Are you sitting down? No? Okay, well grab a seat and a blanket and get comfy, we’ve got a WHOLE BUNCH of big Disney news to share with you!

From ALL the details about Disney World’s newest experience (the Star Wars Hotel) to Disney Genie+ changes you need to know about ahead of your next trip, there’s a lot to get through. So buckle up. Right now we’re talking a look at the most important Disney news from the week that you can’t miss out on.

1 — Star Wars Hotel

The Star Wars Hotel (Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser) will officially open in just a few days, but recently we were lucky enough to get a FULL look at this hotel during a media preview event. YES. We went “into Space,” tried the blue shrimp, trained with lightsabers, and more!

We tried our best to experience as much of the Star Wars hotel as possible so we could give you a comprehensive look inside and answer your questions about this experience.

Want to know about the food at the Star Wars Hotel?

• Click here for our FULL review of the Captain’s Table experience
• See what to get (or AVOID) for breakfast at the Star Wars Hotel
• Click here to check out everything on the lunch menu in the Star Wars Hotel
• Get a full review of dinner on night 1 at the Star Wars Hotel

• Wait…dinner on night 2 is DIFFERENT?! It is! Click here to see our full review of dinner on the second night at the Star Wars Hotel
• It’s hereeee…check out all of our thoughts on the BLUE SHRIMP(!!)
• See why space snacks look awfully familiar at this hotel
• See where some of the best food is HIDING at the Star Wars Hotel

But wait…there’s more!

• Want to learn about the fireworks in space? Click here!
• Get a FULL room tour for the Star Wars Hotel (and see as we dispel some of the myths about the rooms there)
• Check out all of the exclusive merchandise you can get at the Star Wars Hotel
• Learn about what is included if you step off the hotel and go on that excursion to Batuu
• Click here to see the only complete guide to the Star Wars Hotel you’ll ever need!

There is a LOT to know about when it comes to the Star Wars hotel and we’re working on providing you with answers to all of your questions! Check out our video below for more info!

If you have questions that aren’t answered by our posts, be sure to leave us a comment so we can get that answered. We can’t wait to hear your thoughts on this unique experience.

Click here for our ultimate guide to the Star Wars Hotel!

2 — Genie+ Changes

In more big news, we saw 2 important changes when it comes to Disney Genie+ (the paid service that has replaced FastPass+ in the parks).

For starters, Disney has made a change when it comes to adding Genie+ to 1-day tickets. It’s a tiny word change, but it can make a big difference in your plans. According to Disney, guests who want to buy Genie+ for single-day use must now purchase the service through the My Disney Experience app on the same day of their visit. Click here to see more about this change.

In addition to that 1-day ticket change, Disney has also announced some limited-time changes coming to its lineup of rides that are available through Genie+ (the general $15 per day service) versus Individual Attraction Selection (the accompanying service that allows you to buy access to Lightning Lanes for select individual rides).

For a limited time starting today and ending in early August, 3 popular rides that are normally only available through Individual Attraction Selection will change to being available through the regular Disney Genie+ service. Specifically, the rides impacted will be Space Mountain, Frozen Ever After, and Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway.

Click here to see more about this important Genie+ change!

3 — Flower and Garden Festival Menus & More

The EPCOT International Festival of the Arts is officially over for 2022, and we’re just days away from welcoming the EPCOT International Flower and Garden Festival! We’ve already started to see a number of topiaries and booths show up in the park for the festival, but this week we got even more exciting news!

First up, this week we got the FULL list of items that will be available as part of the Garden Graze challenge in EPCOT. Eat these 5 foods and you’ll get a FREE prize.

We also got the FULL menus for all of the food booths coming to the Flower and Garden Festival! From returning favorites to new treats, there will be a whole bunch of deliciousness to enjoy at this year’s Festival!

We also recently got a sneak peek at the 5 merchandise collections coming to the Festival! Figment fans — get ready!

The Flower and Garden Festival starts on March 2nd and we’ll be there on opening day to bring you FULL booth reviews and more. Be sure to check back with us for all of those details.

Click here to see the FULL menus for the Flower and Garden Festival!

4 — Lots of Disneyland News!

But Disney World isn’t the only one with big news stories this week. We also got all kinds of updates from Disneyland! If you simply cannot wait for the return of nighttime shows at Disneyland, you’ll be glad to know that dates have been announced for the official return of various nighttime shows at Disneyland, including the Main Street Electrical Parade, the Disneyland Forever Fireworks, and Fantasmic!.

Plus, we got a peek at a NEW float coming to the Main Street Electrical Parade and it’s got some amazing characters on it (including characters from Encanto!).

In other great Disneyland news, parking trams are BACK at the resort, so you can give those feet a rest ahead of or after a long day!

And finally, in exciting news, the FULL menus for the Disney California Adventure Food and Wine Festival have been announced.

This Festival begins on March 4th and we’ll be there to check it all out for you and bring you full reviews. Be sure to check back with us for all the latest details!

Click here to see the MENUS for the DCA Food and Wine Festival!

That’s our wrap-up of the biggest stories from this week, but we’ve got even MORE to share. Check out those stories by clicking the links below:

• Thunder Mountain has reopened in Disney World (after closing for a brief refurbishment)
• See how to navigate Disney World during a SOLD OUT holiday weekend
• Anna and Elsa are now meeting in the Royal Sommerhus again in EPCOT
• Disney is FINALLY selling themed scented candles (and you’re gonna want ALL of them!)

• What’s going on with the Citrus Swirl in Magic Kingdom? We have an update
• New Annual Passholder magnets are coming and Disney is going to use a virtual queue for them
• See registration dates and prices for some upcoming runDisney races, including some races in 2023!
• You should probably AVOID Magic Kingdom on one day in May — here’s why
• Showtimes have been announced for the return of the Festival of Fantasy Parade in Disney World

And that’s it for Disney news this week. We’ll keep an eye out for more updates and share those all with you.

Hong Kong Disneyland has extended its closure — click here to see more!

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When will you be visiting Disney World next? Tell us in the comments!

Disclosure: In nearly all circumstances, Disney Food Blog writers and photographers pay full price for their own travel, hotel, food, beverage, and event tickets. We do this because it’s important to us as journalists to ensure not only that we give you unbiased opinions, but also that you can trust us to do so since we’re paying our own way. On rare occasions, when we are invited by a company to attend a preview as media, and when we choose to accept that invitation, we will always make you, our readers, aware of that situation. Recently, we were invited by Disney World to attend their media preview of Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser. Note that when we attend events as media we are 1) Not required to review that event/food on any of our channels, and 2) Not required to review that event/food favorably. You can always count on DFB to give you a 100% unbiased and honest review of any event that we attend, food that we eat, or beverage that we drink. You can see more in our Disclosure Policy. Thank you for reading. — AJ

The post 4 HUGE Disney Updates You Need to Know About Before Your Next Trip first appeared on the disney food blog.