If your goal is to visit a Disney theme park in the coming months, we hope you’ve made your reservations. Disney hotels and parks can require booking far in advance, and you need the right insurance coverage to protect your investment, and your health. 

What Insurance Do I Need for a Disney Trip?

The right insurance for your Disney vacation depends on your situation. 

Trip Cancellation Insurance

If you’re a US resident traveling to a Disney theme park either within the USA or abroad and want insurance that covers your prepaid, nonrefundable travel expenses if your trip is cancelled, delayed, or interrupted, consider trip cancellation insurance. Also known as travel insurance, trip cancellation insurance is ideally suited for trips up to 30 days in length. 

Most trip cancellation insurance plans do offer emergency medical coverage, but primarily focus on helping you recoup the prepaid travel expenses you would not be refunded for if you had to cancel the trip for a reason that’s covered by the policy. Keep in mind that most trip cancellation insurance plans are only available to US residents, and can only be purchased prior to departure.

Visitors Insurance

If you’re visiting the USA from another country as part of your Disney trip, visitors medical insurance is the right choice. Although visitors insurance typically excludes trip protection and cancellation coverage, it is available for longer durations; up to one year or more. Most comprehensive visitors medical insurance plans participate in PPO networks and include an insurance card, which makes billing a simpler process.

The primary purpose of visitors insurance is to provide medical coverage for visitors to the United States from other countries. Your domestic health insurance will not provide sufficient coverage in the US, and healthcare prices are extremely high. To ensure you are not stuck with an unaffordable medical bill while visiting the US on your Disney trip, visitors insurance is essential. This is also the coverage you should purchase for your parents or loved ones if they are visiting you in the United States to go to a Disney theme park.

Travel Medical Insurance

Many Disney theme parks have opened around the world in places like Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. To visit them, the ideal coverage for both US residents and non-US residents may be travel medical insurance.

Travel medical insurance provides medical coverage while traveling outside your home country. If you get sick or injured, it will allow you to receive necessary care for a predictable price. Travel medical insurance does not include most trip protection benefits, but does offer more options for coverage of acute onset of pre-existing conditions, and certain plans can offer coverage for things like loss of luggage, emergency medical evacuation, and coverage related to terrorism or natural disasters with certain plans and destinations.

Do I Need to Have Insurance for My Disney Trip?

If you’re traveling domestically to a Disney Park in the USA, you may be able to rely on your existing domestic health insurance coverage if you need medical treatment, so long as there are providers in the area. However, domestic health insurance will not cover your prepaid, nonrefundable travel expenses if you have to cancel your trip for an unavoidable reason. This could be due to a death in the family, illness, severe weather, or a multitude of other reasons. Without trip cancellation coverage, you could be out the cost of your plane and theme park tickets, hotel reservation, and more. The right travel insurance plan can potentially save you thousands if your travel plans are dashed for a covered reason. 

While insurance isn’t legally required to visit a Disney theme park in the USA if you are traveling from another country, it is highly recommended. It is always possible that you may become injured on a ride, or get sick from eating unfamiliar food. If this occurs during a trip to the USA from another country, you won’t be able to depend on your domestic insurance for coverage. You will need visitors medical insurance if you want to get treatment and not be responsible for paying the entire bill yourself.

Whether travel medical insurance is required or not for a trip outside the United States depends upon the specific destination. However, as the possibility of injury or illness is ever-present during international travel, it only makes sense to have travel medical insurance for any trip to a Disney theme park outside the United States

Before you Go

We hope you have a wonderful time on your Disney vacation, free of incident, and with a smooth flight. However, if things don’t go as expected, make sure you have the right insurance in your corner. A relatively small investment in insurance can be the difference between a minor speedbump, and a big financial headache.