UPDATED: Disney World Hotel & DVC Resort Reopening Dates
Following today’s big announcement that Walt Disney World will begin the phased reopening of its theme parks in July 2020, we noted that several questions remained unanswered. This includes when Disney Vacation Club resorts and select other resorts would reopen, and whether all hotels would open initially. (Updated June 6, 2020.)
Subsequent to the Orange County Economic Recovery Task Force meeting that covered the opening dates of Magic Kingdom & Disney’s Animal Kingdom, followed by Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, we’ve received more information about the reopening of the resorts, as well as clarifying info about how the parks will operate.
First, a CNBC interview with Disney CEO Bob Chapek, who declined to offer a reopening capacity for the parks, but did state that attendance caps would be dictated by the 6′ minimum social distancing guidelines plus recommendations from health experts. Chapek indicated that Walt Disney World would work to loosen restrictions and increase capacity as health guidelines change.
Chapek went on to say that Walt Disney World will have plenty of hotels that will not be reopening right away. Note that this squares with rumors of the NBA using Walt Disney World as a bubble-site to finish its season. While Chapek talked up consumer confidence and guest enthusiasm to return to the parks, this also makes sense from a demand perspective, and squares with what occurred post-9/11.
Additionally, we have other information courtesy of a press release from Walt Disney World. Here are a few interesting tidbits about a range of topics from that.
With regard to tickets, capacity, and reservations to visit the parks:
“Because theme park capacity will be significantly limited as we welcome guests back to the magic, we will manage attendance through a new theme park reservation system that will require all guests to obtain a reservation for park entry in advance. At this time, we are temporarily pausing new ticket sales and Disney Resort hotel reservations so we can focus on guests with existing tickets and reservations (Disney Vacation Club members can still make new reservations).
Existing ticket holders and Annual Passholders will be able to make reservation requests in phases before new tickets are sold; we’ll be reaching out to these guests soon to provide additional details. We will resume new ticket sales and hotel reservations after that period of time. Theme park reservations will be limited due to attendance limitations and will be subject to availability. More details about this new reservation system will be available soon.”
With regard to character meet & greets and other entertainment:
“Certain experiences we know draw large group gatherings — such as parades and nighttime spectaculars — will return at a later date. In addition, “high-touch” experiences such as makeover opportunities, playgrounds and character meet and greets will remain temporarily unavailable, but characters will still be in our parks to entertain and delight our guests.”
With regard to the opening date of Disney Vacation Club resorts at Walt Disney World (and beyond):
“Disney Vacation Club resorts at Walt Disney World will reopen to members and guests and Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground will begin to reopen on June 22. Disney Vacation Club resorts in Vero Beach, Florida, and Hilton Head, South Carolina, will also open to members and guests starting on June 15. Plans to support required physical distancing as well as enhanced cleaning measures, along with a number of other safety and cleanliness protocols, will be implemented as part of this planned phased reopening.”
Note that while this does not specifically address the non-DVC side of these hotels, we’d expect them to reopen at or around the same time as the Disney Vacation Club wings of the resorts.
Even the banner on DisneyWorld.com is unclear about this. Above is the original banner (see current one below), which states that the phased reopening plan calls for “Walt Disney World theme parks and Disney Resort hotels to open beginning July 11.” If this is to be taken at face value, at least some resorts will open to the general public on July 11, 2020.
May 29, 2020 UPDATE: Directly above is the current banner notice you’ll see if visiting DisneyWorld.com. This is very similar to the previous one, with the key difference being the removal of a line that Disney resort hotels would begin to reopen on July 11, 2020.
This makes it even more unclear when the hotels will officially reopen. As we note below, it makes sense to reopen many at the same time as DVC resorts from a practical perspective–but demand will likely be minimal for the hotels until the parks begin to reopen on July 11. Either way, we should have official news from Walt Disney World very soon.
June 6, 2020 Update: A couple of quick updates to supplement our longer Walt Disney World Resort & Restaurant Reopening Changes ‘Know Before You Go’ Info post.
First, guests are starting to receive “Action Required before returning to the magic” emails that request they confirm, modify, or cancel upcoming visits that are set to occur during the closure of the theme parks, and while many benefits and amenities may be temporarily unavailable. We received this email, and below is what the “Review & Confirm Booking” page options looked like:
Second, it would now appear that we also might have a reopening date for non-DVC hotels at Walt Disney World thanks to these same emails. Guests with reservations between June 22, 2020, and July 4, 2020 who are booked at hotels that are not among the Deluxe Villas that will be open during that time are being offered a reservation adjustments. During this window, Walt Disney World will move guests from closed to open resorts at no additional cost.
However, they won’t have an option to choose the resort if modifying for this date range. (This means that guests with a booking at Pop Century, for instance, could be relocated to BoardWalk Villas. You could not request to be moved to Beach Club Villas or any other resort.) If your reservation is on or after July 5, you may modify your resort choice and choose an alternative, but you must pay the difference in cost.
While this does not definitively state that regular Walt Disney World hotels will reopen on July 5, there is little other explanation for only offering this guest recovery/relocation option through July 4, 2020.
Moreover, reopening the hotels on or around July 5 makes sense for a variety of reasons, and would mean the regular resorts are reopening about a week before the parks (and likely during the soft opening preview period). We’ll await official confirmation of the hotel reopening date from Walt Disney World, but we’re reasonably confident that’s it.
Another reason it makes sense is because the majority of DVC resorts are add-ons at existing Walt Disney World hotels, and they share infrastructure, staffing, and other resources with the hotel side of the complexes. Reopening only the Disney Vacation Club side of the property for an extended period of time isn’t a particularly efficient move.
If the hotel reopening occurs in phases, following the hotels with Disney Vacation Club wings, we’d expect the next phase of resort openings to include those connected to the parks by non-bus transportation (Caribbean Beach, Art of Animation, Pop Century), followed by the remaining resorts.
The process of Walt Disney World reopening its hotels could take a few months.
There might even be some resorts that don’t reopen this year at all if there’s a lack of demand or if they’re being utilized for events or other purposes (think Coronado Springs, the All Stars, both of the Port Orleans Resorts). If that does happen, guests with existing bookings at those properties would be relocated elsewhere. This already happens now when resorts are overbooked, and frequently entails an upgrade.
Disney concludes its press release by noting that the company is being deliberate during these phased reopenings, and is encouraged by how guests are responding at Shanghai Disney Resort and Disney Springs. Disney is doing its part, and requests that guests do their part too, as everyone works together to focus on safety. We’ll keep you posted on additional developments (we’re expecting more) as they’re released, so stay tuned!
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 have a hotel or Disney Vacation Club stay booked for July or beyond? Will you keep the reservation, or are the new rules and eliminated entertainment simply too much to make the vacation worthwhile to you? Optimistic that things will be “back to normal” at Walt Disney World sooner rather than later? A variety of viewpoints are welcomed here, but we will not tolerate insults, arguing, or politically-charged comments. Don’t ruin a 95% fine comment with an unnecessary cheap shot—that 5% will get it deleted. Additionally, please do not debate the efficacy of masks or other health safety policies—all such comments (for, against, otherwise) will be deleted. Those arguments are played out and isn’t the appropriate forum for that. (Saying you will or will not visit in light of certain measures is fine.)
We have club level reservations at WL for July 17-25, so we JUST made the opening date. Now here’s some food for thought: the MDE app is not allowing any new ADRs or modifications to existing ADRs, not just through our reservation period in July, but any new ADRs though at least October. We can still make modifications to our FP+ reservations, whatever is left available. Now to address club level, check out the resorts reservations page – there is 0 availability for club level at any resort through August, but plenty available starting in September. That tells me they are addressing the food spread in club level by not having it! That’s not a deal breaker, and we’d deal with masks if we have to. But the one big thing to consider is the temperature check at the gate. If we happen to catch a cold on the plane there, or if one of the kids gets a slight temperature from a tooth infection, then the whole day is shot for our whole family! That is one unknown out of our control, and would make for a VERY expensive trip just to sit in a hotel room!
So do you think they’re going to charge you for a club level room, and not have club lounge food? Disney could be modifying how they will serve food on cl.
So do you think they’re going to charge you for a club level room, and not have club lounge food? Disney could be modifying how they will serve food on cl. It’s a possibility
Has anyone heard about conventions/competitions at the resort hotels? We are supposed to be at a dance competition at the Dolphin July 4-8. Competition says it’s still on, with some modifications on performance/competition schedule, but including all dance studios that are registered. I called the Dolphin today and was told that the competition was still a go, and I could still get the group discount for a room thru the dance competition. We are coming from Michigan and would be bringing 80 dancers and parents/families with just our group alone. Many, many of us do not feel comfortable travelling so far from home AND want to know if the hotel will even be open and competition will go forward. Anyone have any insight? Thanks!
I know this doesn’t help you, but I don’t think anyone would have better information than the competition company itself. Not on Disney property, but I am on the planning committee for a local conference in July and we’re still trying to figure out options/logistics ourselves.
As frustrating as it is, I doubt you will know anything more concrete until 2-3 weeks out. Best of luck!!
We have a reservation for July 12-18, I assume I can cancel my park hopper option, what about FP reservations????
We have the Yacht Club booked for October. I’m wondering if everything will be open and somewhat normal by then.
How are they dealing with the Florida Governor’s ban on / quarantine requirement for NY (Tri-State) residents that requires 14 days of isolation before you can leave your room once you arrive in Fla?
The ban expires on July 7th right now, so unless that’s extended (unlikely given that NYs numbers are declining), there shouldn’t be an issue for out-of-staters by July 11th.
Anything about Aulani reopening?
Jeff, I would guess Aulani will reopen shortly after the mandatory quarantine ends in the end of June for Hawaii, as long as it doesn’t get extended, which doesn’t seem likely right now. That’s only a guess, obviously, but there hasn’t been much talk about it.
I have a reservation at POR for the 23rd to the 30th. I’m hoping they will move us to another resort if that one remains closed and don’t just say we’re out of luck because the resort we booked is closed. Ironically I was trying to move my reservation around to CBR before this happened this morning, but decided to hold off until a refund comes through from a trip we’re cancelling in early July. Hopefully CBR is where they move us to. I’m also hoping resort guest get first pick at reservations (sort of like fastpass – maybe if you have a reservations starting on a certain day, this is when your reservation options open up and then reservations for people without resort reservations open up a specified time later). We’re APs, so hoping that also doesn’t affect chances at reservations since we have a resort reservation. I’m glad to finally have some dates, but hate all these other unknowns.
Oh boy. We are renting DVC points and doing a split stay, beginning June 19th at Boardwalk when DVC is still closed. The second reservation begins June 23rd at Beach Club when apparently they are now open. My DVC rep, however, has been lumping them together in email even though they are separate. Does this potentially mean our first part of the vacation can be refunded and we don’t have to go but we are stuck with second half of our stay?! Or, do you think DVC will consider this one trip and not make us go the second half? Thanks!
DVC would consider it two separate reservations. If you are renting points through a broker, you don’t have a DVC rep, you have a broker rep. Unless you are renting to stay using Disney Reservation Center and just booking a DVC resort directly through Disney.
We have our annual trip booked for 2 weeks in August and sadly this will be the first year in 12 years we are not going as we are canceling the trip. We all love Disney too much for the experience to be ruined by limited capacity/canceled events and cranky children wearing masks in the Florida summer heat. Hopefully things will resemble a much more normal by next year
We too! I had reservations for August but we canceled our trip … the reopening dates seem to be close to our scheduled visit and I think unfortunately we could not enjoy a full Disney experience .. maybe next year…..
My large family has DVC reservations July 5-11. The day we leave is the day Magic and Animal Kingdom opens. I am sad. We will get to enjoy the resort and Disney Springs for a week, but not the parks.
We also have flights booked to return home on the 11th of July. However, we are in Canada, so expect the border closures to be extended. Even though the cruise we were planning to take July 5-10 was cancelled already, I was holding on to my hotel & airline bookings just in case, but was really hoping that the decision would be taken out of my hands. I don’t really want to travel down south yet, but the lure of low crowds was kinda tempting… Good to see some news and that people can start finalizing or cancelling their plans with informed decisions now.
We are DVC Poly same time – I can’t see Disney not doing a park soft opening- the announcement says Open to the Public Jul 11 so maybe it’s just members only beforehand
I made hotrl reservations back in February but never bought tickets yet. Do the people who have reservations already be able to get tickets?
Tom,
Thank you for this. Have you seen anything about how long each “phase” of reopening will last? Also, if a guest already has hotel reservations, but not park tickets just yet – will they be allowed to get them despite a pause on ticket sales?
Thank you!
Erika
Curious to see how WDW will handle the guest reservations they give the boot to take the NBA’s money. Doesn’t seem like a good PR move.
I don’t think anyone’s reservation will “get the boot” they will likely just get moved to a different hotel. Still not ideal but in Disney fashion, they’ll likely end up at a nicer resort with a few extra fast passes for the inconvenience
I’m new to disney and its rules. I’m aware that tickets are nonrefundable but is there any way they can be applied to a later date? I just would rather go when things calm down a bit. My tickets say valid thru certain dates but also say a wholly unused ticket can be applied to a later date. The wording just really confuses me.
Lauren, yes can use the ticket at a later date. You can’t use one day of a 3 day ticket and save the rest for later. Once you use the ticket to get it the clock starts ticking and you have 2 weeks to use all the days. Otherwise tickets are good until their expiration.
Oh dear. I’ve rented DVC points from the DVC Rental Store for a stay beginning July 5… so am I going to be stuck with the room, and have to tell my family we can’t visit the parks? Oh noooooooooooooooooo.
Yep, you have a villa starting July 5. Enjoy your stay.
At least Universal and Sea World will be open. I think the delay on Disney’s behalf is a huge mistake. They are waiting until those in areas heavily affected by Covid-19 so they can flood into our state. Remember they still are having upticks in Covid, but that tourist dollar is who Disney seems to be catering to with no care to residents.
Nope. If the parks are not open you will be given a credit. We are scheduled to go on June 29th and got confirmation last week that if the parks were not open we would be given credit. See below the email we received from DVCR
If the closures continue and your reservation is interrupted due to the impact of the COVID-19 virus and the closures at Disney Parks & Resorts, given the confines of the Rental Agreement and the Disney Vacation Club rules, we are issuing a Travel Credit through David’s Vacation Club Rentals.
This Travel Credit will be the dollar value (in USD) of the cost of your DVC Rental, and will be valid for 36 months, for any service offered by David’s Vacation Club Rentals including, but not limited to; Point Rentals, Cash Bookings for rooms only at Disney owned resorts, Disney Cruise Line Bookings or Adventure by Disney Bookings, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines Bookings or any other venue added at our discretion, based on availability.
Please note that if the resorts open but the parks do not, you will still qualify to receive the Travel Credit.
Depends who you rented them from maybe. We rented from DVCR and If the parks are not open you will be given a credit. We are scheduled to go on June 29th and got confirmation last week that if the parks were not open we would be given credit. See below the email we received from DVCR
If the closures continue and your reservation is interrupted due to the impact of the COVID-19 virus and the closures at Disney Parks & Resorts, given the confines of the Rental Agreement and the Disney Vacation Club rules, we are issuing a Travel Credit through David’s Vacation Club Rentals.
This Travel Credit will be the dollar value (in USD) of the cost of your DVC Rental, and will be valid for 36 months, for any service offered by David’s Vacation Club Rentals including, but not limited to; Point Rentals, Cash Bookings for rooms only at Disney owned resorts, Disney Cruise Line Bookings or Adventure by Disney Bookings, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines Bookings or any other venue added at our discretion, based on availability.
Please note that if the resorts open but the parks do not, you will still qualify to receive the Travel Credit.
@Tony – thanks for that information – I hope the same will be true for the DVC Rental Store as it is for David’s!!!
If you don’t show for an active reservation, the owner of the points will lose the points totally unless it is cancelled. And DVC might not permit cancelling less than 31 days out and the points not going into holding. Holding means the points expire at the end of the owner’s Use Year and they cannot book a trip unless it is 60 days or less out from the start date. If an owner cancels a trip today, May 27 for any days in June before June 27, the points go into holding.
Checking into Boardwalk using DVC POINTS June 22nd. Switching over to Riviera Resort using the AP discount on June 25th.
Curious to see how this all pans out. I’ll still chill at the pools all day
Kudos for getting this typed up so fast. Glad I made my reservations a few days ago, I figured something like this would occur when they announced reopening, either due to high demand overwhelming them or safety concerns. No email from Disney yet about my trip but it is for the first week of November so I wouldn’t be surprised to see things change a lot between now and then. I for one love the idea of a park reservation system. That is of course because I assume it will equal lower crowds. I am curious how this will affect Park Hopper tickets. If I can’t enter more than one park a day then there is no need to pay the upcharge and I will remove it from my package. Thanks for the real-time updates!
Im wondering the same thing. We are booked in a club level suite Gran Destino tower suite at Coronado Springs for the end of November. Im wondering how they will handle park tickets with park hoppers for those with already booked vacations and park specific dining reservations and fast passes since the tickets are dated in connection with the hotel stay and dining plan etc.
Hopefully things are a little more normal by the time our trips come around. I would THINK you will be able to make a reservation for another park once you’ve entered your first park for the day but who knows. We wanted to buy tickets to MNSSHP on Nov. 1 but why would we with none of the reasons for those tickets being offered (meet and greet, stage shows, parades, fireworks etc) As Tom says many questions left unanswered and unfortunately while this is great news I think only time will tell what’s going to happen to the Holiday season at Disney. I’m hopeful fireworks etc will be back by then. But even if they are not we will be happy to be back and likely save some money on the “plused” items we were going to purchase and no longer need to.
Sydney,
We want to do NSSHP too. We will have to wait and see what happens. Maybe Disney will imagineer some kind of social distance magic.
Disneyland has treat trails that walk you past characters that are dancing/lip syncing etc. that could work (the Oogie one is really cool). But if it’s a diminished experience we will skip it. It was already too expensive for what it was.
Maria,
I have faith they’ll figure something out. It may not be what it usually is but I’m hopeful. If for no other reason than that they don’t want to miss out on the money. Fireworks are what I will miss the most personally out of all the currently canceled offerings. But I understand how in current conditions it is pretty much impossible to maintain social distancing for something like that – especially in Magic Kingdom. The treat trail sounds fun and like a great for what is currently going on!
Do you think there will be restrictions on the more vulnerable senior population making resort reservations and entering the theme parks?
No that would be illegal. That’s age discrimination, however it is enter at your own risk. Seniors shouldn’t go right now but they totally can.
My group is keeping its booking of 3 rooms for September. We intend to pay off our balances in the next week or two in case only fully paid bookings get the limited number of reservations. We originally booked in January by just putting down a deposit.
Interesting! Have you heard that it might be the case that fully-paid reservations are given priority? We’re not scheduled until December, and as long as the parks are open, we’ll be there, parades or not 🙂
I am assuming if you already have a resort reservation you can still buy tickets even though new ticket sales are on hold?
How can I make reservation to get into the Walt Disney magic kingdom even if I already have existing tickets that are valid on June 2 to dec 10, 2020? Will the Disney world app allow me to make reservation to use my existing ticket to get into the theme park ? I need to know ASAP !!
They haven’t announced the reservation system yet.
Told you it would be July!