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’re going at the end of September,if you have to have park reservations how will the hopper passes work.
I’m booked both on and off Resort for December, waiting to see if they offer up free dining for on resort. Seems like I will be holding on to both u til the last minute in case a) Disney doesn’t offer free dining in 2020 = off Resort or b) Disney limits park capacity to on Resort = on Resort. I kind of like the “fun” of such travel guessing games.
Also went to check on offers this morning and there’s basically nothing listed.
As of yesterday, we had late June/early July reservations at DVC properties but we rescheduled to August because we thought we’d be there for a whole week just to hang out at the resorts since the parks aren’t opening until July 11. Bummer if we just forfeited an opportunity to be part of a reduced capacity soft opening!
Tom,
Are they giving any incentives for the new cancellations?
Thank you in advance.
Just playing around with the reservation system, and the entire system is down for new reservations for any point through January, 2021. So, if you don’t already have a reservation, you’re out of luck by going online.
My understanding is that if you had a reservation, and it was cancelled, as well as tickets, you’re first in line, but you’ll almost certainly have to deal with WDW via phone, at least for now. At some point, the reservation will re-open for the general public, but there’s no word on when that will be.
It makes sense they’d have cut out the general public for a certain period of time. They’ve already put a deadline of December 15th on the use of tickets, with the price being applied to future tickets after that point. A lot of people lost their vacations over the past 2 months, so it makes sense for them to be first in line, but this just adds to the uncertainty of when the general public will be able to book for themselves. That plus the NBA plans, and what resorts might be reserved for NBA use during that time, further puts things in a mix of mystery.
My take is that it’s looking more and more like a rough road back for WDW during 2020, and more and more like a lot of people who were considering 2020 are now going to be looking at 2021.
I just looked up the Disney world app. The park hour for June is all clear. The only date that I saw the park hour is on July 11th that is for magic kingdom. Disney is making a clear that only people who have existing tickets and /or have existing resort reservation will be the first to make reservation to get into the theme park. The new tickets are on hold because Disney need to put the existing ticket holders on priority list.
We have a trip booked 07/24-07/30 at the Polynesian. Very curious to hear new information come out on the different policies! We have the flights booked and all fast passes and ASR’s booked prior to this announcement.
Appreciate all the work you do Tom. Any thoughts (or maybe even do a whole story on this) about if the NBA concludes its season at Disney World what effect that may have on resort availability from July-October? Thanks, take care!
My wife and I have had a vacation planned for at least six months for later in the year, before the virus even reared its ugly head in China. We are going regardless of what health & safety restrictions are in pace at the time. We are DVC, but we’ve used our points for the year already so we are staying at an All Star resort this time. We are willing to wear masks, get our temps taken at the gate, stand six feet apart from other guests, order our food on the app, wash and sanitize our hands, and use the ticket reservation system. We are looking forward to interacting with the “Social Distancing Squad” if that is still a thing at the time of our trip. We are going even if there is a resurgence in virus cases and all we can do is sit around the resort drinking margaritas.
We are DVC Members and had a stay booked July 2 -9. Because the DVC resorts are open, Disney said we did not qualify for the point extensions. We will have to go while the parks are closed I doesn’t make sense since we also have APs to use up) or we will have to reserve a new stay and go before the 350 points expire on August 31. Assuming school starts as normal here, we would have to be back home by August 4 so it looks like a July stay for us or we forfeit 350 pts. I’m not sure I can handle the heat with a mask and I am worried about all the things that will be canceled/closed.
I’m frustrated because we had a stay booked in March when it closed. It’s no fault of our own that now our points are coming up on their expiration date.
Advice anyone? Try Aulani in July and if they don’t reopen, perhaps Disney will extend our point expirations after all? Same strategy but with a Disney Cruise? Spend a lot of time at Vero Beach or Hilton Head?
I am guessing that the parks will be open as a “soft” opening for DVC members and annual pass holders between June 22 and official opening dates. That would give them a chance to work out the kinks. Any thoughts Tom?
Wow the hours for the park have changed around today? I wonder if they will actually stick with those hours or if it is just a test or glitch for today? For October it is now showing– Magic Kingdom 9 to 7 even on non-party nights, Epcot 11 to 9 pm even on weekends, Animal Kingdom 8am to 6pm, and Hollywood Studios 10 to 8. Not sure the ticket price will be worth it.
I noticed that both Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon have their hours posted starting June 14th. I wonder if this is correct since they have the other hours updated on there with MK and AK opening July 11th and Epcot and Hollywood Studios opening on the 15th.
See ya’ll in 2021!
Hmm, so many things up in the air. In a Disney vacation, there are so many items that we set up in advance, restaurant reservations, fast passes…how will this square with having to reserve a park for entry and perhaps not getting it? We don’t park hop, it is all I can handle to get through one park a day, but I can’t imagine how disappointed the park hopper fans are. Most of all, I am praying that the mask requirement has dropped away by the time our trip rolls around. I just saw a conversation between a young, very in shape serviceman and a surgeon used to wearing masks and they both said they felt like they were going to die trying to get around in the heat and humidity of Disney Springs. The surgeon said she had been of the opinion that those not wanting to wear masks in the heat needed to suck it up, but her opinion had completely changed once she actually got out into it. Obviously it was nothing like wearing one inside in the air conditioning for the limited time of a procedure. With the percentage positive rates dropping daily as the Summer heat kicks in, let’s hope the requirements drop away quickly and everything gets back to normal quickly.
I agree with the outdoor part. We are Floridians and we never wear masks outside. With the Department of Homeland Security findings about how long the virus lives in the sun (~2 minutes plus it spreads out) it would be hard to catch this outside. In fact another study found only one mass spreading event outside and it was very crowded. I think we will try face shields if it’s allowed Maybe cooling gaiters which we wear anyway (but around our necks) but I can’t see doing a mask.
What kind of limited rides would that be? I don’t know if it is worth going or not? How long will disney world will stay to reduce capacity? Till a month? When can we see the full capacity ? By this fall? Disney World need to be careful not to disappoint anyone because that amount of a lot of restriction, the ticket price need to be lowered
I am guessing that many of the measures will be in place and capacity will be reduced until it is safe for all cast members to be free of the threat of catching Covid-19.
We are booked in November so we’ll wait and see how things play out. Def not wearing a mask on vacation but kind of like the social distancing line!
the email from DVC to members stated that ALL DVC resorts will be open June 22
“Today, Disney CEO Bob Chapek announced additional plans including the expected reopening of Disney’s Vero Beach Resort and Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort on June 15 and all Disney Vacation Club properties at the Walt Disney World Resort on June 22”
YAY! They’re re-opening Disney World. Just no characters, no shows, no parades, no fireworks, limited food options, and probably limited ride availability. Oh yeah, that’s if you grab a spot in the queue to get in.
@Monte
You are going to be outside, in the sun and I’m sure there will be occupancy limits that will allow proper antisocial distancing. Masks outside under those conditions are not necessary. I wouldn’t worry. If the pool is open I’m in it! Besides, knowing Disney there will be enough chlorine in the water to kill a moose. You want to sanitize, just duck under for a few.
wonder about the pools and laying by the pools? aint nobody gonna wear a mask in the water! our trip might hinge on that .