Surely in 28 short days, nothing wild, major, or important happened in Disney World, right? HA — of course not! As usual, Disney managed to cram a whole lotta news into one short month, and there’s a lot to discuss.
What’s new and exciting?
If you haven’t been keeping up lately, you might be surprised to learn that more character meet and greets are returning to the parks, a new cavalcade debuted this month, and the health and safety guidelines CHANGED once again! And that’s just in Disney World. Over in Disneyland, we got some exciting news on the entertainment front that has us seriously considering a trip to California; who’s in? As you can see, there’s a lot to catch up on, so let’s discuss seven new things we found out in February!
1. Genie+ Changes
This month, we saw TWO big changes to the new FastPass+ replacement known as Disney Genie+. First, Disney changed its system for adding Genie+ to one-day park tickets. According to Disney’s updated language, 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.
Lightning Lane sign at EPCOT’s Frozen Ever After
This means that guests who plan on buying a 1-day park ticket cannot add Genie+ to their ticket ahead of time anymore.
Click here to learn more about this change
In other news, Disney also announced some limited-time changes coming to the Genie+ lineup. From February 25th through August 3rd, three Individual Attraction Selection rides will instead be available with Genie+ (the $15 per day service that includes Lightning Lane access to multiple attractions).
The standby line can get pretty long for these attractions!
Now, guests can reserve a time to use the Lightning Lane to ride Space Mountain, Frozen Ever After, and Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway with Genie+.
Click here to see more about this important Genie+ change!
2. Flower and Garden Festival Updates
The 2022 EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival has officially arrived to Disney World! We started seeing some of the food booths pop up around the World Showcase a couple weeks before the festival began. Not only that, but Disney finally unveiled the menus for this year’s festival, and we made a list of all our must-eats.
His hat lights up!!
Back in January, Disney gave us a little information on the merchandise we could expect this year, but now we got to see the official merchandise in the park! (hint: it involves Figment, Orange Bird, and Spike the bee!)
Click HERE to see ALL of our reviews from this year’s EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival
3. Health and Safety Update
Beginning on February 17th, face masks became optional both indoors and outdoors for fully vaccinated guests. Keep in mind that “Guests who are not fully vaccinated will continue wearing face coverings in all indoor locations.”
Face masks are still required on enclosed Disney transportation
Although face masks are optional in most instances, “Face coverings will still be required by all Guests (ages 2 and up) on enclosed Disney transportation, including Disney buses, monorails, and Disney Skyliner.” This is the first time Disney has updated its policy since 2021. Prior to the change, face maks were required in all indoor locations. We will continue to keep you updated with the latest health and safety guidelines.
Click HERE to learn more about this important change
4. Moonlight Magic is Returning
We’ve got some GREAT news for Disney Vacation Club members! Moonlight Magic events are RETURNING in 2022! We haven’t had a Moonlight Magic event since 2020, so it’s been a veryyyy long time.
Moonlight Magic has been paused for a LONG time!
Disney has released information on upcoming Moonlight Magic events in three Disney parks: Disney’s Hollywood Studios, EPCOT, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom. If any more events are announced, we’ll let you know! For now, though, you might want to HURRY and book those dates ASAP; they tend to fill up quickly.
Click HERE to learn more about ALL the upcoming Moonlight Magic events in 2022
5. Festival of Fantasy Update
We already knew that Disney’s Festival of Fantasy parade is returning to the Magic Kingdom in March, but now we know WHEN the parade will run each day. Thanks to a little digging around on the My Disney Experience app, we found out that the showtimes were revealed for the Festival of Fantasy parade!
Festival of Fantasy is returning soon!
The parade will run twice daily. From March 9th-March 12th, the parade will begin at 11:30AM and 2:30PM. Right after that, starting on March 13th, the parade will start at 12PM and 3PM.
Click HERE to learn more about the parade schedule
6. Salt & Straw Update
In January, we found out that Salt & Straw will open in March of 2022, and now we found some job listings posted on Indeed.com! If you’re unfamiliar with the name, Salt & Straw is an ice cream shop that sells both classic ice cream flavors and some unique ice cream. There is a location in Downtown Disney in California, and (soon) a location in Disney Springs!
Salt & Straw is open in Disneyland, too!
According to Indeed, Salt & Straw is looking for Ice Cream Scoopers and a Shift Leader at the new Disney Springs location in Disney World. This is good news for those of us looking forward to trying something new in Disney World!
Click HERE to learn more about this update
7. Ticket PriceUpdate
We’ve seen a LOT of price increases in Disney World, but this price increase isn’t quite as black and white. We did a little investigating and noticed that some Disney World park tickets have now increased in price. Keep in mind that the price of a Disney World park ticket changes depending on the expected demand for that date, so there’s no flat fee across the board, which makes it a little harder to decipher price changes.
We’ve been keeping our eyes on the price of park tickets
Based on what we’ve noticed, it looks like 4-day park tickets have increased from $105 per day to $106 per day, and other park tickets appear to have increased in price as well. There’s a LOT more to discuss with this small update, so be sure to check out this post for more information on the change.
Click HERE to learn more about the current Disney World ticket prices
8. We Boarded the Star Wars Hotel
This month, we were invited to a media event to preview the brand new Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser! This is a 2-night adventure that got a LOT of attention when its pricing was revealed back in 2021, and we learned a lot about the food (including the infamous blue shrimp), the missions, the characters, trips to Batuu, and so much more.
Galactic Starcruiser
We’ve compiled TONS of posts about our experience on the Starcruiser, so be sure to check those out!
Click here for the ULTIMATE Guide to Disney World’s Star Wars Hotel
That wraps up ALL the changes and updates in Disney World from February! Be sure to stay tuned as we continue to share more Disney news!
You Asked For It. Our FULL Thoughts on BLUE Shrimp at the Star Wars Hotel in Disney World
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The post 8 NEW Things We Learned in Disney World in February first appeared on the disney food blog.