Hey Howdy Hey Ginny and welcome to planDisney!
With any trip to
Walt Disney World Resort, there is a lot of planning far in advance as well as many things that can happen from the time of booking to the dates of travel. Rest assured, Disney has a great cancelation and rescheduling policy that we can review that might help to answer your question. Let's get to it!
Disney does have a very comprehensive rescheduling and cancelation policy that may come in handy when booking your trip. Starting with rescheduling your trip, this is a little different if you booked a
room-only reservation compared to a
vacation package which includes accommodations at a Disney Resorts Collection hotel and theme park tickets. I will preface this that any specific fees noted are subject to chance. With a room-only reschedule, you are usually able to do so before your arrival date but this is subject to availability. You will also be responsible to cover the difference in price if the date you change to is more expensive than your original booking. With vacation packages, changes can be made at any time however with dates 30 days or less from your arrival date, you will be charged a change fee of $50.
When it comes to canceling a vacation you may have booked, this will depend as well as room-only compared to vacation packages. With a room-only cancelation, you must notify Disney 5 days before your arrival to receive a refund on your deposit. With a vacation package, cancelations 30 days or more from your date of travel are fully refunded. Cancelations between 2-29 days will occur a fee of $200 and cancelations 1 day or less will lose the full amount paid for the vacation.
There is specific language in the terms and conditions that any refund that is requested after arrival for shortened stays will come at the sole discretion of Disney and needs to be made in writing within 90 days.
I would encourage you to look over this comprehensive policy in more detail. The one thing that I feel you would want to consider is
travel insurance. Disney does offer a plan as well as many others from third parties that are available you can look into as well. These will help to fill in the gaps if you feel there is a chance you might have to cancel your trip. Make sure to really look through the details of the policy so any potential scenario you think might come up will be covered in the policy you choose.
I hope this helps to give you a better understanding of the cancelation and rescheduling policy that Disney has in place. Please feel free to let us know if you have any further questions, we would be happy to help!
Have a Magical Day,
Nick