Today we’ve got updates from Walt Disney World—mostly for those of you with upcoming trips—along with Tokyo Disney Resort and California’s Disneyland Resort.
Note: Updates may be made to this post throughout July 2. If they are, they will be listed right here.
Updated to clarify a reasonable reading of the recent California update would preclude Disneyland from reopening
PREVIOUS UPDATE + WDW MASTERPOST
In case you’re behind (it’s easy to fall behind these days…even for us), our last update was on June 26. If you’re brand new and would just like a thorough look at the Disney World reopening, we have a Disney World Reopening Masterpost that covers the basics and links to our deeper content.
Walt Disney World Updates
We’ll start with Walt Disney World, where we’ve got mostly small updates for those of you with upcoming trips. We’ll start with the big one that matters for everyone visiting now through September 26, 2021.
All Ticket Holders Able to Make Park Reservations
As of June 28, everyone who has purchased a Disney World ticket can make theme park reservations via the Disney World Park Pass Reservation system for dates through September 26, 2021.
2021 tickets, rooms, and packages are now on sale. We recommend working with a travel agent—like Lauren Quirk of Travel With Character LLC—for 2021 bookings. In case modifications are required, it’s best to have someone else sort through that rather than having to do it yourself. We just booked a trip through Lauren and it went as smooth as ever.
2020 is still closed for new ticket sales and hotel bookings. If you do not have a ticket purchased for 2020, it is yet unclear if or when you’d be able to get one for 2020.
Disney hotel bookings for 2020 are also still closed, though I suspect those might open even if the parks don’t sell new 2020 tickets. After all, some 2020 ticket holders don’t have hotel rooms yet. Moreover, some rare guests may want to stay at the hotels without visiting the parks.
Garden Grill (Epcot) to have Modified Character Meal
Note: You can read more about Disney World’s Reopening Details — Dining here.
Previously, Topolino’s Terrace at Disney’s Riviera Resort was the only character meal set to reopen (it has reopened, and Tom Bricker reviewed the modified experience).
Now, Garden Grill at Epcot is scheduled to have a modified character experience when it reopens with the park on July 15. We’re hopeful this means the other three parks will see character meals return, too.
Updates to Dining Reservations
Disney has updated its policy for upcoming advance dining reservations:
Eligible Guests with Dining Reservations Cancelled During the Closure
If you had an active dining reservation on or before September 2, 2020 that was cancelled as of May 28 due to the temporary closure of Walt Disney World Resort, you’ll have the opportunity to make new dining reservations beginning on June 30 up to 60 days in advance of your arrival.Reservations for All Guests
Online reservations for all Guests will reopen at a later date. Please continue to check back for details.
This is a very small update covering only guests who previously had reservations on or before September 2, 2020 that were cancelled because of the closure.
The purpose of the September 2 cutoff is not at all clear to me. I don’t recall the exact timeline, but Disney was definitely taking dining reservations well into March, so plenty beyond September 2 should be on the books.
Notably, this update was given on one-day notice. If you’re interested in getting a dining reservation moving forward, you’ll need to be on your toes. I recommend you start by following Scott Gustin on twitter. Scott has done a great job breaking the latest updates from Disney.
Transportation Updates
Disney has announced some updates to transportation at Disney World. The Magic Kingdom monorail will resume operations July 11. The Skyliner will resume operations July 15.
We don’t have any word yet on how these will operate. Presumably, the Skyliner will have one family per gondola. The monorail could have one family per car, but it might make more sense to add plexiglass dividers in the middle (along the backs of the middle benches) and have two families per car.
AP Preview Registration Opens, Closes
Registration for the annual passholder previews opened and closed about 45 minutes later on Monday morning. If you’re an annual passholder, you’re currently in the following position (note: the official reopening page for passholders is here)…
Previews have been fully booked. This isn’t a huge deal, as previews are typically a draw because of lower crowds, which are expected to be the norm in the coming months.
You’re free to book 3 park days through September 2021. If you have a Disney / partner hotel reservation, you should be able to book for your entire reservation. Otherwise, you can book three days in advance through September 26, 2021.
You can see current passholder date availability here. So far, dates are filling up more or less chronologically, with weekends going faster than weekdays. We’ve seen plenty of July and August dates filled, but major dates like Christmas and New Year’s Eve still aren’t filled.
That said, those dates probably aren’t worth what they used to be. Given that Disney has cut back on crowd-inducing entertainment, like nighttime shows, it’s hard to imagine New Year’s Eve will be anything like years past.
Cancellation / Refund Details Still To Come. I’m still considering cancelling my annual pass. I imagine this will not be a fun process. Ideally, Disney would set up a simple system that pulls the date your pass was activated and the price of your pass type, and then generated a refund amount. In reality, we’ll probably have lengthy, complicated phone calls.
The official reopening page for passholders says details on cancellations / refunds will come in early July. I’m open to, but not settled on, cancelling my pass, so I’ll be keeping an eye out for these details.
I’d remind annual passholders that the biggest risk to cancelling your pass right now is that you might miss out on 2020 visits. If Disney does not reopen 2020 ticket sales, cancelling your annual pass will leave you without a ticket and unable to visit the parks the rest of the year.
What’s up with Disneyland?
I don’t know.
Last week, Disney announced they were delaying the reopening of Disneyland’s parks and hotels. The original date for the parks—July 17—had them reopening roughly the same time as Florida. Now, it’s to be determined.
They’ve continued to negotiate with unions to agree on conditions for returning to work, but the move to delay reopening was praised by the Governor, and the unions weren’t necessarily the largest hurdle to reopening.
We’re expecting to hear more from the California government about theme parks in the next few days, but increasing cases are leading California to tighten, not loosen, its rules. It’s plausible the theme park issue gets shelved for a week or two.
If the issue isn’t shelved immediately, it’s likely the standards will be such that they delay openings for several weeks. Expect “cases need to be declining for 7 days…” not just “install hand sanitizer stations.”
Legoland, which was at one point pushing for a July 1 reopening, now says it won’t reopen before August 1. They’re also being sued regarding a lack of refunds, an issue we’re not following closely yet but which might start to raise some interesting questions.
The above-linked tweet is the Governor requiring that certain businesses (including restaurants and entertainment venues) to cease indoor operations. I’ve seen reports (but can’t confirm) the order will be in place for at least three weeks.
For starters, recall Downtown Disney. Downtown Disney is currently scheduled to open July 9. At this point, it would not be able to have indoor dining, but retail would be allowed to reopen. I was expecting to hear something from Disney (silly me), but there’s been nothing yet.
As for the parks, a reopening of Disneyland parks in the next three weeks seems off the table. It’s hard to see how Disneyland could operate with no indoor operations, considering how many ride queues and buildings are indoors. Moreover, people aren’t likely to respond well to theme parks reopening while local restaurants are being told to close up again.
Realistically, I’d say something like six weeks is my optimistic case for Disneyland. In this case, California spends three weeks getting case counts back down, and then looks three weeks ahead toward theme parks reopening. This would position the parks for a mid-August reopening.
I’ve been pessimistic about reopening timelines throughout most of this, but the fact is that until last week, Disneyland was aiming for a mid-July reopening. Whatever the case, I don’t think they’re going to sit on their hands too long. They’ll also likely have the safety and sanitation procedures at Walt Disney World to point to as a sign of success in a few weeks.
Tokyo Disney Resort Opens
Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea reopened this week. They had new capacity restrictions in place, and as expected this meant short waits across the resort.
I haven’t yet seen a comprehensive write-up of how the parks looked. I’m hoping to see something from TDR Explorer, the English-speaking internet’s foremost expert on Tokyo Disney Resort, who praised the reopening on his instagram story.
One interesting note from the Tokyo reopening is that they didn’t even allow annual passholders access. Passholders could buy one-day tickets, which are how Tokyo is currently capping admission, but an annual pass was not enough to get you into the park.
Presumably, some sort of lottery system is on its way, as is an annual pass extension. I can’t do much with it, but the dynamics of annual passes and the reopenings continues to interest me. So far every theme park I know of is giving passholders an extension for the duration of the closure, but the other details have varied.