There have been some important updates from Disney World and the Walt Disney Company in general lately.

Genie+ has been modified in a way that’s important for you to know about, a new snack spot/coffee shop has opened, and travel troubles have impacted many across the U.S. So, pull up a chair and join us in this week’s Disney news roundup!

A NEW Coffee Shop Opens

If you love coffee and sweet treats, there’s a new Disney World spot you’ll want to check out. Carousel Coffee opened recently at Disney’s BoardWalk Inn!

This is a small quick-service restaurant that serves up specialty coffee drinks, sweet breakfast/dessert treats, and other goodies that you can quickly grab ahead of an exciting day in the parks.

For our first trip to this spot, we grabbed the NJ Crumb Cake, a Crunchy Raspberry Danish, the Vintage Mickey Sugar Cookie, a Cinnamon Bun Frozen Blended Coffee, and more.

Click here for our FULL review of the new coffee shop!

Genie+ Change

Since Genie+ was introduced, it has undergone many changes and now another change has hit the system. This particular change has to do with the complex “120-minute rule.”

The key takeaway from the change is that modifying your Lightning Lane selection (rather than canceling it and making a brand new one) may be the best way to alter your selections when your plans change. Why? Well, if you modify your Genie+ selections, your 2-hour window to wait to book the next Lightning Lane remains the same. If you cancel your original Lightning Lane, however, that 2-hour window resets.

Let’s say you wake up early (at 7AM) to book a Lightning Lane and grab a return time for Test Track at 6:15PM. You don’t have to wait until you hop on the ride later in the day to select your next Lightning Lane. Instead, 2 hours after the park opens (in this case, that would be 11AM), you’ll be able to pick another one. If you change your mind about Test Track and modify it to a different time/ride, your 2-hour window stays at 11AM (so you’ll be able to pick another Lightning Lane at 11AM).

But if you cancel and make a new selection, your 2-hour window resets. If you cancel and make a new selection at, say, 9:30AM, that means your 2-hour window wouldn’t open up until 11:30AM — 30 minutes later than your original 2-hour window.

The core thing to know here is that by modifying and keeping that same 2-hour window in place from before (rather than canceling and making a new selection), you may save yourself from having to wait additional time to book your next Genie+ selection.

Confused yet? Click here to read our FULL POST on this CHANGE and why it could help you

More Food News

Aside from the opening of Carousel Coffee, we got some more food news this week from Disney.

First, some NEW treats are coming to the Disney World resorts for New Year’s Eve! There will be unique drinks, desserts, and New Year’s Eve meals to check out. There will even be a Champagne Beignet! So if you’re visiting Disney World during this time, be sure to check out the FULL LIST here and mark down what you want to try.

Over at Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground, there’s a NEW problem with Trail’s End Restaurant. The restaurant appears to be modifying some hours and will only be operating Thursday-Monday. That could seriously mess with your plans if you had hoped to visit on a Tuesday or Wednesday, so take a close look at your itinerary and make any necessary changes.

And finally, we got the full list of food booths for the 2023 Food & Wine Festival at Disney California Adventure Park (over at Disneyland Resort in California) as well as the full list of food booths for the Lunar New Year celebration in California Adventure.

The Lunar New Year festival runs from January 20th through February 15th. And the Disney California Adventure Food & Wine Festival runs from March 3rd through April 25th. So mark those calendars!

Flight Cancelations & Travel Trouble

If you’ve been traveling this week and have flown with Southwest Airlines, you may have encountered an unfortunate amount of flight cancelations. Southwest Airlines has canceled a staggering amount of flights over the past few days — sometimes well over 60%. The cancelations have been attributed to system issues, staffing problems, the severe winter weather that impacted airports in parts of the U.S., and more.

The CEO of Southwest — Bob Jordan — has since issued a public apology and explained that the airline was doing what it could to return to normal operation.

While things could get back to normal soon, it’s important to know what to do in situations like this, should you ever encounter something similar. So, here is some critical info:

• Click here to see how YOU can be compensated for flight delays or cancelations
• Check out Disney’s hotel, dining, and ticket cancelation policies so you know what could happen to the Disney plans you had in place
• Lost your luggage while traveling? Here’s what to do next

We’ll continue to keep an eye out for more travel delays or other issues you could experience so you know what to expect.

MORE!

And finally, we’ve got a roundup of some of the latest and greatest Disney news, rapid-fire style! For more details, click the links below to read the FULL articles on these topics:

• Walt Disney Company Stock Had Its WORST Year Since 1974 
• Disney CEO Bob Iger Could Make HUGE Change, Reversing Chapek Decision
• $1 BILLION Expansion Coming to a Hotel Near Disney World
• Get a sneak peek INSIDE the TRON ride in Magic Kingdom
• Important rule added to Disneyland website

• How Park Pass Reservations Are Keeping Disneyland From “Closing the Gates”
• NEWS: Small FIRE Confirmed By Cast Members at Disneyland Resort 
• A random date in 2023 sold out, became available again, and sold out again — availability could continue to change! Click here to see what you need to know
• Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster will be closing soon for a lengthy refurbishment

And that’s it for this week’s news! But wait…hold up for a sec! Before you plan your next trip to Disney World, check out our DFB Guide Everything Bundle here.

You will get ALL of our best-selling eBooks with details on Disney World Dining, EPCOT Festivals, the BEST snacks in each park, and soooooo many tips and tricks we’ve learned over decades of visiting our happy place. 

Get the guides here!

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Are you visiting Disney World soon? Tell us what questions you have in the comments below!

The post Genie+ CHANGES, A NEW Coffee Shop Opens, and MORE Important Disney News You Missed first appeared on the disney food blog.