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!
Although people are saddened and disappointed, safety should come first. Perhaps Disney and it’s patrons need to press the pause button. Financially, Disney is taking a big hit right now. But when it is totally safe, people will fill up all of the parks and things will be normal again. Why risk your health just to satisfy what you want right now? We cancelled our 50th anniversary trip to Disney with our entire family for June. Let’s all take a deep breath and put our plans aside for the time being. Soon, we will all return to the happiest place on earth â¤ï¸
Just got an email that Beach Club DVC side won’t be available for our mid August trip. Am on (the dreaded two hour hold) with Disney rn. The frustrating thing (and why is there always a frustrating thing when Disney technology is involved?) is that email they sent had a “click here” link for available hotels and Beach Club Villas is still listed as available. Grrrrrrr. Sometimes I think a takeover by Apple would be the best thing that could happen for Disney…..
Wait, what? The DVC side is closing too? I’m renting Boardwalk and Beach Club DVC points in September. I don’t have any word of those being cancelled. Please update this when you talk to Disney. Thanks!
So when the 40% AP discounts were announced we changed our reservation for Polynesian club level to The Contemporary for last week in August, which looks like we would have been forced to change after all. It’s a great deal, and we have decided to drive instead of flying from PA, but still going to wait and make final decision on the trip.
Is Disney selling annual passes yet?
When the Covid outbreak hit, I posted that Disney 2020 was Unlikely, which upset a fellow blog follower who complained to Tom, and I have been banned from posting from my home url ever since! Well, who was telling the truth?
That’s not why your home IP address was blocked–it was due to a longstanding pattern of being confrontational, insulting others, and general trolling.
It has nothing to do with you being the lone, brave truth teller. (You might notice the other comments on various posts contain a variety of viewpoints, many of which disagree with me.)
Thank you for sharing this! I was booked 9/20-9/26 for Art of Animation, and I quickly changed to Caribbean Beach as soon as I saw your post. I think I saw elsewhere that now Disney will modify pricing/charges if you had to book more expensive lodging, but that I can take care of another time. I just wanted to make sure we have somewhere to stay on property that wont break the bank
We had one planned for the first week of September at AOA. We called and they gave us three options within our “price point”. We had a family suite booked. We were offered Fort Wilderness Cabin, Caribbean Beach, and a 1 bedroom villa at Kidani Village. At no additional cost to us.
Did you have a family suite booked or a standard room? We have a Little Mermaid Room booked for Sept 19-26. I haven’t been able to get a hold of my TA. Curious if we will be offered something similar.
We rescheduled our mid-August trip to 2021 due to safety concerns and some other issues. The rebooking resort price is without any discount at all. Wow is all I can say!
We haven’t cancelled the room yet, but we had planned a week long trip in November, and up until Florida spiraled out of control, we thought it would still happen. Unfortunately the state’s inability to lower its numbers caused us to cancel. We’re so disappointed but safety trumps the temptation (and it is a huge temptation) in regards to travel to Florida to visit WDW. Now to hope DVC allows us to use a one time exception to get our borrowed 2021 points, back into that use year.
I had a trip planned for this week that was on on current year + borrowed points. I cancelled it about 3 weeks ago. The current year points returned immediately and I was able to bank them to next year before I even logged off. My borrowed points “stayed” in the current use year and I made myself a note to call to beg they be returned once I had 2 hours to kill. Logged on a few weeks later and the borrowed points were back in their original year!! No call required. I was thrilled. Hope that happens for you too.
Thank you, Lisa! That is VERY heartening to hear!!!
Yesterday I booked Art of Animation for Aug 12th to 21st because we’ll have to move our August 17th to 31st to 2021 as the 2 week return quarantine would interfere with my wife’s returning to her teachers job Sept 1st IF the NY schools reopen. Still awaiting Cuomo’s decision on when they’ll reopen. DId you follow that? Planning a Disney World trip has become almost as difficult as planning the Normandy invasion. I assume Disney will upgrade our new Aug trip.
Is all this worth it?
Absolutely. I see how safe the Parks are. Thank you TOM! The precautions Disney is taking. The adjustments they’ve made as they learn from experience such as having guests eating in place not while walking. If they’d gone lax on that I might have serious doubts. I see the videos of low attendance, how people are socially distancing and the short waiting times. Bottom line is even if the Parks weren’t open we’d enjoy just walking around the different resorts, eating some great meals outside and romantic evenings in beautiful Disney surroundings.
We’ve all sequestered for months and it’s necessary to get out and back to some normalcy. NY has announced that though covid cases are way down domestic abuse is way up due to staying at home. Of course that’s not a problem in our house, although I’ve noticed when my wife watches true crime shows like 48 Hours she’s started taking notes.
We won’t be going anywhere else in FL but Disney properties. Disney looks better than any place we’ve gone in NY and those places in NY are doing a very good job. As Tom says, “Disney is crushing it.”
For those who are wondering, we aren’t flying. We always drive but this time we drive straight through. No visits to friends along the way or hotel overnights. When we get gas we use gloves. We won’t buy food along the way but bring packed meals. We’ll have our own car which we prefer to taking the bus. We will be tested before we leave to be sure we aren’t bringing anything with us.
If anyone has any other safety suggestions or ideas for travelling or from first hand park experiences we’re all ears.
By no means a judgement question! I will also be coming from the North East and a state that Florida has on it’s “quarantine when you arrive” list.
I’m confused about Disney allowing people from these states – do they assume people will ignore it or just quarantine in their rooms. I realize theres no real way to enforce the 2 week or duration of your stay rule on either side. :/
Hi Jessie,
The 2 week quarantine is important to us and was the reason we moved our June/July trip which is now our Christmas trip.
Over the past 6 weeks I’ve made many calls to the Florida health authorities, the Fl State Police and the Orange County police. When the order was being enforced everyone was being stopped, given temp checks and had to fill out a report which included where they were staying and doing their quarantine. You could NOT quarantine at Disney. One of the suggestions made to me by authorities which could be used to get into FL without being stopped was to rent a car from a state that was not on the banned list. Well I wasn’t about to do that or anything questionable morally or legally.
However I’ve been told by FL officials that the reason no one is being stopped coming in by car or plane and being checked and made to fill out paperwork is that it’s a way of recognizing there is no threat from the tri-state area. There may even come an official statement to that effect at the beginning of August but having it the way it is now, should the tri-state suddenly spike, FL can restart check up points right away.
Bottom line is that they are not enforcing the law because they see the law as unnecessary at this time. Should they change back and require the 2 weeks we will have to once again cancel. Of course we are planning to quarantine on our return. But please do not take my word for it. Call and see for yourself. if you get different answers let me know. Thanks and I hope this helps.
Haha! Lets hope so!
Thank you Tom!! I read your post and called reservations right away. We were booked for Poly 9/4-9/7. They moved us to a different resort in a way better room (IMO) for the same price.
Also, I was fortunate to be there for Passholder preview Friday July 10 and opening day July 11. I thought Disney was flawless in their Covid precautions and bonus-it was empty…we rode Flight of Passage 5 times on opening day! When will that ever happen again.
Good to hear the post was helpful and you got an upgrade!
“…we rode Flight of Passage 5 times on opening day! When will that ever happen again.”
Probably September 4-7. 😉
We got a GREAT FREE upgrade too because we called RIGHT after getting the email update from Tom. SO glad we follow your blogs Tom. Husband kind of makes fun of me for it, but it has paid off!
I just called about my Poly village September reservation and they stated that they are still taking reservations starting Aug 12 and no need to move me to the DVC side. Have the new dates not been officially released yet?
We’re interested in visiting, based on the strong safety precautions, but it’s a non-starter until Florida cases get under control because our state requires a 2-week quarantine when returning from Florida. That just isn’t possible when you have children who need to return to school … it’s hard enough to pull them for one week of school, but add 2 weeks for quarantine, and it’s impossible.
Another point is that DVC Rental, during normal times, might have a handful of confirmed reservations for sale (think 10-30) at a time. Right now they have approximately 1700 confirmed reservations. It’s just insane the amount of availability there is in the market. Also, those reservations could potentially not get bought which means that is additional empty rooms that are currently on the books as rented. Disney will still count that towards occupancy, but without selling those rentals it is just less people in Disney (no park tickets, food, merch).
Yep–that’s a great point, too!
Previously I’ve said we’d not be going back until COVID is gone, and I was cancelling my APs for refund. But I just couldn’t bring myself to cancel. My addiction to be an AP holder is more severe than I realized!!
Exposure to COVID is also a huge concern due to an underlying medical condition (asthma). But the mitigating factor is reports on how diligently WDW is enforcing safety.
So what’s stopping me is the lack of park-hopping. Hitting Pandora at rope drop, riding the safari, then stopping for breakfast at Tusker House before heading to MK for Pirates, Thunder Mountain, and Haunted Mansion, in the same day are VERY important.
Boarding the monorail from MK for lunch in EPCOT… or doing a festival in EPCOT but having lunch or dinner at Liberty Tree, or a strawberry chicken salad at the Plaza Restaurant… very important parts of our trips. It’s not just about riding rides, it’s the whole experience of seeing, dining, variety.
Booked at the AoA starting Sept. 23rd…. Now that it won’t be opening; what’s the procedure for moving guests?
Tom,
I just saw on the “Know Before You Go” page under the Contemporary that the monorail is not running from the resort to Epcot. Do you know why this is?
We were supposed to stay at BoarWalk in October, but our travel agent said Disney will be moving us. My bets are on Contemporary, but we are also considering Caribbean Beach given the skyliner. If the monorail to Epcot will be down for the remainder of the year that might make our decision easier.
As of now, the two Magic Kingdom monorail loops (express and resort) are running, but the TTC-to-Epcot loop is not running. This is presumably because park hopping is not a thing right now, so VERY FEW guests have any reason to travel between the TTC and Epcot. As long as (a) occupancy is so low and (b) nobody’s trying to hop between MK and Epcot, it’s easier for them to just keep that line closed and run Epcot buses from GF, Poly, and Contemporary.
Sorry for double-comment, but it’s also very possible that Disney will just move you to a Boardwalk DVC villa.
Since park-hopping isn’t happening right now, very few guests have any reason to travel between the TTC and Epcot. As such, as long as (a) occupancy is so low and (b) park-hopping is disallowed, it makes sense for them to keep that monorail line closed and just run Epcot buses from GF, Poly, and Contemporary.
Thanks Andy! I’m still hoping park hopping comes back before October, but things aren’t looking good for that right now.
Also, good point about the move to a DVC room. Although, we were originally booked at Animal Kingdom Lodge and instead of moving us to a DVC room there they moved us to BoardWalk. Maybe we’ll get moved back to Animal Kingdom Lodge!
I’m just going with the flow–as long as I get to go to WDW I don’t really care where we stay.
Tom, if resorts are closed, does that mean their respective restaurants will likewise be closed?
My question also…
For the Moderate & Value resorts, absolutely.
For the Deluxe resorts, it’s complicated. While very few of the deluxe “resort hotels” have reopened, almost all of them have attached DVC “deluxe villas” that HAVE reopened, which means that some (but not all) of their dining options are open too. As such, you should check Disney’s website for info about specific resorts’ offerings.
For example:
-At Wilderness Lodge, Whispering Canyon Cafe & Roaring Fork are open, but Artist’s Point is closed.
-At Animal Kingdom Lodge, Sanaa is open, but Jiko and Boma are closed.
-Yacht & Beach, Beaches & Cream is open, but not Yachtsman or Cape May Cafe.
…and so on.
I have a trip for December 9, thru 16th, at Wilderness Lodge. I am so upset they dont plan on opening this resort. With the cases of Covid so high in Florida I can understand Disney being cautious. I have not booked any airline tickets, taking a wait and see aproach. Tom do you know when they will be offering December, 2021Vacation Packages? I’ll probably just move my vacation for next year.
Read Tom’s post again…
Wilderness Lodge isn’t remaining closed due to Covid cautiousness. It’s remaining closed because Disney can’t even begin to fill the hotels that they’ve already reopened. It’s just a financial decision.
The regular rooms at Wilderness Lodge are also being renovated right now.
I believe this rennovation was already on the books and they are using the down time to get that work done. We just returned from a stay at the Copper Creek villas side. Geyser Point is also open if you are looking at the restaurants there.
Uggggg, we have reservations for Poly in a DVC studio for September and we were excited that entire resort was supposed to be open by then. We wanted to be somewhere with good dining and pools.
Does anyone know what this means for the pools? Will both pools be open or just the smaller Oasis pool?
Thanks in advance!
I stayed at the Poly the 7/11-7/14 and both pools were open. We were originally booked for the resort “side” and were moved to the DVC “side” with all the changes.
Kona Cafe, Captain Cooks and Pinapple Lanai were all open. Was bummed about Trader Sam’s and Ohana, but I still felt like we had options.
Thanks for the info Jen, I appreciate it! Hope you guys had fun! Hopefully both pools stay open and as long as I can indulge in Dole Whips, I’ll be good!