Dining plan is gone for now. Dining reservations are now at 60 days out. Quick service restaurants highly encourage mobile ordering through the Disney World app.
Hours are pretty similar, the only big difference is that Epcot now opens later. This is due to almost all of Future World being under construction. The rides are still open, but the whole central plaza is behind construction walls.
Remy's Ratatouille Adventure in Epcot uses a reservation system instead of a normal queue. You log on to the app at 7 am and reserve a spot, and you will get an estimated return time. If you don't get a time at 7, you can get one after 1 pm depending on how fast they are moving through the line.
Extra Magic Hours are different but that doesn't matter if you're not staying on-site.
Hollywood Studios is completely different with Toy Story Land and Galaxy's Edge. Plan to spend at least 1 whole day there.
Animal Kingdom now has the Pandora area, and Flight of Passage is one of the best rides at Disney. Definitely worth the wait, also has a really cool queue area.
Parking trams are not currently running but might be back for 2022, just something to be prepared for.
Park tickets are now sold with start and end dates, rather than just buying tickets you can use on any day. You also need to make reservations for the park you'll be at each day. Park hopping starts at 2 pm, and you have to visit your reserved park first before you can hop somewhere else.
Fireworks are back! The shows are different than in 2015, but MK and Epcot have them every night.
Character meets are still distanced, so rather than lining up and meeting them one on one, the characters are outside and you can take photos in front of them.
Epcot Festivals are now going on basically all year long, which means the food and drink booths around World Showcase are almost always open.
Disney Springs has continued to expand and has some of the best food on property.
Fastpasses have been replaced by
Genie+ and individual
lightning lane passes. Here is a brief summary on how it works:
- Genie+ costs $15 per day and gives you one lightning lane access to every ride in the park except 2 of them. You reserve return times on the Disney World app and enter through the Lightning Lane entrance (formerly the Fastpass entrance).
- You can buy Genie+ for your whole trip or just individual days. You can book your first return time at 7 am, then book the next time after you use the first pass or after 2 hours, whichever comes first.
- Genie+ follows you if you park hop, you don't need to buy it again.
- In each park, the two most popular rides are not included in that $15/day. These are called "Individual Lightning Lane passes", and you buy them just for the ride you want to do. Cost varies between $8 and $15 per person. On-property guests can buy these at 7 am, off-property can buy them when they enter the park. You also buy these through the app.
Facemasks are still required indoors and on Disney transportation, so bring them with you.
