What if the parks open but I don't want to go? Do I lose my tickets?

[cinderEA]

Browsed the forums but can't seem to find an answer to my question (honestly there may not be an answer at this point). Our trip is scheduled for May 21-25. We haven't cancelled our trip yet (DVC points for the room, cash for tickets through WDW) & were just going to wait for Disney to cancel for us but now I've been rumors that the parks could open as early as May 17th.

The wording on the Disney site is that the ticket rescheduling thru Dec15 or "price guarantee" will be from Mar 12 through the end of the closure. If the park opens on May 17th & I just can't justify traveling to Disney World with all the restrictions, will I be out for the cost of the tickets? Do you think Disney will allow a grace period?

We are fortunate to have access to DVC points through my family so we aren't interested in booking the free dining offer available because it would make our trip much more expensive & may not even be able to travel during the given dates with our schedules.

Thoughts? Do we really think the parks will open May 17th? (I realize no one has a crystal ball & it's all speculation! but maybe someone is in a similar situation)

 

[Kaadk]

The only thing we know for a fact currently is that your tickets shouldn't lose their value, so you can always apply the amount you paid for them towards a future ticket, so at least there's that. But as a 'price guarantee', nobody knows until Disney opens and says what they're doing.

On the upside, if you follow Shanghai as an example, they didn't big-bang open there, and I expect Florida to follow suit. If they open on the 17th, I expect it'll just be the resorts/Disney Springs and most likely not the parks. More likely than not, I don't think you're going this trip. I'm not even sure if I'm going to be able to go for our Aug trip, and that's 4 months away.

 

[cinderEA]

I'm not expecting to go & honestly I'd almost rather them cancel on me so I don't even have the option. The only reason I haven't cancelled myself is because I'm too much of a Disney fan to handle hitting the cancel button haha I'd rather have Disney rip the bandaid off for me.

 

[travelplanningnerd]

Disney is now auto cancelling room reservations for arrivals between 5/17 and 5/23 so looks like parks are closed at least thru 5/24.

 

[Kaadk]

I'm not expecting to go & honestly I'd almost rather them cancel on me so I don't even have the option. The only reason I haven't cancelled myself is because I'm too much of a Disney fan to handle hitting the cancel button haha I'd rather have Disney rip the bandaid off for me.

Trust me, I know the feeling well. Realistically, we should be cancelling our Aug trip. Not only do the parks need to open, but for us, also the border, and with that, even if they're open if there's a mandatory 14 day quarantine when we get back, that puts the kid's school start in jeopardy as they're supposed to start just the day after we're back.

But with everything already paid for (Disney, flights, parking, shuttles, SeaWorld) I really don't want to lock up all those various funds in various 'credits' that I don't know when I'll be able to re-use.

 

[brockash]

Browsed the forums but can't seem to find an answer to my question (honestly there may not be an answer at this point). Our trip is scheduled for May 21-25. We haven't cancelled our trip yet (DVC points for the room, cash for tickets through WDW) & were just going to wait for Disney to cancel for us but now I've been rumors that the parks could open as early as May 17th.

The wording on the Disney site is that the ticket rescheduling thru Dec15 or "price guarantee" will be from Mar 12 through the end of the closure. If the park opens on May 17th & I just can't justify traveling to Disney World with all the restrictions, will I be out for the cost of the tickets? Do you think Disney will allow a grace period?

We are fortunate to have access to DVC points through my family so we aren't interested in booking the free dining offer available because it would make our trip much more expensive & may not even be able to travel during the given dates with our schedules.

Thoughts? Do we really think the parks will open May 17th? (I realize no one has a crystal ball & it's all speculation! but maybe someone is in a similar situation)

I'm sure Disney will be flexible with you. I also don't think there's much of a chance of it being open by 5/17...I hope I'm wrong, but I don't see it.

 

[AllyElly]

We have date specific tickets for July but are most likely postponing until next summer. I know they will retain their value, but do we need to do anything to make that happen or do we just let them sit unused?

 

[Robo]

do we just let them sit unused?

A never-used ticket simply retains it's purchase date value.

 

[dachsie]

Browsed the forums but can't seem to find an answer to my question (honestly there may not be an answer at this point). Our trip is scheduled for May 21-25. We haven't cancelled our trip yet (DVC points for the room, cash for tickets through WDW) & were just going to wait for Disney to cancel for us but now I've been rumors that the parks could open as early as May 17th.

The wording on the Disney site is that the ticket rescheduling thru Dec15 or "price guarantee" will be from Mar 12 through the end of the closure. If the park opens on May 17th & I just can't justify traveling to Disney World with all the restrictions, will I be out for the cost of the tickets? Do you think Disney will allow a grace period?

We are fortunate to have access to DVC points through my family so we aren't interested in booking the free dining offer available because it would make our trip much more expensive & may not even be able to travel during the given dates with our schedules.

Thoughts? Do we really think the parks will open May 17th? (I realize no one has a crystal ball & it's all speculation! but maybe someone is in a similar situation)

I doubt seriously the parks will open May 17th. Deven if given the go ahead, they have to put into place all the stuff they said they would do. Besides that, they have to order supplies, food, hire employees back, etc. That doesn't happen overnight

 

[Moliphino]

Disney is now auto cancelling room reservations for arrivals between 5/17 and 5/23 so looks like parks are closed at least thru 5/24.

Yup, I expect we'll see the park calendar updated to reflect parks closed through 5/23 tomorrow. That's how it's gone the past two weeks.

 

[wonderchica]

A never-used ticket simply retains it's purchase date value.

What if they do a phased reopening and only open certain parks and you don’t use all your days? For example; we had date specific tickets at the end of June. I could see still going if they only reopen 3 parks by then, but I expect we would shorten the trip and not use all the days on our tickets. Do you retain unused days?

 

[dmband]

What if they do a phased reopening and only open certain parks and you don’t use all your days? For example; we had date specific tickets at the end of June. I could see still going if they only reopen 3 parks by then, but I expect we would shorten the trip and not use all the days on our tickets. Do you retain unused days?

Not normally but they mightttttt make an exception although I doubt it

 

[conandrob240]

There’s no way parks will be open in May. I see a very small possibility DS might open last week of the month to resort guests only. And I’d imagine as they operate for a period of time with significantly reduced capacity, services, they will extend the ability to cancel and get refunds (ticket extensions) during that time. They have handled this very well from a customer perspective, as they always do, and I’d see no reason why the policies moving forward wouldn’t continue to be in favor of the customer.

 

[LuvDaisy&Minnie]

We have a trip scheduled for May 25-30. Disney told me that whether we cancel because we decide not to go or they cancel because they are closed, our tickets bought separately (no package) will be valid until December 15, 2020 or we can apply the cost of the wholly unused ticket to a ticket purchase anytime after that. If you look at your MDE account, you should see a little "change ticket" option by your tickets that is supposed to allow you to change the dates - I haven't done it yet because we haven't decided.

 

[michellej47]

So would it be completely idiotic for me to schedule a late June trip at this point? We are considering it strongly. I don't want to go, however, unless all of the parks are open. If the parks aren't fully, but partially, open in June, would we be permitted to reschedule our trip? I'm not 100% sure on how these cancellations are working right now.

 

[LuvDaisy&Minnie]

So would it be completely idiotic for me to schedule a late June trip at this point? We are considering it strongly. I don't want to go, however, unless all of the parks are open. If the parks aren't fully, but partially, open in June, would we be permitted to reschedule our trip? I'm not 100% sure on how these cancellations are working right now.

They are waiving change and cancellation fees up to the date of check in for reservations with arrivals through June 30, so you should be good to schedule and then cancel/reschedule if needed. Make sure you book directly through Disney or a Disney TA because that only applies to Disney-imposed fees as opposed to fees that may be related to cancelling through another source.

 

[michellej47]

Thank you! I only ever book direct through Disney so it's good to know that I could cancel or reschedule!

 

[cinderEA]

Update-- our in-park dining reservations for May 22 and May 23 were just automatically cancelled. Our resort room, FP+ and Cali Grill reservations are still in tact but I'm guessing it's only a matter of time before those bite the dust too.

 

[gatorlisa]

Park hours have been updated to reflect closed through Sat. 5/23. They seem to be updating hours to show closed a week at a time right now. The FP+ will definitely be cancelled automatically for the days they have now updated to be closed. I believe they will also cancel the rest if you do not cancel yourself first.

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

So would it be completely idiotic for me to schedule a late June trip at this point? We are considering it strongly. I don't want to go, however, unless all of the parks are open. If the parks aren't fully, but partially, open in June, would we be permitted to reschedule our trip? I'm not 100% sure on how these cancellations are working right now.

I don't think you are. We have early July booked and I desperately want to go! Fortunately, mostly everything we booked is refundable so if we don't go we will just be sad but not out a ton of money.