food IS a theme park
Hey, DFB friends! We’re here with a quick update from Disney’s Animal Kingdom!
Tree of Life
The Disney Genie service debuted this week and let’s just say we had a very different experience at Animal Kingdom than we did at other Disney Parks! Let’s discuss.
UPDATE: This technique no longer works to its full extent. To learn about the recent changes to Disney Genie, check out this article.
Whew, Disney Genie has certainly brought us a LOT of news this week.
EPCOT
We’ve been breaking down the free offerings of Genie, the Genie+ Fastpass replacement system, and the not-included Individually Selected Attractions. Add in a bunch of nuanced rules about how the system works and things have gotten pretty complex. You might’ve heard that you can only select one Genie+ Lightning Lane at a time…but that’s not totally true.
Hello from EPCOT!
Spaceship Earth is looking good!
We like to regularly check out what’s going on around all of the Disney World parks so we can keep you updated, so let’s take a look at what’s new in EPCOT!
Both Disney World and Disneyland release awesome holiday merchandise all year, and you can find Christmas merchandise all year in Magic Kingdom at the Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe. But what about Disneyland?
©Disney
Disneyland is adding a brand new holiday shop to Main Street, U.S.A. and it officially opens today! This new store is not just a Christmas shop either, so let’s take a look at what Disney has shared about this shop and everything it has to offer, including a special behind-the-scenes video.
UPDATED July 24, 2024
We’ve spent a lot of time in Disney World playing around with the Genie, Genie+, and pay-per-ride systems.
Lightning Lane
We know how to buy Genie+, how to purchase Individual Attraction Selection (pay-per-ride) reservations, how many rides we can get on using both, and a whole lot more. We’ve already mentioned that you CANNOT cancel or modify a pay-per-ride Lightning Lane reservation. But what about the normal Genie+ Lightning Lane reservations? [Read more…]
For a while now, we’ve been able to say “hello” to Mickey, Minnie, and more Disney pals through distanced photo ops and character cavalcades.
Hey There Mickey!
But, soon character meet-and-greets will be returning to Disney World in a modified way. In October 2021, Disney announced that character meet-and-greets would be coming back with changes. Just what characters will you be able to see in the parks with these modified meet-and-greets? We’ve got a list right here!
Let’s face it. Disney World can get BUSY. One way to skip the lines and ensure that you enjoy all that you want throughout your Disney vacation is to purchase Genie+, the service that replaced FastPass+ in 2021.
©Disney
The Disney Genie service is still unfamiliar to many and can be tricky to use (to say the least). We’ve used the service a LOT over the past two years, and have shared all of our findings with our readers — from our biggest takeaways, to the free aspects of Genie, to how the service affects wait times — even tips on booking for all the members of your party. Now, let’s take a look at how Disney Genie interacts with Park Hopping in Disney World.
Disney Genie has debuted in Disney World and new portions in the My Disney Experience app have appeared in relation to the new service.
Disney Genie Pamphlet
But, some of those changes initially altered the spot where guests could find their Park Pass reservations in the app and look at their future plans. Now, things have changed again and we’re sharing all the updates you need to know.
Disney Genie is live in Disney World, and we’ve been learning a LOT about the new system.
Lightning Lane sign at Kali River Rapids
Now we know how to buy Genie+ and Individual Attraction Selections (pay-per-ride) reservations, and we’ve even found out how many rides we can do in one day using the new tools. We’ve learned that the Lightning Lane reservations for pay-per-ride attractions CAN sell out in Disney World (and some — like Rise of the Resistance in Disney’s Hollywood Studios — often do). But can Lightning Lane reservations sell out for regular Genie+ attractions as well? Let’s find out.
We’re still in the middle of the EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays, but we’re already thinking about our plans for the Festival of the Arts in 2022!
The decorations could be pretty phenomenal.
A while back, Disney announced that the Festival of the Arts will run from January 14th-February 21st, 2022, and you know we’ll be there to experience all the excitement! Since then, Disney has revealed some of the offerings that are returning to the festival, and we’ve got the full list.
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