6 SECRET Dates Disney World Won’t Tell Us

When you’re picking a date to vacation to Disney World, you probably take into account things like work and school schedules, the weather, and you might even think about selecting a date that ensures you can see everything new coming to the parks.

Magic Kingdom

But, right now, planning a vacation around all the new things coming to Disney World is harder than ever. Why? While Disney has announced A LOT of new things coming in 2022 and their respective opening timelines, they haven’t announced their actual opening dates making it almost impossible to know when you can experience it all. So, what exactly are we still waiting on Disney to reveal? Here are all the opening dates that Disney is still keeping from us!

Roundup Rodeo BBQ

One project that Disney had been pretty quiet on since reopening in 2020 was the brand new Toy Story-themed restaurant in Disney’s Hollywood Studios — Roundup Rodeo BBQ. We recently learned that the Table Service location will open in Toy Story Land in 2022, but Disney still hasn’t revealed any additional details.

Roundup Rodeo BBQ Concept Art ©Disney

What we do know is that this restaurant will be highly immersive and bring guests into a full-on rodeo run by Andy’s toys featuring “western town and train station playsets” and “surprising, playful details, like some fan-favorite Pixar characters as they’ve never been seen before.”

Learn more about the new restaurant here!

Fantasmic!

We are also awaiting a reopening date for Fantasmic! in Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

Disney announced that the show would be making its return in 2022, along with the Festival of the Fantasy Parade, at the D23 Expo.

We miss ya, Mickey!

While we’ve already seen the parade return to the streets of Magic Kingdom, the reopening date for Fantasmic remains mostly a mystery. In May of 2022, Disney simply said that Fantasmic will be reopening “later in 2022” — not a whole lot of details there!

Click here to read about the CHANGES coming to Fantasmic!

Return of Parking Trams to Other Parks

While Disney World is looking a lot more “normal” nowadays compared to when the parks first reopened after closing at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, one thing that hasn’t fully returned in full force quite yet is the parking trams.

Magic Kingdom Parking Trams

Parking trams came back to Magic Kingdom first, back in 2021, and then they returned to Animal Kingdom in May 2022. However, they’re still missing from EPCOT and Hollywood Studios. Disney announced that they’d return sometime in 2022, but they haven’t shared details on specifically when.

Which Disney World Parking Lot is the WORST Without Trams? Here’s what our readers had to say!

Disney Dining Plan

Another offering that hasn’t been available since reopening is the Disney Dining Plan. While Disney hasn’t said much about its return, they did announce in June 2021 that they intend to bring the popular offering back “at a later date.”

The Disney Dining Plan has yet to return

What exactly does “a later date” mean? Disney hasn’t shared an update since, though we have seen quite a few price increases on food that could indicate its return could be coming soon. However, some restaurants have yet to reopen and Disney could be waiting for all operations to be restored before introducing the Dining Plan once again.

Disney guests say they WON’T buy the Disney Dining Plan when it returns — here’s why!

“Hey Disney!” Devices

There’s also some new technology coming to Disney World in 2022! First up is the “Hey Disney!” voice assistant which will be a new feature available in all Disney hotel rooms. If you’re not familiar with these devices, they are essentially Amazon Echos with Mickey ears that guests can talk to throughout their stay to get information on the weather forecast, set timers, set alarms, check park hours, and more.

But, if you’re excited to use this during your next hotel stay, there’s no guarantee that it will be available as Disney has not revealed when they will be placed in resort rooms this year.

Get a sneak peek at how “Hey Disney!” will work

MagicBand+

Park-goers that are looking to upgrade their park experience will be able to purchase the brand new MagicBand+ in 2022 — we just don’t know exactly when yet! They were accidentally released in Disney Springs back in early May, but they were quickly pulled off the shelves.

Now, Disney has shared that they’ll be officially released in the summer of 2022…they just haven’t announced a specific date.

It is important to note that it’s not necessarily new for Disney to reveal opening timelines before they unveil an exact date. But, it has become more common for the opening date to be announced pretty close to the time rather than months (or even years) before.

For example, Disney unveiled the opening date for the new Disney Adventure Friends Cavalcade just two weeks before it was set to debut in Magic Kingdom. And, opening dates for both Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire and the return of the Festival of Fantasy Parade weren’t revealed until about a month before.

Disney Adventure Friends Cavalcade

So, while we’re still waiting on a lot of opening dates, we likely won’t be waiting long between when the date is announced and when it actually opens. Of course, this makes planning your vacation around all the new things a bit harder, but it could serve as a nice surprise if the dates happen to fall during your trip.