Walt Disney World will soon begin to enforce strict operating hours for feature pools located at all hotels and Disney Vacation Club villa resorts.
NOTE: Updated with Disney communication piece. Pools at Disney's Hilton Head Island Resort and Disney's Vero Beach Resort are also impacted.
The rumored enforcement of Walt Disney World pool hours has been confirmed by Disney sources. By the end of November, all resort feature pools will only be open for guest use when lifeguards are on duty. Standard operating hours are 7am to 11pm, but they are subject to seasonal variations.
Note that this policy does not apply to unsupervised resort quiet pools (a.k.a. leisure pools.) Quiet pools will remain available 24 / 7 with no lifeguards on duty.
Diisney plans to add fences and gated entry to all feature pools in the coming months.
Disney correspondences follows:
Over the coming months, we will implement new operating and lifeguarding hours for feature and other popular pools at Walt Disney World Resort, Disney's Hilton Head Island Resort and Disney's Vero Beach Resort.
Lifeguards will be present at guarded pools during all hours they are open. Quiet pools will remain available to Guests 24 hours a day and will continue to be unguarded.
Implementation will begin with Disney's Art of Animation Resort, Disney's Pop Century Resort and Disney's All-Star Resorts on Sept. 29 and is expected to be complete in November."
Reactive Q&A
Why are you making these changes?
These changes make it easier for Guests to understand when our pools are open and when a lifeguard is present.
What are you doing?
We are aligning operational hours with lifeguard coverage at feature and other popular pools at our resort hotels.
Will feature pools remain open outside of pool operating hours?
No. Feature pools will be closed when lifeguards are not present. Quiet pools will remain available to Guests 24 hours a day and will continue to be unguarded.
What will the hours be for feature pools?
Operating hours will vary seasonally and based on Guest demand. Generally, the guarded pools will open at either 7 a.m. or 9 a.m. and close at 11 p.m.; however, these hours can be extended or modified to accommodate special events and high demand.
Are you adding fences around all resort pools in order to limit access?
We are in the process of adding fences as part of our regular refurbishment process.
