Are you thinking about visiting Walt Disney World in 2020? I have good news! Disney World 2020 vacation packages are now available for reservations.
What Does This Mean For You?
Until this week, you could only book your Disney vacation through dates in December 2019. If you wanted to price a vacation for March 2020, you were out of look. However, that is no longer the case. All 2020 dates are now available for Disney World vacation packages or park tickets reservations.
Lots of people were waiting for 2020 to visit Walt Disney World because originally, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge wasn’t expect to open at Hollywood Studios until late 2019. Of course, earlier this year we learned that Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge will actually open August 29, 2019 at Hollywood Studios. Despite this earlier planned opening date for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, many people still elected to wait until 2020 in hopes that the second attraction, Rise of the Resistance, will be open before their visit.
If you’re not sure exactly WHEN you want to visit, but you know you want to visit in 2020, it’s time to start figuring out when you want to go. Now that ticket prices are date-based, it’s important to know WHEN you want to visit in order to get an accurate estimate for your vacation.
Book Now
If you DO know when you want to visit, you can book NOW. An initial deposit of $200 will hold your reservation, and the balance of your vacation costs will be due no later than 30 days before your vacation. You can make payments, or pay the balance all at once.
What’s the advantage of booking early?
The earlier you book, the more likely you are to get exactly what you want. Do you have a particular resort that you want? A particular type of room? The earlier you plan, the better the odds that you will have the most control over your dates, resort and room rates.
Many popular resorts book up more quickly than you might expect. Room rates often rise in response to demand, as well. This could mean that the room rate we see today for a particular week in 2020 at a particular resort may increase as we get closer to 2020.
What About Free Dining (Or other Discounts?)
Disney has not yet put any discount programs in place for 2020. Free dining IS possible, but we won’t know for a while yet. Disney usually enables discounts or Free Dining promotions with the intent of driving reservations due to lower than expected demand or reservations. To be honest with you, I’m not sure we are going to see reduced demand in 2020. SO many people held off on booking vacations in 2019 specifically to visit in 2020.
However, IF you book your 2020 vacation package with an authorized Disney vacation planner (like me), you will have access to any discounts Disney may release later that could benefit you. [Shameless plug]. Basically, Disney travel agents have the ability to apply discounts to vacation packages they have booked if a discount is released prior to final payment and/or 30 days before travel.
There is minimal risk to locking in your reservation now. Get the resort you want and the dates you want. If Disney releases discounts in the future that could save you money on your vacation package, your Disney travel agent will be able to apply that discount to your package.
What is a Vacation Package?
A vacation package is a reservation that includes both your resort reservation AND your park tickets. It may also include one of the dining plans. In addition, you can add other items like Memory Maker to your package. Usually, it is more economical to book your resort and park tickets as a vacation package than it is to book a resort reservation and park tickets separately. Magic Bands (solid color) are included with all Disney vacation packages. (Special themed Magic Bands are available at an additional price. See this post for more information.)
Ticket Days vs. Resort Nights
Often, people want to buy park tickets for a different number of days than their resort stay. Regardless of how many nights are on your resort reservation, you can purchase park tickets for 1 day – 10 days (or an Annual Pass). If, for example, you want to stay on property for 5 days and then move to your Grandma’s condo for 3 more days–you can absolutely do that. You can include park tickets with your resort reservation to make a package, and those tickets can be for any number of days.
One Park Per Day vs. Park Hopper vs. Park Hopper and MORE
The next tough question is what TYPE of tickets do you want to include in your package? Note: I did a very detailed post on ticket options that you can find here.
One Park Per Day
The most economical tickets are the one park per day tickets. For many people, these are the best choice. These tickets limit you to one park per day, but you can leave and return to the same park on that day as many times as you need to. Some people think a one park per day ticket means they can visit each park only once. This is NOT the case. If you have a 5 day one park per day ticket, you could (if you wanted) choose to visit Epcot for all five of those days. You can use each day of your ticket for any park you want to.
Park Hopper
Park Hopper tickets give you the ability to visit multiple parks each day of your ticket. For example, you could start your day at Magic Kingdom and end your day at Epcot. You don’t HAVE to change parks on any of your park days, but the Park Hopper gives you the power to do that if you WANT to. Personally, I LOVE the flexibility of the Park Hopper ticket. I like to be able to switch parks if I think my first choice is getting too crowded. I like to be able to pop back into a park for a meal or to visit a particular attraction or shop. However, that flexibility does come at a higher price. Only you can decide if the higher cost is worth it.
Park Hopper and more
The Park Hopper and More ticket gives you additional flexibility. You have park hopping capabilities for each day of your ticket, just as you do with the regular Park Hopper. The Park Hopper and More costs more than a regular Park Hopper, but it includes extra benefits. Based on the number of days on your base ticket, you get extra days you can use to visit one (or more) of the following attractions:
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- Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water Park
- Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon Water Park
- ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex
- Disney’s Fantasia Garden Miniature Golf Course
- Disney’s Winter Summerland Miniature Golf Course
- Disney’s Oak Trail Golf Course
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Start Your 2020 Planning NOW!
In addition to 2020 Disney World packages, most other 2020 Disney destinations are now available for booking. Most 2020 Disney Cruise line itineraries are available to book. 2020 Adventures by Disney trips are available for booking now–AND if you book your 2020 Adventure prior to July 19, you can save up to $750!
If you’d like to learn more about 2020 Disney travel options, please reach out to me today at brooke@disneycastledreaming.com. I would love to help you plan your vacation. If you are too busy to plan, get in touch with me. I do offer packages where I handle all aspects of your vacation planning, including booking your fast passes and managing your meal reservations.
Happy Dreaming!
Brooke
P.S. Want to add a few days at Universal to your Disney vacation? I’m also certified on all Universal theme parks and vacation packages, and would be happy to talk to you about all the options available.