Earlier today we shared that Disneyland would temporarily close due to Coronavirus concerns.
Magic Kingdom Entrance
Now, it has been confirmed that Disney World, Disneyland Paris, and Disney Cruise Line will also close temporarily.
Disney World and Disneyland Paris will close “beginning at the close of business on Sunday, March 15th, through the end of the month.” At this time, hotels will remain open. Disney Springs and Disney Village are also set to remain open.
Disney Cruise Line will be suspending all new departures beginning on Saturday, March 14th.
©Disney
This means that come Monday, ALL of the Disney Parks will be closed. You can read more about the other park’s closures here.
Disney World has only had 7 prior closures in its history due to events like hurricanes and 9/11. Disneyland has only closed three times in the past due to events like the Kennedy assassination, the Northridge Earthquake, and 9/11. And this is the longest period of time that these locations have remained closed.
We will continue to update this post with more information.
We here at DFB have been tracking the steps that Disney has taken around the parks to prevent the spread of Coronavirus. You can learn more about that here.
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How is close… “through the end of the month” closing “until further notice”
Will magical express still run because the hotels will remain open? And will the shuttles still run to disney springs and from there to other hotels?
Will we be still be able to renew our Florida Resident Annual passes at Disney Springs Guest Services during the park closure
Disney is putting their guests and staff first over profit. Well done!
Will those who already had passes get time added on to make up for this?
What about people who already had passes well before this happened? Will they extend the amount of time the passes are good for to make up for lost time?
There is still nothing on the Disney World website about this nor is there anything about what guests like me and my family—scheduled to arrive on Saturday by the way—are to do about tickets, room reservations and the like. As always, AJ breaks the news.
If Disney doesn’t offer refunds I a so done with them! It would be typical greed to keep the hotels and restaurants open —where I can just as easily contract Corona Virus by the way—and tell me I can’t get a refund for my room!! All this because a few people caught a cold. Silly!
Whelp I’m here and had planned to be here till March 17th so what do me and my family do :/
I got tickets to go in November. Should I tey to get a refund?
I am SO disappointed in Disney. I am a DVC member. You would THINK that they would sent a chain email to all of it’s members giving them this same notice that is posted above just as an FYI. I had no idea until I came to the DisneyFoodBlog that the parks were closing. What allegiance.
I had a package for April (15 – 21) … Should I reschedule? When is it going to be safe again? September? Next April? I’m so sad, it was my first disney world trip 🙁
So now what happens? We are booked to go in June. Will this effect our reservations ? Can we get refunds, if they are still closed into the month of June?
I’m very happy to see the employees will be paid during this time! I’m also glad to see Disney as a company encourages working remotely. We need more corporations to adopt this working environment.
I know what you report is gospel…thank goodness. If the resorts remain open, will the restaurants be open too? Still planning to go, even if the parks are closed. First and only trip with my grandchildren.
Better SAFE than sorry!!
What about Disney Springs? That’s a potential magnet for this virus as well.
If we have reservations for March 17-22 what do we need to do to reschedule or get a refund?
I better get my money back for my Disney tickets!! I was set to be there on the 17th!
Any idea on how to get a refund for a single day park ticket. Looks like my son won’t be able to use it now.
What is the plan for Florida residents tickets as they must be used before June.
Thanks
I am anxious for the well-being of the cast members. I hope Disney supports them!
It is NOT the flu. Your chances of dying from the flu is 0.1%, your chances from dying from covid-19 is 2-4%. They are shutting everything down to prevent an out of control spread. Also, hospitals would not be able to handle all the cases. In Italy they are having to take people off of ventilators to put younger people with higher chance of survival on them. China shut down the spread of the disease by doing exactly this. They had a drop of new cases by 80% by limiting exposure, it is now contained. This is the beast way to stop this virus and bring it to an end in a shorter amount of time. I am also a medical professional.
I think its absurd they are contiuing to keep the resorts and Disney srings open on the dates of closing the park. We had reservations for the 17th. Not much help when I called. Was directed to go on line which will not let me modify or cancel. Called back to the resort and they said i would have to speak to reservations in the morning. I have to get children ready for school and myself off to work. Im sure the call lines will be jamed with the same sitiuations. Now I have to figure out out to deal with this. EVERYTHING should be closed on the dates the park is closed. This just adds confusion on both ends. I was told if I cancel my resrevations I will have to pay a fee since the resorts are open. I do hope speaking to the reservation department tomorrow that this will not be the case.
This is one of the reasons why we have a pandemic – because people don’t believe it’s a pandemic! Many in our country are sick, and some are dying, but some people refuse to take this seriously, or to take the necessary precautions . So in effect they get sick, and then they infect others. We need to take this extremely seriously. People are dying, hospitals are overwhelmed and most states are not prepared for it. I live in New York City and the virus is spreading rapidly. We already have the National Guard here trying to help those who have been contained in a high virus area with food, water and supplies . This is real.
I understand how difficult this is. I will have to cancel my Disney Cruise and my Disney World vacation too. However, a vacation can be rebooked – a life cannot be replaced. We all need to pull together and take whatever precautions necessary to protect one another, ourselves and those we love.
This may be totally off topic but will the parks do maintenance while closed?? I keep reading about how things like the monorail need a good overhaul but they don’t want to stop it for too long while the park is open.
This may be their chance. Surely a very small handful of mechanics without symptoms in an empty park is ok??
Will the construction continue during this time?
Frank, we’re working on a post to answer this and many other questions!
Denise, we’ve got a post coming today with FAQs — we’ve got this info on the list!
Brandon, Disney World issued a statement about APs that they will be extended for the length of time the park is closed — 3/16 to end of month. Click here for details and exact language.
Will the water parks still be open? We live here and have the passes that include them.
Will the Magical Express and busses between the resorts and Disney Springs be available during the shutdown?
Linda, we’ll keep looking into this, but it seems the answer is yes.
Will Disneyland annual passes be extended?
See this link for an update on refunds. Very helpful.
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/travel-information/