Disney World News: Lightning Lanes Added, More 50th Anniversary Decor, Mickey Mural

We’re back with a weekend Walt Disney World news roundup. This update shares the latest look at newly-installed 50th Anniversary decorations in Magic Kingdom, the first Lightning Lanes being installed, the reimagined porte cochere and monorail station at the Poly, Living with the Land status update, and much more!

As always, we’ll start with the latest release of new operating hours. All four theme parks have had hours for another week added to the DisneyWorld.com park hours calendar. The current calendar now runs through November 14, 2021. Here are the hours for most dates within the months of October and November 2021:

• Magic Kingdom: 9 am to 9 pm
• EPCOT: 10 am to 10 pm
• Hollywood Studios: 9 am to 9 pm
• Animal Kingdom: 8 am to 7 pm
• Blizzard Beach: 11 am to 6 pm
• Disney Springs: 10 am to 11 pm (11:30 pm on Fridays & Saturdays)

Note that Magic Kingdom closes at 8:30 pm on Disney After Hours Boo Bash nights going forward. That event runs from 9 pm until midnight for the remainder of its run. Additionally, we have the first Disney Very Merriest After Hours dates now on the calendar, and Magic Kingdom closes at 8 pm on those evenings, with that Christmas party running from 9 pm until 1 am.

With the new release of park hours, Epcot’s opening time moves back to 11 am on November 7, 2021. Given the debuts of both Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Harmonious on October 1 as part of the World’s Most Magical Celebration, which is a step in the wrong direction. Our expectation was that Epcot’s opening time would move to 9 am as that park would see a spike in attendance beginning in October.

It’s also somewhat surprising that Magic Kingdom is still scheduled to close at 9 am most nights this fall, including on October 1, 2021. The closing time some nights is constrained by the After Hours event, but we’re hopeful Walt Disney World is still waiting to see more accurate attendance projections before making extensions. With Annual Passes going on sale this week, there will likely be a spike in Park Pass reservations soon.

Next, we have more dates for the Extended Evening Theme Park Hours that will allow eligible guests to experience select attractions, shops, and dining after regular park hours–in select theme parks on select nights. As a reminder, we shared Attraction Lists for Early Entry & Extended Evening Hours at Disney World, and that post also has more info about this upcoming guest perk.

Please review the chart below for the current Extended Evening Theme Park Hours schedule*:

With over a month of dates, we’d say the pattern for Extended Evening Theme Park Hours at Walt Disney World is pretty clear. It’ll be interesting to see if dates or parks are added–or anything changes–around the busier Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday seasons.

Next, not a single night has sold out for Disney Very Merriest After Hours. Tickets have only been on sale to the general public for over 2 weeks; by this point, Boo Bash had already sold out multiple dates (and is now totally sold out). Normally, Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party sees higher demand than its Halloween counterpart.

Hopefully Disney has finally pushed the limit of price increases too far, and guests are voting with their wallets. The cost of Disney Very Merriest After Hours is absolutely absurd, but the only way things change is if people stop buying. We think it’s worth noting that Disneyland announced its Christmas 2021 lineup, and the parade, fireworks, and winter castle lighting are all included with regular admission.

We’re going to provide weekly ‘sales status’ updates on Disney Very Merriest After Hours, so even if you’re on the fence about going, you should have plenty of notice before having to make a decision. Hopefully, until after reviews from the first few events are posted.

Some good news: Living with the Land at Epcot has now reopened after almost two weeks of unplanned downtime. Cast Members stationed out front of the attraction during the unscheduled maintenance indicated that it had to do with the fire alarm system, which needed to pass inspections before it can reopen to guests.

Living with the Land has also had water and leak related issues in the past few months, so perhaps that played a role? In any case, Living with the Land has now reopened. We’re just thankful it didn’t become another “PeopleMover Problem.”

Continuing in Epcot, Walt Disney Imagineering has shared a first look at “Mouse in Motion,” a 35-foot long hand painted mural inside Creations Shop. I still think it would’ve been cool if Imagineering leaned into the history and legacy of EPCOT Center with the artwork in Creations Shop, but this mural is neat.

Both Creations Shop and Club Cool are still slated to open later in Summer 2021. For those keeping score at home, summer ends on September 22. Based on the progress we’ve seen recently while making laps of Epcot, they appear on target for making that goal. This definitely won’t be a “Space 220 Situation.”

Outside the parks, work continues on the new porte cochere, gardens, and monorail station at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. Work is moving at a brisk pace, and it looks like the monorail station will be ready to open within the next few days (I’m somewhat surprised it’s not already open–it appeared finished.)

Aside from the nets of balls (?) underneath the porte cochere, we really like this transformation. It’s an undeniably more grand arrival experience, and the new panel designs really pop. The various changes to the Poly over the last several years have been a mixed bag, but this is an unequivocal positive.

Lightning Lanes have started to pop up around Walt Disney World, replacing FastPass+ signage.

As a reminder, Lightning Lanes are physical queues guests will walk through when using the Disney Genie+ service or buying individual attraction access (what we’ve been calling Magic Carpet Access).

Line Lanes exist in real life, whereas the other two exist in the digital world—on the Grid. You can walk through a Lightning Lane—you can scroll through the Genie+ service with your fingers.

Read more about the differences in Lightning Lanes v. Genie+ at Walt Disney World.

While some Lightning Lane signage is going up right now, it’s typically the simpler stuff that can be done with a temporary sticker.

More dimensional signage like the ornate (and underappreciated) Seven Dwarfs Mine Train one will probably take more time.

As you can probably see in the photo above, the new Lightning Lanes going up are literally being affixed to existing marquees on top of the FastPass+ signs.

Unsurprisingly, this has already been controversial with fans, many of whom are annoyed that Walt Disney World is “cheaping out” on the visuals for something that will undoubtedly generate a lot of revenue. In theory, we don’t necessarily disagree with that–but we think those complaints are premature, and low hanging fruit.

This whole FastPass+ replacement initiative has been surprisingly last minute by Disney standards. (Just seeing how much is still up in the air and the lack of clarity in communications should make this obvious, even from the outside.)

As we’ve said before, there were competing concepts for the paid FastPass+ replacement until recently. While the Genie app was announced 2 years ago and the Lightning Lane name has been floating around for a few months, there were a few potential candidates for the various components of the project would look and function. (Among many other things and contrary to the prior announcement, there is no Genie app–it’s a feature in My Disney Experience.)

Accordingly, it’s highly likely that Walt Disney World Sign Shop has been given almost no notice and limited turnaround time for designing and fabricating Lightning Lane signs. The end result is probably a scramble to mock up the easy low hanging fruit first, install test versions of those, and then move on to the more ambitious and elaborate signage.

In short, our expectation is that what we’re seeing right now won’t be reflective of the permanent Lightning Lane visuals. We could be entirely wrong, but at this point it seems premature to criticize what’s going up. Aside from the occasional hilarious typo, the Sign Shop typically does good work. Obviously, there’s a lot of understandable anger and frustration about FastPass being monetized, but there’s no sense in misdirecting that at a group of talented artists who had no say in that decision whatsoever.

In other Walt Disney World signage news, a marquee has gone up at the Main Street USA Train Station for the World’s Most Magical Celebration.

It wasn’t too long ago that celebratory signage right here was common, but that hasn’t been the case for several years now.

We don’t have any strong opinions about this. It’s relatively small, a nice photo op to commemorate a visit during the anniversary, and has a nice dimensional quality to it. (Some of the past displays were literal banners.) Seems like a nice touch.

Finally, we’ll end with another nice touch on Main Street, where the clock has returned with a fresh coat of paint and some anniversary ornamentation:

I spent a good 30 minutes standing on Main Street taking photos of the new-look clock, as one does. Between moving cloud coverage casting shadows on the clock or Cinderella Castle and guests randomly stopping right under the clock and blocking its banners, it was surprisingly difficult to take ‘clean’ shots. Not that most of you care, but figured I’d share. Sometimes the most ordinary photos actually require the most time and effort–the “better” empty park evening shots are usually pretty easy by comparison.

That’s a wrap on this weekend’s Walt Disney World news roundup. Hope everyone is enjoying a happy, healthy, and safe holiday weekend. We’ll be back with another crowd update, park reports, theoretical Genie+ itineraries, and more news in the coming week. Stay tuned!

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YOUR THOUGHTS

What do you think about all this Walt Disney World news? Happy to hear that Living with the Land has returned? Thoughts on the Lightning Lane signage? Think we’re giving the Sign Shop too much benefit of the doubt, or is it fair to assume these are early and temporary mockups? Are you a fan of the new-look monorail station and porte cochere at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort? Do you agree or disagree with our commentary? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!