Whew, it’s been a busy month in Disney World!
Magic Kingdom!
From the booth announcements for the 2022 EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival to the coming opening of 2023 Walt Disney World vacation bookings, we’ve got a lot coming at us. But, there’s some news we DIDN’T see coming! Here are the three most unexpected things that happened at Disney World last month!
Genie+ Changes
Around mid-month, Disney announced a few little updates to the Genie+ service that certainly surprised us! Genie+ is the resort’s skip-the-line offering that lets guests pay $15 per person per day to skip the lines at many of the attractions in Disney World.
Expedition Everest
The service has seen a few changes since it launched last year but perhaps the BIGGEST was announced this month. Starting on June 8th, you will ONLY be able to buy Disney Genie+ on the DAY OF your visit to the parks. You will no longer be able to buy the service pre-arrival as a ticket add-on for dates remaining in 2022 and in 2023.
Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure
Additionally, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure in EPCOT had an unexpected announced change as well. From May 31st to August 7th, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure will no longer be an Individual Attraction Selection and instead will be an option with Genie+.
Click here to learn more about the Disney Genie CHANGE!
EPCOT Updates
The Remy update wasn’t the only surprise from EPCOT either. In fact, we got one of the first MAJOR EPCOT Transformation updates in a long time! Early in the month, Disney shared a first look at the Moana Journey of Water attraction coming to the park and they revealed the new gardens and festival areas that are coming to World Celebration.
Journey of Water Concept Art © Disney
EPCOT is set to get CommuniCore Plaza and CommuniCore Hall — areas designed with festivals in mind that will host a wide variety of experiences involving food demonstrations, live music, and an art gallery space.
©Disney
Within CommuniCore Hall, there will even be a new permanent character meet and greet location called “Mickey and Friends!” We were pretty happy to be surprised with such big news.
Want to learn more about the new areas? Click here!
Accidental MagicBand+ Release
Finally, the beginning of the month surprised us with an accidental release from Disney. We spotted the new MagicBand+ in stores at the beginning of May — before Disney was ready to release them and the new features were ready.
MagicBand+
The new iteration of MagicBands will feature interactive elements that react with different parts of the theme parks. The bands are set to be released at a later date, so it was certainly a surprise to find them early! When we purchased our band it was $29.99, but remember, prices could change when they are actually released. These bands also look and feel a bit different and can be recharged!
To see more about MagicBand+, click here!
As you can see, there were certainly a few surprises in May! But, hey, Disney World sure does like to keep us on our toes! We’re expecting more news drops in June and we can’t wait to see what the summer has in store in terms of unexpected news drops! As always, keep an eye on DFB so you don’t miss ANY of that surprising news.
And don’t forget that the EPCOT Food and Wine Festival is coming up soon. Check out everything that has been released about the festival for 2022 below!
Click here to learn more about this year’s EPCOT Food and Wine Festival!
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