Disney World Resort Reopening Changes & Know Before You Go Info
Walt Disney World has released new “Know Before You Go” temporary policies and operational changes for its resorts reopening in June. In this post, we’ll share the latest news and offer speculation about what this means for other WDW hotels. (Updated June 16, 2020.)
This comes after Walt Disney World allowed guests with reservations between now and June 21, 2020 to modify their reservations, and change their trip with check out dates up until December 31, 2020 (meaning the vacation must be completed by the end of this year). This allows eligible guests to retain their 35% resort discount, but with the colossal catch that they need to opt for either Fort Wilderness or a Deluxe Villa Resort.
Today’s update starts with a list of resorts that are reopening on June 22, 2020. These select Deluxe Villa Resorts include Bay Lake Tower at Contemporary Resort, Boulder Ridge Villas at Wilderness Lodge, Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Wilderness Lodge, Animal Kingdom — Kidani Village, Beach Club Villas, BoardWalk Villas, Old Key West Resort, Polynesian Villas & Bungalows, Riviera Resort, Saratoga Springs Resort, and the Villas at Grand Floridian Resort.
As expected, Walt Disney World indicates that both a park reservation and valid admission for the same park on the same date is required–and confirms that a Disney Resort hotel reservation does not guarantee theme park access.
However, still no info on how park entry reservations will work, when they’ll be released, or if resort guests will have priority access (which is how prior capacity restrictions have worked). This is one of the big question marks about Walt Disney World’s reopening for many readers and, unfortunately, we’ll have to wait a little longer for the answers.
We are closely watching for any updates about the park entry reservations, monitoring both the official app and website for the slightest changes and will immediately send our subscribers a heads up when the new theme park reservation system launches. (Sign-up for our free email newsletter here!)
Hotel Cleaning
The resort Know Before You Go page does offer new info about resort cleaning. Walt Disney World indicates that there will be increased cleaning in high-traffic common areas areas such as public elevators and escalators, handrails, benches, tables, handles, restrooms and more.
As for guest rooms, those will undergo thorough pre-arrival cleaning, with special attention paid to high-touch areas, like TV remotes and door handles and floors, which will be steam cleaned and vacuumed between guests.
Inside guest rooms, there will be extra linens and towels wrapped in single-use packaging, individually wrapped glassware, double-cased pillows, and additional items that have been cleaned and wrapped in single-use packaging.
During guest stays, rooms will receive a light cleaning service every other day, which will include removal of trash and used towels, replenishment of towels and amenities throughout the room and bathroom, wiping and cleaning of the vanity and counter surfaces, as well as vacuuming (as necessary).
Hotel Transportation
Transportation has been a common question, and we also have an update on that. First, Disney’s Magical Express service will be available as normal for guests arriving and departing from Orlando International Airport.
Bus transportation to Disney Springs will operate once the hotels open. Transportation to theme parks will operate once those reopen in July. The page does not specify whether the monorails, Skyliner, or boats will run once the parks reopen. (We assume they all will, albeit with reduced capacity.)
Transportation will operate with physical distancing measures in place, which will reduce capacity. As a result, you may experience delays. Minnie Van Service will not be available during the initial reopening period. Self-parking will be available; valet parking won’t be available.
Hotel Pools
Whether hotel pools will reopen has been another common question, and we now have some answers to that. Feature pools may operate with reduced hours; leisure pools will be open 24 hours a day.
Pools will operate with reduced capacity to allow for physical distancing, and select poolside activities may not be available. Stormalong Bay at Disney’s Yacht and Beach Club Resorts will not be available during the initial reopening period.
Other Amenities & Entertainment
Some Disney Resort hotel services will be modified or unavailable during the initial reopening period, based on physical distancing and health guidelines.
Changes include:
- Bell Services will deliver luggage to rooms
- Club-level service will be temporarily unavailable
- Deliveries will only be made to occupied rooms
- In-room celebrations will not be available
- Dry-cleaning and valet laundry services will be temporarily unavailable; self-service laundry will remain available
- Shipping services will be temporarily unavailable
- Resort airline check-in service may be temporarily unavailable
- Fitness centers will operate with reduced hours and capacity
The following amenities and experiences will not be available during the initial reopening period:
- Arcades
- Campfires
- Character experiences
- Dog parks
- Electrical Water Pageant
- Marina rentals
- Pin trading
- Playgrounds
- Spas, salons and Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique
Additionally, the following special offerings and childcare services will not be available during the initial reopening:
- Fireworks voyages and tasting cruises, including the Pirates and Pals Fireworks Voyage
- Fun runs
- Wonderland Tea Party at Park Fare
- Hula lessons
- In-room childcare services
- Mermaid school
- Special classes and programs–including culinary, cultural and animal programs
The rest of the “Know Before You Go” page for resorts covers familiar territory. Info about face masks being required everywhere except while swimming or dining, wellness (temperature) screenings, plus a reminder to make sure that you have reviewed any advisories or restrictions that may be in place for travel to Florida. (As far as entry to Florida goes, the tri-state quarantine order expires on July 7, 2020–that’s the only one that would impact arrivals.)
If you want to know about dining modifications, consult our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reopening ‘Know Before You Go’ Info post.
Commentary
Unfortunately, we still don’t have info on which regular hotels will reopen, or when reservations will be accepted. A big part of the delay is undoubtedly Walt Disney World’s ongoing negotiations with the NBA. (We now know that Major League Soccer is Coming to Walt Disney World, and they’ll use the Swan & Dolphin Resorts.)
As you’re probably aware, the NBA is coming to Walt Disney World to finish its regular season and playoffs, and will likely be staying at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort and Gran Destino Tower (for more, see our recent post: Coronado Springs Likely Host Resort for NBA at Disney World Starting in July).
Disney Vacation Club has now confirmed that Animal Kingdom Villas — Jambo House will not reopen immediately (despite being available for booking). Here’s the warning you receive when attempting to book Jambo House on DVCMember.com:
“Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Jambo House will not be open during this initial period. Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Kidani Village will initially welcome home Members and Guests. Member Services will contact Members with confirmed reservations at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Jambo House to transfer their existing reservations to Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Kidani Village.
Over time, as the volume of reservations increase, inventory will be expanded to include Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Jambo House. Upon the reopening of Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Jambo House, some amenities such as restaurants and merchandise locations will likely remain closed until the rest of the Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge opens. However, at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Kidani Village, merchandise locations and restaurants will be available.”
It bears underscoring that not every Walt Disney World resort hotel is going to reopen with the parks. This is even absent the NBA, Major League Soccer, and whichever other professional sports end up coming to the ESPN Wide World of Sports and renting out entire resorts. (We’re hoping for Jelle’s Marble Runs, a competitive marble-racing league.)
Disney CEO Bob Chapek stated that not all resorts would reopen right away. The least likely resorts to remain closed are those within walking, monorail, or Skyliner distance to the parks and Deluxe Resorts with Disney Vacation Club add-ons. The most likely to stay shuttered are resorts that only offer bus transportation to the parks or those that do a lot of special event business.
All of these new Walt Disney World resort hotel policies are a lot to digest, and still leave a lot of unanswered questions. On the plus side, Walt Disney World recognizes this and is waiving change and cancellation fees up to the date of check-in for reservations with arrivals through October 3, 2020.
This makes it more or less risk-free to maintain your reservation until the last possible minute, assessing new info and future policies once they’re released to determine whether it’s the right time for you to visit, or if all of the changes are “too much” (and that might already be the case for a lot of people). Regardless, we’ll keep you posted and share more details on all of this once specifics are confirmed!
If you have questions about the closure, including policy changes and what we know thus far, please consult our Walt Disney World Reopening FAQ & Info, which should answer most inquiries. If you’re planning a Walt Disney World trip, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know.
YOUR THOUGHTS
Will you be booking a resort reservation for Walt Disney World this summer or fall, or are these rules/restrictions/policies going to cause you to postpone? Still waiting until more is known about the theme park entry registration? Surprised that Animal Kingdom Lodge – Jambo House is not going to reopen? Do you agree or disagree with our speculation? Other thoughts or concerns? 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!
BklynSteph, please tell me how you found the link you posted. This one.
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/experience-updates/resorts/
I searched and searched, but could not find how to get it without already having the link.
Tiana, thank you for trying to help.
See DebC’s response–-I found it by clicking the learn more links on the Covid advisory tout on the landing page but DebC has a more precise answer!
Tom, how do you get to that Know Before You Go page? How did you find it? I searched and searched for it and even “chatted” with Disney, who sent a link, but it did not lead to it. Finally I read down further and saw your link. I like to follow along with the source material as I read your assessment. But I still cannot find how you found it. WDW does not really want people to “Know Before You Go” if it is not front and center.
I’m not Tom but someone else trying to plan a vacation. It’s a pain to find and took me forever to find it.
– open the Disney Experience app and you’ll see an article called Phased Reopening. Click on learn more.
– Scroll down a short bit and you’ll see a title talking about the new park reservation.
– At the bottom of the section and before Top things you should know you’ll see words highlighted in blue: Learn about other related opening and updates
– Click on that
That’s where they hid it. Hope it helps.
SORRY! I just double checked and I can’t find it again. I swear that’s where it was before. I don’t know why they are making it so difficult to find.
Again sorry for the mistake!
Go to the WDW webpage. Scroll down to “Returning to a World of Magic” click on Get Details.
Scroll down to “Your Guide to Updated Experiences”. Cllck on Disney Resort Hotels and Experiences. It’s all there.
Tom,
An insight to when other resorts will open?
What’s disappointing is that you can only visit a Disney Resort that you are not staying in if you have a dining reservation. So if you just want to visit a Resort lounge where you are not an overnight guest for a cocktail and some small plates you won’t be able to do that because Disney doesn’t accept reservations at the lounges.
Right that stuck out for me also. Hope that has changed by November–we love resort hopping!
Can you direct me to that information? That is very disappointing. All I found was this:
“Planning to dine at a table-service restaurant in a Disney Resort hotel? A confirmed dining reservation is required for day Guests (those not staying overnight) and is highly recommended for Guests staying overnight at a Disney Resort hotel.”
So it says it is highly recommended for guests staying overnight at a Disney resort hotel. I don’t think that means one is stuck to their own particular resort. Right?
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/experience-updates/resorts/
Look under top things to know (something like that)–you need a confirmed dining reservation if you are a day guest.
I mean I guess it is all trying to control the crowds at limited capacity and to maintain physical distancing but yeah if you want to visit another resort (“day guest”) you need a dining reservation there. We love to visit other resorts especially during the holidays to see all the decorations! But I can’t eat a full meal at every resort. Lol. Very limiting…sigh.
A day guest is someone staying OFF PROPERTY at another hotel or their own residence. This is the group that is required to have a confirmed dining reservation and would need to provide that info to the security guard when entering resort parking lot. Dining reservations are recommended to resort guests. If you are staying ANYWHERE on Disney property, you are a resort guest. No where does it say that you are not allowed to visit another resort’s lounge, quick service location or gift shop.
I’ve got a DVC rental booked for a savanna view at jambo house for the beginning of december and this is making me nervous! If disney wants to move me to wilderness lodge instead we’ve got a deal LOL
You’ll probably get moved to Kidani Village instead.
I hope it’s full because I do not want to stay there!
Cancelling my adr that I made in January was understandable as capacity was very different. Then they cancelled my fast passes (that I got up for and spent time planning!) 2 days after I made them did make me mad. They should have shut off the system. Then they took away park hopper-even though 2 of the parks are half day parks. The final straw was when l I saw that staying at a wdw hotel does not guarantee you to be able to go to a park. So I spend all this money to go to Orlando to go to parks, and then not be able to go? What am I supposed to do with my day? I can sit on my couch for free at home. Plus Illinois now even has a lower virus rate!
Jen –
I agree. Very aggravating. We have a trip scheduled for the first week of August but my husband is urging me to cancel as well as request a refund for our AP’s. It makes me sad to think about so holding out hope that maybe things will change before then. But we all know that Disney never does anything quickly so likely a false hope.
WDW is full of so many family memories and to think about never going again (or not for a long, long time anyway) makes my heart heavy. Also, what to do with all the Disney dollars from our Disney chase visa?….
I think the reason Disney isn’t guaranteeing park entry with a resort reservation is that they want to emphasize that you still have to make a park reservation. All info we have suggests that resort guests will have priority in making park reservations and if you make a reservation around the time Disney allows you to, you should be able to make them. The problem for Disney is that a lot of people are going to show up having ignored the park reservation system and get angry when they can’t get into the parks. Now Disney can point to it’s statement that park entrance isn’t guaranteed with a room reservation when that happens. If you pay attention to when the park reservations open up for you, you should be fine. I guess I could see some difficulty booking MK reservations since that will likely be more popular than the other parks, but even then most resort guests will probably be fine.
Not sure if it’s relevant, but the passholder blockout calendars are all showing ‘Reservations Required’ for those dates that are not blocked out. Those calendars run through June 2021.
I think this reservation system will be in effect for quite sometime, not be ause of covid but because Disney gets crazy over planning for crowds and this is a great way to plan for crowds!
The restaurant list seems potentially adequate for the period while Disney is operating in resort only mode but not once parks open and they have more guests. Any word on what the next round of restaurants to open might be and when?
Tom –
What are you hearing about resort guests not being guaranteed park admission? Why does Disney think I’m there? We all know there are much nicer hotels/resorts to vacation in and without being able to make park reservations we certainly won’t be traveling from out of state to spend our thousands of dollars at WDW.
Would love to know what your thoughts are. TIA.
Lori – I agree completely. This is a terrible move by Disney. Staying at the resort used to provide many perks.. Now it just seems like it’ll be an extraordinary cost with little to no benefit.
I was told by rep they could not guarantee entrance at all during stay even though tickets were paid for. They said the best bet to actually get into park, was to have everyone check on all info channels throughout every day and try to beat others out to snag spaces.
That’s ridiculous Ann. I’m probably going to cancel now. Who wants to go to a half open Disney Resort with no guarantee of getting into the parks? I’d much rather go someplace else if all I’m doing is sitting around.
We have learned that your vacation dollars go a lot further outside of the Disney bubble. Disney is letting us discover this to their own detriment
It would let me reply to your comment on mine, but I agree. When I saw that Disney was going to take a month longer than universal to open, I thought they were taking their time to make it the best for all the people who had booked. This was going to be my second trip, and I was really looking forward to making those memories
I believe that if you have a reservation for a park which should be easy to get as you have the first opportunity as a resort guest you can get in. There may be resort guests that think I don’t need a park reservation I can just show up and get in this is the reason they need to say resort guests are not guaranteed park admission. Why would people not want to make park reservations and be sure they could get into the park that they want on a certain day?
It was just a question- not a statement.
Just off the phone with a very nice and informative Disney Rep. We had June 27th to July 6th to see the 4th of July fireworks. We were at the ASS (All Star Sports) with the free dining plan upgraded a notch. The whole thing was $3300. That included 2 four day park passes which we would not use as we are AP BUT we could use the money for those 4 day passes to renew our AP’s.
We also had 2 weeks at the end of August to celebrate my wife’s birthday.
So yesterday Disney sent the email about keeping, modifying or cancelling our June res. We opt to modify because we want to be there when the parks are open.
As Tom has pointed out there are only 9 resorts. They tell you the 35% off is to make it up to you for cancelling the free dining.
It’s true what Tom said. They will give us (you) 35% off the regular price of the new resort.
I asked about doing this in August and the least expensive was over $5,000. Remember we were paying 3,300 and getting all our meals free and putting about $1,000 towards our next Annual Passes.
So $5,200 is not much of a thank you for cancelling our food, fast passes, dining reservations and experiences. Yes I know it’s a much nicer looking resort to hang out in but we’re only in our room to sleep and shower and then we’re off to somewhere in Disney. Including eating at all those fine restaurants in those great looking resorts where we can spend as much time as we want.
Your opportunity to modify goes up to the last day before you’re reservation starts so you have to make a decision before then BUT you can modify up to the end of the year BUT you have to pick one of those 9 resorts. When I checked into Dec even the 35% off the cheapest of the 9 was over 10,000. You’re mileage may vary.
Well we’re keeping our two weeks at the end of August and we have 20 days to figure out what we’ll do with our June res. Might just rebook at the Boca Ridge a few days before the official Park opening and during the soft opening period for AP’s. Just for a getaway after the lock down.
Looking forward to hearing about other’s experiences modifying.
This is great info. Thanks for sharing!
Wow, 2 weeks for your wife’s birthday sounds really nice. I hope it is.
$3300 for 9 nights with DDP and tickets 6/27-7/6 sounds like an amazing price! But $10,000 for 9 nights in early Dec in DVC properties sounds awfully high. Check your math again. (Unless you were quoting Grand Floridian 3 bedroom) And there are 11, not 9. I agree that 35% off DVC prices does not make up for taking away free dining from a value stay. I hope you have a great vacation wherever you go.
Hi Julia,
I’m on hold now with reps about keeping our June 27 to July 6th to find out if they’ll upgrade us and not charge anything extra for that.
Wait time is 90 minutes.
It may be 11 (the more the merrier) but yesterday @ 8am the rep said 9. He’s also the one who said modifying to Dec was $10,000. Now that might have been 2 weeks not 9 days and I had not specified what days in Dec so it may have been the peak weeks he was using. Originally we were working with Wilderness Lodge but by the time we discussed Dec that conversation was less definite and more theoretical than our earlier modification discussions. After some long but pleasant option discussions I threw out, “What about Dec?”.
$3,300 was a super deal I arranged on Jan 2 while at the Parks though it was not a bounce back. They had just opened Free DDP and we had already made a 9 day res. I was calling them to look into bounce back before we left and just walked into the deal. The only difference was we had to move from All Star Movies to All Star Music and start on June 27th not June 26th.
I’ve found that with a little (sometimes a lot of) work Disney can be very affordable. Then again we’re empty nesters now but even back then there were ways to make it affordable and we had 4 children.
Well I’ve been on hold for almost an hour and my phone has 19% left so I may not get any info today but if I learn anything new I’ll post later on. Best wishes to you and hope your own plans work out.
I Just modified my All Star with free dining to same-exact-pricing period– so apples to apples. My under $2200 six day package just cost me $1200 more AND they took away my dining (4 adults x 6 days = $1000-1200 value). Only way to get it cheaper was to opt for campground in July (???). Um, no.
I’m basically out well over two grand more and getting far lesser package. No guarantee that we’ll actually be able to use the paid for park tickets, they said to keep checkingcheckingchecking to jump on park reservations when it is released so there’s that added anxiety and hassle, too.
Disgusted.
Tom how long Is this first phase, and what about changes to reservations after October 3rd?
I’m still waiting to hear about preview days for DVC members and AP holders. Checking in on June 22nd. Just confirmed my reservation. Most likely will just be stuffing my face and drinking by the pool I guess.
Pretty perturbed by Disney that a hotel reservation does not guarantee entry into the parks. That’s pretty lousy on their part. They should guarantee entry into at least one park a day for every guests staying on site. That’s my thought.
I also thought It would be so cool if upon checking in, there I is a letter with an itinerary/invitation and time slot to visit a particular park a day. Even if attractions aren’t up and running. How cool would that be?
Hi Tom,
I didn’t see Geyser Point on your list of opening dining options, but I have seen it on other lists. I’m trying to move our reservations in July to Copper Creek and we were looking forward to that lake view while we eat.
My list was wrong–the union list I had from before left off some the bars for some reason. Sorry about that!
The one thing that has not been addressed (at least I have not seen it) is how Disney parks will handle the rides. Any info on that?
The article notes rooms will be refreshed every other day. On the DVC website, it states that DVC villa stays on points or cash through DVC will be cleaned on the regular every four day schedule.
With neither Beach Club or Yacht Club open yet, I can see why they wouldn’t have Stormalong Bay open when the BCV opens. It’s really large, needs lots of staffing and there is still a pool for the guests at BCV to use.
Deb C,
Thanks for the directions to find Know Before You Go.
Why would they hide it, or make it so hard to find?!
I click a lot of links, but not all of them, that being one.
By the way, did anyone know WDW has Hula lessons and Mermaid School? I wish I would have known about the hula lessons when I stayed at Poly. Is it a fairly new offering? Where do you think the Mermaid school is, and where, and when?
Tom, I think we both know *the* most important question at this point: will Ample Hills reopen with the Boardwalk?!
Hopefully they make an announcement very soon. The people demand answers!
Indeed!
Well Ample Hills filed for bankruptcy in March so it might not reopen regardless of Disney policy.
It seems Disney is eliminating most of the experiences that make it “Disney” to begin with and offering little financial compensation. Let’s be realistic, Disney is all about “ The Money”. The positive guest experience is as a second thought.
“As far as entry to Florida goes, the tri-state quarantine order expires on July 7, 2020”…as a resident of NYS, one of the 3 states affected, can I ask where this date is listed? I keep checking the Florida Governor’s website and haven’t seen anything about when the 14 day self quarantine will end. Thank you.
This executive order: https://www.flgov.com/wp-content/uploads/orders/2020/EO_20-82.pdf
However, there’s a more recent EO that states the quarantine is extended…but without (to my knowledge) a date indicating until when. It could just be reiterating that the quarantine is in place until July 7, despite Florida starting to reopen.
You can check this page for updates: https://floridahealthcovid19.gov/travelers/
Thanks @Tom for this update on the quarantine order! We are not planning to travel until November at the earliest but good to keep track is all this!
I’ve read that executive order many times, and just did again, and apologize if I’m somehow missing something but I am still not seeing July 7th (or any date) specifically named as the day the tri-state 14 day quarantine expires.
Kathie
I think the July 7th is when the state of emergency ends for florida 20 -52 and with that is executive or 20-80;or 20-82 about the tri state quarantine. I have reservations for July 18th and have been checking all his EO’s. He just signed one to let Louisiana people in.
I’m curious though I know a few jersey people that have gone to Florida and back but they have homes or condos there. Are they really enforcing this in Florida does anybody know firsthand?
Don Cerone, that’s not even a question you should be asking. If it’s the law, you should comply. To not do so is just as selfish as all the people accused of being selfish for not wanting to wear masks. No firsthand experience, but residents tell me they are stopping cars coming in and arriving planes to let you know you will be fined and forced to comply if they catch you. And since no one is going to Disney to quarantine, it wouldn’t be hard to catch you.
Wow, there’s a lot of amenities that’ll be missing at the start. Of everything on the list though, the electrical water pageant sticks out the most, as someone else mentioned. I wonder if this has anything to do with the walkway construction between Grand Floridian and Magic Kingdom? Hopefully it returns at some point.
To anyone upset about Electrical Water Pageant not returning, I would STRONGLY encourage you to politely voice that opinion to Disney directly by emailing [email protected] or [email protected]
In my view, there’s no pandemic-related reason the Electrical Water Pageant can’t run. It’s not drawing huge crowds like fireworks or parades–this is a pure cost-cutting measure.
Sent the email!
Tom, I sent emails to both of the addresses you provided. I said the Electrical Water Pagent shouldn’t be held to covid 19 restricitons, as it does not draw crowds, or people group together. Their reply:
“I appreciate your passion for the Electrical Water Pageant and thank you for sharing your comments. We are committed to reopening our resort in a safe and responsible manner, in line with guidance from health authorities. As part of that commitment, we have made updates to our operations that promote reduced contact and physical distancing. These changes do include the suspension of experiences that draw crowds, such as shows, parades, and nighttime spectaculars.
I understand your disappointment with the continued suspension of the Electrical Water Pageant; however, as guidance from health authorities continues to evolve, so do our operational updates. Because your visit is not until December, I encourage you to keep checking our website for the most up-to-date information on all our entertainment offerings.”
So, just ignored my stating it does not draw crowds. But honestly, I was pleased they responded the next day.