Resort cancellation policy changing from 5 to 8 days in 2025

[crazy4wdw]

https://mickeyblog.com/2024/02/26/walt-disney-world-to-change-room-only-cancellation-policy-in-2025/

 

[lowlight]

Interesting. Is there a reason it’s 8 instead of 7?

 

[SL6827]

Wonder why that's changing at all? I don't think it's that big a deal but Disney must have a motivation.

 

[dansdad]

Wonder why that's changing at all? I don't think it's that big a deal but Disney must have a motivation.

It's not much of a change, but does give them a couple extra days to try and rebook cancelled rooms.

 

[CarolynFH]

Interesting. Is there a reason it’s 8 instead of 7?

Isn’t it currently 5 days for resort-only reservations? Eight days gives Disney 3 more days to fill those rooms.

 

[musicguy856]

Isn’t it currently 5 days for resort-only reservations? Eight days gives Disney 3 more days to fill those rooms.

Yes, room-only reservations are currently five days.

 

[Babsy]

People need to be aware of this. I booked and changed my reservation for next jan 4 times before anyone mentioned this change to me. It is very important to know that the cancellation policy that was in place for many many years has now changed.

I remember when it was 24 hours....then it was 48 hours....then 5 days.....now 8! I think that 8 days is trickier to remember, so Disney may be able to keep that room deposit more often if people forget and try to cancel at a week out. It's also tough if illness or some other unforeseen issue comes up a week before your trip. There is a larger window of opportunity for issues to arise. But it's still better than 30 days that I believe packages offer. (The main reason that I would NEVER book a package)

 

[Tiggr88]

The speculation is that it is connected to the 7 day lightning lane timeframe. I believe the theory is that it should prevent ghost reservations of people booking a second room reservation weeks in advance, selecting their lightning lanes and then cancelling the room reservation, leaving them their lightning lane selections for a later room reservation. Basically a way to get LL selections before the normal seven day window. Now you won’t be able to select any lightning lanes until your cancellation period has passed, so no ghost reservations. You can do that now with the cancellation policy of 5 days, since you can select at 7 days and cancel at 5. That gives a two day window to select and cancel.

 

[Tiggr88]

Pretty sure this was announced a while back around the time of the advanced LL process

 

[nherbert]

Does anyone know if there is a difference between change and cancel. For example if I am booked at resort X can I change to resort Y within the 8 days and no penalty?

 

[gottalovepluto]

Does anyone know if there is a difference between change and cancel. For example if I am booked at resort X can I change to resort Y within the 8 days and no penalty?

Disney currently allows this but it’s not written anywhere. We will have to wait for a report next year to know if that silent policy has changed.

 

[Dave006]

Pretty sure this was announced a while back around the time of the advanced LL process

How about last February. Yesterday @Babsy resurrected this old thread to post that someone mentioned this policy change when they were making changes to their Jan. 2025 plans.

Does anyone know if there is a difference between change and cancel. For example if I am booked at resort X can I change to resort Y within the 8 days and no penalty?

100% difference between a Cancellation vs Resort modification or change to your existing reservation. Disney does not care if you make modifications to your Room Only (RO) reservations. They just don't like last minute Cancellations. The price will almost always increase.

Dave

 

[focusondisney]

People need to be aware of this. I booked and changed my reservation for next jan 4 times before anyone mentioned this change to me. It is very important to know that the cancellation policy that was in place for many many years has now changed.

I moved a BB reservation to next September in July. I also made 2 BB reservations for next year last month. Every time the CM clearly stated that the cancellation is 8 days. And all my email confirmations list 8 days.

Disney does not care if you make modifications to your Room Only (RO) reservations.

Agree. When I made the BB reservations last month, the CM specified the reservation could be changed pending availability in that 8 day time period, but not cancelled without penalty.

 

[georgina]

Racking my brains trying to figure out what BB is. I know you don't need reservations for Blizzard Beach...

 

[focusondisney]

Racking my brains trying to figure out what BB is. I know you don't need reservations for Blizzard Beach...

Bounceback. Sorry!

 

[mrnobody08]

Will be leaving for our trip in a couple days. We haven't been to Disney since early days of Genie+, so of course all of this is new. We got in to make LL right at the 7 day window but was met with limited availability for top attractions. We were able to get 3 LL booked for all days, but certainly the time/selection combinations weren't our first choice. I found Single Passes to be a little easier. I know this looks to be a somewhat busy time of year, but is this the new norm?

Thinking out lout here... I hope Disney would be smart enough to block people that might book then cancel a second (earlier) room reservation to get ahead of the masses for LL bookings. Since you can book for the length of your trip up to 14 days, I guess it's conceivable that people could try to hack the system (even if forfeiting their deposit) for a chance at earlier LL access. That's the only other variable I can figure. I mean, Disney is expensive enough as it is these days. I'd hate to think the people are trying to game the system, even if everything is now pay to play.

Hopeful I can continue to try and modify reservations to get better times. Used to be able to fill the day with reservations even if I was staring at my phone the whole trip. But at least the rest of the family got the benefit. I guess that's the point of the new scheduling capability. We'll see how this goes. Looking forward to return to the Disney magic either way!