Are things actually back to “normal” in Disney World? In some ways, yes. But in other ways, things are still not quite back to where you might expect them to be.
Contemporary Guest Room
While most Disney World hotels have reopened, many restaurants are available for guests to enjoy again, social distancing is essentially done away with, and mask rules have relaxed essentially everywhere, other things are still modified. Some entertainment has yet to return, certain restaurants haven’t quite gone back to their full buffet service or full dining times, and, perhaps most notably for those who love to come back to a freshly made hotel bed…housekeeping is still different. So just what is going on with housekeeping at the moment and what can you expect during your next trip? Here’s what we’re seeing.
What Disney World’s Website Says
When Disney World first reopened post the pandemic-related closures, a LOT of things looked different. From mask rules to social distancing, there were a number of changes to get used to — and differences in housekeeping was one of them.
When we checked in to our hotel for the first time post-closure, Disney asked whether we’d like housekeeping service every other day (or every 4th and 8th day for Disney Vacation Club members) or decline it completely.
Screenshot from Disney World’s Online Check-In | 2020
Housekeeping was modified when Disney World’s hotels reopened and it remains modified. According to Disney’s website, prior to a guest’s arrival, the hotel room undergoes a “thorough cleaning.” This cleaning gives attention to things like high-touch areas and floors (steam cleaned and vacuumed between guests).
©️Disney
Inside the room, guests will find glassware that has been individually wrapped, as well as other items that have been cleaned, sealed, or otherwise wrapped in packaging that is meant for a single use.
Things on the Nightstand
During your stay, Disney’s website notes that guest rooms will get a “light” cleaning service every other day. This service includes:
- “Removal of trash and used towels
- Replenishment of towels and amenities throughout the room and bathroom
- Wiping and cleaning of the vanity and counter surfaces
- Vacuuming if needed.”
Guests are also welcome to decline this service if they want to.
Bedroom
Note that things are a bit different for DVC members. According to Disney’s website, if you’re a DVC member and you’re using your membership to stay in the hotel, you’ll get housekeeping service on the 4th and 8th days of your stay, unless you decline it.
Click here to get a FULL room tour of the Incredibles rooms at Disney’s Contemporary Resort
Staffing Issues
Limited housekeeping makes sense given what Disney CEO Bob Chapek previously indicated when it comes to Disney’s staffing issues. During an earnings call held in 2022, Chapek said “The two areas that have been difficult is hospitality. And right now we’ve got 90% of our hotels at Walt Disney World open, and we’ve got all of our hotels at Disneyland open, but also sort of cooks, think kind of short-order cooks.”
Old Key West Room
Housekeeping is likely included in the “hospitality” staff that has been lacking. That also makes sense given some of the housekeeping positions we saw Disney posting last year, with some pretty substantial signing bonuses attached to them.
Click here to see more about Chapek’s statements on staffing
And click here to learn more about how U.S. hotels are experiencing major staffing shortages
But Things Are Changing
Though Disney’s website notes that light service is provided every other day, it appears things are starting to change. We’ve visited several Disney World hotels over the past several months and asked Cast Members there about the situation with housekeeping. Their answers have greatly varied.
In other words, what level of housekeeping you might get in Disney World right now may heavily depend on what hotel you visit. And it’s important to keep in mind that this is an ever-changing situation. Housekeeping rules and policies can change again, so things might be very different in just a few weeks compared to how they’re done right now.
Queen beds and nightstand at Port Orleans French Quarter
So what does housekeeping actually look like at the different hotels? Here’s what we know!
Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
At Art of Animation, Cast Members told us that housekeeping will bring fresh towels and do trash service every other day.
Disney’s Beach Club Resort
At the Beach Club, Cast Members indicated that housekeeping is being done every other day.
Disney’s BoardWalk Inn
At Disney’s BoardWalk, a Cast Member told us that housekeeping is being done every other day.
BoardWalk
Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort
At Caribbean Beach, Cast Members told us that housekeeping will bring fresh towels, take out the trash, and replace amenities every other day. New bedding, vacuuming, etc. is available upon request by calling the front desk.
Disney’s Contemporary Resort
At Disney’s Contemporary Resort, a Cast Member told us that housekeeping is still being done every other day, but the housekeeping team is now making the beds in the rooms, which is different than how things were being done previously.
Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground
At Fort Wilderness, a Cast Member informed us that housekeeping is modified and being performed every other day.
Fort Wilderness
Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
At the Grand, a Cast Member informed us that they are doing full housekeeping (a.k.a. “normal”) services every single day.
Disney’s Old Key West Resort
According to a Cast Member at Old Key West, housekeeping is being done every other day at that hotel and is “full service.”
Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
A Cast Member at the Polynesian told us that housekeeping is being done every day for suite rooms and every other day for all other rooms. They also shared that guests have the ability to decline housekeeping entirely and get a credit on their account.
Refurbished Guest Rooms at the Polynesian
Disney’s Pop Century Resort
A Cast Member told us that fresh towels and trash service will happen every other day. If your stay is longer than 8 days, then housekeeping will do a full clean on that 8th day.
Disney’s Port Orleans Resort — French Quarter
According to a Cast Member we spoke with at French Quarter, housekeeping is being done every other day.
Disney’s Riviera Resort
In terms of housekeeping at Disney’s Riviera Resort, a Cast Member told us that they have full-service housekeeping every day unless you are a Disney Vacation Club Member, in which case you will have housekeeping on days 4 and 8 of your stay.
Disney’s Riviera Resort
Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort
At Saratoga Springs, a Cast Member informed us that housekeeping is being done every other day.
Walt Disney World Swan Hotel
At the Swan, an employee told us that housekeeping is not being done on a daily schedule but instead is based on request only. The employee shared that they are focused on housekeeping services at check-in and don’t really run traditional housekeeping services throughout the day unless a guest calls in or makes a request at the front desk.
Swan and Dolphin Resort
The employee did note, however, that a guest can put in requests for the duration of their stay.
Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
At Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, the Cast Members informed us that housekeeping is being done every other day, but they have increased the service so they are now vacuuming the rooms, making the beds, wiping things down in the room, switching out the towels, and doing other things as well.
Wilderness Lodge Renovated Rooms
Disney’s Yacht Club Resort
We spoke to a Cast Member who indicated that at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort (as of July 8th) housekeeping services are being done every other day.
Yacht Club
Again, keep in mind that this is all based on our conversations with the Cast Members who were working at the hotel at the time, and things are subject to change. If you really want a certain level of housekeeping during your trip, be sure to call ahead to your hotel and see what their policies are at this moment.
We’ll continue to ask about housekeeping and post any updates as we find them. Stay tuned for more Disney news!
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What type of housekeeping services have you received during recent trips to Disney World? Tell us in the comments!
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FYI, we checked in yesterday (3/26) at Bay Lake Tower. We arrived at 4:05pm and had to wait until a little after 5pm for our room to be ready. First time that’s ever happened.
Well, the good news is that prices have been adjusted downward to reflect the reduced services…
/s
recently stayed at POFQ for 7 (Seven) days 8 nights. We had room service ONCE
I was really disappointed with our housekeeping for recent stay at Caribbean Beach. We received ‘light’ housekeeping twice during our 5 night stay. Sheets were not changed and beds were not made. I expect more from a moderate Disney hotel. I do think that the housekeeping team are doing their best and are not to blame. I believe Disney think they can ‘get away’ with a reduced service and expect guests to pay the same.
Prior to COVID, if you declined mousekeeping they would give you money back. Are they doing that if you decline now?
Is somethings missing here? Just about all of the hotels you’re reviewed are Deluxe resorts. What about the moderate hotels and the economy hotels? What about the housekeeping there? The economy resorts are some of the largest ones in Disney World and they accommodate some of the greatest number of guests in Disney World. I’m surprised that DFB left them out.
We stayed at the French Quarter the first two weeks in March. We did have our room fully cleaned one time as the sheets needed to be changed since we were there for so long. We did not get towels and trash removal every other day consistently. We actually had to call a few times to get towels or trash removal, but when we did call they sent someone to our room very quickly (like within 10-15 minutes) to remove trash or bring us new towels.
I stayed at The Port Orleans French Quarter a few months ago, for four days and three nights and Housekeeping did not come once. Our trash was overflowing and we finally had to call own for some towels. So I can say that they are definitely NOT cleaning every other day.
We just returned on 3/20 from 5-night stay at Caribbean Beach. We knew going in that the housekeeping would be “light,” and every other day, but it seemed even less than what was promised.The “light” housekeeping had not occured after 2 nights. We ended up calling after a late-night return on day 3 for some fresh towels and the trash to be emptied, since we had filled them eating breakfast in the room a couple of days with 4 people. It really bugged my husband to return to a room without made-up beds or fresh bedding. Not that we do that in our own house, but when you go hard all day at the parks, it feels really good to come back to a clean room and to get into bed with fresh sheets. We missed that on this trip.
Declining Housekeeping doesn’t mean no one will be coming into your room…. Not sure if this is a thing at all the resorts, but at the Art Of Animation it is (or at least was in Jan/Feb 2022).
We were Quite Surprised on our last trip in Late January. We Declined house keeping for our stay, expecting to be left alone on our 25th Wedding Anniversary :-). We were staying at Art of Animation and on our second day there, i went down to the food court to get some breakfast and got a text from my wife that housekeeping was knocking on the door. When she told them we declined housekeeping, they refused saying they are required to do a safety check. My wife is disabled and can not get to the door quickly. She finally got to the door in her robe and the person came in looked at a couple things and left. I of course was not happy about that when i found out and immediately called House keeping.
Evidently they are REQUIRED to do a DAILY “Safety check” of every room. They apologized for the incident but told me they are required to do the inspections even though I specifically declined Housekeeping services. we were able to arrange for a time later in the day for them to come back each day but I still wasn’t happy about it.
Gigi, what is the in room cleaning for The Pop Century?
Strange – DAILY “Safety check”? I never heard of it and I have stayed at numerous hotels on Disney property and off Disney property. This is new to me.
Hi Ron. I recently stayed at Pop Century and they came in every other day to take away and bring new towels and empty the trash, they cleaned the vanities and surfaces and most likely vacuumed. We weren’t in room during cleaning, but the floor was always clean.
Thanks Gigi. Do they change the sheets and make the beds every day or every two days in Pop Century? Thanks
Tiffany… Yep that’s what we were told. we though it was strange too. maybe because we requested a handicap accessible room? I complained about it to several supervisor/management level staff, so hopefully they stopped doing it. We’re going back down in a couple weeks so we will see then.
Hi Ron, they didn’t when I was there a couple of months ago, but we asked for clean sheets/blankets and they supplied them to us so we just made our own beds because we like knowing we have clean sheets.
Disney has been doing the DAILY SAFTY CHECKS for years now. We go to Disney World 2 or 3 times a year and have been told the same thing at check in. It has nothing to do with what type of room you have. Whether we accept maid service or not, there will be daily room checks. Everyone has forgotten, but this has been going on ever since the mass shooting from the hotel in Las Vegas that killed several people. Since then, many hotels and resorts now require room checks. They are looking for anything unusual that guest shouldn’t have in the room such as something that could hurt or harm other guest. This practice will not change, and it is at the discretion of the hotel to implement it or not. Once you pay for your room, you are signing off to it and agreeing to it. Its done for the safety of all the other guests. I’m not a fan of it either but I’ve learned to live with it since it’s been going on for so long.
We actually came back from the pool at Pop Century one day to find a person with a clipboard standing in our bathroom looking around. We were stunned! She explained that she was part of the Disney staff and was required to do a room check daily.
So if you are in your room, I suggest you put the extra lock on your door. They will not be able to come in on their own but must knock and ask for permission If your door is locked and you are in there. But this is their policy and it’s not going to change. Disney World belongs to Disney Corporation and we are guest there. I agree that we are paying guests, but we still have to abide by their rules which are in place for the safety of all guest.
Staying at Colorado springs gran Destino tower.
2nd day had to call for trash emptying and clean towels and coffee.
They emptied the trash and brought clean towels in a bag,no cleaning, nor did they make the bed.
I asked when they change the sheets and was told they don’t unless you ask.
Terrible service for a Disney hotel!
I notice that the comments are three or four months old. We are heading to POFQ in August…..has much improved in service since March? The idea of returning at the end of the day-to an unmade bed is not appealing.
Hi Kitty. As of right now all Disney resorts are on an “every other day” housekeeping schedule.
Are there any updates to this? Recently found out about this and leave in less than a month for a 5-day stay at Wilderness. Not looking forward to reusing damp towels and sleeping in a room with dirty diapers. Paying over $500/night for what?
Hi Gigi. Are the hotels at 100 percent of room capacity or does Disney set full capacity at 50 or 60 percent. This could explain why they have minor maid service every two days. Is Disney understaffed with maids. Many companies have openings but cannot fill them.
Hi Ron. I’m not really sure. Disney has never released numbers for “full capacity” so there’s no way to know for certain. It’s entirely possible that they are understaffed and still trying to get back to normal, but only time will tell.