You don't pay for shore excursions when you book them. They are billed to your stateroom account during the cruise. This is because you're allowed to cancel the excursion reservation up to 72 hours before it starts without any penalty.
(Just to be safe, let me say that it USED to be 72 hours. If it's changed, I'm sure Tammy or someone else will correct me!)
That's correct. 3 days before. Disney will usually let you change excursions (depending on the price difference) within that period, but not cancel.
Usually, but not always, or it may not be up to Disney.
We had booked parsailing and on the day of, my oldest daughter wanted to back out. We asked at the Cruise Desk and were told we would have to take it up with the excursion operator, and they MIGHT offer us a credit on a different excursion.
In the end she (wo)manned up and did it and ended up loving it
-dabe
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