Disney World Resort Reopening Dates
Walt Disney World has revised the reopening timeline of its resort hotels, pushing back dates for a couple of hotels and removing them entirely for others. In this post, we’ll take a look at the schedule delay, why it’s likely happening, and offer some commentary about the changes.
To quickly recap, all Deluxe Villas and Disney Vacation Club resorts welcomed guests back at the end of June. (This includes the DVC wings of resorts listed as closed below.) We’ve done a couple of stays and have visited many of these resorts, and it’s clear that they are operating with a small fraction of their normal guest load. To that point, most have plenty of availability for the next few months.
Following that, Walt Disney World resumed operations at Disney’s Contemporary Resort and Pop Century Resort as Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom reopened. Guests with existing hotel or vacation package bookings, regardless of where they booked, were relocated primarily to these two resorts, plus some of the DVC resorts. Beyond that, the other Walt Disney World resorts were given reopening dates…
Let’s start with a look at the resorts that are currently operating at Walt Disney World, followed by the hotel reopening timeline for August through November 2020…
Walt Disney World Resorts – Now Open
Here are the resorts that are currently open at Walt Disney World as of August 1, 2020:
- Animal Kingdom Villas – Jambo House
- Animal Kingdom Villas – Kidani Village
- Bay Lake Tower at Contemporary Resort
- Beach Club Villas
- BoardWalk Villas
- Boulder Ridge Villas at Wilderness Lodge
- Caribbean Beach Resort
- Contemporary Resort
- Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Wilderness Lodge
- Old Key West Resort
- Polynesian Villas & Bungalows
- Pop Century Resort
- Riviera Resort
- Saratoga Springs Resort
- Villas at Grand Floridian Resort
Note that it might appear some hotels are listed on the ‘currently open’ list above and the ‘reopening timeline’ below. However, that’s because some resorts have both standard hotel room wings and Disney Vacation Club villa wings. In many cases, only the DVC wings of the properties are open, with the hotel side yet to open.
Walt Disney World Resort Reopening Timeline
Here’s the current timeline for Walt Disney World resort reopenings:
- August 24, 2020 – Disney’s Yacht Club Resort
- September 21, 2020 – Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
- October 4, 2020 – Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
- October 14, 2020 – Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort
- November 1, 2020 – Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
Additionally, the following resorts now do not have reopening dates, at all:
- 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 Beach Club Resort
- Disney’s BoardWalk Inn
- Disney’s Port Orleans Resort — French Quarter
- Disney’s Port Orleans Resort — Riverside
- Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
To be clear, this is not due to the NBA, MLS, or any other professional sporting event being held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports. To the contrary, it’s worth noting that the resorts presently occupied by sports leagues are among the only resorts not seeing their reopening delayed.
This is presumably because those hotels have already resumed operations for the aforementioned leagues. It’s easier to just transition to regular guest operations than to undergo the process of shutting down followed by the process of reopening again later. (If anything, thanks NBA!)
While Walt Disney World might spin it differently, this schedule delay is all about demand.
Not only has Walt Disney World not filled up the Disney Vacation Club resorts, Contemporary, and Pop Century, but occupancy rates for on-property hotels are dropping rather than rising.
One thing we’ve noted is how Disney Vacation Club resort bookings would help backstop attendance. Due to the “use it or lose it” nature of points, DVC members have more of an incentive to visit this year than other guests. Because of the transparent nature of the room inventory for Disney Vacation Club, those bookings offer some insight into greater tourist trends.
In late June, we noted that there was still a ton of DVC availability for most resorts in July, August, and September. Way more than normal, which will present its own future problems (see our Disney Vacation Club’s Point Pool Problem). These months are all still wide open. You could book reservations next week for pretty much anywhere, which is something that never happens in a normal year.
At the time, October was the real turning point for Disney Vacation Club bookings, with that month plus November and December having far less availability. Consequently, we speculated that existing resort bookings for fall and the holiday season would account for around 5-10% of park capacity (meaning another 15-20% would be available for Annual Passholders).
Our expectation was that the remaining October through December DVC rooms would quickly fill up once the parks reopened and apprehensive members had the chance to observe Disney’s health safety protocol. Instead, here’s a glimpse at what inventory looks like as of this morning:
I wish I would’ve taken a screenshot of October through December when I checked inventory last month, but this is significantly more availability than a month ago. It’s also significantly more than at the end of last year or beginning of this year. (It should go without saying, but normally availability goes down closer to travel dates, not up.)
In fairness, this is Saratoga Springs Resort, but other popular resorts that would normally need to be booked 11 months in advance for some of these dates–like Beach Club, BoardWalk, Polynesian, Bay Lake Tower, and Grand Floridian–also have availability most dates. Only Disney’s Riviera Resort is light on availability, but most of its units haven’t sold and been declared by DVC, which is why it’s the outlier.
Keep in mind, Disney Vacation Club resorts are more likely to book up than other hotels at Walt Disney World. If this is how DVC availability looks, it’s safe to assume the situation is worse for traditional hotels.
In speaking to someone with knowledge of an on-site third party luxury resort, that’s exactly the case. After an influx of fall reservations when the reopening was first announced, occupancy rates there have plummeted as cancellations have far outpaced new reservations. Numbers are so low that a re-closing of that hotel for several months–not due to safety but due to economic realities–is now on the table.
Given all of that, it’s now our expectation that many of these resorts that have “TBD” dates won’t reopen this year at all.
We’d be surprised if any of the All Stars or Port Orleans Resorts operate in 2020 given the former’s reliance on special events and group bookings (all of which have been cancelled) and the latter’s layout and transportation. Disney’s BoardWalk and Beach Club Resorts seem more likely given their locations and that their sister properties are already operating, but who knows. (We really hope Wilderness Lodge opens.)
Of course, Walt Disney World could offer huge general public discounts to incentivize tourists to book trips and fill unsold hotel rooms. That’s exactly what Disney has done with the “Rediscover the Magic” Deal of up to 40% off Hotel Rooms for Annual Passholders and Florida Residents.
The problem with extending this deal to the general public is optics. Walt Disney World already was hammered in the media for reopening at the same time Florida cases spiked. Timing wise, it wouldn’t be a good look to offer deals enticing tourists to travel to a hotspot right now. And conversely, tourists are understandably unwilling to pay full price for a reduced experience. In the immediate future, there’s no good solution to this dilemma.
Ultimately, this is not a huge surprise given what we’ve observed at the Disney Vacation Club resorts, hotels, and in the parks thus far. In fact, the entire commentary section of this post was lifted from another post I’m in the process of writing: “It’s Eerily Uncrowded at Walt Disney World,” which discusses the current attendance levels, their sustainability, and predictions for the rest of the year. That should be coming later today, but then this news broke, “undermining” some of the speculation I made in that post.
Suffice to say, the trends we’re observing are concerning and could be a harbinger of more cuts throughout the Central Florida theme park industry. At least Walt Disney World is able to alter course here before reopening more resorts that would operate at a loss, with occupancy rates at a fraction of their normal levels. We remain hopeful that Walt Disney World’s safe and methodical phased reopening plan can continue, but we’re nonetheless nervous. It might be slower going than previously expected, as it’s simply not pragmatic from a business perspective to resume operations as “aggressively” as once planned. Stay tuned for more on this…
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
What do you think about these reopening dates for Walt Disney World hotels? Any surprises on this list for you? Disappointed that Art of Animation and the Poly are being pushed back? Think any of the TBDs will end up opening later in 2020, or are those resorts looking at 2021? Will you be attempting to visit Walt Disney World this summer or fall, or are you waiting until next year? 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!
I may have missed it, but I was suppose to check in to the Poly on 8/30. Is Disney suppose to e-mail me about a resort change? Or do I need to reach out to them? Thanks for any insight!
Do you think there are even more layers to some of this? For example, isn’t Art of Animation doing a refurbishment? Maybe they are thinking with occupancy so low now is a good time to keep it closed, finish the rooms and pool overhaul so when they open they can at least offer those guests the full experience?
I’m sure that’s all an afterthought/secondary to the real issue of plummeting occupancy.
We still have not cancelled our trip yet…who knows at this point. Thanks as always for the great coverage!
I don’t think there are any additional layers. It’s all about low resort occupancy numbers.
I have a long planned week for granddaughter’s 21st birthday at the end of August. DVC and started at Old Key West but changed to Animal Kingdom Jambo House, because animals, but then changed that because Jambo House showing not opening, so changed to Boardwalk, because can walk to two parks. Now I’m so confused if it will be open and if not, where we’ll end up. I figure if we can carefully navigate the airports and get onto Disney property that it will be safer than at home.
Regarding the Boardwalk, its DVC villas reopened about a month ago, and (at this time) there’s no reason to think you won’t be able to stay there a month from now. Today’s news just reflects that the Boardwalk “Inn” (i.e. the Boardwalk’s normal non-DVC hotel rooms) are no longer scheduled to reopen on October 1st.
Tom I am really curious as to what you think about the Christmas season. We have a trip planned for Christmas from Dec 24 to the 30th and am really hoping to be able to resort hop to see decorations and especially the gingerbread house at Gran Floridian….do you think decortations on their normal Disney level will go up? I wonder if they keep these other resorts closed…especially Wilderness Lodge….I was really looking forward to seeing that tree! As I missed it on our other Christmas trip. Your thoughts please. Thanks
We were there last Christmas…I cannot see how they will be able to do the Hotel Decorations…Especially the Gingerbread House (Which is not the walk thru it once was, now the back is a shop trying to sell you things) as things like this draw large crowds
The lobby at the Wilderness Lodge is open. Copper Creek villas is open. It is as beautiful and awe inspiring as always.
We’re still scheduled to go in mid-December. I haven’t decided if we will cancel yet. I’m still following a “wait and see” approach. It’s hard to predict what it will be like next week let alone 5 months from now. I very much want to go and experience the Christmas magic, but if too many things are still not available, we may have to wait until next Christmas.
I don’t have a concept of what things were like before Coronavirus, but I am at Animal Kingdom Kidani Lodge right now and it seems hopping. We can hear kids running in the halls and the lobby feels a little crowded at times. When we went to Hollywood studios this morning at 930 there were huge lines at the parking booths and the entrance…Something I haven’t seen in videos from the parks before now at the same time period. But maybe that is from the extra passes they gave out? Either way we grabbed a boarding pass and left, didn’t want to stick around in crowded heat.
Had a trip booked for this November and we canceled two days ago. The daily numbers in Florida & quarantine rules coming from NY Tri-State left us uneasy.
I hope Disney can weather the storm… they employ so many and I fear for Florida’s local economy. From what we can see the safety precautions Disney has been taking look stellar, but with everything else it takes to get there from out of state and the case numbers, hard to justify right now.
Were in the same boat but unable to cancel. Trying to unload our DVC (rented 3rd party) and as long as AKL is open then we are on the hook. We will not be going if cases are still as is. Disney may be taking precautions but you can’t overlook human nature (looking at you people who dont cover their nose!), how to GET there, and quarantine when we get there and come back. It’s not like we’ll be able to enjoy our time at Disney if we’re in quarantine for the 6 days we’re there…
I am truly surprised that they backed up AoA opening. It is the one with suites that families tend to book. The sleeping layout is very popular and honestly while you can be relocated to moderate or better none of these offer the same choices. I personally have a stay at Beach Club booked for the first week in December and I pray they open the resort. We chose this so we could utilize Stormalong Bay.
There’s no shortage of multi-bedroom villas at the DVC resorts that are suitable or superior rebooking options for those with Art of Animation family suites. I’m guessing most guests would be very pleased if relocated from AoA to one of those units.
As for Beach Club–they’d likely relocate you to Yacht Club or the Beach Club Villas. Still no guarantee that Stormalong Bay will reopen, though.
What is happening with Animal Kingdom Lodge? Why is it not mentioned anywhere? … what am I missing?’ 😀
Ah shoot, forgot all about it. I’ll update accordingly…
The DVC villas in Kidani Village reopened to the public in late June. No reopening dates have been announced for the DVC villas in Jambo House, or the lodge’s non-DVC hotel rooms. I don’t know why they aren’t in Tom’s list of “dates unknown” resorts, but perhaps they will be after he sees these comments :-).
We have a trip planned September 7 – 11. We booked this trip back in January for our anniversary and after much consideration decided to go ahead with the trip. We have Coronado Springs booked as our resort. We have received nothing from Disney saying that we wouldn’t be staying there. Just curious after seeing your post when they will be letting us know where we will be staying. I didn’t realize that Coronado Springs wouldn’t be opening until October. Do you happen to know when they are letting guests with resort reservations at closed resorts know where they will be staying? Our trip is 6 weeks away…
They should contact you or automatically switch your resort closer to your travel date, but you could call now to have that done.
Just don’t request an upgrade, or you’ll have to pay the difference. If they relocate (and upgrade) you, there’s no added cost.
I had to call them to find out where they were moving us. I wouldn’t wait for them to contact you. Because i think they will automatically cancel your reservation 7 days prior if you don’t call and update with them
August 30 reservation for Port Orleans French Quarter and not a peep. I did call today and was told we could cancel up to 7 days ahead for a full refund of our deposit and our full payment would not be due until 7 days ahead. Most likely will cancel given the limited experience and Florida covid situation but was curious where we would end up. Waiting to see what Disney offers.
First rule of business: Stay in Business
The overall pitch: Because of the current Covid crisis, we are providing a 20% discount to anyone who is booked or plans on booking from here until February. We ask those who are sick or susceptible to stay home, but we are going to stay open for the benefit of our employees and our customers who need a little magic.
I think we’ll eventually see discounts that are much larger than 20% off (more like 40% off rack rate, plus other benefits). The problem is timing. Disney cannot release discounts to the general public until cases in Florida start to trend downwards without risking more backlash (although maybe at some point, they just deal with the fallout).
At the present rate, cases may not drop considerably until the weather starts to cool down or school goes back into session. That would mean the earliest bump in occupancy would be in November or December.
Tom… my poor heart! We are going in August and when I saw your newsletter I thought you were saying that the reopening was paused and parks went back to closed like they did for a while in Hong Kong. Eep.
I feel really luck we decided last week to switch from the Poly to Riviera. We originally were hoping the Poly would open up more of its dining and possibly the epcot monorail by our arrival date and feel more like a “full” resort, but now this is the nail in the coffin on that. I’m not expected to be totally wowed by riviera (and not thrilled at its prices) but at least we know we’ll have an open resort to go to.
Still… REALLY hope they don’t close the parks. That would be brutal after all the cancelled trips and changes and 4am wakeup calls for reservations and hours on the phone waiting to talk to a cast member to fix technical issues with the new system. Ugh.
Sorry for the scare! Newsletter titles have character limits–hopefully you got the idea pretty quickly.
Walt Disney World will do everything in its power to avoid closing the parks again. The fact that it hasn’t happened yet leads me to believe it will not happen. However, I fully believe we’ll see a reduction in hours and further cuts before we see expansions and extensions. (The good news is still that you can do everything in all of the parks in less than a full day.)
Not surprising. I really hope Disney can survive what’s happening right now. I think Disney has done a great job with their safety measures, but the reality is most people are not going to vacation at an expensive place like Disney right now. The parks being empty is not enough to entice people, other than locals or people within a reasonable driving distance. Under necessity they have taken away everything that makes the price worth it for the average guest (parades, ability to park hop, fireworks, character meet and greets etc.) not to mention most people are not going to pay Disney prices to have to walk around in a mask all day, every day on their vacation. Yes masks are important and we need to wear them right now but people will vacation closer to home this year and probably early next year until things start to improve and masks are no longer required and the regular experiences come back. Keeping fingers crossed it’s early spring next year versus 2022 or beyond.
Yep, it’s the mask requirement that keeps us away. I comply everywhere I need to: grocery store, church, library, etc. But I would NEVER pay to put up with masks! The second Disney lifts the mask requirement, we’ll be there! I wouldn’t be surprised if there are plenty of others that feel the same.
Pretty much agree with Stephanie I will abide by the rules of the business that I wish to patronize but when in the parking lot off comes the masks. From a personal view requiring social distancing and a mask while outside seems excessive but from Disney’s view trying to mitigate business risk is entirely understandable. Until the mask mandate is dropped, at least outside while not in lines, I will keep my powder dry for better times.
@ Stephanie and Papa L fully agree. I also comply at home everywhere I go, but I cannot and would not justify having to pay that type of money for a vacation and have to deal with wearing a mask just about the whole time. Never mind keeping my kiddo in it all day, that is just not fair to him. I know there are a lot of people in our same boat as well. I am def hoping things improve so we can get back to normal sooner than later.
I have a stay booked at Pop for the end of September. It is at rack rate and was hoping some discounts came out, but that isn’t looking good. I will most likely cancel, especially since there is no room discount and full price isn’t my jam!
Room discounts are being advertised for APs and Florida residents. You could always call WDW and say that you need to cancel UNLESS a manager is willing to apply a comparable discount to your reservation. They are truly desperate for revenue right now, so it’s definitely worth a shot.
We have a stay there in November planned. I’ll cancel if there isn’t any kind of added perk going right now. It breaks my heart, but I can’t bring myself to pay full price for a lesser experience.
This isn’t a surprise considering the current status of Florida. People are having second thoughts. If Florida was showing a decline in Covid cases, I think more people would be keeping or booking reservations. A few months ago, I thought there may have been a chance we’d be making our November trip. Sadly, I’m pretty sure we will be canceling.
Besides rising Covid numbers, there are quarantine, mask and park reservation rules that make a trip to Disney too complicated and honestly not worth the cost. Plus, I have a strong feeling that Disney is one step away from closing down again. I can’t see how they can be making a profit. The question is, how long can they continue to operate in the red. Keeping my fingers crossed that things turn around for the better, that Florida’s Covid numbers go down.
Maybe Disney should allow and sell the dining plan and park hopping. Feel this would help attendance, These are the 2 things that might stop me. It would not hurt them as they need more attendance anyway.
I agree with dining plan but the park hopping would make it impossible for crowd control. As long as they need to keep the crowds under a certain number and have the park passes available, I don’t see park hopping being available. I always get park hopper but I honestly feel like Im not missing it for our upcoming vacation in August. I do wish they would open the waterparks and think they should do so soon…
In hindsight, Disney could’ve continued offering the Dining Plan, as restaurant bookings are really low. However, at the time they made that cut, it seemed like Florida was a success story and tourism would come roaring back–in which case, the DDP wouldn’t have been viable.
Regardless, I don’t see Park Hopping or the Disney Dining Plan returning at this point until park & restaurant capacity resembles something closer to normal.
My thought on park hopping is that you should be able to cancel your park pass when you leave one park, and if there is still Park pass availability at another park that day, get a new park pass. It wouldn’t be a perfect solution but it would be better than no possibility of visiting two parks in one day.
We are hoping to go early December. We have booked an offsite condo because I am not willing to pay rack prices. Really hoping some discounts come out soon, regardless of the optics!!
I think the delays in the Beach Club, Wilderness Lodge & Boardwalk are at least partially related to pool capacity. I stayed at Copper Creek pre-park opening and the pools were more crowded than I expected. The one-park per day rue is likely increasing pool usage as well. Thus, Stormalong Bay will likely be at physical distance capacity without Beach Club hotel just as Wilderness Lodge already appears to be without the hotel portion open.
Having avidly been following along at home as WDW has reopened, we have been pleasantly surprised at safety procedures and operations and of course the side benefits of low wait times. We are tentatively planning a brief trip in February and looking forward to hopefully having a more “normal” trip in 2022. We have also been fighting the urge to just get in the car and drive the 18 hours to WDW. (With 5 kids in tow no less.) The main thing keeping us back is Florida currently being a hot spot and the local requirement of quarantining upon return from visiting there. (Not to mention the Florida requirement on us needing to quarantine on arrival as we are coming from the NY tri-state area, though we are doing pretty well up here.)
Anyway, I’m just theorizing that it is the situation in Florida as a whole that is influencing the cancellations and perhaps slower return of reservations, not so much how WDW’s reopening has been handled. I’m hopeful that as spread of the virus slows and case numbers flatten and hopefully begin to decline, WDW will see an uptick in demand.
“Anyway, I’m just theorizing that it is the situation in Florida as a whole that is influencing the cancellations and perhaps slower return of reservations, not so much how WDW’s reopening has been handled.”
That’s 100% it. I didn’t cover that much here, as it’s in the other work-in-progress post, but that is the reason why this is happening. Hard to imagine anyone is looking at Walt Disney World’s safety procedures, current crowds, etc., and cancelling because of that. Disney has been crushing it. Florida…not so much.
Fully agree. I did my first park visit yesterday (Hollywood Studios). Disney has done an amazing job with safety with at least 99% mask compliance. I was in the park 5 hours and only saw about 3 chin guards and 10 ‘nosers’. The distancing in the queues is brilliant and extraordinarily well thought out.
Before heading home last night, I decided to go to one of my favorite restaurants along I-Drive at Icon. Mask compliance there is maybe 10%. My impression, though limited, is that Orange County and those businesses along I-Drive are not concerned about slowing the spread of Covid (The restaurant itself was fine, but getting from the parking garage to the restaurant and back was by far the most hazardous activity I have experienced since March.
“My impression, though limited, is that Orange County and those businesses along I-Drive are not concerned about slowing the spread”
Your impression is accurate. People outside of Florida might think it’s an exaggeration to justify going to the parks, but Universal and Walt Disney World are basically the only places in Central Florida that feel safe right now. It’s not just restaurants and stores, either–I literally feel more comfortable walking around Epcot than my own neighborhood.
What’s truly mind-boggling is that everyone around here should understand how crucial tourism is to the local economy, and act accordingly to help that industry recover. Most residents have a vested interest in seeing Disney, Universal, SeaWorld, etc. bounce back as quickly as possible. Yet, they are not doing their parts.
I agree. Looking at the safety procedures I would have been comfortable booking a long-weekend trip to WDW if Florida was at their late-May case/day numbers (or had continued to decrease). With cases 10-20x higher than tat per day, I’m not comfortable. I know those hot spots aren’t the airport or WDW, so I still likely wouldn’t come into contact with a positive person, but it’s enough to tip my into “let’s just wait” mode.
Adding my thoughts as someone from Wisconsin who flew down last week to see what the new situation looked like. We traveled on Southwest which is quite vigilant about mask usage and used Magical Express for airport transportation. Over our 3 days there, my wife and I continually commented that Disney felt safer than anywhere we had been in Wisconsin. To hammer that point home, when we arrived back in Milwaukee and deplaned, several people exited the plane and immediately removed their masks….and my wife and I immediately wanted to reboard and go back to Disney. Whether or not masks are “safety theater” as some have said, it’s effective theater that certainly put our minds at ease.
We’ve debated doing an off-site stay because some of the hotel rates are so low…but reading this has made me realize that if we are coming back, it will be onsite or nothing!
It’s also really sad that DeSantis doesn’t realize how important tourism is to the state. If so, he would impose a mask order.
so if we have a deluxe villa booked for boulder and boardwalk for december, will we still be able to stay there?
Yes. Both of the DVC portions are open for business and have been since last month.