Hey Howdy Hey Caitlin and welcome to planDisney!
I am so excited to hear you are in the midst of planning your Magical vacation to the Vacation Kingdom of the World next year. When planning your vacation, this can be super exciting consider all your Disney Resort hotel options as well as all the theme parks and try to figure out how many days to spend where. If that isn't enough, now you have things such as Memory Maker and
Travel Insurance to consider. Not to worry Caitlin, you've got a friend in me to give you the details on timelines so you can make the best decisions for your vacation.
When booking a vacation package to the Walt Disney World Resort, you are correct that there is a down payment required to hold your reservation. While you can select Disney's travel insurance product, you do not have to make a firm decision until your final payment is due 30 days before your date of arrival. While you are considering travel insurance, there is a lot that may happen between now and your vacation.
The
terms and conditions when booking a vacation package are very straightforward and reasonable. If you need to cancel for any reason more than 30 days from your date of arrival, you will get a full refund. If you cancel between 2-29 days, you will forfeit your deposit and have the rest refunded. Cancelations made less than 2 days from your date of arrival will lose the full amount. That of course is where travel insurance comes in!
Make sure to review the policies online and shop around a bit as well. Many insurance companies may have products available to consider and you can bet you can find all kinds of options online. Not all are created equally so make sure you check around and compare them all so you can be covered in the case of the unexpected. Considering Disney's option for travel insurance does not need a final answer until 30 days, you can wait until then because any cancelation before that will come with a full refund. If you were to select Disney's option, this would just update the total amount due on your 30-day mark and you will not be charged right away.
I hope this information helped outline your options and clarify the terms and conditions of vacation packages. If you have any other questions let us know, we are always happy to help!
To Infinity and Beyond,
Nick