Disney World Extends Contemporary Resort Refurbishment & Construction to 2026
Walt Disney World has several construction alerts for Contemporary Resort and Bay Lake Tower, including a new one that extends the ongoing refurbishment by a full year to July 2026. This covers the latest updates to the hotel, plus our commentary about what we hope to see happen during this lengthy project.
It’s odd how preferences and priorities change. Over the last few years, Disney’s Contemporary Resort has become one of our preferred places to stay at Walt Disney World–we discussed the reasons for this in Our Favorite Hotel for Disney World Trips as Parents with a Toddler. That covers the many selling points of the Contemporary and BLT, with the most notable being its proximity to Magic Kingdom.
We now stay at the Contemporary fairly frequently. This is despite serious misgivings with the hotel, which has a number of glaring weaknesses that I’d really love to see corrected. This is the entire reason why we’ve been watching the Bay Lake Tower room reimagining with baited breath–it looks fantastic so far–and are eagerly awaiting more updates on the lengthy construction project planned for the resort as a whole. Speaking of which, Walt Disney World has just extended that by a year–let’s take a look at the old and current construction bulletins…
Disney’s Contemporary Resort Construction Alerts
September 2024 Through Summer 2025 (OLD) – Refurbishments will occur in select areas of Disney’s Contemporary Resort—including Bay Lake Tower and the Convention Center. Please allow for extra travel time. Guests may also see and hear construction during their stay.
September 2024 Through July 2026 (NEW/CURRENT) – Refurbishments will occur in select areas of Disney’s Contemporary Resort—including Bay Lake Tower. Please allow for extra travel time. Guests may also see and hear construction during their stay.
September 2024 to September 2025 (CURRENT) – Room refurbishment work will take place in Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. During this time, Guests will see and hear construction work throughout Bay Lake Tower. Please allow extra time for travel as alternate paths may be utilized.
January 26, 2026 Through Early May 2026 (CURRENT) – The Bay Cove Pool, the water play area and the whirlpool spa at Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort will temporarily be closed for maintenance. The Bay Lake Pool, the Cove Bar, the feature pool, the water play area and the whirlpool spa at Disney’s Contemporary Resort will remain open for Guests to enjoy.
The challenge here is figuring out what this new notice from Walt Disney World is even referencing. By process of elimination, we can rule out a few things. The first is a pool project, since that’s listed separately and ends in May 2026. Otherwise, this would be the most likely candidate for a resort-wide notice impacting both the hotel side and DVC wing.
Second is the year-long Bay Lake Tower refurbishment, as that has its own separate notice on the Disney Vacation Club site. Previously, this concerned common areas and the Skybridge connecting the A-frame to the tower, but that has been removed. With many floors of Bay Lake Tower already reopened, it’s unlikely that this project pertains to BLT.
There’s also the practical reality that Bay Lake Tower projects typically do not trigger bulletins on the hotel page for Disney’s Contemporary Resort. This only works in reverse. There aren’t any amenities in BLT for guests of the hotel side, whereas there are in the A-frame for DVC guests.
It’s also highly unlikely that this is a room refurbishment project on the hotel side of Disney’s Contemporary Resort. The ‘Incredibles Injection’ just happened in 2020-2021 in the main building, and the following year in the Garden Wing. Even though those rooms have garnered mixed reviews, it would be premature for even a soft goods refurbishment. Not only that, but a room refurbishment on the hotel side likely wouldn’t trigger an alert on the DVC site for Bay Lake Tower.
Even though it’s not the Bay Cove Pool, it could be something along those lines–impacting the waterfront, walking paths, or other common area amenities shared by BLT and the Contempo. The least interesting or exciting explanation is infrastructure work that results in a bit of noise or visual blight in the parking lot, but doesn’t amount to much difference in the guest experience or yield any tangible improvement when it’s done in 2026.
Another possibility that I could see being likely is relocating the security checkpoint. Everyone and their brother tries to park at the Contemporary, which can lead to traffic backups on World Drive. Moving that station closer to the hotel building is the simplest fix for this. Disney is also doing a lot of roadwork right now, so it could be something more ambitious.
Finally, there’s the possibility that this is long overdue work to the Grand Canyon Concourse. Even though this is the A-frame atrium, it’s a common area that’s home to restaurants, retail and other shared amenities. It would absolutely trigger an alert for both BLT and the Contemporary.
I really hope this is what it is. This blog has been bemoaning the datedness and just general ugliness of the Grand Canyon Concourse for years. Long before the Incredibles Injection even began, and we’ve continued complaining about this as the lobby overhaul that’s been sorely needed as Walt Disney World has announced other projects at the Polynesian, Grand Floridian, BoardWalk, etc.
You might be skeptical that Walt Disney World would revisit the Contemporary after “finishing” the overhaul back in Fall 2021. But did they really finish? That project was slated to be done in time for Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary, and ended up being a race against the clock.
In fact, it was not done on time–we heard construction workers at all hours in October 2021 struggling to complete the rooms (some even opened in unfinished form). The Garden Wing was pushed off until the following year, and new finishing elements kept appearing in the lobby even after it was “done.”
Not only that, but this wouldn’t be the first time Walt Disney World has hit pause on projects at the hotels for prolonged periods of time. Obviously, there’s Disney Lakeshore Lodge, but that’s kind of a separate thing.
More notable is the Grand Floridian lobby, which is now being worked on long after the rest of the resort was finished. There was an almost 18-month gap from the completion of the rooms to start of work on the lobby.
The Grand Canyon Concourse is just embarrassing at this point. It’s easily the worst atrium among the flagship Deluxe Resorts. There’s no excuse for Walt Disney World not redoing it back in 2020-2021 when occupancy was low and they had the opportunity before Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary.
Nothing better encapsulates the visual hodgepodge of the Contemporary better than the above photo (excuse the scrims–they’re old photos, but still completely representative of how the Grand Canyon Concourse currently looks).
In this shot, there are 5 different styles of carpet and 4 different types of tiles–and that’s not counting the deliberate pattern choices around the buffet at Chef Mickey’s. All presumably installed during different projects over the years.
If you were to stand in the center of the hallway above Grand Canyon Concourse, you could count even more disparate styles, as the various gift shops on the other side have their own styles, as does the center of the atrium.
Add those to the different varieties in the hallways around the guest rooms, and you have about a dozen carpet patterns. I’m a big fan of patterns and textures, but not like this. Then there’s the Fantasia gift shop, which was just plopped into the center to increase revenue per square foot, and needs to go.
The restaurants on the other side aren’t much better. Although we’re partial to the food served at Contempo Cafe, the design of the restaurant is nothing special–it looks tired and its only redeeming qualities are the monorail and Mary Blair mural overhead. It’s a similar story with Chef Mickey’s; that is the most iconic character dining experience at Walt Disney World, but one that time has passed by.
The Grand Canyon Concourse looks tired, dated, and visually chaotic. It’s an ugly patchwork of eras, with its style continuing to age and clutter continually added. Ironically, it’s probably the least contemporary resort at Walt Disney World, with very little modernity in its style.
There is no coherent aesthetic to the Grand Canyon Concourse. Its current “style” is the result of Disney’s Contemporary Resort having visual clutter added over the decades, with more and more stuff (PG term) accumulating over the years without any overarching vision.
It’s actually a bit ironic that it’s called the Grand Canyon Concourse, because the layers of clutter are very much like the sedimentary rock layers in the Grand Canyon. Except ugly instead of awe-inspiring. Minor detail.
Many Walt Disney World fans view the Contemporary through the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia. I cannot imagine being a first-timer with little knowledge of or history with this resort, booking it based on the “Contemporary” name and paying over $1,000 per night to stay in the A-frame. To say I’d be probably be disappointed would be a colossal understatement.
The very good news is that the blueprint for an overhaul to the Grand Canyon Concourse already exists! Back ahead of the 50th Anniversary, Walt Disney World redid the main lobby and check-in area and it is gorgeous.
The new-look looby takes a timeless mid-century modern style and combines that with a collection of modern art pieces, Mary Blair-inspired design, and historical, behind-the-scenes photographs of Disney’s Contemporary Resort in development and under construction. It wasn’t that ambitious of an overhaul–it was accomplished pretty quickly–and yet, it made a world of difference.
The Contemporary’s new lobby looks exceptional. It emulates Disneyland Hotel with a pitch-perfect mix of nostalgia and sleek stylization. The Contemporary Resort’s lobby now has personality. Instead of looking like a vaguely modern design from the 2000s, it is imbued with a sharp mid-century modern style. It’s distinctly Disney and will age far better than chasing current trends.
This marriage of a timeless modern aesthetic along with distinctly Disney art and decor makes for a winning combination. This is the perfect rebuttal to all of the talk about how the Contemporary is a conceptually-flawed hotel (a variation of the Tomorrowland problem) that cannot be “fixed.” Yes, it can–and here’s how!
I cannot say enough positive things about what Disney did here. I love the lobby as much as I dislike the Grand Canyon Concourse, and the former is proof-positive that modern Disney could redo the latter and hit it out of the park.
They were standing on the precipice of greatness with the hotel overhaul back in 2021, and I really think what prevented the Grand Canyon Concourse from being part of that was a lack of time. Or perhaps in-fighting about whether it should be another Incredibles-injection or Disneyland Hotel-inspired?
Ultimately, my sincere hope is that the lobby was simply a trial run for grandiose plans for the Grand Canyon Concourse and that is what’s planned for construction lasting through July 2026. It’s pretty much that, grounds improvements or entrance infrastructure work. While the latter probably needs to happen, so too does a Grand Canyon Concourse overhaul.
Disney’s Contemporary Resort will never overtake its monorail loop counterparts, as Grand Floridian is the flagship resort and Polynesian oozes charm and atmosphere. But the Contempo could improve tremendously and become the sleeper fan-favorite with a redone Grand Canyon Concourse.
Disney’s Contemporary Resort already has unique architecture and the monorail gliding through the atrium–if it became a love letter to the Vacation Kingdom of the World with a timeless mid-century modern aesthetic, it would be a Walt Disney World fan-favorite–just as is the case with Disneyland Hotel in California!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of the construction alert through July 2026 at Disney’s Contemporary Resort? Any guesses as to what this mystery project could be? Hopeful that the Grand Canyon Concourse will receive an overhaul akin to the lobby? Or do you fear that it’ll get one more in line with the Incredibles rooms? Have you stayed at the Contemporary in the last few years? Do you think the resort is dated and tired, or still has a contemporary atmosphere? Think the Grand Canyon Concourse needs an overhaul? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Other thoughts or concerns? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
>> Disney’s Contemporary Resort has become one of our preferred places to stay at Walt Disney World–we discussed the reasons for this in Our Favorite Hotel for Disney World Trips as Parents with a Toddler.
Yup.Welcome to Toddlerhood, Brother. As commented elsewhere – there is simply no beating Bay Lake Tower when the kids are “Magic Kingdom” age.
Stayed there last week. Lots of new – and very badly needed – carpeting. I don’t ever focus on stuff like that, so the fact that I noticed it is noteworthy. The difference between the stained and worn out light-blue “Mickey” carpet (which I would not have cared at all about) was night and day from the plus, dark blue carpet. One of the wings past the elevator was completely closed due to the refurbishments.
Bay Lake Tower – always great – is looking better than ever.
Side Note: I would not be one bit surprised if Disney closed the BLT pool soon for refurbishment as well. I think they did that recently, but the water slide and other stuff was looking pretty beat-up.
*plush darkblue, not “plus”
It felt like sliding while walking on it.
Aside from the monorail swooshing through it, the Contemporary Resort was a unique component of the Vacation Kingdom of the World in the early years.
Even the parking lot topiaries shaped like upside-down cups helped set the tone.
Artwork by Mary Blair graced the guest rooms; a Mariachi band played in the Grand Canyon Concourse amongst the the plexiglass trees; upscale shopping, top-name entertainment, dining and dancing at the Top of the World, classical guitarist in the Gulf Coast Room, tennis lessons, and numerous boating options all added to the value-packed resort that it was.
Rooms were 60 bucks a night.
Seeing everyone typing BLT in the comments just makes me hungry. Here’s hoping some of that construction will include a small sandwich shop in BLT that specializes in BLTs.
The Contemporary if one of my favorites. Nostalgia for sure, as my mom used to take me here with my grandmother as a child. To be honest, when I began reading this article, I was hoping you thought they were adding more DVC. Maybe another BLT where the garden wing is??? I’m in a garden wing room as I type this, and would love that!
Well, this settles it. For the Jan 2026 marathon weekend I think we’ll stay at Poly. We’ve never stayed at any monorail resorts and always wanted to stay at Contemporary, but I’ll wait for an another year or so to book here. The Mrs isn’t as big a park fan and will probably be spending most of time at the resort (maybe waving at me running, maybe not lol) and Poly seems like a better fit for that.
We love the Contemporary for it’s proximity to walk to MK with quick security entrance and that is the reason we choose to stay there every trip. There are so many updates we would like to see there. I would like to see them change the parking situation. We know many people park there for MK that are not staying there and that creates parking issues for guests who are staying there. I would like see a separate area for non resort guests who have dining reservations so that non resort guests have no access to regular resort parking area. We stay there in December every year and it can be challenging to find a place to park as a resort guest. I also wish they would improve the pool area because for a deluxe resort it is pretty boring. The stores on concourse level feel “tired”. I have been in them many times and they don’t excite me to want to shop there. I know they updated the rooms a few years ago but they are very underwhelming. I love the under the bed storage for suitcases in the rooms but that is about it. The table in the room takes up a lot of space without being usable. If they want to encourage families to stay here they really should rethink the shower only option in much of the hotel. I think the mechanics the hotel need a major overhaul. We stayed on club level and the hvac in our room was so noisy. The elevator situation also needs to be addressed. If there was a stair option we would have taken it and gotten there faster than waiting on elevators. We loved the dining options of Contempo cafe, steak house 71 restaurant and lounge, California Grill and Chef Mickey’s. I do wish they would limit the fireworks viewing area on the “bridge” to resort guests only. I feel like that should be a perk for those paying to stay there or with dinner reservations and not overcrowded by those who are not. It is a deluxe resort and as a guest paying a $1000 a night I want to feel like I am getting an exclusive benefit by staying there that is not available to others not paying to stay there. My guess is guests of the GF and Ploy feel this way as well.
There’s no stair option? That seems dangerous? Or do you mean you don’t want to walk up/down 14 stories?
Stairs are at the end of the building.
we stayed at BLT from June 11-16 (it is our home resort). When we checked in, the cast member told us that the lobby is being completely gutted. I was so sad as I love it there! The palm trees are going to be taken out and the desks too. CM’s will now have ipads to check you in. They want all DVC lobbies to look like the Island Tower at the Poly. So that will likely be an ongoing construction project soon!
We recently stayed at BLT, and I was so excited to get a refurbed deluxe studio! We’ve never stayed there before, and we thought the room was great. The shower doors did leak, but they put a combo rain shower/handheld shower in there which was so convenient for hosing off the kids. We spent a night at Boardwalk Villas too and far preferred the room configuration, finishes, and decor at BLT, even though it was smaller. I absolutely loved the Mary Blair-inspired art of MK and the photos of WDW being built…for the life of me, I can’t understand why that aesthetic hasn’t been applied to the entire resort because it’s such a perfect vibe. It’s a no-brainer to give the GCC the same treatment. Similarly, I would hope BLT’s pool area gets an overhaul at some point because it’s seriously lacking in theming for a deluxe and was looking worse for the wear. It would be so cool to have a monorail-themed water slide like I’ve seen in the Disneyland Hotel photos. I also really hope the Fantasia gift shop gets torn out. It was kind of disappointing to realize that most gift shops in WDW carry the exact same merch…so while it was convenient (I guess?), it’s completely unnecessary and kind of an eyesore.
The Concourse should have a restaurant and bar, along with plenty of seating areas. The design should be concerned of how everything looks from ABOVE. No retail or quick service – they have plenty of other spaces for them.
We stayed at BLT a few weeks ago (it’s our DVC home resort), and we were so excited when we got a refurbed 1-bedroom! The design looks great! Execution was a bit shabby in places (like the shower in the bedroom), but And Murphy beds are definitely superior to the sofabed and “futon chair” combo.
That aside, there was definitely some things going on in both buildings. The one elevator bay at BLT wasn’t available during our entire stay (the side closest to Magic Kingdom). Over at the A-frame, we noticed that the benches in the public area next to the Skybridge changed overnight. We are also 90% certain that some carpet changed overnight next to the Fantasia gift shop. We can’t really tell you if it was different than what was there before, but it definitely went from being shabby to brand new over the course of the 5 days we stayed.
Thanks for sharing your experience! Here’s hoping that a phased reimagining of the Grand Canyon Concourse is already underway and will be announced soon (although I’m skeptical they’d start in earnest before Grand Floridian is done–seems like this is largely a project for early to mid-2026, if at all).
Tom, great coverage! The overhead pictures showing the hodgepodge of styles really brings home your point that a serious overhaul of GCC was needed yesterday.. My dad was an architect who offered an almost running (critical) commentary of architecture everywhere where we went, and I’m a graphic designer…suffice it to say, I am picky when it comes to the aesthetics of the built environment. I agree that Disney did a great job with the lobby! It looks great, vibrant but still upscale enough. The rooms? Not so much, ha.
As aside, what lens and camera settings did you use for 4th picture down, facing the atrium’s window? Did you do any post production? My smartphone would’ve blown out the window, even with HDR. I’m getting the “I want cooler pictures” bug again and am looking into getting a 25mm 1.7 prime lens or ND filters for the kit lens on my long-unused Sony A6000.
We stayed at the contemporary in the A frame earlier this month for the first time, and as a reader of this fantastic blog I knew what to expect / agreed with the arguments for updates in principal. I still was surprised at how disconnected and frankly outdated the GCC is in person. It simply doesn’t *feel* like a deluxe Disney themed resort (in the GCC and I would argue the porte cochere/outside area too). We actually really liked the room and the Incredible theming, and all-in had a great trip, but if I had not stayed at other resorts before / wasn’t seeing this as more of a quick trip novelty – I do not think we would have been so happy. Suffice it to say, I too am very much hoping for an update (it could be so cool!) but I fear we may be engaging in wishful thinking. I would also like to see the elevators updated – we checked in during during prime dinner time and with the one elevator set up for ferrying guests to the California Grill, the up button for regular guests kept deactivating and there generally did not seem to be enough elevator capacity (maybe one was out of service?) I love to stay somewhere new every visit, so I don’t plan to stay there again any time soon, but even if that was not the case I would not plan to stay again or recommend it in current form (especially without a good discount!)
This is a great point about the elevators! They should take a page out of the Gran Destino playbook and use a system like that. (I know nothing about elevator infrastructure, but I assume a retrofit like this is possible since they did it at Pixar Place Hotel in CA.)
Replying to Tom’s comment…
The elevators can absolutely be upgraded to the floor selection before you enter variety. I’ve been in older office buildings in NYC that have converted their elevators to this newer system.
I sincerely hope you are right about a Grand Canyon Concourse overhaul! The hodgepodge styles and the overall amount of clutter are mind numbing. There’s SO much junk in there, it’s hard to navigate, and no fun to relax in. I doubt Disney is willing to close a gift shop, but the Fantasia monstrosity has GOT to go. The brutalist architecture is already subtle-yet-not-so-subtle but the GCC is really interesting if you could see it from the floor. The fact you have to go up onto the hotel walkways to see what is actually going on down there says a lot.
I also agree that the ground floor is now stunningly attractive and absolutely should be the design style throughout the entire resort. From the colors and textures to the mid-century style furniture, it seems to be the perfect fit for the Contemporary. A full-blown mid-century style overhaul would do a lot of heavy lifting, in evoking the era most people associate with Walt, and the era the Contemporary was designed and built in, AND fits the current Incredibles theme.
“I doubt Disney is willing to close a gift shop, but the Fantasia monstrosity has GOT to go.”
Disney would absolutely close a gift shop, but the decision has to be made at a higher level. I cannot imagine the Fantasia shop is capturing sales that wouldn’t have otherwise happened at Walt Disney World–it’s a matter of where, not if. All too often, decisions are not made holistically, but in a silo.
I’ve said this before, but it’s best to not think of Walt Disney World as a single cohesive entity, but a bunch of small businesses that are inexplicably competing with one another. It’s very territorial, there’s lots of in-fighting, etc. That’s how you end up with things like the Fantasia shop, and countless other decisions that don’t make a ton of sense when you zoom out.