“When will 2026 Walt Disney World vacation packages, resort reservations & park tickets be released?” is a common question as planners want to start booking trips. We’ll try to answer with sales dates from the last few years, while also offering predictions about which on-site perks will be brought back, added, or eliminated next year.
Before we get going, it’s worth pointing out that Walt Disney World has not followed a predictable pattern in the last ~5 years. Special event ticket sales have been delayed, announcements have been scattershot, etc. One of the few things that has happened on schedule is price increases. Disney does those like clockwork at the start of every fiscal year. In fairness, the release of special offers also occurs like clockwork. So basically, prices going up and down happens pretty consistently.
For whatever reason, the ‘annual product’ release of Walt Disney World reservations doesn’t have much consistency. With that said, we do expect last year’s past precedent for the release of 2025 reservations to offer insight into when 2026 bookings will begin. If you don’t want to deal with speculation, you can subscribe to our free email newsletter for instant alerts for the official announcement and/or release of vacation packages, discounts, and everything else. For now, here’s everything you need to know about when 2026 Walt Disney World vacation packages might be released.
Let’s start with a brief timeline of vacation package announcements, release dates, and relevant details. 2020 Walt Disney World vacation packages were released on June 18, 2019. Everything ended up being normal about that, save for the price increases. (Especially at the Skyliner resorts, which was to be expected in part.)
The story is similar for every year before 2019 in this blog’s recorded history. Pre-closure, packages usually went live for booking around the 3rd or 4th week of June every single year. It probably happened at some point, I can’t find any instances of packages being released before mid-June or after early July between 2013 and 2017.
Going back to the COVID closure, Walt Disney World released 2021 vacation packages on June 24, 2020. This was despite the parks being closed and 2020 bookings being suspended at the time. This release came with a ton of asterisks and bad news buried in the announcement, including an extension of park reservations, elimination of free MagicBands for on-site guests, and more.
The release of 2022 Walt Disney World vacation packages occurred in mid-February 2021 for arrivals running through July 1, 2022. The balance of the year was released in mid-June 2021. This announcement also confirmed that certain on-site add-ons were still temporarily unavailable (e.g. Disney Dining Plan), whereas others were extended (e.g. Early Entry).
For 2023 bookings, Walt Disney World made the announcement on May 18, 2022 that guests would be able to begin booking theme park tickets, resort hotel stays and packages on June 8, 2022. This was the first normal year since 2020, and it followed the typical trends for release and booking dates.
The following year, 2024 vacation packages were announced on May 8, 2023 and bookable on May 31. In addition to the details of Walt Disney World reservations for the following year, the company has released “5 updates to make your visit easier.” This included the return of the Disney Dining Plan, end of park reservations for regular tickets, and rollout of pre-arrival Lightning Lane reservations.
Last year, Walt Disney World announced bookings would be available for theme park tickets, resort hotel stays, and 2025 vacation packages beginning February 27, 2024. Available travel dates at that time were January through October 2025. This was announced only one day in advance. In addition to reservations, this included the new on-site guest perk of a free water park visit on arrival day.
From this, we can basically see that there are basically two approaches: either an all-at-once release in late May or June, or a bifurcated release in the winter or spring. The last couple of years have also established a precedent for Walt Disney World to announce new or returning on-site guest perks for the following year with the annual product release.
In each of these years, Walt Disney World’s announcement also confirmed various on-site perks would continue.
Each of the last few years, Disney announced that Early Theme Park Entry and Extended Evening Hours would stick around for another year when bookings opened. Originally announced as a perk for the 50th Anniversary, these have been re-upped each year since. It’s our expectation that these are offerings are the permanent replacement for Extra Magic Hours.
These have their own pros & cons, from being only available to on-site guests to requiring people to get up early or stay late. If you’re unfamiliar with the ins and outs of each, learn more in our Guide to Early Entry at Walt Disney World and Guide to Extended Evening Hours at Walt Disney World.
It’s been a similar story with Walt Disney World also confirming that the Discount MagicBand Pre-Arrival Program will continue. To our disappointment, that has turned into the MagicBand+ pre-arrival discount, as no new OG MagicBands (non-plussed) have been released in the last year.
We’d also expect confirmation that the Disney Dining Plan will return, as will Park Hopping, on-site transportation, and all other longstanding on-site guest perks. No reason to believe there will be any changes on those fronts. But then again, who knows. There was also no reason to expect the company to end Disney’s Magical Express, and yet.
My guess is that the free arrival day water park perk will be extended for on-site stays at Walt Disney World in 2026. The bigger question, from my perspective, is whether it’ll be expanded upon. I haven’t seen much enthusiasm for this perk and highly doubt it’s moved the needle on hotel bookings. While I don’t think that was the primary intent–it was to relieve the burden on housekeeping and give guests something to do while waiting for rooms to be ready–there also was also a marketing angle, and it hasn’t really done much in that regard. Or any regard, for that matter.
In our view, it’s not coincidental that Walt Disney World has added or restored on-site guest perks in each of the last two years for the annual product release. We expect this trend to continue with the start of 2026 Walt Disney World bookings.
As we’ve discussed at length elsewhere, Disney doesn’t do anything out of generosity. The company has been restoring perks and separately increasing resort discounts–all while not raising rack rates–out of necessity. This has coincided with “revenge travel” exhausting itself over the last couple of years and Walt Disney World’s growing reputation as pricing out the middle class. Issues with softer demand will only accelerate in 2026 thanks to Universal’s Epic Universe, coupled with a possible recession or economic downturn.
What Walt Disney World might offer to entice people to stay on-site as opposed to at Universal Orlando remains to be seen. But our guess is something. It should be something big to be impactful…but probably won’t. More likely, it’ll be smaller and incremental. More realistic possibilities include the return of more Disney Dining Plan tiers, lower pricing for kids (tickets or DDPs) to attract families, or other wildcard low-value perks.
I absolutely do not expect Disney’s Magical Express or free FastPass to return–expecting something on that level is setting yourself up for disappointment. With that said, I do think we’ll get good news about on-site perks, as a whole. Disney probably (hopefully) has a card or two up its sleeve–they’re just wildcards that are more difficult to predict. They’ve already played the more obvious cards in their hand over the last two years.
If there are internal fears of a recession or losing market share to Universal Orlando, that could incentivize Disney to make bigger moves than the paltry free water park arrival day perk. Separate from this, we’ve heard that Walt Disney World wants to address some of the most common complaints and guest satisfaction issues.
This would be the ideal opportunity to do exactly that. If Walt Disney World wants to excite fans and quickly capture reservations for 2026, there’s no better way than with a positive announcement that hypes up people. Perhaps I’m being overly optimistic, but I think that’s precisely what we’ll get (and why).
As for timing, I would expect an announcement and booking date sooner rather than later. One of the reasons I didn’t publish this post earlier is because I fully expected Walt Disney World to release 2026 vacation packages, tickets, and other bookings earlier than last year. Before fans even started getting anxious about it.
If you would’ve asked me at the beginning of the year when bookings would roll out, I probably would’ve bet on about a full month ago. Honestly, I’m not really sure what the hold-up is. (Unless the rumors about dynamic pricing are correct, and Walt Disney World is trying to figure that out first.)
It appears increasingly likely that bookings for the second half of this year and beyond are soft for a number of reasons. There’s no reason to believe 2026 will be any better. Releasing vacation packages sooner captures bookings for 2026 and secures a commitment of future revenue. (It’s not a guarantee, but it’s better than nothing.) This would be a savvy move amidst a travel slowdown, as it’d be a way to lock-in reservations before consumers start reducing their budgets, scaling back plans, etc.
It would also be smart for Walt Disney World to open bookings for 2026 before Epic Universe starts greeting guests and the hype machine kicks into high gear. That will happen in earnest on May 22 when Universal’s third park officially opens, but it’ll actually begin before then. Previews are already underway, and media events start in late March 2025. Walt Disney World getting people to commit to vacations next year before Epic Universe takes up all the oxygen in the room should be a high priority. There should already be a greater sense of urgency within Disney about this.
Ultimately, these factors increase the likelihood of an announcement within the next few weeks and with bookings opening by the end of this month or sometime in April. I’d be very surprised if the 2026 annual product release is a return to normal for Walt Disney World, with bookings opening in late May or June. With cratering consumer confidence and Epic Universe’s opening, that just doesn’t seem like a good play on Walt Disney World’s part. Then again, I figured bookings already would’ve opened for precisely these reasons, so what do I know!
Hopefully this is useful history on what has happened in the past that provides the basis for when 2026 Walt Disney World vacation packages might be released and what other announcements the company might make alongside that news. We’ll keep you posted and give you a heads up when Walt Disney World releases 2026 details and the date(s) when vacation packages, tickets, and resort reservations are bookable!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Thoughts or predictions of your own about when 2026 Walt Disney World vacation packages will be released? Expecting any other changes, new or restored perks, return of free FastPass or Disney’s Magical Express? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments here? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
