Disney World Delays Bookings Another Month
Walt Disney World has likely pushed back the reopening of resort hotels for at least another month, with new reservations now only officially available for July 1, 2020 and later. In this post, we’ll share details about the changes, plus commentary on how to reconcile this with other recent announcements and progress towards reopening. (Updated May 9, 2020.)
As with Disneyland earlier this week and Walt Disney World a little over a month ago, hotel reservations have been pushed back for another month, with no new bookings or modifications possible for travel dates before July 1, 2020. While it wasn’t when we originally published this news, the “Temporary Closure & Operational Update” bulletin on Disneyworld.com has now been updated yet to reflect this new date.
Additionally, resort and vacation package cancellations will occur on a rolling basis (as has happened week by week for May) for June 2020 travel dates. For those looking to rebook for late Summer 2020, the Sun & Fun Room Discount offer is still available. However, Walt Disney World has ended the Free Dining Recovery Deal early…
For starters, there has already been speculation that this is happening because Walt Disney World already has enough bookings for June in a limited reopening scenario. This is possible, but we highly doubt it for a number of reasons.
First, as of yesterday afternoon, there was ample availability when we spot-checked various dates for resort bookings. For plenty of options to be available yesterday and nothing today suggests a repeat of what happened in late March with Walt Disney World cutting off new bookings for May.
Second, even assuming every single hotel room is booked with an average number of guests, that still only accounts for ~25% of Walt Disney World’s total capacity. (And as we noted above, there was plenty of availability as of yesterday, so every hotel was not booked. We’d personally be shocked if occupancy levels were above 50% for June.)
Much ado is made about Walt Disney World having too many on-site hotels and those causing overcrowding, but the reality is that the majority of theme park guests visiting Walt Disney World on any given day are from off-site. On a tangential note, the notion that Disney will be limiting the parks to hotel guests upon reopening is preposterous–even with locals and off-site guests, attendance is going to be low for a while. The travel industry is in for a long road to recovery.
With all of that said, the announcement that Walt Disney World is not accepting reservations until July 2020 might seem ostensibly difficult to square with yesterday’s announcement that Disney Springs Will Start Phased Opening on May 20, 2020. However, there are a few key differences. First and foremost is that Disney Springs is essentially a fancy mall and place to get dinner for a lot of Central Floridians (heresy among some reading this, I know) and can thrive without any out of state tourists.
Additionally, at this point the only venues that will be opening at Disney Springs are third party tenants. As we pointed out with the Disney Springs announcement, it’s possible that Walt Disney World is not ready to reopen its company-owned venues. Instead, it’s reopening Disney Springs to avoid contractual conflict with third party tenants.
Assuming the reopening of Disney Springs goes smoothly and Walt Disney World opts to open its own restaurants and shops, there’s also the fact that date for the first phase of the Disney Springs reopening is less than two weeks after the previous revised booking window that opened June 1, 2020.
Even under an accelerated timeline, it’s unlikely that Disney Springs will be fully operational by the beginning of June. It’s also unlikely that Walt Disney World will have gleaned everything they’d like to from modified operations at Disney Springs during that time. That amount of time is insufficient for testing and adjusting health protocol and other policies at Disney Springs such that they can be modified and deployed at dozens of hotels, plus busy theme parks.
Although Shanghai Disney Resort is obviously very different than Walt Disney World, it’s at least instructive. Shanghai’s Disneytown complex reopened on March 8—over two months before Shanghai Disneyland is resuming operations. For what it’s worth, Disneytown also reopened faster after its closure, welcoming guests after a little over one month of downtime.
Disney Springs will have been closed for roughly two months when it reopens. It’s impossible to say whether Walt Disney World will move on a faster or slower reopening trajectory, but the reality is that the Florida Project is a vastly more complex machine. It could take some time to gain momentum and get fully powered up.
With the exception of Disney Springs, Walt Disney World is also much more dependent upon tourists. As we previously remarked when the earliest booking date moved to June 1, Walt Disney World needs to keep accepting new bookings even for travel dates that are uncertain. (You can gloss over the next few paragraphs if you’ve been reading our Disney Closure & Reopening Updates, as we’ve said this same thing a time or six.)
Walt Disney World needs to accept hotel reservations now in order to meet minimum occupancy thresholds that are a necessary prerequisite for operating the hotels. Without a certain number of bookings, opening those resorts is not practicable. Since the average guest books a Walt Disney World vacation at least 5 months in advance, Disney needs a rolling slate of bookings.
Stated differently, Walt Disney World needs to accept reservations now in order to even have the potential possibility for the resorts to be up and running by July 1, 2020. If you have a reservation for July 4, 2020 or even mid or late July, don’t think this means that you’re now in the clear and the hotels will definitely be back up and running by then.
The updated date is not a signifier that the resorts will definitely reopen on July 1, 2020. To the contrary, all this should be viewed as is evidence that the hotels almost certainly will not be operational before July 1, 2020.
Now, this is not to say that the theme parks couldn’t open before then. Just as there is pent-up demand and a sufficient number of Central Floridians to sustain Disney Springs indefinitely, so too is there enough of a local audience to make reduced capacity theme parks viable…for at least a period of time.
While Walt Disney World is certainly no Disneyland in this regard, if the theme parks are going to have staggered openings anyway (which we believe is highly likely), this approach could make sense. It would be entirely plausible for Magic Kingdom to open one week, followed by Animal Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios the next two weeks, and Epcot in the final week. All without any hotels.
The resort hotels could gradually begin operations after this, as bookings and occupancy levels dictate. With fewer out of state or international tourists initially, it’s also probable not all Walt Disney World hotels will need to reopen right away. For the reasons identified in Disney Vacation Club’s Point Pool Problem, properties with DVC villas will probably be the first to reopen, likely all at once (or close to it).
Otherwise, given the complexity of opening two dozen-plus hotels simultaneously, it’s easier for Walt Disney World to not reopen them all at once. Consolidating some of the Port Orleans bookings, moving guests from Coronado Springs to Caribbean Beach or Animal Kingdom Lodge, etc., are all options. Suffice to say, everything returning in phases seems likely.
In our Potential Plans for Phased Reopening of Walt Disney World, we discussed how the Governor’s Reopen Florida Task Force proposed plans for a gradual and careful reopening that entailed first reopening to Florida residents, then national visitors, followed by international guests.
While that’s the stated plan of the task force, our suspicion is that this is more a “de facto” course of action than a rule-driven one. Which is to say that practical realities of demand and travel (people will first be most comfortable traveling locally by car than by air, out-of-state quarantine rules might be in effect, etc.) may necessitate the approach.
In other words, we don’t expect Walt Disney World to be checking IDs at the gates. However, if hotels aren’t open and fewer flights are scheduled…the crowd will be disproportionately local.
This approach has benefits for Walt Disney World. It allows the parks to stagger attendance and more easily stay within capacity caps by letting pent-up demand among locals with cabin fever fizzle out before out of state tourists return. Locals and Annual Passholders are also going to be more forgiving of missing entertainment, allowing Disney to ramp that up as health and safety allow.
As we’ve said before several times, no one knows when the Walt Disney World theme parks and resorts will reopen. Not us, not analysts, not the governor, and not even Disney leadership. There are internal projections and goals, but the existence of timelines doesn’t mean they’ll be met. Everything is tentative at this point and predicated upon a range of externalities.
Previously, we viewed June as a realistic timeframe for beginning Walt Disney World’s reopening process. Setting aside Disney Springs, which will begin before then, we’re now starting to view June as the more optimistic month. July is probably the more reasonable month–and that’s just the start of the process, which will likely be drawn out over the course of several subsequent months. It’s still possible we’ll see Magic Kingdom and perhaps one other park open some point in June, but that’s not even an educated guess—it’s just a guess based upon what we think are relevant considerations.
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
Do you think Walt Disney World’s hotels will reopen by July 1, 2020? When will you return to Walt Disney World after the parks reopen? Will you be back in the first week, first month, a specific month, sometime within 2020, sometime within 2021, or does it remain to be seen depending upon your personal circumstances, discounts, etc? Do you agree or disagree with our advice? 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!
Tom, you said the Free Dining Recovery Deal has ended. I have a free dining trip booked for July 7-13. I know we are not going to go, especially if there are mask requirements for flight and at the park. And we are from Michigan, they may ban us from coming or want us quarantined because it has been so bad here. But does that mean if Disney cancels our dates I cannot change the dates to next year and keep my free dining? Is there any way possible that I can keep that dining offer? If not, I might as well just cancel it now. I just need some guidance here. Every day I am stressing about this. I have not tried yet, but can I modify the dates of the existing reservation to July 2021 and keep my free dining? Any advice here would be greatly appreciated!
“But does that mean if Disney cancels our dates I cannot change the dates to next year and keep my free dining?”
Correct. There’s no way to move the reservation and maintain Free Dining.
Honestly, I wouldn’t sweat it too much. Unless the economy rebounds extremely quickly (doubtful), Walt Disney World is going to be struggling to attract guests for a while (until at least 2022). Another Free Dining offer (or something better) for next summer is pretty much a sure thing. You just can’t book it yet.
Comparing how long Shanghai has been closed to how long WDW has been closed doesn’t really tell us much.
A better comparison is: when Disneytown and hotels reopened, how many new cases were found in the Shanghai region? How many new cases when they decided to reopen the park? And how many new cases are found daily in Florida now?
We are currently booked for the the second week of September. I’m hopeful, but Not counting on it. We rented dvc points and this was our rescheduled trip from May. Just going to sit back and see what happens. It was to be our first time back in 6 years, because ya know life happens. Life is definitely happening right now for all of us.
They’ll open resorts alongside parks on June 1st. Not July 1st.
We have a mid-June trip booked through rented DVC points. We live in Indiana and have to fly in. To your point, Tom, if they open resorts and not the parks all at once we would be devastated. We would not be able to reschedule if the resorts are open so we’d essentially be forced to go without even getting to go to the parks (or not go and eat all that money…no thank you). I’m crossing my fingers they follow your approach and open parks before resorts but not holding my breath. Surely Disney has to think about guests like us?
So here is a thought…do you think opening the DVC resorts and DVC rooms only could happen with the first phase of opening? I think DVC members will be similar to most annual pass holdERs (and I’m willing to bet a good portion of DVC members ARE annual pass holders) and be ok with going to Disney even if it isn’t open 100%
A realistic option?
I’ve wondered about that myself. Disney Vacation Club will want to open ASAP to alleviate its future inventory problems, but how quickly can that realistically happen?
I won’t go as far as to predict that DVC resorts reopen when Magic Kingdom does, but I will say that I’d expect DVC properties to be the first resorts to reopen, potentially all on the same day (that might be tough, but I don’t see how Disney avoids it–otherwise members will complain).
Any news on Aulani Resort opening?
None whatsoever.
Tom,
May I ask, what would you do if you had a trip planned for the week following the 4th of July? We have been waiting to hear from Disney, but it is getting frustrating trying to guess what may happen with our vacation. We would reschedule, but we’ve invested a lot of money, time and energy planning this and hate to postpone if Disney will be open. So, I’m just curious to know what you would do in our shoes?
I’m not Tom, but Imma answer anyway, lol. I would not anticipate parks being open right after July 4th.
Florida had more covid deaths last week than any other and also it’s most deaths in one day.
I think Disney is smarter than the state and realises that it doesn’t want to be opening into this situation. A re-closure after opening would be disastrous from a PR perspective.
This is why I believe they will be ultra cautious and are likely to open later than any of us think.
“Granny got covid at Starbucks Disney Springs” is a lot less damaging than, “Granny got covid off Mickey at a character breakfast.” (Maybe restricting access to the old and inform is another option)
I agree with this completely. Disney would rather stay closed and lose billions of dollars, than reopen too soon with the possibility of guests getting sick or worse, even dying.
I had a May trip. Cancelled.
Moved it to late June. I’m assuming that will be cancelled as well.
This truly is a first world problem and I’m doing my best to remain optimistic and count my blessings.
I feel most sorry for guests that had a first trip planned, or even worse a make a wish trip planned.
I like the idea that some people are saying that maybe Disney is just cutting off June reservations to limit capacity. I think that could be a possibility. The realist in me says that parks will still be closed.
Disney World will open eventually.
we had a May trip booked also but we decided to change our reservation to June , Praying we won’t need to change it again , I wish Disney would at least let us know something , It is a pain to keep changing the Reservation as I also need to change flights , we will be going no matter what , but IAM a organized person and a planned person , we booked this vacation last August 2019 and it had been paid in full for several months now , Hopefully it will be soon
Realistically, the way any of this would be reported in the media is “____ happened at Disney World.”
That’s the headline that grabs attention, and one that is frequently used even when things happen off-site but near Walt Disney World. Third party tenants may be pushing for this to happen, but I doubt Disney would allow it if they don’t likewise have plans to reopen at some point this summer. The news cycle is so fast these days that I don’t think someone getting covid who visited WDW (an inevitability) is going to cause brand damage.
I don’t think “someone” getting covid at WDW would cause brand damage, but I think an outbreak sourced to WDW absolutely would, particularly if it happens while many areas are still on shutdown. That may still happen down the road, but I 100% think Disney is going to let other venues take the risk of being ‘first’ to open and cause new outbreaks.
That’s a fair point.
Hey Tom,
Do you think they will extend the summer annual Passholders room discount? Right now it stops on July 9th.
Forgive me if this has already been pointed out, but the fact that Disney is not accepting more reservations for June could simply mean that they have enough reservations already to open with the limited capacity they desire. If indeed there are random dates scattered through the month that are available, then that really makes sense. Perhaps those dates don’t have as much already booked. Thoughts?
I agree.. I was thinking the save thing? However I am coming from California and even sure if we’re allowed to fly out by June 9th? Does anyone know how this works if you’re flying off to a vacation?
Um? Tom, already stated this point in his article.
In Sherry’s defense, I updated the article with that section after her comment since it’s been a common question/point here and on social media.
Thank you, Tom.
I would be highly motivated to come sooner if they had discounts on hotels that made the nicer ones affordable. We always have to stay in the economy resorts but just a chance to stay at one of the really nice ones would get me either in my car to drive from the Midwest or even risking getting on a flight sometime in the next few months.
I think all parks HAVE to be open the same time if hotels are booked. I don’t know what 50% capacity of each park looks like but, they are going to need every square inch of property to insure no guest gets left behind.
If they open the resorts Disney could have a better idea of insuring they can be successful implementing new safety measures. If both Disney Springs and the Resorts are open together the local will come, Disney could see how guests will navigate new rules. This would give them time to tweak things iif need be. Sort of like beta testing.
I think it would be an easier way to gauge whether guests will follow guidelines before opening up parks to outta towners and the rest. Less people will visit during those times- if they can’t get into a park. Disney would be able to decide if they could handle it if discipline measures would need to be employed. Meaning, if they can’t control guests from doing what they want to do and totally disregard the boundaries set.
Doing this would also let them know whether or not to open the parks upon successful implementation or delay park openings further.
But, my brain does hurt a little with trying to read their minds. I am still waiting to buy my Christmas party tickets.
I like that: “Trying to read their minds”! I’m really hoping you are not reading their minds, mainly because I just got my hopes way up about 12 hours before I read your post! A friend had just called Disney to postpone a June trip and was actually encouraged to keep it! The cast member told her that they were really looking to open in June. She said, “Watch Shanghai.” Another friend called and was encouraged to make a reservation for June 15. I got so encouraged, I revisited my mid-June reservation to tweak some of our plans.
Agreed Tom. Disney Springs is nothing but a mall. Jock Lindsay’s and Raglan Road are really the only draw and on most trips we don’t bother going there. It’s irrelevant to the parks. But it’s a good sign.
Tom,
Just wondering what your thoughts are on the holidays. Do you believe it will be normal by then? This is a dream vacation for us… as I’m sure it is for a lot of us. Just wondering you seem to be spot on most of the time.
Thanks 🙂
I truly have no idea whatsoever. I’m sorry, I wish I did. I hope everything will be back to normal, but there are so many variables at play that it’s premature to offer any sort of prediction.
I personally think they should open up all
Resorts but only have maybe the first floor used one week and the second the next. We might need to limit use of elevators and only put people on the first floor.
I predict that parks and hotels will begin phased operations starting the week of July 5th. I believe that Disney is all about managing expectations and keeping their brand image in tact. There are way too many expectations and fervor associated with the 4th of July fireworks celebrations. I genuinely believe that Disney will want to avoid disappointment with the 4th of July celebrations and they will have had some time to see how their Disney Springs roll-out went/is occurring and whether there has been a spike, bump, flattening or return to normal with Covid cases. I could be wrong but that’s my best guess for when Disney will begin phased reopening of its parks and resorts. I’m also an out-of-state annual passholder with a trip planned for July 5th based on my own predictions coupled with my readings on your site and others.
Well thought-out and you’ve supported your prediction with the logic behind it–I like it!
@Tania, I totally agree. My thought, upon reading this, was that a July target gives Disney a chance to see whether there will be a bump in new cases in areas that are reopening this month. I imagine they’ll want to avoid having to close again after the initial opening.
Tom… your articles are always so well done. I watched the new Shanghai Resort Video about their reopening procedures. They are selling a limited number of tickets day specific to curb the crowds. I do not think WDW would do that since many of us have pre bought our tickets. I can’t see them making us have to buy additional day specific tickets. BUT I do think they could limit crowds by a slow open with resort guests only. I don’t see another way they could limit the crowds at the beginning. Like others have said… they may feel they already have enough Resort guests for June.
I received an email survey today from Disney World asking about my September trip and if I would cancel if I was moved to a different resort or if rides and entertainment weren’t completely functional. It gave me some insight, and I’m pretty sure we will reschedule to next May or August.
Well that is disappointing to hear. Thanks for sharing, though. It does give insight into how long this may take.
News stories all over that surveys are also going out asking people about June trips too, same/similar questions.
(Replying to Nick)-
I have one booked for June 1-5. Hope I get the survey, as I haven’t yet. Wonder if it’s going out randomly. I’m an out of state passholder, if that makes any difference in that matter.
I’m unreasonably disappointed about this announcement. We’re set to arrive on June 29th. I won’t cancel until Disney does, but it’s looking more and more like this will be the 2nd trip of the year cancelled. We’re out of state Passholders, but strategically had the pass just for this year – to coincide with a companion pass we earned on Southwest. It looks like the value of both is decreasing by the day. Because of my work schedule (I’m a teacher), having my pass extended currently has no benefit for me either. I know there are bigger problems in the world, but having Disney to look forward to and planning these trips has been my much needed glimmer of hope.
I haven’t paid any attention since we don’t have one this year, but is there any word on whether Southwest might extend the Companion Pass?
We’ve had our statuses with a number of hotel chains and airlines extended as a “one time courtesy” (really, because they want our business at a time when travel is going to be slow).
Yep! Mine was good through the end of this year and has been extended to the end o June 2021.
I believe Southwest extended all passes that expire this December to June 2021. Luckily, we earned ours so that it would be good through December 2021.
Southwest has extended companion passes.
Is it possible that they have already filled so many reservations for June that they won’t take any more in order to keep the parks at low capacity? Until people whose reservations just recently booked for June are cancelled by Disney they could still be opening sometime in June? Just a few days ago I checked to see if they had availability for June and they did. If I didn’t already have a reservation I could have booked one. This was a search for hotel and ticket packages.
This is theoretically possible, but doesn’t pass the smell test. First, there’s no reason to limit hotel reservations below hotel capacity–no need from a social distancing perspective and even fully booked the on-site resorts don’t get the parks to reduced capacity. (And hotels are WDW’s big money-maker, so why arbitrarily limit reservations if it’s not necessary?)
Second, this is exactly what Walt Disney World did in late March/early April with the June 1 booking date. Seems to be a pretty straightforward case of history repeating itself.
Hopefully I’m wrong!
According to touring plans, Walt Disney World Onsite Hotels – Number of Rooms (35,969 Total). With multiple people in each room and potentially opening 1 park with a capacity cap, wouldn’t it be reasonable to think that is precisely what they would need to do? Limit resort capacity to some pre-determined number and allow those guests to check in? I am not arguing that you are wrong about the dates though, just wondering about the on-site resorts capacity against a single park operating at reduced capacity. Just an interesting thought,
If the resorts are open, I’d expect all–or at least 3 of 4–theme parks to be operating, which gets resort-wide capacity where it needs to be to accommodate all on-site guests and then some.
If Walt Disney World reopens resorts that means the return of once-in-a-lifetime and infrequent visitors. It’s one thing to offer a diluted experience (no fireworks, parades, meet & greets, etc.) for reasons beyond their control. It’s another entirely to only have half the parks even open. There’d be a ton of cancellations and negative backlash.
In fairness, this is total speculation on my part, but that’s how I see it playing out. Opening to Florida residents (and anyone else determined enough to visit) and ramping up from there is the most logical and guest-friendly approach.
An interesting side note. Last week I printed out the park hours for when we’ll be there in August. Everything was on the schedule, parades, fireworks, fantasmic, etc. I just checked the park hours on the WDW website and they are listing park hours for all parks even for the month of June but now all the parades, fireworks, fantasmic, etc. is not on the calendar. They do have the Halloween parties listed. Interesting that they are still considering those when those parties have a big parade and special fireworks and shows. So the free entertainment is no longer on the schedule but that which involves an extra fee is.
The survey we received asked if we would still keep our reservation if certain parks were closed. It also asked specific questions like what parks, entertainment and rides would have to be closed for us to cancel.
Wouldn’t hotel reservations be about the numbers? The % allowed in the parks can not be less than the number of Hotel reservations. And they can’t be equal because they have to allow a % for locals and those staying outside the world.
So maybe in that sense June hotel occupancy has reached its max. I could see them condensing the number of hotels opening to save money. That’s easily remedied by free upgrading.