Walt Disney World Announces New Resort Cancellation Policy Starting in 2025

There will be a slight change in the official Walt Disney World Resort hotel cancellation policy for room-only reservations starting next year.

What’s Happening:

  • With today’s news regarding a special complimentary water park ticket offer for stays at the Walt Disney World Resort, comes the news of a change to the cancellation policy for room-only reservations at Walt Disney World Resort hotels.
  • For 2025 arrivals, room only reservations can be canceled without penalty until 8 days prior to arrival.
  • This means that those who wish or need to cancel their Walt Disney World Resort Room-Only Reservation can get a full refund as long as the cancellation is at least 8 days prior to their check-in.
  • This change increases the amount of days ahead of time that a guest would need to cancel their reservation and still get a full refund from 5 days to the newly announced 8, as long as the arrival time is on or after January 1st, 2025.
  • The following policy remains in place through 2024: In order to receive a refund of your deposit, notification of cancellation must be received at least 5 days prior to your arrival date. To cancel or modify a reservation, call (407) 934-7639 or you can cancel or make changes to many reservations online by visiting DisneyWorld.com/MyTrip and signing in to your Disney account. If your reservation can be cancelled or changed online, it will have a Cancel or Modify Reservation link next to it. Just select the link to start the cancellation or change process. If you don't see the Cancel or Modify Reservation link, please contact us at (407) W-DISNEY (407-934-7639). Additionally, if you are holding any other types of reservations, such as dining, those reservations will not be cancelled unless you cancel them or advise us to cancel.
  • This change is met with speculation online, with sources like WDWMAGIC.COM suggesting that it may have something to do with changes to the Disney Genie+ service at Walt Disney World that was announced last year.
  • At that time, Disney said "We have heard from guests that they would like ways to plan with Disney Genie+ service and individual Lightning Lane selections before the day of their park visit, and we want you to know we are working on ways guests may do this for visits in 2024. Our goal is to give you the opportunity to spend less time planning in the park and more time enjoying your visit with friends and family. While we are not yet able to share specific details, we look forward to sharing more information at a later date."
  • This comes with the speculative thought that with the new policy, Disney will allow Genie+ reservations to be made seven days in advance, and this new eight-day cancellation policy may help avoid issues relating to Genie+ reservations for stays that are then canceled.
  • As of press time, there have been no announcements from Disney regarding changes to the Disney Genie+ Service and policies.
  • If you’d like to visit Walt Disney World and have someone else handle all these policies and planning tools, we recommend reaching out to our friends at Mouse Fan Travel who can assist with all your Disney travel planning needs.

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Tony Betti
Originally from California where he studied a dying artform (hand-drawn animation), Tony has spent most of his adult life in the theme parks of Orlando. When he’s not writing for LP, he’s usually watching and studying something animated or arguing about “the good ole’ days” at the parks.