Disney Genie Has ARRIVED, Plus Festival of the Arts Start Date and More News You Missed!

We’re just going to start this by saying that it’s been a WEEK at Disney World.

Why? Because Disney Genie has launched and we’ve been busy trying to learn everything we can about the service so we can answer your questions this week. And because of all the Genie news, there might be some other things you missed this week.

So we’re going to break down all the news, but of course, we’ve got to start with Genie.

Disney Genie Goes Live

So like we mentioned, Disney Genie went live at Disney World this week. And although we found one little glitch that recommended the Dapper Dans as a restaurant, things went pretty smoothly! We also did our best to explain the 120-minute rule, give our key takeaways from day one with the service, and told you how to get the best out of the free version of Genie.

We also spent some time playing around with the Photopass Lenses that come with Genie+. Plus we’re still using Genie as much as possible so that we can get more answers to all your questions about it!

How Can You STACK Multiple Disney Genie+ Reservations?

EPCOT Festival of the Arts

Disney World announced that next year’s EPCOT Festival of the Arts would start on January 14th and run through February 21st, 2022. We also learned that the food booths, Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine, chalk artists, photo ops, paint-by-number mural, Figment’s Brush with the Masters scavenger hunt, performance and visual artists, and festival merchandise would return in 2022.

And we learned that the Disney on Broadway Concert Series would return to the festival — this would be the first concert series at an EPCOT festival since pre-closure.

Everything Confirmed to be Returning to EPCOT’s Festival of the Arts

Character Meet and Greets

As we previously learned, modified character meet and greets will soon return to Disney World. We now have a full list of these character experiences:

Disney Junior Pals at Animation Courtyard at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Minnie Mouse at Red Carpet Dreams at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Mickey Mouse at Town Square Theater at Magic Kingdom
Cinderella and Elena at Princess Fairytale Hall at Magic Kingdom
Rapunzel and Tiana at Princess Fairytale Hall at Magic Kingdom

These modified meet and greets will be available for guests starting on November 19th.

FULL List of Modified Character Meets Revealed for Disney World

Disneyland Monorail Reopens

Although Disneyland Resort reopened earlier this year, the monorail did not reopen with it. But now the Disneyland Monorail has reopened and is back in business!

The Monorail runs from Downtown Disney and Tomorrowland in Disneyland.

NEWS: The Monorail is FINALLY Reopening At Disneyland

Marvel Movies Get Delayed

The release dates for several Marvel movies have been delayed. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is moving its opening date from March 25th to May 6th, 2022. Thor: Love and Thunder, which was initially set to open on May 6th, 2022 is now set for release on July 8th, 2022.

The Marvels was moved from July 8th, 2022 to February 17th, 2023. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was supposed to arrive on that date, and as a result, it’s been moved to July 28th, 2023. Other untitled Marvel movies have been removed from the release schedule, while one untitled Marvel movie was moved from November 10th, 2023 to November 3rd, 2023.