Winter Update 2025

In this week's video, Jared discusses upcoming changes at Disney including Virtual Queues, Lightning Lanes, new lands and his experience at the EPCOT Art Festival.

Transcript

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In this week's episode of a Dryer Dose of Disney, Jared gives us updates on changes coming to the parks as well as his experience at the EPCOT Art Festival. Intro Music welcome to this week's episode of A Dryer Dose of Disney. I'm your host, Jared Dryer, and today we are going to be doing our 2025 winter update for you guys. We just got back from Orlando where we had the chance to go to the Epcot Arts Festival, and it was an amazing time, and there's a lot to update you guys on. So first and foremost, before we get started, I want to apologize that it's been a while since we've recorded an episode. As we talked about previously, we had a lot of great things that we've covered in about our first hundred or so episodes. where we've talked about the best rope drop strategies, the best places to eat. We've given you all different kinds of updates, but because we've given you so much great content, we're at a place right now where we're trying to just provide you with new changes, new things that are coming up within the parks, as well as we've got, obviously, the new upcoming Epic Universe at Universal. We'll be talking about that. So we're trying to give you updates on new things that are coming up so that we're not always just going over the same old things every single episode. So that's why it's been a while. Additionally, we told you last year we're going to start traveling more internationally, and we did our trip to Paris last year. As we're planning trips for this year in 2025, we haven't worked them all out yet. But as we plan any future Disney trips, we will let you know about those, as well as how we plan those out. And we'll talk about all the exciting things that we're planning to do in those different countries as we visit the new Disney Park. Looking forward to a lot of cool things coming in the next couple of years here. But again, these episodes are going to be fewer and further between just because we don't want to inundate you with things that we've already covered. We want to make sure that we're giving you good, relevant content that's new and updated, so that way you guys are staying up to date on the latest things Disney and Universal. Before I jump into today's episode, I do want to ask, wherever you're listening to us, Go ahead and find that pause button and click subscribe. So whatever podcast format or if you're watching us on youtube, you're going to get this content delivered to you as we do record it So as we record new episodes and send them out there is no waiting period You're going to be able to get those right into your inbox And so we do ask that you subscribe so that way you're staying On top of any new Disney developments or new information that's coming out And then if there's any tips or tricks that have saved you any time or money We do love our supporters over at patreon There is a link to our patreon page down in the links below and at our top tier You're going to get our number one biggest disney tip or trick that we've ever released so that is a really cool benefit to that top tier at patreon And then we also have the I can do this all day, tip of the day gear that has the Captain America shield with the Disney logo in the middle. So that's really cool. We love wearing that stuff into the parks. So you can check that out over at our Etsy page. So like I said, a lot of cool things are going to be coming. Today's episode we're going to give you some updates on some things that have been changing at the parks As well as we've got a new I can do this all day tip of the day for you at the end of the episode So you're definitely going to want to stay around and listen to that because it's a really good one but we're going to talk to you about what we saw when we were out there on our latest trip as well as Some of the changes that have been coming. With that, let's dive right in and we're going to talk about the art festival this year. So we went to the Epcot Festival of the Arts just a week and a half ago, and we had an absolutely wonderful time. It was a great festival. This is my favorite one all year. Of course, my wife loves all of the festivals at EPCOT because they always rotate out the food and it's always a great time And at a fun park and we just love EPCOT. It's our favorite one But I absolutely love the Arts Festival because I absolutely love Disney art if you didn't know my favorite store over at Disney Springs is the Art of Disney over by Rainforest Cafe and I could spend hours at that store anytime that I'm over at Disney Springs. I just absolutely love looking at all the artwork. I love seeing the originals and the cool things that they've done. Now with the autographs and Walt Disney's original checks and stuff like that. Totally cool, so definitely go check it out if you've never been there before. But my house is filled with Disney art. In the room that I'm in right now, I've got multiple different pieces and we added a new one that's going to be coming home here. in the next couple weeks from the Art Festival. So we absolutely love Disney art around our house and we've got a really cool new edition that's gonna be coming and maybe we'll be able to share that with you once it gets here. A lot of great things happening at the Art Festival. We actually had the chance to meet some of our favorite artists, which was really cool and spend some time just talking to them about their different styles and techniques and all the cool artwork that they did. And it was just amazing. Now, while we were there, there's been some changes at Epcot. So Test Track is still under construction for their refurbishing of that ride. And that has not changed. But like we talked about on our last episode, all of the rest of the park is completely wide open now, including the center area of the front of the park where you, it makes it easier to cut between the land and mission space or guardians of the galaxy, versus having to walk around the whole perimeter due to those walls being up. But, the biggest change that came over at Epcot is they now have single rider over at Ratatouille. If you're not familiar with single rider, we have a whole episode on that. And I encourage you to go check that out, but that is going to be the best and quickest way to get on the ride if you have kids that are old enough to handle it, meaning if you have kids that are in their teens and don't mind riding alone or maybe with strangers then I would definitely recommend going and doing single rider so that way you're going to get on the ride in a fraction of the time and it's going to be a lot quicker of a wait and then you're going to be able to keep going with the rest of your day. So a really cool addition over there is Ratatouille. And then I wanted to call out they also have added single rider at Rise of the Resistance. So I believe we talked about this on the last episode, but if not, I'm going to cover it real quick. If you're going to do single rider on Rise of the Resistance, you are going to miss the very first portion of the ride which is a fun part of the ride, but it's not critical to the rest of the bigger part of the ride. So I would encourage you if you've ridden Rides of the Resistance before go check out the single rider line that's gonna take you right into the main ship and then you're gonna go on the latter part of the ride there. So that's gonna save you quite a bit of time versus having to wait up to an hour or more to get on that ride. Today I'm wearing a new Tommy Bahama polo. It's a Mickey polo that I picked up at Disney Springs when I was out there. And I absolutely love Tommy Bahama clothes. We've talked about these quite a few times, but on this trip, I actually picked out four different shirts this time. So three Tommy Bahama and one that Disney is selling themselves. So you're going to see these on some future episodes. I just love the clothing and the style that's out there and these are great additions to my wardrobe I picked up a hawaiian style tommy bahama shirt. I picked up their new firework Rendition tommy bahama and then a new black disney shirt that has little mickeys all over it. Really excited about that And this is one of the trips that I actually Picked up a handful of new clothing or souvenir items where typically I'm the person in the family that doesn't buy a whole lot unless I see something I actually love so This time I found four things that I loved and brought them all home. So I was really excited about that So like I said Epcot Art Festival was awesome. We're gonna go every single year to it was great, but there are some other big changes coming to the Disney parks outside of the single rider lines at Ratatouille and Rise of the Resistance that we want to talk about. But I wanted to re highlight some of those changes that are going to be coming as well as some of the new changes that just came up just in the last couple of weeks. So first of all, let's talk through the parks over at Disney World, specifically Animal Kingdom. You've got dinosaur land, which is going to be closing here soon. And with that, they're going to be remodeling that and opening that up as Central America land. You've got the dinosaur ride is going to be rethemed for Indiana Jones And they're gonna do this one different than what they have over at Disneyland in Anaheim So it's gonna be a new ride same ride mechanics But we're real interested to see what that looks like as well as they're gonna be doing a thing for Coco over there and The Encanto house so looking forward to see what Disney has in store for Animal Kingdom Next, let's go over to Hollywood Studios where they're going to be closing the Muppets area. So they had Muppets Vision 4D and that was a cool little fun show that's been there since, I believe, the 90s. And with that, they're going to be changing that land into Monsters, Inc. land with a new roller coaster that is themed through the warehouse that they have in Monsters, Inc. with all the doors flying around and stuff. And it's a suspension roller coaster, so we're very excited about that. We think that could be a really cool addition to Hollywood Studios. But then they're going to be taking the Rockin Roller Coaster and taking Aerosmith out and retheming it for Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem from the Muppets. So we think this is a really good addition. If you're not familiar with the Muppets and Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem they have a lot of bright colors, a lot of fluorescents. And so with that dark light type roller coaster ride, we think that this will be a really good addition. And it still will keep the Muppets in the park. So we're excited about that as well. Now let's go over to Magic Kingdom, where you're gonna have some major updates. The biggest one probably being that they're gonna be filling in the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island over by Haunted Mansion. And that will become cars land. So similar to California Adventure in Anaheim. They're gonna have a cars land out there at Magic Kingdom. And then they're going to also be re theming and re doing the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. So this is going to be more similar to what they have at Disneyland which we have ridden, and we can say it's a much better ride at Disneyland. They've updated it, they've made it a lot more fun, and they are planning on doing that over at Magic Kingdom as well. A lot of cool things going on. Over at Epcot we talked about this on a previous episode, they are updating Test Track, that is still in process. But once that's complete, then the work at Epcot is almost all done. We keep hearing little rumors that they may add an extra land to the World Showcase. But none of that's been confirmed yet, so we can't report on that for you yet. So those are some of the changes coming to the Disney Parks as far as construction and some of the new rides that are coming. And then of course over at Universal we are nearing the opening of Epic Universe. So we're very excited for this. That is going to be opening on May 22nd. We actually secured two sets of tickets for our family on June 1st and June 7th. So after we go to the parks, we will be able to give you a quick update on Epic Universe and the new rides and all the cool food and what we really enjoyed about it. And we're going to obviously do two days there to make sure that we really get immersed and get a chance to check out all the cool things that are happening over there. So we're very excited about Epic Universe coming here very quickly. So a lot of cool things on the horizon. But, in addition to those changes, there's changes going on at Disney with their ticketing system. We talked about this briefly on one of our previous episodes that there is a new lightning lane system. And actually, we like this because they're giving out fewer lightning lanes, which is helping the standard queues move a lot quicker, which is very nice. But with the new Lightning Lane setup you can now buy your Lightning Lanes up to 60 days in advance. You can buy them as part of your park ticket which is the big change there, so you don't have to buy them on the app after the fact. But similar to the old FastPass system, you can go in and do your reservations up to 60 days in advance, where you can get one top tier, Tier 1 ride for the park, and then two second tier rides scheduled for the park. And then as you go throughout your day, similar to MaxPass or the old Lightning Lane you can go through and once you start utilizing the Lightning Lanes, you can start booking future Lightning Lanes for the remainder of that day as well. So a nice little enhancement where people can plan their trip a little bit more in advance, which is nice. They don't have to wait until the day of but again, Lightning Lanes something that if you listen to our episode on whether or not it's worth it, something we do not buy. But it's totally up to you if it's something you want to take advantage of for you and your family. Now, the biggest new change with those is they now have the Premier Lightning Lane, which runs about 400 a person per day, which I think is insane and I would never pay for that. But you get a guaranteed lightning lane for every single ride whenever you want. You can just walk over to the lightning lane and just utilize that. Now, there's a lot of reasons why I wouldn't buy it. Number one is it's super expensive. I don't think that it's worth it. Number two is when we go to the parks. We will ride all of the rides at any of the parks within one day That have lightning lane just going through the standard queue and yes Don't get me wrong during the busy summer months or busy holiday times It may be a little more challenging to get through all the rides and you may be waiting 30 to 40 minutes or in some Cases an hour for some of those rides But trust me when I say you can still get through them all if you spend all day there and you have a plan So we encourage you to go listen to the episodes about rope drop and how to maximize your day at the parks But if you go in with a plan, you should have no problem hitting all of the major rides that at least you want to do. And don't get me wrong, you may skip some of the little rides that you're not interested in. But the Premier Lightning Lane just isn't worth it at 400. But, I will say people are loving it and it is selling out like hot cakes. So a lot of people are buying this and it's doing really, well for Disney. That now brings me to the biggest change I think that's coming to Disney Parks here in the next month. And it's one that I'm disappointed about, but one that we have a new tip for you on. And that is that they are getting rid of the virtual queue at Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind and at Tiana's Bayou Adventure. Now if you remember on our last episode we had talked about they just got rid of the virtual queue over at Tron Light Cycles and I wasn't thrilled about that. Again, I'm not thrilled about this either. It does obviously get people into the queues and gets them out of the park and away from other rides. And it does give you the ability to ride the ride multiple times in the same day without having to pay for it. Now, you still can pay for it if you'd like, but you can go through the standard queue two, three, four , times in the day if that's your favorite ride. And you can ride that ride as many times as you want. So that is an advantage. The disadvantage is you can't plan your day around it. It is going to take a lot more time. I liked the virtual queue. I'll be honest. I was good at getting virtual queue. We were usually in the first 20 groups or so. So every single time we got in for rope drop, our group number was usually called. We were able to usually go get on the ride within 5 or 10 minutes at any of these rides and do that ride for the day and then continue with our day with our next best attraction that we wanted to do. And it was worry free knowing that we could ride it and usually have to wait a few minutes. So that was really nice. Now, when we're talking about like Tiana's Bayou, It's not going to be a huge change taking away the virtual queue. That's one that we're not too disappointed in losing, and that's because even with the virtual queue, that line was upwards of 45 minutes to an hour, no matter what. And we believe that without the virtual queue, that line will stay about that same length. Going forward, because it is the Old Splash Mountain, a lot of people have ridden it, and not everybody loves water rides. At the end of the day, chances are your line is going to be pretty consistent over at Tiana's Bayou Adventure. As it was like Splash Mountain before, and it's not going to really ruin your day or hurt your day not having the virtual queue. However, over at Epcot with Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind, that is going to be a big change. That's actually going to really I think hurt the park in the sense that there's only 10 rides in the entire park. And that is a marquee ride that's one that everyone loves, and people are going to want to ride multiple times. So knowing that, I would expect wait times to be upwards of 1 2 hours, probably in that 90 minute range more often than not. It will be longer than Ratatouille, it will be longer than Frozen Ever After, and you're going to be stuck waiting in this queue for an extraordinary amount of time when you go to Epcot. That brings us to the, I can do this all day, tip of the day, which is, we're going to revise our rope drop strategy for Epcot. So if you remember before we talked about get your virtual queue. We like to rope drop Soarin and then go through the front of the park and wipe out all the things in the front. And then as we work our way through the World Showcase, we'll stop and do Ratatouille and we will stop and do Frozen. That even got easier in the last couple months when they opened up single rider for Ratatouille. Because if you don't mind breaking up your group, you can get to the front of the line very quickly and you don't have to wait as long to do Ratatouille, which is very nice. That is still available, so we are going to encourage you to do that. But what I would say now, going forward with the new rope drop strategy, is obviously if you're there early, and if you do have early park entry, especially then, I want to encourage you, you're going to want to rope drop Guardians of the Galaxy and make that your very first ride of the day, and beat the rest of the crowd there. If you come in for general admittance, again, I will still say, if you're towards the front of the crowd there, you're going to want to go for Guardians of the Galaxy and get there quickly. Chances are you're going to have about a 45 minute to an hour long wait is our estimate at this point in time. But that's going to be better than later in the day when it's going to be closer to 90 minutes. Alternatively you could make a run for Frozen Ever After and get that one done, or Soarin which was our original recommendation. And then go through the rest of the front of the park. And then keep, again, Ratatouille for single rider. I would not race to Ratatouille. And please I would, say, Do not do your rope drop strategy at Ratatouille now that they've got single rider. It's too easy to get on too quickly now with single rider. As long as your family's okay with that. And the ride's good, but it's not the greatest ride I've ever ridden. It's just a typical dark ride. Again, my rope drop strategy now is going to be Guardians of the Galaxy or I would do Soarin or Frozen. And and then wipe out the front of the park and then we'll work your way through the world showcase after that. So with that we hope that you have a very magical week as you're planning your next vacation. Again, our next episode may not be for a little while. We will definitely do episodes with Epic Universe and talk about all the cool things that are happening over there, as well as if we're able to plan our next international trip. We will be giving you episodes and updates on how we planned that and what that looked like. And we're very excited about doing that, but again, we've covered so much great content. We've got so many great episodes out there. We encourage you to go back in time review those, watch those, listen to those and enjoy those and then know that we will release episodes whenever we can, whenever something new comes up, which is why it's important to hit that subscribe button. So that way when we release episodes, because our last one we did was in October. Here we are in February. It's been a few months. We may not be releasing them very quickly. So you're going to want to subscribe so you can get access to those when those come out. But we'll talk to you guys next time. Bye bye. Exit Music