Walt Disney World in 2020: A Year in Review and a Look Ahead

We've made it through what feels like the longest year in our collective memory, and what a year it's been it's been for Walt Disney World. After closing out 2019 strong with the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge at Disney's Hollywood Studios - it seemed like there was nothing but excitement ahead. At least three new attractions and a new EPCOT nighttime spectacular were all set to debut in 2020.

Instead, the pandemic led to an unprecedented four-month closure, the layoff of tens of thousands of cast members, and the postponement or cancellation of many of Disney World's biggest plans. And yet, "the most magical place on earth" has managed to keep delivering for guests during the pandemic. Strict mask and distancing requirements and enforcement and the modification or cancellation of many previous offerings have changed the way guests experience Walt Disney World, but, overwhelming, guests who've visited the reopened parks - including yours truly - have said they'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Now, with a vaccine beginning to be administered, it's finally starting to feel like there's a great big beautiful tomorrow up ahead, so we're closing out the year on a positive note by looking back at the bright spots and big changes we saw at Walt Disney World in 2020 - some of which we actually hope are here to stay.

It may have taken 64 years, but for the first time in history, Mickey and Minnie got a starring role in their very own ride. Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway opened on March 4 at Disney's Hollywood Studios (the ride is also headed to Mickey's Toontown at Disneyland Park in Anaheim in 2023). The trackless dark ride, housed in the Chinese Theatre that was formerly home to the Great Movie Ride, and based on the newest series of Mickey Mouse animated shorts airing on Disney+, gives Disney's Hollywood Studios a much-needed additional all-ages attraction that guests have been loving.

The stunning prism pylons of a new fountain at EPCOT's entrance have been teasing guests from behind construction walls since August. On Dec. 22, guests woke up to the walls taken down for a breathtaking reveal. In the footprint of the original 1982 fountain stands a new centerpiece to EPCOT's entrance plaza, with the fountain's prismatic pylons beautifully reflecting the shifting sunlight and nighttime lighting on Spaceship Earth.

This update isn't for everyone - especially Walt Disney World purists - but when Magic Kingdom reopened in July, Cinderella Castle's new paint job was revealed. The classic grey has been replaced with an iridescent pink, accented with vibrant blue and sparkling gold.

The pandemic has inflicted crippling financial losses on Disney's Parks, Experiences, and Products division, leading to the layoff of 32,000 employees through the first half of 2021. Despite the strain and stress of furloughs and layoffs, Walt Disney World's Cast Members keep making the magic, donning big smiles under their masks and face shields, and demonstrating patience and grace under pressure.

Character cavalcades, impromptu, mini parades and processionals through Disney World's four theme parks, have temporarily replaced parades and character meet and greets. There's music, dancing, and - of course - characters, but without all the standing and waiting. No need to stake out a spot in the blazing Florida heat only to have your kids lose interest after the first few minutes of a full-blown parade, and no major disruptions to crowd flow in the middle of the day or at night. Instead, cavalcades bring characters by float, boat, car and carriage periodically throughout the day, delivering plenty of surprise and delight without all the planning. We've now seen three incarnations of the cavalcades - traditional, Halloween, and holiday - each more charming than the last.

The pandemic forced the suspension of nighttime fireworks spectaculars, but during this holiday season when the sun goes down, a series of projections illuminate Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom, the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at Disney's Hollywood Studios, and the Tree of Life at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Stunning high-definition projections transform the structures periodically - don't miss the castle donning a holiday sweater or Tower of Terror masquerading as a gingerbread house - but stay put long enough that there's no "show" to draw a crowd.

Walt Disney World's grand dame hotel, the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa has always been almost perfect-gorgeous grounds, elegant rooms, top-notch dining, and a killer view of Cinderella Castle across Seven Seas Lagoon. And yet, the Grand Floridian had never topped my list among the monorail loop resorts (the others are Disney's Polynesian Village Resort and Disney's Contemporary Resort) because despite being just a stone's throw from the gates of Magic Kingdom, guests have had to take either a boat or the monorail to get to Magic Kingdom. That's all changed now, with the opening of a beautiful pedestrian path from the Grand Floridian to Magic Kingdom. Now, even at a leisurely pace, guests can get from the Grand Flo to Main Street, U.S.A. in 10 minutes or less.

Walt Disney World gave sports fans something to talk about when the NBA came to town to play the rest of the 2019-2020 season inside a "bubble" created within a selection of Walt Disney World's resorts and the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex. A comprehensive program of mask-wearing, contact tracing, distancing, and testing made 172 games over 107 days possible, with the Los Angeles Lakers crowned champions, and zero positive cases confirmed within the bubble.

If you were underwhelmed by Liberty Inn, the quick-service restaurant that used to occupy the American Adventure pavilion, you weren't alone. This was uninspired theme park fare at its worst - think nondescript hot dogs, hamburgers, and chicken fingers. Things turned around quickly with the February opening of Regal Eagle Smokehouse: Craft Drafts and Barbecue., which features a well-received menu that nods to Texas, North Carolina, Kansas City, and Memphis barbecue traditions. Great food (even the plant-based option is excellent), a solid exterior bar pouring craft beers, cocktails, and a selection of very good wines on tap, and a ton of outdoor seating make this an optimal new go-to spot smack dab in the center of World Showcase.

One bite of a nearly half-pound cookie from Gideon's Bakehouse and everyone's a convert. This small-batch bakery's cult following at its Winter Park location extended to Disney fans when The Polite Pig at Disney Springs began selling the cookies - but in extremely limited quantities and flavors. To fans' delight, on Dec. 23, Gideon's Bakehouse soft-opened its own bakeshop at Disney Springs. The gargoyle-topped location has even been given a mysterious backstory: So it goes, the space was originally a shop run by Jonathan Lindwurm, a "purveyor of rare books and antiquities."

The interior of the shop is lined with old books and has a magical, mystical, occult feeling about it. Menu highlights include the famous cookies, cake slices, and a Peanut Butter Iced Coffee that's already building up a cult following of its own.

Once synonymous with a visit to Walt Disney World, fireworks are one sorely missed component of a pandemic-era Disney vacation. Temporarily suspended to avoid crowding and congestion during the show, fireworks have been off the entertainment menu since July. Guests were surprised and delighted when brief bursts of "pyrotechnic pixie dust" began appearing as part of Magic Kingdom's rotating castle projections. Lasting no more than a few seconds, these quick displays don't warrant staking out a spot but provide a little taste of what's been missing this year.

While I hate the reason we now have hand sanitizer positively everywhere throughout the parks, as a mom to two young boys who love to touch EVERYTHING, I am delighted to see those dispensers everywhere. Here's hoping they stick around to keep grubby hands clean long after the pandemic is behind us.

The fate of EPCOT's multiple annual festivals, which centered heavily on their food and wine offerings, seemed uncertain ahead of Walt Disney World's reopening - how could a food and wine festival go ahead in a pandemic? But go ahead they did, beginning with the Taste of EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival, which ran from reopening through mid-November.

Rather than pose extra safety concerns, EPCOT's festivals, each with upwards of 20 different outdoor kitchens and marketplaces, provide more spaces to absorb and physically distance guests queuing for food and drink, and ease the pressure of EPCOT's permanent quick-service locations. Plenty of additional outdoor seating has been added, and I've always found it easy to order festival menu items and snag a good spot outdoors to eat or drink. EPCOT's next two festival dates have already been announced, kicking off with the Taste of EPCOT Festival of the Arts, running from Jan. 8 to Feb. 22, followed by the Taste of EPCOT International Flower and Garden Festival, running from March 3 to July 5.

If you've ever tried to check-in at a popular Walt Disney World restaurant at peak dinnertime, you'll know that in the old days you might wait 15 minutes just to check-in for your table-service reservations. Rolled out to reduce contact during the pandemic, Mobile Dine Check-In enables guests to check-in for their dining reservations via the My Disney Experience app and get a text alert when their table is ready. Note that this feature is not offered at third-party dining locations like Patina Group-operated Via Napoli at EPCOT.

Not everyone will agree with me on this one, but I'm betting quite a few parents will. While we all miss the hugs and visits to our table during character meals, Walt Disney World's new "modified character experiences" cut way down on the stress, especially when you're with kids. No more racing to the buffet, worried you'll be away from your table when the next character arrives. Now, meals are family-style or a la carte. And, no more wiping sticky, syrupy hands before your little one tries to hug Mickey.

In order to avoid excess queuing and interaction at quick-service dining locations, Walt Disney World continues to roll out the Mobile Order function at more and more locations. Guests are asked to use the Mobile Order function on their My Disney Experience app and are not invited into the restaurant until their order has been prepared and is ready for pick-up. Cast Members stationed at restaurant entrances will direct guests to a numbered pick-up station to collect their orders. Exceptions are made for guests requesting the free ice water still provided at quick-service locations and in some cases for guests with allergies or those needing to pay with cash. Mobile Order cuts down on time spent in line and is a feature we'd love to see expanded to all quick-service locations.

It was a big surprise when Disney announced that the FastPass+ system, which allows guests to reserve a time for a ride or attraction and bypass the standby line, would be suspended and guests would have to wait in the standby queue for all attractions except Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, which utilizes a virtual queue. Even at peak pandemic era-capacity, standby wait times have been fairly manageable, with guests able to walk on many attractions throughout the day. Guests who didn't enjoy the 60-days-out planning of FastPasses and the rigid structure that came with Disney World days planned to the minute around FastPasses and dining reservations have found it freeing to skip the planning and hop in a standby line when the mood strikes.

Impulsive types have long struggled with the need to book advance dining reservations well ahead of a Walt Disney World vacation. Happily, for those averse to mapping out every minute of every day, a new mobile Walk-Up Dining feature enables guests to snag last-minute tables at nearby restaurants. You can search and secure reservations via the Walk-Up feature in My Disney Experience, and even check in remotely. Some lounges, like Nomad Lounge and Spice Road Table, that used to be first-come, first-served and are now also accessible via the Walk-Up feature. Read more about how the Walk-Up feature works here.

One big change to the Disney World planning process is that guests must now secure a Disney Park Pass reservation in order to visit one of Disney World's four theme parks. Guests are able to consult an availability calendar prior to booking to ensure there is availability on the dates they plan to visit. While this hasn't been a fully welcome change, with Annual Passholders occasionally expressing frustration at not being able to secure a reservation, the ability to ensure access to a park in advance has clear benefits. Walt Disney World's neighbor and competitor Universal Orlando Resort doesn't utilize a reservation system, and on a busy morning during the holiday week, Universal's parks reached capacity 10 minutes after park opening, leading guests to be turned away at the gates.

More good news: beginning Jan. 1, 2021, dependent on park capacity, guests at Walt Disney World will again have the ability to Park Hop. After 2 pm, guests will be able to visit additional Disney World theme parks without a Park Pass reservation once they've visited their first park with a reservation.

Now that vaccines are being actively administered, it feels safer to believe that a return to normalcy could be in our future by the end of 2021. Walt Disney World celebrates a major milestone this year - the resort's 50th anniversary on October 1. Big plans had been underway for the 50th, and we're starting to see them pick up speed again, with lots of sneak peeks at what's in store in 2021 and beyond. First up will likely be the opening of a new attraction, Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, along with a new restaurant, Le Creperie de Paris, in the France pavilion at EPCOT. Sneak peeks have shown that the pavilion expansion and ride look to be nearly complete and we're betting on an opening in the first half of 2021.

Originally announced to be the largest nighttime spectacular in Disney parks history, Harmonious will become EPCOT's new centerpiece show on World Showcase lagoon. We've already gotten a sneak peek as the first of five massive barges has arrived on the lagoon. The barges will be used as fountains during the day and as part of the show at night.

Elsewhere around EPCOT, we're seeing lots of work underway with plenty to get excited about. At the top of our list is a new roller coaster, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. Other new additions to EPCOT on the horizon include Journey of Water, a new Moana-themed attraction, Space 220, a new space-themed restaurant, and a new statue of Walt Disney called "Dreamer's Point."