We got to eat some stuff in SPACE,  y’all.

Yes, we’ve spent time aboard the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser and we ate so much new food, including dinner at the Captain’s Table, some familiar-looking space snacks, breakfast, and more! But now that we’re back here on Earth, we’ve got some updates to share with you from other Disney World restaurants.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Sci-Fi Dine-In

Over at the Sci-Fi Dine-In, the Specialty Character Drink is now made with Minute Maid Zero Sugar Lemonade with flavors of Cotton Candy served in a souvenir Character Cup.

That’s the only change here, though!

Read Our Latest Sci-Fi Dine-In Review

Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano

At Mama Melrose’s, the appetizer Vine-ripened Tomatoes and Fresh Mozzarella increased from $10 to $12.

Also, the Specialty Character Drink is now made with Minute Maid Zero Sugar Lemonade with flavors of Cotton Candy served in a souvenir Character Cup.

Is Mama Melrose’s Just A Disneyfied Olive Garden? Find Out Here

50s Prime Time Cafe

This seems to be a change across the board at Hollywood Studios, but the Specialty Character Drink here is also now made with Minute Maid Zero Sugar Lemonade with flavors of Cotton Candy served in a souvenir Character Cup.

Also, under “Appetizers,” the Crab Cake has been removed from the menu.

Here’s Our Latest Review of 50s Prime Time Cafe

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Tusker House Restaurant

You can drink another beer at Tusker House — New Belgium Fat Tire Lager is now available.

Beer prices at this restaurant are $7.50-$10.25 for draft and $6.75-$11.25 for bottle/can.

Here’s Why Tusker House’s Bottomless Bread Always Gets Us

Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort

El Mercado de Coronado

We’ve got a few price increases to report at El Mercado de Coronado: Kids’ Scramble increased from $10 to $12.50.

And Kids’ Mickey-Shaped Waffles increased from $10 to $13.50.

See Photos of El Mercado de Coronado’s Reopening

Disney’s BoardWalk

Boardwalk Joe’s Marvelous Margaritas

We have a price DECREASE to announce: the Frozen Strawberry Margarita at Boardwalk Joe’s decreased from $16 to $14.

Yes, it does happen!

Check Out The Must-Get Cocktail From Here!

Leaping Horse Libations

There’s another set of changes happening over at Leaping Horse Libations. Here’s what’s been updated:

• Greek Salad Sandwich increased from $9.99 to $10.49
• ADDED: Pepperoni Ciabatta Pizza — served with Chips or Cucumber Salad for $10.99
• ADDED: Cheese Ciabatta Pizza — served with Chips or Cucumber Salad for $10.49
• Mickey Pretzel with Cheese increased from $6.99 to $7.19
• ADDED: New Cocktail Carousel — Absolut Mandrin Vodka and flavors of Coconut and Pineapple blended with Orange Purée for $14
• Strawberry Margarita increased from $15 to $16

Both the Ciabatta Cheese and Ciabatta Pepperoni Pizzas have been added to the Kid’s Meals — both are served with a choice of Small Lowfat Milk or Small DASANI Bottled Water for $7.29.

Check Out The Nachos We Had Here

Those are all the updates we have for this week, but stay tuned for more!

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Did your favorite Disney World restaurant have a menu change? Let us know in the comments!

The post Drink Changes, Price Increases, and More Disney World Menu Updates From the Week first appeared on the disney food blog.

The runDisney Princess Half Marathon Weekend has officially returned to Disney World and there are a lot of runners celebrating!

The events began on Friday morning with the Princess 5K and today marks the end of the weekend, with runners logging 13.1 miles across the resort. The race starts before the sun is even thinking about rising at 5AM in the EPCOT parking lot and runners take to the streets, eventually making their way through Magic Kingdom and back. But, what if you’re NOT running any of the races and come to Disney to find out that, oh no, you’ve booked your vacation on the SAME weekend? Well, let’s take a look at the crowds we’re seeing!

The first thing that you want to keep in mind if you’ll be driving around Disney property during a race weekend is traffic. Disney closes a variety of roads for the race, so getting around is a bit more difficult. In fact, we even received a notification through our My Disney Experience app letting us know that “roadways and parking may be impacted by a runDisney event on Sunday” from 3AM to 1PM and that we should give ourselves extra time to get to our destination.

And, they weren’t wrong! When we drove into Disney this morning, we did notice that traffic was backed up, especially into Magic Kingdom…

…and EPCOT.

So, does the traffic give us any clues into how busy the parks are?

Magic Kingdom

Over in Magic Kingdom, we were surprised at how quiet the park actually was, especially for a Sunday morning. Here’s what it looked like on Main Street, U.S.A. shortly after we arrived.

We even managed to ride about three rides pretty early on with little to no wait time. For example, Pirates of the Caribbean had a 35-minute wait time when we checked in around 10AM.

And, areas of the park that usually are super congested with people were almost EMPTY. Just look at Fantasyland — we could see the ground!

However, around 11:30AM we did start to notice crowds starting to pick up a bit.

The crowds will likely continue to grow throughout the day as runners make their way to the park for photos, so we’ll keep you updated!

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Disney’s Animal Kingdom was also feeling like a ghost town in certain parts of the park this morning!

Most of the rides had little to no wait times (though Flight of Passage and Na’vi River Journey were still upwards of 100+ minutes).

This park tends to be less popular among runners, but we’ll see how crowds look a little bit later into the afternoon!

EPCOT

And, what about EPCOT? Crowds were certainly a bit heavier here, as this is where runners end their race. Disney was doing a good job managing the larger groups of people though and had guests who had already purchased tickets walk around the ticketing booths to the entrance.

Once we were around the ticketing booth though, the lines to get into the park weren’t too long.

Inside the park, wait times were a little higher here for some attractions, but it’s not unusual for Test Track to have a wait of over an hour. At around 11AM, it was 65 minutes.

So, what’s the key takeaway here? If you plan on visiting Disney World during a runDisney race weekend, heading to the parks early will likely mean that you face lower crowds — and, if you’re staying at Disney World resort taking advantage of Early Theme Park Entry will be even more of a benefit! Runners tend to be wrapping up their race or relaxing at their hotel during these early morning hours, so you’ll want to take advantage.

We’ll keep checking in with the crowd situation today and updating this post, so check back with us later!

Join the DFB Newsletter to get all the breaking news right in your inbox! Click here to Subscribe!

Have you ever visited Disney World during a runDisney race weekend? Let us know in the comments!

The post PHOTOS: What Are the CROWDS Like in Disney World During the Most POPULAR Race Weekend? first appeared on the disney food blog.

Things are always changing around Walt Disney World, that is for sure!

No one likes to be surprised by an attraction closure or construction at your favorite restaurant! That’s why we’ve rounded up a list of all the construction currently happening around the Disney parks and beyond — to help you be prepared for your next visit!

Magic Kingdom

TRON: Lightcycle Run

We’ve been looking forward to riding this attraction ever since it was first announced back in 2017! Slowly but surely we’re seeing this ride come together! This week, crews were busy securing more of the white material to the canopy structure.

Let’s see if we can get a closer look at the action…

We’re definitely getting closer, people! Disney has yet to share an official opening date for this attraction, so be sure to stay tuned for more updates!

Check Out Everything You Need to Know About the TRON Ride

EPCOT

Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind

There’s not much new to report over at the upcoming Guardians ride in EPCOT, but we did notice something blue at the base of the Novacorps Starblaster, which we hadn’t seen before!

Crews had still been making final touches to the exterior building paint last time we stopped by!

The queue entrance and signage is also being installed! We’ll be keeping an eye on the progress of this new attraction, but for now, you can expect the ride to open in the summer of 2022!

Click Here to See More About the Guardians of the Galaxy Ride

Connections Cafe and Eatery

The lights are on over at what will eventually become Connections Cafe and Eatery in EPCOT! We were able to see them on a recent stroll through the area.

Disney hasn’t shared what kind of fare we can expect from this new restaurant, but you can be sure we’ll update you as soon as we hear something!

Everything You Need to Know About EPCOT’s New Neighborhoods

Moana: Journey of Water

We can’t wait until we’re able to experience this attraction — sure to be unlike any other! According to Disney, guests will be able to “learn about the importance of the natural water cycle.” Last time we stopped by EPCOT, we took a peek when we took a ride on the monorail and saw a LOT of open space…

… and this week we got a REALLY good look at this green scrim!

An opening timeframe has yet to be announced for this attraction, but you can be sure we’ll keep an eye out for every update we can get!

Here’s Everything We Know So Far About Moana: Journey of Water

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Toy Story Mania Gift Shop

We’re seeing some movement over in Disney’s Hollywood Studios at the Toy Story Mania Gift Shop! The doorway has been covered with a brown scrim…

…and there’s a temporary wall now, too!

This is likely making room for the new gift shop coming to Toy Story Land! We will keep you posted as we learn more.

Click here to learn about the NEW thing set to come to Toy Story Land

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Expedition Everest

Sometimes rides need to shut down for scheduled maintenance, which is the case here with Expedition Everest! Most of the maintenance seems to be happening inside the mountain, because we haven’t yet spotted any work being done outside!

We’ve seen the occasional testing of this attraction, but it isn’t scheduled to reopen until mid-April 2022. We will keep an eye out for additional construction!

Disney Resorts

Art of Animation

Over at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, the Splash Pad is closed for refurbishment. 

Luckily there are PLENTY of places to take a swim at this hotel!

Polynesian Resort

We spotted this refurbishment sign last time we stopped by Disney’s Polynesian Resort, but there didn’t seem to be any work going on!

We’ll be keeping an eye out at this resort and will be sure to update you with any more news!

Contemporary Resort

There’s also some construction going on over at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. A temporary wall has been put up in front of Bayview Gifts — but don’t worry, you can still shop!

According to the signs, the “area is being refurbished for your future enjoyment.” We’ll be back to check the progress on this soon!

Well, that’s it for this week’s construction update around Disney World! There’s always a lot going on, so stay tuned to DFB if you want all the latest info!

Check Out How Disney Fans Ranked Every Quick Service Restaurant in EPCOT

Picture it: You’re sitting at a table somewhere or drinking some blue milk when all of a sudden the sound of LOUD alarms fills your ears and red lights start to flash all around you! What would your first instinct be? You’d probably assume that there’s some kind of emergency and you need to evacuate the building you’re in, right? You know the drill — single file, stay calm, no running — elementary school has taught you well. But if you’re in the Star Wars Hotel, your assumptions would be…TOTALLY WRONG.

We are so close to the official opening of the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser (a.k.a. Star Wars Hotel) in Disney World. The long-anticipated, immersive hotel experience officially opens on March 1st, 2022, and we recently got the chance to stay at the hotel during a media preview event. We got the answers to a ton of questions during our journey — like what the food tastes like, what fireworks look like in space, and more. You can read our ultimate guide HERE.

One BIG thing we wondered was how guests would be able to distinguish a REAL hotel emergency (as in, actually-need-to-evacuate-emergency) from a super-secret Resistance mission (which might feel like an “emergency” but isn’t a true problem). This is a critical thing to know in a space that makes you feel like there are emergencies happening around you that are part of the story (but don’t put you in real danger). Luckily, we’ve got all the info you need to know the difference!

When you first arrive at the Star Wars hotel, it can feel like information overload! There is a lot to take in, especially with such an immersive experience. Before being transported into space, you need to watch a safety video!

In this video, the crew goes over two different types of scenarios. In the first scenario, there are loud alarms and red flashing lights with a pre-recorded message inviting you to join in the action. Crew members will guide you to specific areas where you wait for your Star Wars story to begin! You can see an example of how it might look below.

The second scenario featured in the safety video explains what happens in the case of a real emergency. If there is a real emergency during your stay on the Galactic Starcruiser, the bright emergency lights will turn on, and you will hear a pre-recorded message that states, “Attention, an emergency have been reported in this building. This is an actual emergency. This is not a drill or part of the show. Please leave the building immediately.”

Cast Members will drop character if this occurs, since guest and Cast Member safety is the most important thing here! Additionally, there are three loud beeps that come along with the real emergency broadcast. Also in the safety video is information about what to do if you’re not able to safely leave your cabin (hotel room).

There are exterior access portals in each cabin that can be opened by emergency personnel in case of emergencies. How cool is that?!

In the unlikely event this occurs, guests need to call 911 and provide the Emergency Rescue Area Number.

Hopefully, there won’t be any real emergencies onboard the Galactic Starcruiser, but it’s good to know that Disney is prepared and wants you to be prepared, too! For more news and updates about the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel, be sure to stay tuned to DFB!

Read our FULL GUIDE (including reviews, merch, entertainment, and more) to the Star Wars Hotel HERE! 

Do you want to stay aboard the Galactic Starcruiser? Let us know 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. Today, we were invited by Disney World to attend their media preview of the 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 How to Know if There Is a REAL Emergency at the Star Wars Hotel in Disney World first appeared on the disney food blog.