NEW WDW EXPERIENCES

We recently went on a trip and this was the first trip in 7 years we were able to visit - so there was a lot of new this trip and that’s what I want to write about today.  I’m going to highlight new experiences, new eats etc in this entry, but I will hopefully have a full trip report out in the not too distant future, so that I’m actually able to remember all the little details of our vacation.


There are two kinds of newness that I’m going to speak about - firstly things that aren’t necessarily new to the park, but were new to me because I had never done them or experienced them and second actual new things as deemed new because of their age to the parks or they are still new in standards amongst the Disney community.


I’m going to start with Magic Kingdom - because, really is there any better place to start?

For Non-New New Things:

For New New Things:

I got to experience Tron - I managed to secure boarding group 143 from the 1pm drop that day and the group ended up being called at like 8ish in the night.  I was in the park by myself at the time, the rest of my family having taken a Minnie Van a bit earlier back to Art of Animation.  I thought the coaster was wonderful.  The queue is immersive and the whole attraction at night is stunning and a lovely addition to Tomorrowland - quite possibly the most Tomorrow-like thing in the entire land.  People complain that the coaster itself is too short or a run time - with the actual coaster element of the experience lasting a mere 60 seconds - and maybe it's my age, but I felt like the duration of the coaster experience was just enough of a thrill to make me really enjoy the experience. Can’t say I was a fan of the ride vehicle, and maybe I wasn’t positioned as well as I could have been on my lightcycle, but I was definitely not comfortable, so very glad the experience wasn’t longer. 


Next, let’s jump over to Epcot where we didn’t actually experience any non new new things but we did get to experience 2 new new things and those were Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure & Guardians of the Galaxy.

Let’s start with Remy - which wasn’t 100% new for me, because I had previously experienced this in Disneyland Paris, but the extension of the France Pavilion for me was a pleasant surprise and I thought it beautiful and really well done.  The ride itself was just as I remembered, I love the trackless technology and I love this experience as it goes from immersive, themed room to giant 3D screen - I find that rides that have this technology similar to the Hogwarts and the Gringotts Harry Potter attractions over at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure are just amazing, I love them and I think they make for fun, not overly thrilling experiences but very memorable ones that everyone in your family can experience.  


Guardians was quite the experience.  I messed up getting a queue or a LL our first Epcot day, but was able to get LL’s for our second Epcot day for $15 each (thank goodness, because this was also our last park day for the trip).  I like that there are so many rooms to pass through and keep guests entertained while waiting, but they’re a bit boring.  There’s a lot of story that to me, as a non-Marvel, non Guardians fan finds boring - like being in a lecture you really don’t want to be sitting in.  The coaster itself was AMAZING - my father and 4 year old didn’t like it all, but I thought the technology of this coaster was unlike anything I had ever experienced.  We had Tears for Fears Rule the World as our song and wow, this coaster is really a 360 degree world wind.  I was very impressed, but sad I only had the one chance to experience it.  

Didn’t really love the gift shop either - feel like so much more could be going on with it, even the merchandise on offer isn’t at all that impressive.  I was hoping to make a couple purchases of some cool Marvel merch for the home, but nothing really peaked my interest.  


The Flower & Garden festival was also new for us this trip.  We’ve only ever been able to attend the Food & Wine Festival and Festival of the Holidays in the past.  I was gobsmacked by the beauty of the flower arrangements, gardens and topiaries.  They really are unbelievable, and its even more impressive to see them in person.  I was happy for the food booths and that there were items to snack on and beverages, both alcoholic and non to purchase.  Everything is garden or farm forward, which makes sense for a flower and garden festival, but even though we were able to have some very delicious items that we shared throughout our 2 visits to the festival this trip the food options and beverages are nothing to get excited about in comparison to the Food and Wine Festival which will be held later this year.  


Over at Hollywood Studios - there was a lot that was New for us - because we had yet to experience either Galaxy’s Edge or Toy Story Land.  

Let’s start with Galaxy’s Edge - we walked right on to Rise of the Resistance at Rope Drop and my anticipation level at this point was off the charts - but I was let down.  While I think the experience as a whole great and very immersive, I wasn’t as wowed with the actual ride portion of the attraction as I would have liked.  The most impressive part for me was that room with all the StormTroopers as you’re being transported as prisoners from your ship to theirs.    The experience itself is a bit too all over the place for me, in that there is way too much story going on for a middle of the road Star Wars fan to follow.  Once again, I do love the trackless technology and I was very impressed with the attraction because I’ve never experienced anything like it, but it's a bit all over the place and the story is just too long and too dragged on for my liking.  


Smugglers Run on the other hand was a very pleasant experience and I prefer this over Rise (and I know I can’t be the only one).  I love that this one is interactive, and really interactive because the experience is dependent on how well everyone in your ship is able to fulfill their jobs of pilots, gunners and engineers.  So we were able to do this attraction twice back to back - even after doing Rise once at rope drop - that’s how low the crowds were when we were there.  The first time I was a pilot and the second time I was an engineer.  The pilot experience was way better and way more interactive and I loved the pilot position - I think maybe being a gunner wouldn’t be too bad either - but definitely so much of what makes the experience worthwhile is being a pilot and how the pilot commands the Millenium Falcon.  Overall a great experience that I’m glad we got to do twice. 


Overall Galaxy’s Edge as a land was way larger than I ever imagined it to be and it is just amazing - the mountains, the shops, the ships and droids scattered throughout the land - I was very impressed and you literally do feel like you are elsewhere in an otherworldly galaxy.  We tried Green Milk, which I actually liked, but wouldn’t rush to drink on every trip - the flavour was icy, but coconutty and it was very refreshing for the hot day we had.  We had lunch that day at Docking Bay 7 and the food was delicious and great value for portion size - we had the Chicken Tip Yip and the Batuuan Beef and I would recommend both although the Beef dish was definitely superior in complexity and flavours.  I wish we would have had time to sample a few more of the dishes from this location - but there will always be next time. 


Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway was another new attraction for us and as much as I loved The Great Movie Ride, I was pleasantly surprised with this attraction.  It’s not the greatest thing ever, but it was a nice change that I’m happy to see.  Also, very glad that there is finally an attraction that is Mickey and Minnie focused - after all this time, what were they thinking?  The attraction is super cute, I think it's done really well.   I don’t think it's something I would need to go on every single trip, but I did enjoy it and I think it's really well done - plus “nothing can stop us now” - it's catchy and overall I think the attraction is a big welcome to a park that is really lacking in attractions.    


In Animal Kingdom - Pandora was totally new for us.  I thought the land itself was really well done, but smaller than expected.  I don’t know the square footage, but it seems to be about the same size as Toy Story Land, which I also found small.  Besides being a smaller area, I thought the attention to detail and the landscape -  just very amazing and jaw dropping.  A bit sad that I didn’t have the chance to see the land in the nighttime with all the bioluminescence that people talk about - so that experience will need to be reserved for a future trip.  As for Pandora’s 2 main attractions, Naavi River Journey was certainly beautiful to ride through, but a bit boring and Flight of Passage - which I purchased a $13 ILL for was well done, but I wasn’t as impressed as I thought I was going to be.  I liked that I could feel the banshee breathing or his pulsing between my legs as I rode, that definitely added to the immersiveness of the experience.  Like the river journey, a beautifully done attraction, very well done.  But not something would ever feel the need to pay for or wait for more than 30-40 minutes in line for (depending on the time of year).  

We were able to eat at Satuuli Canteen, which I really excited to try.  This place is very guarded, lots of cast members standing around not letting you walk this way or that way - and they’re also encouraging you to use mobile order (which I’ll write more about in a moment) - we got the chimichurri braised beef -which was delicious, but the slaw as the side was not - way too much vinegar and we also got the Cheeseburger Steamed Pods which I loved - they taste just like a McDonalds Cheeseburger.


That’s as many new things I can remember within the parks - now let's touch on other new things around the resort that were new to us.


Mobile Ordering which I just mentioned is a great feature - if you’re on a dining plan or if you’re an American with an American debit card.  For a foreigner like myself - I don’t want to put charges on my Credit Card and rack up international charges and fees and the process of using a gift card on the My Disney Experience App is just not worth my time, I would rather use that time to stand in line and order the old fashioned way.  What I like to do when we’re at Disney is load a gift card with a bunch of cash that I had previously converted prior to travel and use this to pay for things as needed as we tour the parks - too hard to pay with a gift card via the app and I really wish they would work this into the system because it would mean the world to many foreign travelers I’m sure. 


The skyliner was new for us and we were staying at Art of Animation right on the skyliner line and I absolutely loved the Skyliner for going back and forth to Epcot and Hollywood Studios.  There was one night after Luminous at Epcot that the line for the Skyliner was halfway along the bridge back to Yacht and Beach Clubs - I wasn’t impressed with that.  We never had this issue coming home from Hollywood Studios and that was after 2 Fantasmic nights - so not sure what the Epcot situation is.  I get that 4 very large resorts are attempting to use this one method of transportation and its more overwhelming of a system to person ratio that bus transportation, but I really love not having to fold the stroller and I love that its constant - the cars just keep on coming, meaning that even though the wait time may seem daunting once you look at it, I think you’ll be back home sooner than you think - especially if you’re at Caribbean - the wait to Riviera from Hollywood is a bit of a wait and the wait from Caribbean to AoA or Pop in the nights was a bit overwhelming as well, but like I said - always moving.  I also love that there is a Joffrey’s at Caribbean Beach - this is heaven!  


We dined at Artist Point at Storybook Dining over at the Wilderness Lodge and the food was so so so good.  Very delicious.  I loved the atmosphere and the decor of the restaurant.  The character interactions were superb, especially the Evil Queen - she was absolutely amazing with my son who was very anti-Queen prior to arriving at the restaurant, but he had a good time.  While the overall experience was quite pricey, I would recommend it and I would definitely return to eat here again in the future.  


Probably the biggest new thing for us was that there are no more fast passes and we had to get onboard with genie plus if we wanted to maximize our time.   Remember it's been 7 years since we last visited.  We purchased  genie+ each of our park days - usually for multiple parks (even though we didn't always hop, but to me I wanted to be better safe than sorry).  Our most expensive day was $29 and our lowest day - which was maybe the only day we bought only 1 park was $18. So costly indeed, but very worth it.  I'm so glad I watched a ton of vlogs on how to benefit and use and maximize genie plus selections to our advantage.  Almost every day we were able to rope drop a headliner and or two and then we would go from there.  Our first genie was always booked by 7am, and then we were always able to proceed with booking the next 2 hrs after park opening. We used both the strategy of booking rides closest to us at any given point and the strategy of stacking for the evening. Everything was pretty seemless and I'm so glad that you're able to modify your arrival windows, this made. A huge difference and I actually find the genie very beneficial and worth the price.  I would totally recommended it.  Keep in mind though, we were at the parks during a mid crowd level time and may not have been so successful with attractions had it been a busier season, because this was our first time around with genie and there is definitely some trial and error to go through when you're using it for the time first time.  But …by day 2 …at least halfway through the second day, I was very comfortable using the app.  


I mentioned we stayed at AoA which was another first for us - I really loved the Cars section which is where we were and I don’t think I would have wanted to stay in another section.  My son really loved the Cozy Cone motel atmosphere and he absolutely loved the pool and the Cone Cabanas which we were able to use 2 out of 3 pool days.  


No more free magic bands sucks - I know they’re not necessary, but I feel more Disney when I have a band on.  So I bought bands for myself and my son, hoping that the band system doesn’t change from the plus system, we’ll be good for a few years at least.  


I don’t like that there’s no more Magical Express either - but I guess that’s a gripe from everyone.  We arrived in Disney from a Royal Caribbean cruise, so we came by private hire car, but on the way back to the airport after our trip we took Mears - it's not that expensive and it was clean and safe and the driver was a delight but I really miss the Disney immersion of being on the Magical Express all the way back to the airport .  


All in all, another successful Disney trip, even though I didn’t get to do everything that I had wanted.  We had a couple personal family hiccups on this trip which I will touch on in detail in my Post Trip report coming up a bit later this month - but all in all, I was glad to have been back after being away for so long.  Disney World really is home and boy did I miss it.  


Thanks for reading and remember to tell your friends about Mousekathings, I’d really appreciate it.  Also, follow us on Instagram @ mousekathings and email us at mousekatings@gmail.com.  Thanks & have a magical day or night friends - until next time - bye bye!


-Written May 2024