and won’t reopen until Spring 2022.

Some of our favorite restaurants are back-in-business, too! We were thrilled to return to ‘Ohana over at Disney’s Polynesian Village on July 9 and taste those yummy ‘Ohana Noodles again. (We were worried we may never see them again… )

Sebastian’s Bistro, over at Disney’s Caribbean Beach, and Cape May Café, over at Disney’s Beach Club, reopened with Prix-fixed menus that still feature tasty classics.

And let’s not forget the reopening of Casey’s Corner at the Magic Kingdom on June 30! (We sure can’t forget. Oh, corn dog nuggies, how we missed you SO!)

And and AND we got to see The Plaza Ice Cream Parlor open back up in the Magic Kingdom too! On July 7, we reacquainted ourselves with that sweet and delicious ice cream. (And peanut butter sauce! Mmmm…)

The 10 Biggest Changes Coming to Disney World in 2022

Extra Magic Hours Returning (Sort Of) and Disney Genie

Before the shutdown, Disney World parks had a little thing called Extra Magic Hours.

On select days for select parks, Disney Resort guests could either enter the parks an hour earlier or stay in the parks typically two hours later for no extra cost. Upon reopening, however, those benefits were suspended.

Disney brought back early theme park access for resort guests starting on October 1. (But it’s different this time ’round.)

If you’re staying at a Disney Resort, you’ll be able to enter ANY of the parks 30 minutes before the parks open. The downside? Disney has cut down the time! We used to be able to enter and knock out at least two big-ticket attractions before the crowds rolled in during that early hour.

The upside? This resort benefit isn’t for select days at select parks. You’ll be able to enter 30 minutes early to ANY park whenever you’d like. (Of course, this is subject to change depending on circumstances, but that’s the main gist.)

But what about extended after-hours? Disney’s brought these back, too — but they’re way more limited than they used to be.

If you want to stay at a Disney park after it’s closed, be aware that:

1. These extended hours will be predetermined just like the old system. (Select days for select parks)
2. Only those staying in the Deluxe Resorts or Villas will receive access to these extended hours.

We’re not going to lie, folks. This was was a bit of a shock (but also…not really). We’ve been seeing Disney do this a lot recently. In general, it seems like the more guests are willing to spend at the parks and resorts, the more benefits they receive. And that’s understandable for the most part. If you want to spend more money to stay in a Deluxe Resort, then by all means do it!

However, experiences that used to be free are starting to become “paid benefits” instead of “nice included perks” for Disney guests. (We’re looking at you, resort parking.) So now, we’re going to talk about Disney Genie, Disney Genie+, and Individual Attraction Selection — and this was probably the biggest change at Disney World we’ve seen! These are the programs that have essentially replaced the old FastPass, and yes, you have to pay for that FastPass (now called Lightning Lane) access now.

Disney Genie is a planning tool in the My Disney Experience app that helps you organize your daily itinerary at Disney World (more about how to use it here). However, Disney Genie+ is a service you pay an upcharge for ($15 per day at Disney World) that lets you book Lightning Lane access to certain rides. But that daily charge doesn’t include ALL rides, because some of the more popular rides use the Individual Attraction Selection feature of Genie, which carries a separate cost per ride (with a max of two per day, per person), and that cost can vary.

It’s can seem a bit confusing or overwhelming, but we’re here to help you out and we’ve done our best to break it down for you, so be sure to check that out! And as we said, this was the biggest change of the year, if not the decade, so there’s still a lot to process here!

Check out the most expensive things in Disney World that are still worth doing HERE!

These big Disney changes may have even taken Walt Disney off-guard. But, as we’ve quoted from the man himself time and time again, “We keep moving forward…” And as we do, we’ll keep you posted on all of the changes so you can be prepared for your next Disney World vacation!

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What Disney World change shocked you the most this year? Let us know in the comments below!

The post The 3 BIGGEST Changes That Happened to Disney World In 2021 first appeared on the disney food blog.