One of the key parts of planning a Disney World vacation is buying your tickets. Depending on your hotel choice, this might be the single most expensive part of your trip. In this post we’re going to discuss a key question: Are Disney World tickets refundable? We’ll discuss purchases directly from Disney and third party purchases, along with where to get refundable tickets. Besides just the straight answer, we’ll also talk about alternatives to refunding tickets.
First thing’s first—you need to check the policy of whoever sells you your ticket.
If you’re expecting to get money back for a ticket, the first, sometimes only, entity you’re going to be able is the one that sold you the ticket in the first place. We’ve discussed a variety of approaches for buying discount Disney World tickets, and some of those actually have better refund options than Disney. We’ll discuss one of these more below.
But before I say anything else I have to be very clear—I’m a third party / independent party. I’m reviewing the publicly available information as I see it today, but you’ll want to double check at the time of purchase what rules apply to your ticket. Are you buying a shorter timeframe that impacts policies? Are you buying specially discounted ticketed that aren’t refundable? Or have policies changed since I wrote this post?
To that end, I provide a link the the source of every answer I provide in this post. This should allow you to confirm—with a more official source than totally unofficial me—that the policies I quote are at least still the general policies. But you also should make sure you’re not buying any tickets that are excluded from these policies, as sometimes happens.
Finally, I want to add this is a good time to consider working with a travel advisor. They can answer all these questions for your specific trip, and if the worst occurs they’ll work to get you the best outcome. The one time I had a trip impacted by a Hurricane, I was incredibly grateful to have my travel advisor waiting on hold with Disney, inquiring about refunds, so I could enjoy what was left of my trip.
Let’s start with tickets bought directly from Disney before talking about the most popular and recommend third party ticket seller, Undercover Tourist.
Quick Note About Disneyland Tickets
This post is about Walt Disney World tickets. I’m not going to say anything about the international Disney resorts because I know nothing of their cancellation policies. As for Disneyland, in California, their policies are similar to Walt Disney World’s (tickets are generally nonrefundable, but certain modifications are available):
“Tickets are nonrefundable unless cancelled by Disney.” (source)
For more on the terms and conditions of Disneyland tickets, visit that source. Now, onto Disney World.
Walt Disney World Ticket Cancellation Policies
Generally, Disney World tickets bought from Disney are nonrefundable. Let’s talk more about this…
Disney World Tickets Bought Direct Are Nonrefundable
Here’s an FAQ from Disney (source):
Q: Can I cancel or modify my theme park tickets or vacation packages?
A: Tickets and packages at Walt Disney World Resort are nontransferable and nonrefundable. However, while you cannot cancel or get a refund for tickets or packages, you may be able to change the date of your unused tickets…
This sort of answers the question. Indeed, if you go to the Disney ticket purchase page, you’ll see similar language near the bottom (source):
“All tickets and options are nontransferable and nonrefundable and exclude activities/events separately priced or not open to the general public.”
If you make a purchase through that page, you’ll encounter some more details:
“Tickets are nonrefundable. After expiration date, the price paid for a wholly unused ticket can be applied to the purchase of a new ticket with an equal or higher price.”
“Changing Your Tickets - An additional cost applies to change your dates to dates with higher ticket prices. In addition, when you modify your ticket to add an option, you will need to pay the price of the option plus any changes to the price of the ticket since your original purchase. No refund or credit is given for changes from dates with higher prices to dates with lower prices. Tickets are nonrefundable, nontransferable and must be used by the same person on all days.”
So, we can say pretty clearly and confidently that tickets bought from Disney are nonrefundable. Of course, I didn’t just post “nonrefundable” language because there are three important caveats (not exceptions).
Caveats to the Disney Nonrefundable Ticket Rule
First, if you have an unused ticket bought from Disney you can change the dates, paying the difference if the new dates are a higher price, but receiving no refund if they’re a lower price. And if the ticket has expired (i.e. past its usable dates), you can get a credit for the price paid and purchase new tickets at an equal or higher price (I don’t exactly know what to do if your dates are cheaper, but the worst case would be you’d tweak the date / ticket length / options to get the price just over your credit amount).
Second, if you have an unused ticket bought from Disney, you can reassign it to someone on your friends or family. Red Flag here: Disney says tickets are non-transferable at various points. Yes, but this appears to refer to partially used tickets. For one, there’s an FAQ on this (source):
Q: After I link a ticket to my Disney account, can I reassign the ticket to someone else?
A: Yes. If the ticket has not yet been used, you can reassign a ticket to another person on your Family & Friends list.
And this also comports with the quoted, strained language above: “Tickets are nonrefundable, nontransferable and must be used by the same person on all days.” So while I’m not entirely sure why they’ve chosen such obtuse phrasing, my interpretation of the general rule is that you can reassign wholly unused tickets to someone else.
Third, packages (which usually include tickets) actually have more complex refund rules than the first FAQ I quoted let on. That FAQ, sourced above, said: “Tickets and packages at Walt Disney World Resort are nontransferable and nonrefundable.”
Okay, but the actual terms for package bookings, in accordance with what you’ve probably heard everywhere else, provide for refunds if you cancel early enough (source):
“For cancellations made 30 days or more prior to guest arrival, amounts paid, minus cancellation fees assessed by third party hotels or other suppliers, non-refundable runDisney race registrations, non-refundable travel protection plan costs, and other amounts owed, will be refunded.
For cancellations made 2 days to 29 days prior to guest arrival, amounts paid, minus a cancellation fee of $200.00 per package and minus any cancellation fees assessed by third party hotels or other suppliers, non-refundable runDisney race registrations, non-refundable travel protection plan costs and other amounts owed, will be refunded.
For cancellations made 1 day or less prior to guest arrival or for no-shows, the full price of the package is non-refundable.”
Undercover Tourist Refund Policy
I want to reiterate I’m not affiliated with Undercover Tourist and, as with Disney, you should confirm the refund policies on any ticket with them before you make a purchase. That said, I do recommend buying from Undercover Tourist, have done so multiple times myself, and have advised friends and family to buy from them. One reason to buy from Undercover Tourist (besides the fact that you’ll be saving money) is their generous return policy…
Generally, tickets bought from Undercover Tourist are refundable, minus a 5% processing fee. You can find their refund policy in a few places.
If you make an arbitrary Disney World ticket purchase, in the “Details” section you’ll find language like:
365-Day Return Policy - 95% of the item(s) order amount will be refunded back to you. Yup, we are friendly frogs. The 5% fee will cover the delivery, handling and the processing fees associated with accepting payment and fulfilling the order. Tickets must have been purchased within the last 365 days and not gone past the start date selected. They cannot have been modified by Disney Guest Services or through My Disney Experience or been activated by entering the park. Expired tickets, or any ticket not currently sold on this site are non-refundable. Please contact our customer service team so we can give you instructions to make the process run smoothly.
So once you use the ticket it’s no longer refundable, which isn’t surprising. Importantly, you also need to have not modified the ticket. As mentioned above, you can usually modify Disney World ticket dates. If you modify the tickets you bought from Undercover Tourist, their refund policy won’t apply. You’ll find all this further bolstered in their FAQ.
I want to add one important note. Via this help article:
Q: Will linking my Disney World Ticket void the return policy?
A: No, linking your tickets to My Disney Experience will not void the ticket return policy with Undercover Tourist. You are fine to link your tickets and setup your theme park reservations, without it affecting the ability to be returned. (But please note, modifying your ticket (e.g. changing your start date) in My Disney Experience will void your ticket’s return policy with Undercover Tourist.
Important: Reservations will no longer be required for date-based tickets beginning in early 2024. So you’ll want to triple check that this policy doesn’t change once the reservation system is eliminated (I have no reason to think it will, but any time you see the term “theme park reservations” you should remember that whole system is changing in early 2024).
Special Cases (Hurricanes, World Shuts Down For a Few Months)
I’m not going to go into detail about this because it will be case by case, event by event, but Disney is generally very understanding of cancellations due to Hurricanes impacting the resort and other completely unpredictable earth shaking things, like that time everything shut down for a few months. For example, here’s how they handled the September 2022 Hurricane Ian (source):
Q: I had a multi-day theme park ticket impacted by Hurricane Ian. How long is my ticket valid for?
A: Partially used multi-day theme park tickets with a validity window impacted by closure due to Hurricane Ian will be automatically extended to allow use of the remaining unused ticket days through September 30, 2023. In order to enter a park, both a park reservation and valid ticket for the same park on the same date are required.
One More Option, Travel Insurance
Travel insurance is third party insurance you can purchase for most trips that usually covers unexpected interruption of your trips.
I’ve bought travel insurance a few times, but never for a Disney trip. On the one instance where I had to use my insurance—a lost laptop—I never even heard back if my claim was accepted or denied. Obviously you might have better luck, but just throwing that out there.
The bottom line here is “google this.” Because the details about which travel insurance policies will cover theme park tickets will vary. And details about the circumstances in which they’ll cover those tickets will vary. And you’ll have to get deep into the rules, because some might even deny your claim because, e.g., Disney allows date modifications.
But this is an option to consider if you’re generally nervous about the high cost of your trip and don’t want to be out a lot of money if something goes wrong. Then again, the options above—Disney packages or tickets from Undercover Tourist—might leave the cost of travel insurance unjustified.
All Your Other Disney World Planning Questions Answered
Don't be overwhelmed by Disney World planning! Take a second to check out our most important content and you'll not only be an expert, but you'll save big $$$ along the way.
Just starting out? Check out our Walt Disney World planning guide! If you're still picking dates, we've got everything you need to know about Disney World crowd calendars. For picking your hotel, check out our Walt Disney World hotels guide.
When it comes time to book we’ll help you find discount Disney World tickets. Decide whether you need a dining plan in our Complete Guide to Disney World Dining Plans! And don't forget to book those Disney World Advance Dining Reservations!
Don't forget to master your Disney World Lightning Lane Guide and Strategy a few months in advance. We'll keep you out of long lines so you can maximize the magical time in the parks! We've got park-specific guides as well: Magic Kingdom Lightning Lane Strategy, Epcot Lightning Lane Strategy, Animal Kingdom Lightning Lane Strategy, and Hollywood Studios Lightning Lane Strategy.
Know what to ride with our guides to: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, Epcot rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our guide to Blizzard Beach and our guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.
Finally, before you head out, be sure to check out our to-the-point packing list, 10 essentials you forget to pack for every Disney trip. And if you're interested in saving, there's no better list than our 53 Ways to Save on your Disney trip from start to finish.