Planning a Walt Disney World vacation could soon look quite a bit different. Disney is preparing to test a new vacation planning experience on DisneyWorld.com that will introduce easier ways to search for vacation dates, compare resorts, find potential savings, and even get resort recommendations based on what matters most to your family.
The new experience was developed with Google Cloud and includes some AI-powered features, but this isn’t simply Disney dropping a chatbot onto its website and asking it to plan your vacation. In fact, several of the changes Disney demonstrated sound useful whether you care about AI or not. And while we’re certainly curious to see how well all of this works, there’s also something worth remembering as Disney vacation planning becomes increasingly automated: technology can make finding information easier, but there’s still a lot to be said for having an actual person who knows you and your vacation style helping you make those decisions.
Finding the Best Dates Could Get MUCH Easier
One of the biggest improvements involves something that can currently require a ridiculous amount of clicking: figuring out when to visit Walt Disney World.
Instead of searching one set of vacation dates, checking the price, changing the dates, and doing it all over again, guests will be able to search more broadly by month or season. A new pricing and availability calendar will make it easier to see how moving a trip could affect both resort availability and price.
For anyone whose travel dates are flexible, that could be a big deal. Rather than guessing whether arriving a week earlier or later might save money, you’ll be able to see more of those options together. This is also where having a travel agent can still make a difference, because finding the cheapest date isn’t necessarily the same thing as finding the best date for your family once you factor in crowds, seasonal events, resort availability, discounts, and everything else happening around Walt Disney World.
Tell Disney What You Want in a Resort
This is where the AI portion becomes more noticeable. Guests will be able to describe what they’re looking for rather than already needing to know which Disney Resort hotel they want to book.
For example, you might be looking for a resort connected to a particular theme or Disney character, a certain type of room, a great pool, or convenient transportation to the theme parks. The planning tool can use those preferences to recommend resorts that may be a good fit.
During one demonstration, a family planning its first Walt Disney World vacation said their son loved The Lion King, while the parents wanted a good pool and easy access to the parks. The tool recommended Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, including its Lion King Family Suites, and provided additional information explaining why the resort matched what they wanted.
That’s a pretty neat use of the technology, especially for someone staring at the Walt Disney World Resort hotel list for the first time and wondering where on earth to begin – that was me way back in 2008 when I was looking into our family’s first visit. But it’s also a perfect example of where a conversation with a real person can go a little deeper. Maybe that family loves The Lion King, but once they start talking with their travel agent, they realize having a quieter resort or a different transportation option matters more to them than the theme. Sometimes you don’t know what your most important vacation priority is until somebody asks the right question.
Compare Disney Resorts Side by Side
Another feature I’m VERY interested to see in action is a new resort comparison tool. Guests will be able to compare Disney Resort hotels side by side, including transportation, dining, nearby theme parks, and resort benefits.
You’ll also be able to ask follow-up questions while narrowing down the options. That could include asking which resorts offer walking access to EPCOT, comparing dining choices, or figuring out which property has the better pool. And if you’re comparing anything to Disney’s Beach Club Resort pool, well… I’m not sure that’s a particularly fair fight.
Disney is also adding a map view showing resort locations and rates, which should be especially helpful for first-time guests who don’t already have a mental map of Walt Disney World permanently lodged in their brains. Some of us may have a problem. Ahem.
We’ve Heard the “Make Disney Planning Easier” Promise Before
There’s another reason I’m curious to see how guests respond to this new system. Disney has tried to solve the vacation-planning puzzle with technology before.
Disney Genie launched at Walt Disney World in October 2021 as a complimentary planning service within the My Disney Experience app. Guests could tell Genie what attractions, entertainment, dining, and other experiences interested them, and the service would create personalized recommendations and continually adjust the itinerary throughout the day. Disney’s messaging at the time was that Genie would help guests create their best Disney day while taking some of the guesswork out of deciding what to do next.
Five years later, Disney is once again looking toward technology to simplify a vacation that can admittedly be overwhelming to plan. This time, though, the focus begins before you ever arrive at Walt Disney World, helping with the bigger decisions about when to visit, where to stay, and which vacation package makes sense.
Whether this new approach actually makes planning feel easier will be the interesting part. A Walt Disney World vacation has a LOT of moving pieces, and a shiny new planning tool doesn’t automatically make all of them disappear.
New Ways to Share a Trip and Find Discounts
The updated experience will also introduce shareable trip-planning links. Someone can price out a Walt Disney World vacation and send the resulting trip to family or friends, making it easier for everyone to look at the same vacation instead of exchanging approximately 47 screenshots in a group text.
Even more interesting is the ability for the booking process to flag when a better offer may be available. We’ll be watching this particular feature closely because Disney vacation discounts can get complicated, especially when multiple offers overlap or a promotion becomes available after someone has already booked.
That’s another area where we wouldn’t be quite ready to hand everything over to an algorithm. A good Disney vacation planner isn’t simply booking the room you ask for and disappearing. Dreams Unlimited Travel agents continue watching for applicable discounts after their clients book, and having a real person there when a promotion changes, plans need to be adjusted, or you suddenly have a question that doesn’t fit neatly into a search box is a big part of the value.
What the New Disney World Planner WON’T Do
Disney says AI is being used selectively within the experience, primarily to match what a guest is asking for with relevant resort features. It isn’t being used throughout every part of the Walt Disney World planning and booking process.
The initial beta will focus on Disney Resort hotels, theme park tickets, and vacation packages. It will not include dining reservations or Lightning Lane planning, at least during this first phase.
And importantly, Disney’s existing booking system isn’t disappearing. Guests will still be able to use the traditional website tools, call Disney, or work with their travel agent just as they do today. That last part is important, particularly for anyone who prefers having a real person to talk through the options rather than figuring everything out on their own.
Don’t Expect Everyone to See It Right Away
Disney plans to begin the beta with a very limited number of randomly selected guests in the United States and Canada. The company will then gather feedback and gradually expand the experience in phases.
There’s a lot here that could make Walt Disney World vacation planning less cumbersome. Being able to search an entire month for better prices, quickly compare several resorts, describe what you’re looking for in plain language, and spot a potentially better vacation offer could all be incredibly helpful. I’m especially interested in seeing whether Disney has found a way to make these tools genuinely useful to someone planning their very first trip rather than simply giving experienced guests another interface to learn.
But I don’t think better technology makes the human side of vacation planning any less important. An AI tool can tell you that three resorts match your search. A Dreams Unlimited Travel agent can talk with you about your family, your budget, how you actually like to vacation, and help you decide which of those three makes sense for YOU. And when something changes later, you’ve got an actual person to turn to instead of starting another search.
If you’d rather have someone help sort through all of those choices with you, you can always request a free, no-obligation vacation quote from Dreams Unlimited Travel. Their agents can help with the planning before you book and remain there to help as your vacation gets closer.
We’ll be very interested to see what happens when Disney’s new beta begins rolling out. After all, we’ve already met the Genie that was supposed to help make Disney vacation planning easier. Now we’ll see what AI can do.
