New Things at Disney World I Can’t Wait to Try

We are overdue for a Disney trip, and I am feeling it. It is one of my family’s happiest of happy places, and we miss it so much. It’s been almost a year and a half since we were there last, but I’m still feeling the sting of a canceled April 2020 trip. I already posted about the Disney snacks I’ve been missing (and the list keeps growing), but what about everything else? It’s starting to feel like we might be able to go back before too long, and I love imagining all of the things we’ll get to do.

By the time we do go back, there will be lots of new things to see and experience, and I can’t wait! If we wait until 2022, there will be even more completed projects to enjoy. Of course I’ll be thrilled to go whenever we can, but there are a lot of things in the works that I’ve been looking forward to.

Here’s my list of things I’m most excited about. Most of them do not have specific completion dates yet, but if they haven’t opened yet, they’re supposed to open sometime in 2021-22.

Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway

This opened in March 2020, so it would have been open had we gotten to go on our planned April trip. I was sad when Great Movie Ride closed to make room for this, and I’m not the biggest fan of the new style of Mickey cartoons, so I can’t say that I was all that enthused about it when it was first announced. As Disney started releasing more information about it, however, I started coming around. Reading reviews since it opened have made me even more excited about it. It looks bright and colorful and fun!

Ratatouille

I’ve heard nothing but good things about the Disneyland Paris version of this ride, and my understanding is it’s supposed to be the same here. I think this is one that all of my kids will enjoy. Sometimes they’re a little hesitant to try new coasters, so the fact that this is not one makes me think everyone will willingly ride. We’ve actually been following the construction for a while, so I know they’re at least intrigued.

Space 220

This one has been taunting me for years now! From the time I heard there was a generic “space-themed” restaurant opening up, I knew that was something we were going to have to check out. By the time they released the first concept art I was ready to book it right then. Since then it has been delayed so many times that I’ve been skeptical that it was even going to open. We were hoping to book it for our trip in December 2019, so I stalked the Disney site and app more than is probably healthy. Same before our April 2020 trip, which ended up being canceled. Now it’s supposed to open sometime in 2021, so I have my fingers crossed that it actually happens! 

Tron coaster

This is one I wasn’t all that excited about because I know basically nothing about Tron. But then I saw some pictures and videos of the Shanghai Disneyland ride. It looks amazing! Not only does the ride itself look like fun, it also has colored lights. Really, what else does a ride need?

Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind

I think this is going to be a fun addition to Epcot, which is already one of my favorite parks. We’re a family of Marvel fans, and the boys in particular love the Guardians, so I think this has the potential to be a big hit with the whole family. We’ll see! 

50th Anniversary stuff

These festivities will officially begin this fall, but they’re supposed to last an entire eighteen months. So I’m hopeful that we’ll get to experience at least some of them. I’m not sure Disney even knows exactly what the festivities will look like in light of the pandemic, but they definitely know how to throw a party. What they’ve shown so far looks amazing. (EARidescent, anyone?!) Things are looking a little better already, so I’m optimistic that they’ll be looking even more promising by the time fall rolls around.

Rise of the Resistance—again

Okay, okay, so we did ride this one already. We were fortunate to get boarding passes for our entire party in December 2020, just days after it opened. We all LOVED it. There is so much to it that I feel like I need to experience it again to really take it all in. Disney has improved the process for securing a boarding pass, which makes it all a lot more appealing.

Honestly, I’d kind of like a redo of all of Galaxy’s Edge. Nothing will beat seeing it for the first time, I’m sure, but I’d like to just find a spot to sit somewhere in the middle of the action and just enjoy. We were trying hard to see all of the new stuff at once when we saw it for the first time, so I don’t think we had enough time to check out all of the little details. 

Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser

While we’re talking about Star Wars… This one is a little different. Words cannot express how much excitement there was in my house when the Star Wars hotel was announced. It’s not even just a hotel; it’s an experience. It sounds like a one-of-a-kind experience at that. Disney just announced that this is supposed to open in the summer of 2022, and there are a few people in this house who are chomping at the bit to book it. I’m not sure when it’ll be in our budget, but I have no doubt we’ll be checking it out as soon as we can. I’m not sure we could get away with booking this for an adults-only trip, either. We might be disowned if we try that!

I know I’m missing some things. For our April 2020 trip, we had a bunch of new-to-us restaurants and experiences planned that I still look forward to trying. Of course, that’s one of the things I love most about Disney World; there’s ALWAYS something new to try. Sometimes it’s actually a tough balance of wanting to try new things but still experience our favorites. We could stay there for months at a time and still not see and do everything. That won’t stop us from trying!

If you’ve been waiting to go back to Disney World, what are you most looking forward to?