Changing and Cancelling Your Walt Disney World Reservations
We all look forward to our Walt Disney World Vacations once they're booked. However sometimes (especially for early planners) things don't go quite right and life rears it's ugly head, making for a trip that needs to be canceled or postponed. It's the worst-case scenario, but if you know what you need to do in advance it doesn't need to be difficult or fraught with drama.
Disney Cast Members Are There to Help
Disney Room Only Reservations:
In order to cancel a reservation and receive a full refund of your deposit, notification of cancellation must be received at least 5 days prior (6 if you book online) to your arrival date. To cancel or modify an existing reservation, you must call the Disney Reservation Agents at (407) W-DISNEY.
If you booked your reservations through a private travel agent, please contact them with enough tome to facilitate your cancellation.
If you would like to change your reservations rather than cancel them, you may be subject to new room rates. Any additional deposit will need to be paid on the new room reservation within seven days of booking.
Walt Disney Travel Company Packages
Vacation Package Reservations:
Changes or Cancellations in your package reservation made with the Walt Disney Travel Company can be made without penalty up until 45 days in advance of your trip.
If you cancel your reservation less than 44 days in advance, there will be a cancellation fee of $200. In addition to that you will lose any nonrefundable elements, such as travel insurance and possibly airfare. Absolutely no refunds will be given to no-shows.
Changes to reservations that result in a lower rate, 45 days or less prior to arrival, will be subject to a $50 fee.
Cancellation or refund policies and procedures can vary depending on how and where you book your vacation, they are also subject to change. Be sure that you understand which apply to you at the time of booking. No one ever wants to have to cancel a Disney vacation, but knowing what the policies are in advance can save surprises and money if it needs to be done.
Have you had to change or cancel one of your Disney reservations? I've had the unfortunate luck that saw me doing just such a thing over the past couple of years. Do you have tips or tricks that could make the cancellation process the process go more easily? Leave a comment below and share your tips & tricks!
Source: Walt Disney Travel Company Rules
JeffC wrote on Thu, 02/09/2012 - 01:00:
We've had to call and change our vacation reservations not too long ago - we had to delay our September 2011 trip to April of this year.
I think, to the point of your whole article, knowing the change and cancellation policies in advance makes it a whole lot smoother. And knowing exactly what you want when you call. For us, I already had the new dates in mind, so everything just moved over to the new dates.
The only bummer was I lost all my ADRs and had to wait until 180 days to make them all again.
Kristen K. wrote on Thu, 02/09/2012 - 01:51:
I love changing reservations with DVC, they make it really easy because I never have to worry about moving money around or getting my deposits back. As you mentioned I always try to call with a couple of options in mind.
Katie wrote on Fri, 04/06/2012 - 00:29:
I'm unfortunately having to cancel our dream trip/ belated honeymoon to Disney World for financial reasons and am totally heartbroken, so thanks for letting me know exactly what to expect so I'm not in tears with the castmember when I call. I'm especially bummed out because we had every single prime reservation during free dining I could ever want. Hopefully in a couple years we'll be able to swing it :(
Steve wrote on Wed, 12/12/2012 - 04:25:
Hey, Katie. Try going through a travel agent. They aren't any extra money and often can get you deals that aren't open to the general public.
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