Disney World Closing Due to Coronavirus
Walt Disney World is closing all of its Florida theme parks due to the coronavirus outbreak, the company has announced. This comes after an onslaught of cancellations and closures today.
This includes the closure of Disneyland Resort in California, which was announced earlier in the day. Previously, Tokyo Disney Resort, Hong Kong Disneyland, and Shanghai Disneyland all have closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This story is still breaking, and thus far all we have is an official statement from Disney that was released via the company’s subsidiary ABC News:
“In an abundance of caution and in the best interest of our guests and employees, we are proceeding with the closure of our theme parks at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and Disneyland Paris Resort, beginning at the close of business on Sunday, March 15, through the end of the month.
Disney Cruise Line will suspend all new departures beginning Saturday, March 14, through the end of the month.
The Walt Disney Company will pay its Cast Members during that closure period.
The hotels at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland Paris will remain open until further notice. The retail and dining complexes, Disney Springs at Walt Disney World and Disney Village at Disneyland Paris, will remain open.
Domestic Walt Disney Company employees who are able to work from home are being asked to do so, including those at the Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney Television, ESPN, Direct-to-Consumer, and Parks, Experiences and Products.
We will continue to stay in close contact with appropriate officials and health experts.”
Let’s start with the silver lining here, which is that Walt Disney World will continue to pay Cast Members while the parks are closed. As the largest single-site employer in the entire United States, it would’ve been devastating to many families in Central Florida to have to ride out the closure without income.
Between closures and cancellations, this is already going to take a heavy economic toll on Central Florida, and one that will ripple far beyond just the parks. The entire tourism industry will be impacted, including a number of smaller businesses that cannot sustain a prolonged hit the way Disney can. (On a tangential note, we’d expect all other Florida theme and amusement parks to follow Disney’s lead and announce their own closures within the next day.)
At least Cast Members are being paid during the downtime. Huge kudos to Walt Disney World for that.
You might notice that the rest of the announcement is incredibly vague, with a lot of details still to be determined. It wouldn’t surprise us if this closure mandate came from on high in Burbank, with leadership in Florida blindsided and left scrambling to figure out how to pick up the pieces.
Suffice to say, right now the phone lines are totally jammed and even if you do get through, you might speak with a Cast Member who isn’t totally sure of what’s going on. If you’re not traveling within the next 2-3 days, we’d encourage patience. Walt Disney World will release more details as they’re ironed out. Take a deep breath, be patient, and save yourself the headache of being on hold over the phone for hours.
The move to close Walt Disney World follows a press conference during which Florida Governor Ron DeSantis strongly recommended all mass gatherings be postponed, saying he did not have the authority to require them to be canceled. Health officials say they currently consider mass gatherings to be more than 250 people.
After previously declaring a state of emergency, Governor Ron DeSantis strongly advised municipalities and businesses to limit or postpone events and limit non-essential travel as concerns spiked over the new coronavirus, which stood at 27 cases statewide including a man testing positive at a Palm Beach airport.
At the news conference, Govern Ron DeSantis stated, “I am recommending to local municipalities and private entities to strongly considering limiting or postponing mass gatherings…I think taking proactive measures will help us flatten the curve of this as people get exposed.”
Once Walt Disney World and Disneyland Paris close, no Disney theme parks will be operating anywhere in the world. Shanghai Disneyland is in the process of resuming operations, but the park itself has not yet reopened.
As we’ve noted with previous closures, the current end date for Walt Disney World’s closure is very much tentative. Do not expect the parks to reopen at the beginning of April 2020, in time for Easter, or whatever your Spring 2020 travel dates might be.
Walt Disney World and Disneyland are both taking an incremental approach to these closures, announcing something near-term with the intention of reevaluating the coronavirus situation in a couple of weeks and making a determination about reopening then. We’ve already seen the closure of Tokyo Disney Resort extended, and there’s absolutely no reason to believe Walt Disney World will be different.
In terms of commentary beyond that…we really don’t have much to offer. This will have a bunch of long-term ramifications, ranging from crowd calendars to construction…and much more. However, those are a range of topics for another day.
Right now, we’re honestly still sitting here in shock. (Even though the source was ABC News, I triple-checked to confirm this was legit.) Despite Disneyland closing earlier today and the belief that Walt Disney World closing was an inevitability at that point, we didn’t expect this to come so soon.
It’s a bold move, but Disney along with other businesses deserve credit for prioritizing public health above profits. Even in the last couple of days, Walt Disney World has not seen any attendance downturn. The company probably could’ve hesitated on closing Walt Disney World for another week–perhaps more–without facing public backlash or negative press if a coronavirus case emerged that was tied to the theme parks. While this will undoubtedly leave a lot of disappointed and upset guests, it’s hard to fault Walt Disney World for making this difficult decision.
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
Are you surprised that Walt Disney World is closing due to the coronavirus pandemic, or do you think it’s overdue? Will this impact your spring break or other vacation plans? Did you cancel your WDW trip prior to this announcement, or were you in ‘wait and see’ mode? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions? 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!
Wondering if this extends long term if Disney will do anything to reimburse AP monthly fees. Hard to accept paying $200 a month for parks my family can’t even visit.
We were going next Thursday for my husband’s birthday. Staying at DVC And had awesome dining reservations. I get it but gutted.
Wondering if this extends long term if Disney will do anything to reimburse AP monthly fees. Hard to accept paying $200 a month for parks my family can’t even visit.
The hotels remaining open means hotel restaurants must stay open. If they close the hotels, and by default the restaurants, those cast members who are servers will be paid very little money, as they rely on tips for most of their income. I guess something is better than nothing, but just saying.
I haven’t heard anything about Universal Florida closing, but if it does, I sure hope they will also pay their employees. As it stands now, they get paid nothing for time off.
We will probably cancel our trip for the end of April due to being in the higher risk category. Bummer.
On magical express now. Heard the news when we landed. Have 2 nights scheduled tat Cornado Springs and three at Baylake we’ll see how long we stay. Flying to PIT on Tuesday.
I applaud Disney for this. Doing what is right for the world at large despite the financial and logistical ramifications. They already had my love, now I’m renewing this AP for life.
This is just… not correct.
Your ignorance is stunning. You are incorrect in every possible way
selfishly I am just hoping this all blows over for our June trip. I feel for those who have a once in a lifetime trip planned and now this happens.
Yes! We have an early May trip and I’m just sitting here hoping things will be better by then (but am not counting on it) Hope you get to go!
Yes same! We are supposed to go for a Villains after hours and then three more days at the parks for my birthday in June! Hopefully it is open again by then, but I do applaud them for putting peoples health first. And especially for making sure the CMs get paid.
I’m sure more info will be provided, but I’m wondering about tickets already purchased, since dates are now given.
My understanding is that if you don’t use any part of a dated ticket, you can apply the price you paid for it toward a future ticket–if I’m remembering correctly that’s already standard.
We were flying in on Wednesday the 18th, have flights vacation at work ..,, I’m sick about this. I sure wish they had waited a couple of weeks
My trip is early April. Likely won’t happen. Disappointing but I’m so happy they made this decision! I have very upset kids. I told them if us delaying our trip saves a few lives then I’ll gladly do it.
Wow. Now THIS scares me. I realize why but damn this makes me wonder about the ramifications on thecworld with the shut down. I oredictvwithin a week many states will be like ghost towns.
Bob Iger engineered a perfect escape.
I thought the same thing! Perfect timing
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Resorts and Springs are staying open as of now. Our 3/27-3/30 trip from CT will still be enjoyed in a warm and hopefully sunny setting. We’re AP holders and wi go back as soon as possible so not TOO disappointed.
Did you ever hear back from the big DVC point rental places about policy for this?
That’s my question, too! I left a message with DVC Rentals. We were booked through them 3/29-4/4.
Heartbroken, as our trip was scheduled to begin on March 29th. If they reopen on April 1st, we missed it by only two days. We are crushed..
“but Disney along with other businesses deserve credit for prioritizing public health above profits.”
^THIS! i am sorry peoples’ trips are affected, but for the better of society, i am so glad to see this happening everywhere. we CAN do this together! i heard on the radio today that if when all is said and done, if we feel like we did too much, then it worked and we won. #flattenthecurve
Exactly! If it feels silly at the end of the day because not very many people actually got sick,, it was probably the right thing to do.
Currently stalled. I have no idea what to do. Was heading to Disney from Illinois tomorrow night. Will we be reimbursed? I have nine different resort reservations as I was planning on “hopping” on a nightly basis. Mix of DVC and WDWTC. Mix of Dining plans and non. This is seriously NOT ok.
Very surprised Disney didn’t mention what happens to guests like us with fully paid packages including airfare. I appreciate their decisiveness but guests shouldn’t suffer financially. We were headed there next week.
There is information on the Disney World website about rescheduling without being charged the fee. As for flights, I suppose you would need to call the airline.
My best friend and I made the decision earlier today to postpone. We were scheduled to arrive on Sunday. I called at 2:40… waited on hold half an hour and the call dropped as I was talking to a cast member.. called back and waited on hold another 45 minutes and rescheduled to June. No more than half an hour later is when DL closed and I was like yeah, we for sure made the right decision. I can’t even imagine what hold times are now. Very glad I took care of this already.
We were supposed to fly there, first trip ever, on Sunday. Sigh…. Guess I’ll be spending the next few days on the phone trying to reschedule and get refunded where possible. I mean, I get it. But have some very disappointed kids tonight.
I’m so sorry to hear that. I can only imagine the disappointment! Good luck and stay healthy and safe wherever you are!
I have a vacation planned April 10-14 at WDW so this is freaking me out…but I understand it had to be done and commend Disney for doing it now rather than later, let’s hope with all these closings nationwide and abroad we can contain the situation and move on with our lives.
Cailin, I feel your pain. I’m supposed to be there 4/11-4/15. All my reservations can be cancelled a few days beforehand, so I’ll probably hold off for now. It’s not that I actually expect my trip to go ahead, but that I’d like to enjoy a couple more weeks holding onto my delusion.
Hopefully short term pain eliminates the possibility of LONG term pain.