Walt Disney World is testing a new way to search for rooms, tickets, and packages, and we took it for a full test drive. The new feature is currently in beta, and access to the beta is randomly assigned. We got lucky when visiting the Walt Disney World website today while searching for something else entirely. The new tools aim to make your vacation planning easier, leveraging AI where possible to find out what matters most to you. Here’s a look at our experience!
Walt Disney World’s New Vacation Planning Tools | Hands-On First Look
IN THIS ARTICLE:
- How the new tools start with a month, a party, and a trip priority.
- What the resort results, comparisons, and chat answers looked like for a family of four.
- How a tickets-only search and a second resort search handled prices and questions.
Select guests visiting the Walt Disney World website may now see a “Guided Search – BETA” tab on the homepage. The new vacation planning tools build a trip from either strict or flexible search parameters. Currently, the Walt Disney World website operates with strict search parameters. To that end, we went through the new tool from start to finish as a family of four planning for a more flexible April 2027 visit. From there, we then tried a tickets-only search and then a Value resort search for May.
Finding Guided Search – BETA and Getting Started
Guided Search – BETA, which is the name of the tab and not the name of the vacation planning tool product, sits beside Resorts & Packages and Tickets & Passes in the search box on the Walt Disney World homepage. It also appears in the main menu, once under Places to Stay and once under Tickets & Passes. While logged out, the tab invites guests to “Try Our Simplified Vacation Planning Experience” and lists three promises:
- Find lowest Resort & ticket prices by date
- Compare and share options and offers
- Ask and get info on Resorts & tickets
The button on that tab reads “Log In to Start” until you sign in. Then it switches to “Get Started.” The standard Resorts & Packages tab works differently. It asks for exact check-in and check-out dates. Guided Search – BETA reverses that order. Its first page says, “Let us help you find the right Resort hotel and tickets,” and asks only when we want to visit, who is in our party, and whether we “just want park tickets.”
Telling It About Our Trip
The date picker has two modes. Dates work like any hotel calendar, and we tried it first by selecting November 10th through the 19th. “Flexible” swaps the calendar for monthly tiles from October 2026 through December 2027, each with a small seasonal icon. That suits guests who know roughly when they want to go but have not locked down the days. We chose April 2027.
The party screen has counters for adults and children. Add a child, and Disney asks for each child’s age at the time of travel, and Disney says the ages help “show the best options and prices for your family.” We entered two adults and two children, ages 8 and 14.
The last step before results is what sets this tab apart. A text box labeled “Try Something Like…” invites guests to describe their trip in plain language. Underneath, a “Skip for now” link lets guests go straight to results. We typed, “My top priority is the Flower & Garden Festival, but I also want to visit the other parks at least one day.” A loading screen reading “Checking Resort availability” appeared next, followed by the results page.
What the New Results Page Showed
The results page opened with our month and party size at the top, 31 available resorts, and a sort menu set to Best Match. A map on the right shows a price pin for each resort, and above the first resort sits a note saying “EPCOT-Area Stays For Your Festival Trip.” Disney says, “Your closest matches all sit in the EPCOT Resort Area, keeping you close to the Flower & Garden Festival.” The note also says availability covers check-ins from April 1st through April 30th, and the prices reflect Disney’s lowest currently available rates based on our selections.
Each resort card pulls together a photo, an area tag, one amenity highlight, a nightly price, and a suggested four-night window. Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort came first at $319 per night on average for April 29th through May 3rd. BoardWalk Villas showed $464 for April 25th through 29th, down from $714. A lavender box on each card adds a plain-language note about where the resort sits or other useful information as determined by AI. Resorts in other areas, including Disney’s Contemporary Resort near Magic Kingdom, appeared further down the list.
The offer labels change from resort to resort. Caribbean Beach and BoardWalk Villas both showed a green “Passholders: Save Up to 35% on Rooms This Spring” line. The Contemporary showed “Save Up to 25% on Rooms This Spring” at $495 per night, down from $660. Those labels match the offers we covered when Disney announced its spring 2027 discounts. Annual Passholder savings reach up to 35%, and general Disney Resorts Collection savings reach up to 25%. Of course, that info will change as new offers are announced, or old offers expire.
Each card also has a Compare checkbox. Check one and a panel opens on the right that says “Select up to 3 items to compare.” We picked Caribbean Beach, BoardWalk Villas, and the Contemporary. The Compare button then opened a panel headed “Ask or Refine Results” that already contained our request: “Compare the following resorts for me: Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, Disney’s BoardWalk Villas, Disney’s Contemporary Resort.”
Below the request sits a side-by-side chart with photos, average nightly prices, resort category, theme, resort area, transportation times, and dining. For our particular use case of wanting to visit EPCOT, transportation rows were the most useful part. Caribbean Beach lists the Skyliner at roughly 5 to 10 minutes to Hollywood Studios and 10 to 15 minutes to EPCOT. BoardWalk Villas lists a walk of about 10 minutes to EPCOT, or a boat ride of about 15 minutes. The Contemporary lists a walk of about 10 minutes to Magic Kingdom, or a monorail ride of 15 to 20 minutes.
A “Key Takeaways for your Decision” section closes the comparison with a short paragraph for each resort. It pointed out that the pirate-themed Fuentes del Morro Pool at Caribbean Beach has a water slide and splash area “for your kids.” The same section noted that BoardWalk Villas and the Contemporary both include Extended Evening Hours on select nights.
Asking Questions Before Choosing a Resort
A “Need some help?” box with a BETA tag sits under the map on the results page. The same box follows guests to the resort pages. Its suggested questions change with the page. The results page suggests the difference between deluxe, moderate, and value resorts, while a resort page suggests how to get there from the airport. A note under the chat says the experience is “powered by AI and can make mistakes.” Disney also saves chats for quality assurance.
On value, the chat laid out each resort’s strengths. It pointed us to the rate calendar and the Lowest Priced Offer filter instead of naming a winner. That works for us, since value can be more than just a dollar amount, and depends on what a family wants. A question about deluxe, moderate, and value resorts got a short list describing each tier. Asking about the biggest discount got the Annual Passholder offer at up to 35%, compared with up to 25% for the general public spring offer.
Clicking View on Caribbean Beach opens its resort page. It features a media gallery at the top that include a video. Familiar tabs for Overview, Amenities, Transportation, and Rooms sit below the resort name. An Order Summary totals $1,436.30 with tax for the four-night stay. A notice near the top says the resort is undergoing refurbishments and links to details. The same chat box sits on the side, so we put it to work with four practical questions:
- How do I get here from Orlando International Airport? Third-party ground transportation such as Mears Connect, taxis, or ride-share, with drop-offs and pick-ups at the resort’s front drive at Old Port Royale.
- Can I request a specific village? Yes, guests can submit up to two room-location preferences through online check-in, though Cast Members cannot guarantee them.
- Which rooms sleep five? Standard Location and Preferred Location rooms with two queen beds and a child-size pull-down bed sleep up to five guests, including up to four adults.
- Can you swim at the beaches? No, swimming is not permitted in Barefoot Bay, so swimmers will want the resort pools.
On the Rooms tab, Disney lists “Rooms that Qualify for Our Lowest-Priced Offer” for April 29th through May 3rd. Available Special Offers appears as a pop-up and shows “Our Lowest Priced Room-Only Offer” as currently applied. Three individual offers sit beneath it: Spring Into Savings on Select Packages, Save Up to 25% on Rooms This Spring, and Passholders: Save Up to 35% on Rooms This Spring.
Disney says guests see those offers “based on the Memberships and Passes in your MyDisney account.” Passholder offers appeared in our results because of our account. The page applied the lowest available rate without us hunting through offer pages. A guest with different passes will see different offers and prices, so the results adapt to who is searching.
Adding Tickets and a Dining Plan at Checkout
Choosing the Standard Location room on Caribbean Beach’s page led to a confirmation screen that said, “Hooray. This Room Has Been Saved!” A Room Added card sat above a Next Step card that asked, “Do you want to add park tickets?” Disney says the ticket options are “available for your date and party.” The card offered two buttons, “Yes, Add Tickets” and “Skip Tickets.”
Yes, Add Tickets opens a page called “Customize Your Theme Park Ticket.” It lists ticket lengths from 1 through 7 days with a “More days” link. The ticket type and party sections stay grayed out until you pick a length. We picked 5 days, which opened a two-month calendar with a per-day price on each start date. A note said we can use any 5 days from April 29th through May 6th, and April 29th showed $145.
The chat box was right there, so we asked how many days to buy, typos and all. It called 4 park days a standard baseline, one for each of the four theme parks. Then it used the info we typed at the start of our search. Because our top priority was the Flower & Garden Festival alongside the other parks, a 4- or 5-day ticket works well, and a fifth day lets a family enjoy the festival food booths, topiaries, and entertainment at EPCOT “without feeling rushed.”
Four ticket types follow, each priced per day per person:
- 1 Park Per Day: $145.07
- Water Park and Sports Option: $159.07
- Park Hopper Option: $166.07
- Park Hopper Plus Option: $169.57
We checked Compare on 1 Park Per Day and the Park Hopper Option, and the chat built a side-by-side with rows for Daily Park Access and Flexibility. The 1 Park Per Day column describes one park per day on any days within the ticket window. Park Hopper starts at one park and then hops to another. According to the takeaways, 1 Park Per Day suits a party that prefers a steady pace at one park, while the Park Hopper lets a family spend a morning at another park and head to EPCOT later. When we asked which ticket type is best, the chat tied its answer to the festival again and suggested mornings at another park with evenings at EPCOT for the food booths and entertainment.
We kept 1 Park Per Day. The Order Summary then showed a Total (Resort + Ticket) of $4,485.58, with Save & Continue and Continue without Tickets buttons.
On the trip page that follows, the room and the ticket sit in separate cards, each with Edit and Remove links. The room shows $1,436.30 and the “5-Day Ticket with Admission to 1 Park Per Day” shows $3,049.28, for an offer subtotal of $4,485.58. In the corner, a green message says, “This is our best available price!” and ties that price to the memberships and passes on our MyDisney account. At the bottom, a line adds that the page “does not confirm a reservation or purchase,” so nothing becomes a booking until an item goes into the cart.
Between those cards and that line sits a dashed Dining Plan box. It says, “Add a dining plan to enjoy prepaid meals, snacks and drinks throughout your stay,” and has a Select Dine Plan button. That button opens a Dine Plan Add On page. A green note there says guests arriving in 2026 and 2027 can save on kids’ dining plans. The page selects No Dining Plan by default at $1,436.30, the room price. Adding the Quick-Service Dining Plan brings the package total to $2,299.93, and the Table-Service Dining Plan brings it to $2,769.42. Per person, per night, Quick-Service includes two quick-service meals, a snack or non-alcoholic drink, and a refillable drink mug. Table-Service swaps one of those meals for a table-service meal, and Disney adds, “You can even book Character Dining!”
We asked the chat which dining plan to get. It described three plans, including a Deluxe Table-Service Dining Plan with two table-service meals per night, and tied the choice to a family’s dining style. The chat also said every dining plan requires a qualifying Walt Disney Travel Company package for the entire stay. For 2027 travel, it said families save up to 20% on dining for kids ages 3 to 9 when the package includes a dining plan for the whole party.
We chose the Table-Service Dining Plan. The trip page then listed it under Caribbean Beach as a package at $2,769.42 with tax, next to the $3,049.28 ticket, for an offer total of $5,818.70. We then decided to save our progress by clicking the “Save for Later” button. That took us to the “Your Planning Activity” page.
Back on Your Planning Activity page, Your Saved Trips now lists two Caribbean Beach entries. One is the room with the 5-day ticket at a $5,818.70 package subtotal, and the other is the room alone at $1,436.30. A note above them says prices may have changed since we saved them. Each trip has a Compare checkbox, and a Plan Another Trip button sits at the top of the page.
Other recent searches also appear should we want to jump back in and try a different planning route.
Tickets Only and Other Searches
For a tickets-only trip, we went back to the first page, kept April 2027 and two adults, and checked “I just want park tickets.” That opened a ticket page with two offers to choose from: Theme Park Ticket and Florida Resident Ticket. Under “Choose how many days,” Disney says the lengths shown are “the ticket options you’re eligible for.” With the Florida Resident Ticket highlighted, those were 1, 3, and 4 days.
A two-month calendar shows the per-day price on each start date. Prices were $102 on April 29th and $100 on most days from May 9th through the 22nd. With a four-day ticket starting April 29th selected, the page noted that guests can use the tickets on non-consecutive days within the window of April 29th through May 5th. In the Order Summary, the four days came to $813.16 plus $52.86 in tax, for a total of $866.02 for two adults.
Here, too, the chat answered three questions about the trip:
- What’s the difference between ticket offers? Florida Resident Tickets come in 1-, 3-, and 4-day lengths for residents with proof of residency. Standard tickets come in 1-day through 10-day lengths. Special promotional tickets and packages bundle admission with extra perks.
- How many days do I need to see the Magic Kingdom? One to two days for most visitors.
- Will the Flower & Garden Festival be open? Yes, and it gave the March 10th through May 31st, 2027 schedule, along with the topiaries, gardens, Garden Rocks Concert Series, and outdoor kitchens.
We ran one more resort search for May 2027 with two guests. With no priority to work from, the banner on the results page changed to “Showing all resorts available for your dates and party size.” Value resorts led the list with Standard Price labels instead of offer labels. Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort showed $167.75 per night on average for May 10th through 14th. All-Star Movies and All-Star Music showed $175.75 for May 2nd through 6th.
The All-Star Sports page calls the resort “a budget-friendly Value resort featuring a larger-than-life sports theme.” It says the bus to Magic Kingdom takes around 25 to 30 minutes, and Sports is typically the first stop. That helps guests board early. The Standard Room calendar shows a price for each possible check-in date for a four-night stay, with unavailable dates crossed out. May 10th showed $168. Flip back to March and the prices turn green, which appears to mark a discounted rate. Switching to a Preferred Room moved the offer subtotal for May 10th through 14th from $761.59 to $915.96.
We finished by testing the edges of the chat on the All-Star Sports page:
- Do rooms have a microwave, mini fridge, or coffee maker? Rooms have a beverage cooler and a coffee maker but no microwave or standard mini-fridge. Shared microwaves are in the End Zone Food Court.
- Does the resort get Early Theme Park Entry? Yes, guests get 30 minutes of early entry to any theme park every day with valid admission.
- Do I get Extra Magic Hours? That program ended, and Early Theme Park Entry replaced it. Extended Evening Hours are reserved for Deluxe and Deluxe Villa guests, so Value resorts like All-Star Sports do not include them.
- How far is it to Universal? “I can help with Walt Disney World trip planning. What would you like to know?”
- What are the park hours for the dates I want to visit? Operating hours for May 2027 have not been released yet, and the My Disney Experience app will have the latest as the trip approaches.
Beyond the new vacation planning tools, we decided to try out other features that we know are coming soon. The main search bar on the Walt Disney World site has not picked up the same AI abilities. We typed “where can i get chicken tenders at magic kingdom?” and five of the first six results were Disney Springs restaurants. Still as broken as ever, but help is on the way!
Back on the homepage, a “We’d Love Your Feedback!” box thanked us for trying “our new Guided Search experience.” It asked two questions: what we liked and what we disliked. If you try the new vacation planning tools, tell us in the comments how it handles your own trip!
Keep Reading
- Disney began beta testing its AI vacation planning tools on September 30th, and our report on the beta launch covers who Disney is inviting and which booking options stay in place.
- Our first look at the AI-powered planning features from Disney’s media preview explains how the flexible search, comparisons, and Q&A are designed to work.
- Disney’s website changes started with a new look on August 20th, and our rundown of the website updates shows what changed in the navigation and on the homepage.
- AI search reached Cast Members for internal testing on July 29th, and our report on that test traces how the project moved from a media preview to a staff preview.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!