It’s been a rainy week in Disney World, but that’s not the most surprising news from the week.

Disney has shared big updates, small updates, and even an opening date for a highly anticipated new ride! Find out all the news here!

Character Meet-and-Greets Update

We already knew that traditional character meet-and-greets would be returning to Disney Parks, and this week Disney announced that Mickey and Minnie would be returning to the Adventurers Outpost at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Traditional meet-and-greets will begin phasing back to Disney Parks on April 16th, and that means hugs will be allowed again! Keep following DFB for more updates about this.

Read more about this Animal Kingdom meet-and-greet here!

Finding Nemo Show Update

Back in 2021, Disney announced that the Finding Nemo musical in Animal Kingdom would be reimagined to Finding Nemo: The Big Blue and Beyond, which will include story elements and details from Finding Dory. The original musical did not reopen after Disney World closed in 2020, but this week we got a bit of an update about the new show!

Disney shared this week that the reimagined Finding Nemo musical would be “opening in the coming months,” and we’re excited to find out when that might be! We’ll be watching closely for an official date.

Learn more about the reimagined Finding Nemo musical here!

KiteTails Changes

Another Animal Kingdom experience is also getting some changes! Disney KiteTails, the new daytime kite show, will be getting some big changes soon. Since the show opened on October 1st, 2021, guests could watch The Lion King or The Jungle Book kites during several showtimes at the Discovery River Amphitheater.

Disney announced this week that they will be shifting KiteTails to shorter and more frequent performances, and guests will be able to catch the show from anywhere around the Discovery River Lagoon! We don’t have an official date for these changes yet, so keep checking back for more updates!

Check out the KiteTails changes here!

Festival of the Lion King Update

We’re still in Animal Kingdom! The popular Festival of the Lion King show has been modified since the show reopened, but Disney recently announced that the tumble monkeys would be coming back this summer. But that’s not all!

The birds who dance during “Can You Feel The Love Tonight” will also be coming back! They typically perform a high-flying, acrobatic act, and we can’t wait to see them return! Disney said they will be returning “soon.”

Read more about the Festival of the Lion King updates here!

Be Our Guest Opening Early

As of April 3rd, we noticed that Be Our Guest Restaurant in Magic Kingdom had an earlier opening time of 10AM, compared to their previous opening time of 11AM for lunch. We weren’t totally sure what that might mean, but we discovered that brunch items were added to the menu!

Of course, we had to try some of these brunch dishes, and our server told us that the new menu items are available from 10AM to 12PM. It still costs $62 to choose from the prix fixe menu, but if you want to try brunch make sure you visit during that two-hour window!

Read our review of the Be Our Guest brunch dishes here!

Guardians Opening Date

And finally, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind got an official opening date! This new EPCOT ride will open on May 27th, 2022, and there will be special opportunities for Annual Passholders, Disney Vacation Club Members, and D23 Gold Members to preview the ride before it opens.

EPCOT park reservations have already been filling up for the opening date, so make sure you book sooner than later if you’re hoping to ride Cosmic Rewind as soon as it opens!

Read more about the Cosmic Rewind opening date here!

And that’s all the unexpected news from the week! Keep following DFB for more Disney news, updates, and more!

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What are you most excited about? Tell us in the comments!

The post BIG Opening News and Other Surprising Updates From Disney World This Week! first appeared on the disney food blog.