“Don’t be suspicious, don’t be suspicious…” (That’s Disney when something major changes that they know their fans aren’t going to love.)

Disney sometimes tries to sneak certain changes by us, but we’re pretty good at catching them when they do! Right now we’re exposing four SHOCKING Disney World changes that initially got swept under the rug.

TONS of Price Increases

Although Disney certainly didn’t highlight the price increases that hit in mid-October of this year, people immediately picked up on some of the biggest changes, like the price increases on Annual Passes, Magic Key Passes, and Disneyland park tickets.

However, other price increases seemed to get lost in all the news, and it looks like they’re flying under the radar a little bit.

For example, did you see that most Disney Springs restaurants were hit with price increases? This includes some of our favorite spots, like The Daily Poutine, D-Luxe Burger, and Jock Lindsey’s Hangar Bar.

Also, all of the Starbucks locations in Disney World raised the prices of certain items as well.

Character dining got more expensive, and some fan-favorite Disney World hotel restaurants were affected, too.

If you’re visiting Disney World soon, just be aware that you may need to budget a little bit more for dining during your trip. You can offset the cost by going to counter service restaurants rather than table service, and don’t forget that you can have groceries delivered to your Disney World hotel room so that you can save on snacks and meals!

And ALWAYS make sure you check the special offers page on Disney World’s website when you’re booking your vacation. There may be a discount that you can use for your upcoming trip to help you save big time!

Click here to check out some of the biggest recent price increases at Disney World.

Promised Updates that Never Happened

There have been several times in the past when Disney announced a change or even a major new project and then just…quietly didn’t do it.

A lot of thought and planning goes into every change at the Disney theme parks, so it takes quite a bit of work for Disney to even get to the point where they would announce those changes in the first place. As they continue to work on the projects, they might run into some problems and have to put things on hold for a while. Or, it’s possible that a different, higher-priority thing comes up and they have to shift focus, putting the other project on the back burner.

A couple of recent examples of when Disney has done this include the Spaceship Earth refurbishment and the Mary Poppins attraction in EPCOT.

Back in 2019, it was announced that Spaceship Earth would be undergoing refurbishment as part of EPCOT’s big transformation. Disney said they would be bringing “new magic” into the attraction featuring great moments of human history along with a focus on storytelling rather than inventions and technology.

Disney said a lot of the scenes in the ride would remain but be brought to life in new ways. They also talked about adding new scenes, story elements, AND narration.

Spaceship Earth was supposed to shut down in May of 2020, but we all know how the spring of 2020 went — Disney World as a whole shut down due to the global pandemic. The closure postponed the planned refurbishment of Spaceship Earth, as it did many other construction projects around Disney World. Disney hasn’t announced any future closures for this attraction yet, but it seems that the changes are still planned, just postponed.

Disney previously announced that a NEW Mary Poppins attraction was coming to the UK pavilion in EPCOT’s World Showcase, but in early 2022, it was announced that this attraction was officially on hold.

The attraction was going to allow guests to “step in time down Cherry Tree Lane past Admiral Boom’s house, then enter Number 17, home of the Banks family.”

There have been no updates on when or if this attraction might come to Disney World.

Although Disney may still be planning to make those updates, they seem to have also moved on to some other major changes. Disney has alluded to several “blue sky” projects for the parks, including new themed lands in Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Animal Kingdom, with possible themes of Encanto, Coco, and Disney villains! These projects are called “blue sky” because they’re not confirmed or solidified yet. Although we’ve seen some concept art, Disney is still very much in the beginning stages of these ideas.

It’s confirmed that new lands are coming to Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom, but exactly what will be in those new lands isn’t set in stone. 

We certainly hope to hear more about these projects soon!

How likely is it that those “blue sky” projects will REALLY happen?

Loss of Streetmosphere Performers

There are lots of attractions, rides, and shows throughout the Disney World theme parks, but there used to be a lot more entertainment that just kind of “happened” around you in the parks. We lost some of these “streetmosphere” acts after the parks reopened following the pandemic-related closures, but many of them still haven’t come back, a couple of years later. Are these performances now gone forever?

One of the most obvious instances of these disappearances is the Citizens of Hollywood at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. We’ve seen them appear for runDisney events in the park, but other than that, they’re missing.

The cute Muppets show in Liberty Square in Magic Kingdom also still hasn’t returned. This was a 10-minute show that happened randomly throughout the day, when the Muppets would tell hilarious versions of classic American history tales.

Luckily, it’s not all bad news! Many fan-favorite streetmosphere acts have returned, including the Dapper Dans on Main Street, U.S.A., and the acrobats and musicians in Animal Kingdom.

Click here to check out that adorable Muppets show!

Broken Attractions

Did you know that a popular roller coaster is actually BROKEN in Disney World? Don’t worry — it’s not a safety risk. The yeti at Expedition Everest has been swapped over to B-Mode, which means it no longer moves like it used to.

Previously, the yeti would swing its arm down as if it would grab the guests riding by on the coaster. However, now Disney just uses strobe lighting to make it look like the yeti is moving while the animatronic itself remains stationary.

The problem was that the yeti’s huge size and swinging movements were starting to compromise the structural integrity of the ride, which means that — in order to fix the coaster fully — there would have to be some big changes made to the entire ride. It’s been rumored that part of the mountain would have to be disassembled in order to accomplish this, which would be a HUGE project.

There haven’t been any announcements made about changes to this ride, so it seems like we’re stuck with our “disco yeti” for the time being! Honestly, the ride is still thrilling enough even without that additional scare.

Some other rides have occasionally been placed in “B-Mode,” including Na’vi River Journey and Smugglers Run. When the fancy animatronic in Na’vi River Journey is broken, Disney replaces it with a screen instead (which isn’t nearly as cool as the real thing).

We’ve seen Hondo Ohnaka disappear from the Smugglers Run attraction a few times, and it’s always a bummer when we don’t get to see that neat animatronic.

Luckily, both of these rides are usually only in B-Mode for a little while before they’re fixed.

People are LOSING IT over this missing part of Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

We’ll continue to watch out for any other changes that might affect your next Disney World vacation, so stay tuned to DFB for all the latest updates!

This Disney World tip is going to make you so mad…but you need to do it anyway.

Did you notice these sneaky changes? Let us know in the comments.