In March 2020 Walt Disney World and Disneyland announced that they would be closed for the rest of the month and in April of 2020 they extended that closure indefinitely. In May Disney removed the ability to book a resort room for the month of June in early May. With the State of Florida starting to reopen and Disney announcing the limited reopening of Disney Springs on May 20, many had hoped their Walt Disney World vacation may still be feasible.
This week, following the same patterns we say in May, the Walt Disney Travel Company sent a message to Travel Professionals that stated “For your awareness, Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort Guests with resort hotel bookings during the week of June 7-13, 2020, are receiving notifications that their stays will be impacted by our temporary closures, and they may modify or cancel their Disney Resort hotel reservations or Walt Disney Travel Company packages. Disney is asking Guests who didn’t book directly with Disney to call their Travel Professional.”
The Disney Travel is sending guests is as follows:
“In keeping with our focus on the well-being of our Guests and Cast Members during these rapidly changing times, Disney Resort hotels and theme parks at Walt Disney World Resort are currently closed until further notice.
Your upcoming travel dates are impacted by these closures. You have the option to modify or cancel your Disney Resort hotel reservation or Walt Disney Travel Company package up to your original check-in date. If no action is taken, we will process any refund due to your original form of payment if a payment had been made. If you did not book through Disney directly, please contact your Travel Professional. Note that cancellation fees imposed by third-party suppliers, including airlines and rental cars, as well as nonrefundable products like travel protection plans, are deducted from refundable amounts for Walt Disney Travel Company packages.
If you wish to reschedule your vacation for a later time this year, please call 407-939-4251 or your Travel Professional.
Rest assured, we will continue to monitor the situation and make timely decisions based on expert guidance. For the latest information, please visit DisneyWorld.com/Updates.
We thank you for your continued understanding, and we hope to see ya real soon!”
There of course is still some confusion in the Disney community because not all guests are receiving the cancellation email. To add to the confusion Disney is leaving reservations in My Disney Experience (MDE) until the morning of the reservation. This is being done to allow guests time to reschedule their stay before an automatic refund is issued.
Are you still confused? Here is a great example to help you understand. Lets say you had a reservation for May 22-26 at All-Star Movies. Even though Disney Travel started alerting guests checking in the week of May 18 in April that their reservation were cancelled you may not have received the email. If you didn’t cancel or reschedule you stay yet, your reservation is still showing in full in MDE. As of this morning May 22 was automatically removed from your reservation leaving the reservation dates of May 23-26, the next four days will drop off daily until the 26th then Disney will automatically start the up to 30-day long process of refunding your money. If you had dining reservations, tours and other special event booked they are also being automatically cancelled the day of in MDE.
While we don’t know when Walt Disney World will reopen their parks we do know that they will first have to submit their reopening plan to Orange County for approval, and then the Governor of Florida. When they submit this plan it will include reopening dates, the preventative measures and policies they will be putting in place for Cast Members and Guests which will give guests a clear idea of what will be expected of them while on property.
*Images Courtesy Walt Disney World, D23 Websites, and my own reservation email
