Disney World has announced more information about what guests who had trips planned during or near the closure can expect.
Remember, the parks closed beginning March 16. The hotels and Disney Springs followed suit soon after. The closure is now scheduled indefinitely, which leaves guests little guidance as to how to handle their trips.
Important: Disney World Phased Reopening Notice
This topic is temporarily impacted by the ongoing phased reopening of Walt Disney World after its extended mid-2020 closure. We highly recommend you also visit our Walt Disney World Reopening Masterpost, where we highlight specific issues guests will face during this unique time.
Which Stays Are Impacted
So far, Disney has confirmed that trips through March 31 have been cancelled, and they are not taking new reservations for dates through May 31.
It’s our understanding—though Disney has not specifically stated—that all reservations prior to June 1 are also being cancelled. While Disney has left open the possibility that the parks will reopen prior to June 1, it sounds like everyone with a hotel stay booked before June 1 should expect it to be cancelled by Disney, if you don’t make the decision yourself.
Free Dining Recovery Offer
Guests with a hotel stay between March 16 and May 31 who have cancelled their trip can now call Disney at 407-939-4251 to book a package with a free dining plan between June 1 and September 30.
Free dining is typically not available as a ticketless package, meaning you’ll need to purchase your tickets through Disney as a part of the package in order to get the free dining plan.
Currently this offer is only available to guests who had to cancel / change their plans due to the temporary closure of the parks. If it expands to other guests, we will update our Disney World free dining offer post.
Other Relief For Impacted Guests
Not everyone is going to be able to simply reschedule their trip for June 1 through September 30 to take advantage of the free dining offer.
As a note about these…the website technically still states these rules apply to tickets etc. “through the end of the closure.” Obviously someone who has an event ticket for May 31 can’t be expected to just sit on that event ticket in case the parks reopen May 31. Presumably, Disney is refunding these items through May 31, but you’ll need to call to confirm.
Ticket changes. Tickets are being automatically extended through December 15. If you do not use your ticket by then, its value may be used toward the purchase of a future ticket.
Event ticket refunds. If you purchased tickets to special events, like After Hours, those will be refunded. Same with reservations for Savi’s or Droid Depot.
Package refunds. Guests may modify or cancel packages booked through The Walt Disney Travel Company with no fee up until their check in date. If no action is taken, the refund will automatically issued. Guests who did not book directly through Disney must contact the agent they booked with.
Hotel reservations. Same as package refunds, but change and cancellation fees waived for check-ins through June 30, 2020.
Annual passes. Disney World Annual passes are being automatically extended for the number of days the parks are closed.
Should I call Disney now to cancel or Reschedule?
If you’re looking to snag the free dining offer, calling sooner is probably better just in case that offer has any sort of limited availability (even if every guest is entitled to it, availability may vary by hotel).
Otherwise, unless your trip is right around the corner and your issue isn’t answered by Disney already, there’s little need to call the first few days and weekend following the announcement.
The phone lines are jammed, with people waiting hours to get through. Disney can take care of you in a few days / weeks. Most cancellations and changes can be done online via the My Plans page, and Disney is also automatically processing some cancellations, so there might be no need to contact them at all.
Also, if you booked your trip through and agent or a third-party website (like Expedia), you’ll need to start by dealing with that person / party first.
Should I reschedule? Take the Dining Offer? Take the Refund?
If you can afford the deposit, confirm the refund / cancellation policy for the free dining offer and at least book that to start. As long as you can cancel that trip later (which would be the standard rule) then seizing on the option for free dining is a good place to start.
Otherwise, reschedule if you can put up with (1) still having a deposit paid and (2) possibly having to call to reschedule again. Given the complexities of things, I’d go ahead and take the refund and regroup.
When Will the Disney Parks Reopen?
No one knows. I don’t mean “no blogger knows”. I mean no one knows.
The issues here are much larger than Disney. We don’t know what the spread of the virus is going to look like in the US. We don’t know how much widespread testing will be available or when. We don’t know what that testing will tell us about the virus.
Once we have that information…we don’t know what measures Disney might be able to take to coexist with the virus. We don’t know if they’ll just have to “wait it out” entirely. We don’t know if they’ll wait until the local situation is contained or until the national situation is contained.
It seems a lot of us are expected the next two weeks to indicate what the virus looks like in the US. Disney will obviously watch that closely, so expect updates from them as they make a decision.
When Should I Reschedule My Trip?
Accepting that we don’t know when the parks will reopen…there’s no one-size fits all answer here.
First, you can’t trust crowd predictions anymore. Maybe people will be slow to come back the first few weeks the park reopens, but once the wheels start churning we’re going to see a ton of re-booked trips. I wouldn’t pick a date just because it’s typically low crowds.
Yes—there will probably be low crowds right as the parks reopen because planning trips takes time, as does adjusting to the idea that the parks are “safe” again, but chances are if you’re thinking about a date to re-book, so are thousands of other people.
For a soon trip, I think late summer 2020 is what you’d be looking at. That’s when I have a little more confidence the parks will be open, and I think many people might be rescheduling beyond that.
Then there’s Christmas 2020. If crowds are going to be high when you visit anyways (because of rebookings), then why not pick the time of year when the resort is at its most magical. Hopefully, you weather the economic storm and are able to cover any additional costs for visiting during this time.
The 50th Anniversary of Walt Disney World is technically October 1, 2021, and we expect celebrations to begin sometime before that. I think summer 2021 could be a great time to visit…but…
We don’t know how the virus will impact construction at Disney World. WIll it slow TRON and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind? What about Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure (expected summer 2020)?
I guess the key thing to remember for this question is that more time before you trip means more time to plan. Unfortunately, someone is going to be the first guest in the parks when they reopen, and that person will have no idea what to expect from crowds (and possibly park operations if those are impacted long term).
We’ll have updates as the situation progresses…