Wait, Why Are Some Disney World Hotels Opening Twice? What You Need to Know!

As Disney World continues its phased reopening, they have been able to reopen more locations across the parks and resorts, including the resort hotels themselves!

Among the resort hotels currently scheduled to open in 2021 include Disney’s Beach Club Resort, Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, and Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. But wait…aren’t these resorts already open?

The short answer is yes, the vast majority of Disney World’s resort hotels are currently open! In fact, the only hotels that have not reopened at all as of this writing include Disney’s Port Orleans Resort (both French Quarter and Riverside) and two of the three All Star Resorts (Music and Sports have yet to reopen). So then why is Disney talking about reopening dates for hotels that…are already open?

That’s because at these locations, the Disney Vacation Club Villa portion of the resort are currently open, but the standard rooms are not. These properties offer both standard resort rooms as well as villas for Disney Vacation Club Members. The following Disney World resort hotels only have their Disney Vacation Club Villas open at this time:

• Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
• Disney’s Beach Club Resort
• Disney’s BoardWalk Inn
• Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
• Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge

Of those five resorts, three of them are scheduled to open their standard accommodations sometime in 2021: Disney’s Beach Club Resort on May 30th, Disney’s Wilderness Lodge on June 6th, and Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort in late July. At that time, the standard rooms will reopen, allowing all guests to book overnight stays.

So yes, you can currently grab breakfast at Kona Cafe at the Polynesian, or stroll down the BoardWalk at Disney’s BoardWalk Inn. But if you want to stay there overnight, you’ll only be able to book a DVC Villa for now.

Keep in mind that you do NOT need to be a Disney Vacation Club Member in order to stay in a Disney Vacation Club Villa! If you want to stay at one of these resorts now, you can absolutely do so — just keep in mind that those accommodations may be a bit more costly than a standard room would be if you are paying out of pocket.

Other Disney World resort hotels with Vacation Club Villas have reopened both their DVC portion as well as their standard rooms, including Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa, Disney’s Old Key West Resort, Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Disney’s Riviera Resort, and Disney’s Contemporary Resort.

Be sure to follow along as we continue to cover the reopening schedules for the remaining Disney World hotels that aren’t fully “back” yet!

Click here for our list of the top at bottom picks for Disney World resorts at each price point!

What is your all-time favorite Disney World hotel? Let us know in the comments!

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