2022 Disney World Vacation Packages Out–With Big Exceptions
2022 Walt Disney World vacation packages and hotel reservations are now available for booking through July 1, 2022, with pricing out through December 31, 2022. In this post, we’ll take a look at some details, price increase analysis, what to expect, and what’s not back…yet.
Before we get started, a couple of reminders about the status quo and changes coming in advance of 2022. First, Walt Disney World is ending Magical Express in 2022 and starting Early Theme Park Entry. Disney’s Magical Express is the free service for airport transportation starting, the end of which Walt Disney World attributes this to the expansion of options for guests, including the rise of Uber and Lyft.
Early Theme Park entry is a new perk that will allow Walt Disney World resort guests to enter any of the four theme parks 30 minutes early each day. This is the permanent replacement for Extra Magic Hours and although it doesn’t have an official start date, Disney has indicated it’ll arrive before the start of Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary celebration on October 1, 2021.
There are a couple of other known changes that should debut prior to January 2022. Although no new details have been revealed since last summer, Walt Disney World has announced a “new offering” that will bring features of a MagicBand to your smart phone. This could be part of the My Disney Experience app, or it could be the Disney Genie standalone app that was previously promised to debut late last year.
As a quick refresher, Walt Disney World announced the new app features because it retired complimentary MagicBands for guests booking hotel reservations. (Worth the reminder since this will remain true for 2022, and you might’ve missed it.) MagicBands will still be available to purchase at a discount, via the MagicBand Upgrade Program, which now has 50+ designs, including the anniversary “Castle Cake” and various color trends, starting at $5 each.
Additionally, Park Hopping is back at Walt Disney World. This is also as of 2021. Annual Passholders and guests who buy Park Hopper tickets can now visit Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and/or Animal Kingdom all in the same day.
At present, Park Hopping does not begin until 2 pm each day. Walt Disney World has noted that this is subject to change, and our expectation is that some parks might soon allow Park Hopping earlier in the day (not later). We’re hopeful that by 2022, Park Hopping is entirely back to normal, but that really depends upon Disney Park Pass and attendance caps.
Turning to 2022 Walt Disney World vacation packages, let’s just quickly run through the basics, followed by brief commentary. Bookings are available for arrivals beginning January 1, 2022 and running through July 1, 2022. Normal terms and conditions for final payments, cancelations, and change fees will apply for all 2022 Walt Disney World vacation package bookings.
At present, 2022 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 All Star Movies Resort
- 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 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
- Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
This means that the following resorts are not available for booking:
- Disney’s All Star Music Resort
- Disney’s All Star Sports Resort
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge – Jambo House
- Disney’s BoardWalk Inn
- Disney’s Port Orleans Resort — French Quarter
- Disney’s Port Orleans Resort — Riverside
Note that it might appear that Jambo House appears on both lists. However, the first entry is the Animal Kingdom Villas, whereas the second is the regular hotel rooms at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Confusing since they’re in the exact same building, but that’s how Walt Disney World has been doing it for the last year.
The remaining resorts will go online as demand dictates. In other words, we are not expecting all of these resorts to remain closed through December 2022. Rather, it’s likely that Walt Disney World simply isn’t offering reservations yet because their status as of January 1, 2022 remains uncertain. The very same thing happened this year, so don’t fret too much. We’re expecting almost all of the currently-closed resorts to reopen by mid-2022.
Turning to the rundown of what’s not available yet, the Disney Dining Plan still isn’t back for 2022 Walt Disney World vacation package bookings. This might raise red flags for some of you, but it’s probably more a matter of uncertainty about when it can be brought back in light of physical distancing and capacity caps.
As we explain in our When Will the Disney Dining Plan Return? post, we do not expect that offering to be gone forever—and certainly not through the end of December 2022. That post breaks down what needs to happen for the DDP to come back, why Walt Disney World wants it back ASAP, and when that’ll probably occur. Our guess is still this year.
Next up, FastPass+ or virtual queues. Even before the parks reopened, we predicted that FastPass+ won’t be back, and instead will be replaced by a different form of virtual queue—likely something like MaxPass that can be given to on-site guests as a perk, along with an up-charge component. This is covered in What Will Replace FastPass+ at Walt Disney World?
I’m less confident in that prediction than I was at the time it was made. Walt Disney World is trying to juggle a lot right now, and investing in new tech infrastructure seems increasingly unlikely. I’d give it a 50/50 shot at this point, with equal likelihood that Disney will just restore FastPass+ once physical distancing requirements are relaxed. That could still occur in late 2021, but 2022 seems more likely.
Finally, there’s the thing guests would like to go away but Disney would like to keep around. Along with the new dates for booking resort hotels, Walt Disney World has also quietly extended the Disney Park Pass reservation calendar through January 14, 2023. (It previously ended exactly one year earlier.)
The park reservations aid Disney with staffing, other resource allocation, and crowd distribution. However, guests do not like having to make these reservations. We break down this tension in When Will the Disney Park Pass Reservation System End?
Honestly, we wouldn’t read anything into any of these ‘temporarily unavailable’ things or the extension of Disney Park Pass into 2023. With the 2022 package release, it’s as if Walt Disney World’s reservations center wanted to drum up business and start accepting new bookings, and rather than trying to prognosticate how things would change come 2022, they froze options at today’s status quo.
We already know this doesn’t comport with Disney’s internal goals or expectations. In last week’s earnings call, CEO Bob Chapek was questioned about how Walt Disney World could increase attendance and profitability. He called vaccinations a “game-changer” and predicted that things would be very different in terms of current practices by 2022.
Accordingly, we wouldn’t treat any of these 2022 Walt Disney World vacation package details as indicative of what’s on the horizon. Basically, the only thing they offer is a glimpse at changes in rack rates at the hotels.
Speaking of which, one of this blog’s pastimes things on Walt Disney World vacation package reservation “drop day” is price analysis of rack rates. I’ve only had a chance to take a cursory look at this, but it looks like there are modest across the board increases. Per usual.
Above is the rate chart at Disney’s Pop Century Resort for November and December 2021. Below is the same thing, for November and December 2022.
If you haven’t paid rack rates in a while, those prices all might be startling. Once you get past the initial shock, that’s a pretty insignificant increase as compared to normal years.
Most nights are increasing by $5 to $10. You’d still have to be crazy to pay $200+ per night for a motel room—even at Pop Century—but it’s good to see the increases slowing.
Above is the same thing this year for Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, our Moderate of choice thanks to the Disney Skyliner gondola service.
Below is Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort for November and December 2022:
Pretty much the same story for Caribbean Beach.
We’ll spot check other hotels once we have time, but our expectation is to find similar results. Nothing major will be added amenity-wise (like an aerial transportation system) between this year and 2022 to justify dramatic spikes anywhere.
As a quick aside since it’s a common question, you can find the rate calendar by searching for availability on DisneyWorld.com. Select “room only” (rather than a vacation package or discounted rate) on the far left, then click the “Rate Details” button on the resort/room combination that interests you. (See above.)
From there you’ll see a weekly breakdown. For the calendar view, click “View Rate Calendar.” (See below.) Hope that helps!
As always, this pricing analysis ends up being rendered somewhat meaningless since few readers of blogs like this one end up paying rack rates. You’re savvy, and between discounts that are released throughout the year and money-saving hacks, “sticker price” is less relevant.
There’s also the unanswered question of the travel recovery. Will we see the phenomenon of “Revenge Travel” at Walt Disney World and excitement for the 50th Anniversary or will bookings be depressed in 2022? It’s entirely possible that the answer is both. The market for leisure travel is already shaping up to be hot, but conventions and events will be slower to return or lost entirely.
In one specifically big blow, Walt Disney World already lost Pop Warner. That’s bad news for the company, but good news for consumers and the prospect of discounting to entice more tourists to visit. There’s also the reality that Walt Disney World still has several resorts that remain closed entirely due to lack of demand, and occupancy rates are not so hot at several of the hotels that are operating.
Accordingly, the true test is going to be in terms of what discounts end up being released. If bookings are down because of the lingering effects of a recession, travel fears, and who knows what else, these rack rates could end up being like Kohl’s sticker prices. That’s to say, totally meaningless, as discounts are so ubiquitous that no one is paying full price.
Although it doesn’t directly answer those questions, it is interesting to note that 2022 Walt Disney World vacation packages are being released in February 2021, rather than in the summer.
Reservations may not be made more than 500 days in advance, which is why vacation packages for the following year are normally released between June or July–so they encompass the entire following year. (To my recollection, packages have been released in either of those two months every year for the past decade.) That same rule is also why you’re only able to book arrival dates through the beginning of July 2022 right now. Since pricing for the entirety of 2022 has been posted, expect more travel dates to gradually open.
As with most Walt Disney World “drop days,” the phone lines will be jammed and the online system will likely slow to a crawl at peak times, with Stitch eating the occasional page here and there. Hopefully you received our email heads up at ~7:30 am and were able to book things smoothly before the mad rush. (If not, you can always subscribe for free future notifications here.)
If you’re at all flexible about your resort choice or room preferences, consider waiting until later this evening when things calm down a bit. You might save yourself some headache and frustration. Alternatively, it’s always a good idea to use a fee-free Authorized Disney Vacation Planner (travel agent) to do the work for you.
That’s pretty much all of the commentary we have about Walt Disney World’s release of hotel reservations through early July 2022 and pricing through December 2022. Even with all of the above said, 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 especially true if there’s a certain hotel or room type that’s a must-have for your trip.
While we remain of the belief that prices will drop thanks to the release of discounts, that’s not a sure thing. If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the course of the last year, it’s to expect the unexpected. As you can see from the previous several paragraphs, there are still a ton of unknowns, fluidity, etc. to the Walt Disney World experience both this year and in 2022. A ton is changing on a weekly basis, and it’s truly impossible to say today what things will look like in Fall 2021 and beyond. From a financial perspective, it never hurts–only helps–to get something locked in now. Plus, there’s the excitement and optimism of having something to look forward to. After a tough year, I think we could all use a little of that!
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 booked a 2022 Walt Disney World vacation package? Notice anything interesting about hotel room or package prices? Anything surprise you? Is there anything you must have–FastPass+, Disney Dining Plan, nighttime spectaculars, rules rescinded–before you’ll book a 2022 trip? Will you be booking soon, or taking a 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!
When will the fireworks and parades return? Any word?
As soon as Disney can relax distancing guidelines, and would no longer incur negative PR for encouraging people to crowd closely together for extended periods of time.
So no, no word.
Please tell me I’m not the only one waiting on park passes. I don’t mind getting my room only booking in because of the flexibility in cancellation, but I’m hesitant to buy park passes and reserve parks before I get my flights sorted for Feb 2022. Here’s hoping park reservations won’t even be a thing in 2022!
I read the blog post with my morning tea and got Caribbean Beach booked before 7am! Thanks Tom!
Hmm…Nothing for AKV at either Jambo or Kidani. I chatted with a CM who indicated that the Villas would open at the 11th month mark. Looking at March 2022, I see no options for any Villas.
That note was fairly straightforward, as if I were dictating my thought ballon. I’d like to add that I’m very thankful for this blog. Reading it has been a fanstastic distraction during a rough year!
The “11 month mark” means that DVC villa reservations are now open for JANUARY 2022, not March.
DVC member/owners get first chance to book their home resorts at 11 months out. You may be waiting longer since there are so many points out there to be used with the shutdown for so many months and so many owners unable to travel. You might have to wait until seven months out and, at the worst, 60 days out.
I was excited when i seen this because I’m needing to reschedule our November trip to March 2022. Upon looking at pricing i noticed BC had CL available. This was the ONLY deluxe and calked right away and was ABLE to get it. Understating this could be a fluke Im curious to see what happens.
Tom, am I reading this correctly? Extra magic hours are gone forever? I was hoping this lame 30 minutes early thing was just something they were doing during the social distancing requirements. I enjoyed the extra magic hours at night and with Disney offering some in the morning and some at night it gave everyone a fair chance to experience the extra hours. We are a family of night owls and don’t like getting to the parks early. The night time extra magic hours worked great for us and allowed us some time with smaller crowds. And come on 30 minutes early???? Disney is really taking the magic out of these vacations.
Disney has not directly said “Extra Magic Hours are gone forever” but the Early Entry is intended as the permanent replacement. Doesn’t mean things won’t change again later, but I suspect Disney would rather up-charge for “extra” evening hours and offer this as the morning perk.
They are gone forever…unless they come back some day. Realistically, I think Tom is spot-on that Disney’s long-term hope would be to offer more of the upcharge “after hours” events.
However, remember that WDW’s #1 objective is always to fill up their hotel rooms. if some time passes and their survey data shows that the lack of “classic” EMH is keeping people from booking on-site hotel rooms, then classic EMH might come right back.
Any guesses on if dining reservations will ever return to the 6 month mark for booking? How about the return of Early Morning Magic?
Tom, is the inclusion of BoardWalk Inn on the list of available 2021 Walt Disney World package bookings a typo? As far as I can tell, the BWI Villas are open, but the Inn itself has not reopened and is not available to make any reservations? Thanks
That’s a mistake–thanks for the heads up!
When will free dining be available for December 2021?
The dining plan isn’t even available right now. No one knows when it’ll come back.
“These rack rates could end up being like Kohl’s sticker prices.” LOL! I love reading your blogs, Tom. And, I booked early this morning. Thank you for breaking the news early!
What will they offer once the Magical Express is not offered or will they not offer anything? Years ago we paid Mears for a bus ride to/from.
Disney has not indicated that they will be offering anything as a replacement for magical express. As of now, it looks like options will revert to the pre-2006 ones: rent a car or hire a ride (mears/taxi/uber/lyft).
Tom, I honestly believe Disney could raise rack rates for all hotels by $500 a night and you would find a way to put a positive spin on it. I applaud your effort but it doesn’t do much for middle class families right now. I agree with another responder who said that Disney isn’t interested in lots of people showing up right now. I also agree with a post I read a few years ago on another blog site. It stated that Disney would rather have less visitors as long as they were more affluent and would pay the exuberant prices. That doesn’t bode well for average families who save for years to take a Disney trip of a lifetime. We spent a day at MK last December and it was not fun. I get it, don’t go if you don’t want to. But understand this also, Disney isn’t the only company struggling right now.
Respectfully, you must not be a regular reader of this blog because Tom keeps it real and does an excellent job offering balanced opinions.
Brent, I do not believe that’s a fair characterization of Tom’s views on WDW on-site hotel costs. Recently, Tom has published other posts questioning the value of WDW on-site hotels, as well as exploring the value and benefit of off-site properties. If memory serves, he even went so far as to recommend exploring the option of staying at a Universal Orlando on-site hotel when coming to WDW, as they currently might offer more bang for the buck. I personally don’t agree with everything that Tom writes (my views on masking, and indoor dining, for example, are very different from Tom’s), but he is certainly no WDW apologist when it comes to hotel rack rates, or anything else for that matter.
Will there be an discounts for the fall? If so, when do you think they will drop? Looking for the first part of November. Thank you for all the great info and insight.
Since 2022 has been released, do you think discounts for the second half of 2021 will be released soon?
It’s possible if Disney wants to bump up occupancy and get more reservations on the books, but my expectation at this point is an April release for late summer/early fall discounts.
First, folks are chomping at the bit to have POR and POFQ open. Can’t beat resorts with water taxis to Disney springs-gee I wonder if that’s part of the reason they aren’t opening. Biggest question though-how do you delineate letting in resort guests 1/2 hour early, weeding out the non-resort guests? Everyone clumps at the gates-resort guests and non. Even if your Magix band would single out the allowed people, the others will gunk up the works trying to get through anyway
The boats aren’t running between Saratoga Springs and DS and OKW and DS yet. No idea when they will start running.
Port Orleans is still closed because Coronado Springs and Caribbean Beach have a ton of empty rooms. No point in reopening the least popular moderate resort when they can’t fill the moderates that are already open.
Early entry will work exactly the same way that morning EMH worked for DECADES. Certain tapstiles will be marked as “disney resort guest early entry,” and everyone else there to rope-drop will line up at the other tapstiles. This will be fine, it’s nothing new, it just has a new name.
Some people might get used to not going to Disney and kick off the habit. Sort of like covid is forcing people to quit Disney “cold turkey”, and while a few are bravely defying covid and going anyway, most people are not. Like right now, All Star Movies are nowhere near fully booked for next month’s reopening. You can still book the discount for both standard and preferred rooms.
Disney isn’t exactly encouraging people to come, with their abolishing the Magic Express and the free magic bands and park reservation requirements.
My own family has been looking for into nearby vacation options where we can easily drive to and not have to worry about lockdowns and travel bans and such. I recently stayed at a hotel that’s 3 miles away, at a golf resort. I’ve never done that before, and it worked out nicely. The kids enjoyed it as if it’s Disney World. I paid All Stars prices for a luxury 2 bedroom condo with full kitchen and floor to ceiling windows. I would have never done this if it weren’t for covid.
I agree about losing the habit of going to Disney! For me I love Disney and will go back in the future but Covid has really made me realize that there are so many places I would like to see and visit! When travel is safe again it will be new places that are on the top of my list to visit!
Thanks so much for this timely news! Unfortunately, I set up funds to become available in mid June because that’s when they normally announce pricing. Now I need to scramble. But thanks to your giving me the heads up, at least I’m not sitting around thinking I have plenty of time when I don’t. We want Pop Century & I feel the listed hotels will fill up quickly since there is limited availability.
Any thought on Annual Passes returning soon?
None whatsoever, sorry! Thought it would’ve happened by now.
Per wdw email, we have until the end of March to decide if we want to renew our Premier APs (wdw and Disneyland). But they can only be renewed to wdw aps. So maybe wdw will allow new purchases after this group is processed…just a guess or hope…
The problem with bringing MaxPass to DisneyWorld, instead of bringing back Fastpass+, is that the audiences of the two parks are different. Fastpass+ does require more advance planning, but it has much less bias against those who don’t want to spend the whole day in the parks or who want to arrive at the parks later in the day.
MaxPass would almost certainly work well in the Magic Kingdom, which is also the park where FastPass+ has the most same-day availability. But in the other parks? We were at DisneyWorld three separate years under the old FastPass system before we rode Toy Story Mania, because with small kids we were unwilling to get to the parks and race to the kiosks in time to get passes before return times climbed to late afternoon or evening, long after we would have left the parks to accommodate naps or simply a mid-day break. Reports of what happens with the virtual queue for ROTR don’t convince me that the dynamic would be any different today.
TL;DR: Lots of people whose park styles involve spending almost the entire day at the park lament the lack of spontaneity with Fastpass+ and wish for something like MaxPass. But I suspect there is confirmation bias in the comments on blogs like this against those whose touring styles lead them to prefer the options for part-day touring that are enabled by Fastpass+.
Will character greatings return at some point.
OF COURSE. As soon as it’s considered safe to bring back, it will be back.
Unless Disney do some serious discounting, I am not seeing us doing any revenge travel any time soon. In fact, Disney prices are so high that first the first time in my life, I’ve been check out offsite hotels. I used to think that if they are not Disney then they are not good enough. But I’ve been finding certain surprises. Some offsite hotels are really beautiful, as much as or more than a Disney hotel, and for quite a bit less! And with the availability of Uber/Lyft, adding $20 to $40 a day travel costs can still make a family of 4 come out way ahead financially, not to mention not ever having to wait for the bus again.
Yup – waiting for buses our last trip this past Sept 2020 was stressful. Waiting at Poly for a bus to Hollywood Studios was the end for me. Got into an argument with others trying to get ahead of those who waited about 1 hour for the first bus. That was it – for the rest of our 2 week trip we turned to uber whenever we had to get to a park during peek travel time. What happend with common courtesy of others waiting?
The busses were TERRIBLE last year, September 2020. We stayed at Kidani Village. There were no queue lines, just masses upon masses of people. One bus stop even shared parks so if you could get into some sort of line and the wrong bus showed up you would get out of line and lose your spot. It was a complete cluster with people cutting lines. EXTREMELY stressful and not fair at all. Disney should do better with regards to this. The fact of the matter is, while we all would like to pretend that everyone is a good and decent person and will follow the rules and stay in line and not cut, it’s just not true. Queue lines should be at every bus stop in my opinion. This would cut down issues drastically. I will say that I did like that they were actually enforcing the rules regarding how many scooters and how many people accompanying the scooters were allowed on the bus. It’s so frustrating to stand in line for 30 minutes to have someone wheel up with 10 people and then watch them all get first dibs last minute!