2021 Disney World Vacation Packages Now Available
2021 Walt Disney World vacation packages are now available for booking over the phone, via travel agents, and on the official site. In a normal year, we spend significant time combing DisneyWorld.com to compare room prices for next year to this year’s rack rates…but this year is anything but normal. (In case you somehow weren’t aware of that!)
For one thing, 2020 Walt Disney World vacation packages, hotels, and tickets still not available to book right now. (We have saved rate charts, so that alone wouldn’t be prohibitive.) More importantly, I’m having no success getting past the “We’re Almost in Orbit” screen after inputting dates on DisneyWorld.com.
The wounds of dealing with this whole infuriating process only two days ago with Disney Park Pass are still fresh, so I’m saying “screw it” for now. It’s not like anything is selling out today. I’ll be back with a pricing analysis…at some point. Maybe a day, maybe a week, maybe a month. Honestly, I don’t think today’s prices have much basis in ultimate reality anyway, as steep discounts will be necessary in the future to entice people to visit Walt Disney World in 2021…
Instead, let’s just quickly run through the basis, followed by brief commentary. Vacation packages are valid for arrivals beginning January 1, 2021 and with checkout dates before September 27, 2021. Normal terms and conditions for final payments, cancelations, and change fees will apply for all 2021 Walt Disney World vacation package bookings.
At present, 2021 Walt Disney World package bookings are available for the following resorts:
- Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort
- Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
- Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas — Jambo House
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas — Kidani Village
- Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
- Disney’s Beach Club Villas
- Disney’s BoardWalk Inn
- Disney’s BoardWalk Villas
- Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort
- Disney’s Contemporary Resort
- Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort
- Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground
- Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
- Disney’s Old Key West Resort
- Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
- Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows
- Disney’s Pop Century Resort
- Disney’s Riviera Resort
- Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa
- Disney’s Yacht & Beach Club Resorts
- The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
This means that the following resorts are not available for booking:
- Disney’s All Star Movies Resort
- Disney’s All Star Music Resort
- Disney’s All Star Sports Resort
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge – Jambo House
- Disney’s Port Orleans Resort — French Quarter
- Disney’s Port Orleans Resort — Riverside
- Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
Note that it might appear that Animal Kingdom Lodge – Jambo House appears on both lists. However, the first entry is the villas, whereas the second is the regular hotel rooms.
It’s also worth pointing out that this list simply mirrors our Walt Disney World Hotel Reopening Dates, which only encompasses the properties opening between now and October 14, 2020.
The remaining resorts will go online as demand dictates. In other words, we are not expecting all of these resorts to remain closed through September 2021. Rather, it’s likely that Walt Disney World simply isn’t offering reservations yet because their status as of January 1, 2021 remains uncertain.
Booking a 2021 Walt Disney World vacation package does not guarantee theme park availability. Check the Disney Park Pass Availability Calendar before purchasing tickets, and make your theme park reservations immediately after linking your 2021 vacation package in the My Disney Experience app.
Additionally, the Disney Dining Plan remains unavailable at this time. Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach water parks also still do not have reopening dates set as of this point.
As a reminder, next year Walt Disney World will unveil a new offering as part of the My Disney Experience app that will bring features of a MagicBand to your smart phone, building on the app’s existing digital key feature.
With these new features on the way, Walt Disney World will be retiring complimentary MagicBand distribution to hotel guests for new reservations with arrivals beginning January 1, 2021. (MagicBands will still be available to purchase at a discount, via the MagicBand Upgrade Program.)
Guests who prefer not to purchase a discounted MagicBand will be able to use the My Disney Experience app or a Key to the World card during their visit for all of the same features (minus wearability).
Walt Disney World will still offer MagicBands in retail locations and on shopDisney.com, and guests will be able to continue using the wearables throughout Walt Disney World Resort.
Normally, our advice is to book Walt Disney World vacation packages when they go on sale to lock-in ticket and component pricing as a safeguard against the inevitable price increases. That’s normally especially true if there’s a certain hotel or room type that’s a must-have for your trip. This year, our perspective is: honestly, why bother?
There are still too many unknowns regarding the 2021 Walt Disney World experience at this point. What’s the status of the Disney Dining Plan? What about theme park reservations? What will health safety policies look like next year? What about entertainment? It’s likely whatever you book today will have to be modified or rebooked down the road–and ask anyone who has been through that process the last few months how “fun” that was.
Right now, Walt Disney World is treating September 27, 2021 as the date when everything conceivably goes back to normal. This date is not insignificant–it’s the Monday when guests arriving for Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary (on October 1, 2021) are most likely to check-in.
However, it’s still an arbitrary date. Walt Disney World isn’t just going to flip a switch on that day–removing restrictions, reservations, etc. and adding the Disney Dining Plan, FastPass, etc–and go back to normal. It’s going to be an ongoing process that could begin well before then and/or continue after that date. At this point, we don’t know what next month looks like, let alone September 2021.
Quite simply, that September 2021 date was chosen because it’s a sensible goal that also “kicks the can” far enough into the future. There’s nothing to stop Walt Disney World from reintroducing the Disney Dining Plan on February 7, 2021 (random, made-up date) or never bringing it back at all. Same goes for anything else. (We still don’t have a date for water parks, but have credible reason to believe one will be reopening this year.)
Given all of that, and our strong belief that the likelihood of greater discounts outweighs the probability of larger price increases, our advice is to take a wait and see approach. Save yourself the hassle and headache now, and don’t do anything. That is, unless you’re traveling very early in the year, having the vacation booked will make you happy, or give you something tangible to look forward to. (Can’t fault you there, either!)
The biggest ‘selling point’ of booking right now is securing Disney Park Pass reservations. Don’t let that spook you into acting prematurely. For one thing, none of those dates are filling up anytime soon (the only date next year that might, October 1, 2021 at Magic Kingdom, isn’t even available yet).
For another thing, Walt Disney World’s goal is to gradually increase park capacity and eliminate the reservation system entirely. In other words, limits set today for next year are not in any way accurate. More availability will open over time, or Disney Park Pass will be but a distant memory.
Ultimately, that’s where we stand on booking 2021 Walt Disney World vacation packages right now. It’s usually interesting and instructive to see pricing and other details as they offer a window into Disney’s view of the following year, but that’s simply not the case today. As we’ve stressed repeatedly, right now is a temporary abnormal and *not* a new normal. That goes for Walt Disney World vacation packages, too. What you’re locking in today will almost certainly change in pretty substantial ways. We are banking on it, and so should you!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Have you already booked a 2021 Walt Disney World vacation package? Notice anything interesting about hotel room or package prices? Anything surprise you? Will you be booking soon, or taking our recommended wait and see approach? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments here? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
We’ve had to reschedule twice now. We have cancelled our August reservations and I am trying to get 2 rooms at either Animal Kingdom, Wilderness Lodge, Poly, or the Floridian in the 3rd week of August. I only need a room as I already have my tickets. Thus far I am being told they are all booked! I am also unable to get my previous rate, as I was getting a military room rate, which isn’t being offered yet. I am limited to that time as I am working around a college and a high school schedule. It is very disheartening.
I am trying to move our plans from November of this year to November 2021. I thought I could do it online, but every time I check the website it is showing absolutely no hotels available for that week in November. Is it because they are showing nothing past September 2021 or are they truly already that booked? Do I need to call? Thanks for your input! My husband and I have decided to try it at that time next year and hopefully everything will be more normal.
We were in the same boat. I called today and spoke with an extremely nice and helpful cast member (seriously one of the best customer service calls of my life.!) Disney is currently not booking past September 2021. He said they were ironing out details of their 50th celebrations and giving things time to settle down with reopening. We had decided to upgrade our resort since we’re putting off our trip. He helped us book our new resort for a random week in September that we will change to November once the travel dates are open.
October 2019- booked free dining BB for
12/20
June 2020 – free dining taken away and
Given 35% room discount
For POP.
Last Week. – tried all week to get in line
To move pkg to next May.
Yesterday- Spent 8 hours on one call only
To be told that this years
Discounts can’t be moved to
Next years modifications
Last night- Cancelled everything til
Further notice.
Good Move !!! With all the restrictions and reduced entrainment, What Is The Point?
Sorry, but nicely stated what many of us are going through!
We did same thing; it was frustrating as we are from NYS and would have arrived for 2 weeks next month thru Labor Day week. Had BB with free dine but the room only for next year at that time was over 1K More ; no discount could be applied. Cancelled AP and whole vacation until we see improved experience and hopefully some deals…
Any idea on how to just purchase theme park tickets without a resort/vacation package? I’ve been trying under the Parks& Tickets link but no luck. Just info on the safety measures being taken. Aren’t we supposed to be able to purchase theme park tickets for 2021 today?
It seems like it’s working now to get tickets!
I was on the phone waiting for 3 hours and was told that the Beach Club is completely full, rooms and villas, when we want to go (Sept 2021). Is that real???
Maybe for the capacity they are currently booking under
Thanks for comments. I will make the reservations AND have park hopper and like everything with Disney right now, wait and see what works if I get to go! Hoping for discounts and dining plan. I can wish!
Just have to share my experience today both to vent my frustration and to save others from same date. I had rebooked from April to August 2020. Coming from NY, so was already keeping eye quarantine order from fl. ( Posted comment on that). Now there is ny quarantine order for people coming from fl. also. That was final nail in the coffin for me. Looked into postponing for spring break 2021 and base rates were almost double current booking. Made a conscious decision to call and wait on hold for a few hours for the scant possibility of being able to rebook with current discount. The result was absolutely worse that what I THOUGHT would be worse case scenario. After being on hold for 3 hours waiting for rep was on hold for another 3-4 hours waiting for guest services only to be told that I could not get any discount (ok I was braced for that) and then to find out, when the rep was going to at least book the room at the crazy rate with some special notes for me that the rates she was looking at were another even higher than what I saw available. To put real numbers on it. Same room current booking about $400/ night. Rack rate I saw for spring break $770/night. Rack rate SHE QUOTED for same week $900 per night. So I just booked it myself and will watch out for discounts. I highly recommend anyone thinking of calling disney or using travel agent to book 2021 to shop around yourself first and make sure you know available rates.
I already booked at AoA for second week in January because I’m running the marathon and wanted to guarantee I had an on property room and a resort on the Skyliner route. The price was higher than I thought it would be, especially with no dining plan. It is actually going to cost me a little more than when I went two years ago for the marathon. And that year I had the regular dining plan. So, yeah, no discounts yet, prices actually maybe a little higher than before, but I can rest assured I have a room on property, already secured theme park reservations, and a resort on the skyliner route. This was very important to me because Disney will bus you to and from the start/finish line if you are staying at an on property resort. And with a 5:00am start for the marathon, that’s a really nice perk.
Just trying to be funny in the vein of Mark Twain. No malice toward anyone intended.
We booked for All Star Sports back in February for August 21. Do we have to change hotels it says not currently planned to open?
We had a trip booked for this year (July 5-12) at the All Star Sports Resort. Obviously since they weren’t open, we had to change the reservation. We elected to change to Mardi Gras week which is in February 2021. Our agent spent so much time and effort on hold and trying to get our trip changed only to find out that they won’t even book our original resort for February of next year! With that in mind, I definitely don’t see it being open in August of this year. I’m hoping that maybe it will change as this has jacked our price up drastically from our original total.
We booked for All Star Spirts back in February for August 21. Do we have to change hotel?
Just rebooked our September trip to the end of January. We were able to get park hopper but I also made park reservations with no issues. Hoping that park hopper comes back by January.
Didn’t have to pay anything more for our dream vacation except for our plane tickets. We paid the difference in the ticket prices but Disney paid the flight change fee. Which was helpful.
We also got the whole package flight, hotel, and park tickets with insurance.
So our new vacation was all set to go! Here’s hoping that January will be better.
I’m the biggest Disney fan on earth, but I’m growing increasingly tired of these half-baked ideas when it comes to rolling out new reservations processes. How does it make sense that I could, right now, reserve a package with tickets and make park reservations for this time next year, but I still can’t add tickets to the military salute package I have had reserved since October of last year? It was supposed to be in May, then June (checking in tomorrow ….) and now it’s in December. We have two rooms at a deluxe resort for a week, but we can’t add tickets. At this point, shifting focus and taking a trip somewhere sunny and tropical instead is sounding REALLY good.
Hi. I have booked for October 16th 2021 and got park tickets. Changed from this August to then staying at all stars sports. Hopefully it will be better buy then. Unable to reserve park days at present. All tickets are linked to my hotel on disney world app. I have ordered the magic bands for then as well will we still receive them?
Tom’s post above says that for check in’s after Jan. 1 that Disney will no longer be providing them for free. If it lets you order them now, try it. You have nothing to lose. But I would not expect to receive any. They will still be for sale though.
Per Tom above in the article:
“With these new features on the way, Walt Disney World will be retiring complimentary MagicBand distribution to hotel guests for new reservations with arrivals beginning January 1, 2021. (MagicBands will still be available to purchase at a discount, via the MagicBand Upgrade Program.)”
I was just wondering when you booked your stay and through who you booked it with? We were trying to book the same week and were told they weren’t taking any reservations for that time period.
How did you get to book already for October 2021. I have been trying and it won’t let me
Was wondering how you booked October 2021, when they are only taking reservations thru September 2021?
She did not book Oct 2021, she is messing with all of you to ruffle your feathers.
Even coming from the UK booking site the NLT Sept 26th protocol still applies. It is the same restrictions placed on US bookings.
Anyone saying otherwise is merely trying to upset others by claiming something that is 100% impossible. Do not let an internet troll rob you of your happiness!
I booked a June 2021 hotel reservation in January of this year and because I had, I went ahead and added my tickets to make a package today and(because I am a little obsessive) reserved the two days that are specifically what we wanted for ourctrip. IF we still need them and travel then, we’re covered. If not, cest la vie. Im truly hoping we are closer to normal than to the current chaos at that time. By making my reservation then, I am booked at Pop Century so I am not overpaying for a place to sleep.
As far as getting through the process today, it took minutes to get the tickets, link them and make our park reservations. Wouldn’t want to have to do it on the 28. Yesterday we tried all day and never got through.
were you able to add the tickets to your package online? I have a hotel reservation and can’t seem to figure out how to do it online and been on hold with them on the phone for almost 2 hours! help?
Patricia- Is your hotel reservation with Disney Vacation Club points or did you pay cash?
How did you add tickets online? I’ve been trying to figure it out for an hour. I have a resort reservation for 2021 and am trying to add tickets but no luck. I also can’t figure out how to just purchase tickets without adding them to a resort reservation like the website and like a cast member told me I could due starting today. I purchased with cash, not DVC points.
I booked a trip for March and it allowed me to add park hopper. I also was able to make park reservations for each day of our tickets. Do you think they are allowing park hoppers because they are hopeful that can return? Also prices were about the same as when we had this exact trip booked for this past May. If there are still mask regulations, no parades or fireworks, or character meetings and with limited hours we may end up cancelling, hard to spend that much money for our family of 6 with lack of Disney amenities.
Hi Tom,
Trying to decide about booking from the UK for next June.
To use our air miles for the trip we need to book soon however don’t want to risk not getting access to the parks we want.
Any words of wisdom?
Many thanks x
We had to reschedule our honeymoon from May to March and this is our first visit. We will be booking as soon as the phone doesnt give us a busy signal, however I wish Disney would honor the discount we originally haved that was saving us $2,000. Its frustrating that this process is so confusing but I’m hoping it will work out.
Id love a post on tips for first time visitors during this Covid period!
You probably re-booked into an expensive spring break window. Are your dates flexible? Try looking at dates last week of February or after Easter ( which is on April 4 in 2021) Timing is everything when it comes to pricing! Even a day or week can make a BIG difference! It might be worth changing your dates to save a significant amount of money.
I am sure you would rather spend that extra $2000 some other way. LOL
If you can’t change your dates (Ie. work or school schedule etc) then just keep looking maybe every week or so to see if any discount comes out. This blog is great about timely info on new discounts coming out. This is a weird year, so things are less predictable about discounts.
Sorry you had to delay your honeymoon. That is a bummer. Glad you can go at a later date!
In 2021, I am hearing they have park hopper offered. So there is no booking, at least right now, of individual parks. I guess they figure that crowds will be allowed back to normal by then. I booked in May 2021 with park hopper option and it Went through.
I also have park hopper added on the tickets I got today, I figure they can reimburse if that option no longer applies later. My trip is first week of February.
I noticed that the Park Hopper option was available when I booked for January,…but they still make you reserve a single park each day of your visit. I didn’t purchase the Park Hopper so I don’t know if the system will let you make more than one theme park reservations for the same day if you have Park Hopper. My guess is they are offering Park Hopper as a placeholder and will credit your account if it is still unavailable during your visit.
I just booked two reservations for my family and my daughters family at the Caribbean for Jan 16-25, 2021. However park availability was all green but it would not allow me to make Park reservations. Not panicking yet.