2024-2025 Hotel Construction & Refurbishments at Disney World
Hotel refurbishments, resort construction, and character-inspired makeovers continue at Walt Disney World through 2024 & 2025. This resource provides info on room renovations, what to avoid, where to book, and what to expect in terms of hotel work at Walt Disney World. (Updated November 26, 2023.)
Walt Disney World continues to undertake refurbishments as staffing shortages preclude full occupancy of the resorts. Consequently, there are a number of smaller-scale projects that take certain buildings or a portion of rooms out of commission as part of more-targeted, rolling refurbishments.
We do Walt Disney World monthly hotel stays, usually emphasizing resorts where there are new things, changes, or ongoing construction to see how that harms, improves, or otherwise impacts the guest experience. If you’ve yet to book a hotel for your upcoming Walt Disney World vacation and want to be notified about all of the latest resort changes, sign up here for our FREE Disney newsletter here.
When booking a Walt Disney World vacation, we highly recommend taking into account recently-completed and ongoing construction projects at the various resorts, as these absolutely can impact the quality of your trip. Booking a hotel with a closed pool or construction noise and cranes right outside your window is obviously going to be a worse experience than a resort that just finished its big refurbishment and still has that fresh feeling and ‘new hotel’ smell.
Note that this does not include DVC villas if they do not impact the hotel side of a resort. For those projects, see our 2024 Disney Vacation Club Resort Refurbishments & Construction Timeline. That covers all of the room reimaginings at Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and beyond that we just announced at the condo association meeting. Those projects also impact Boulder Ridge, Bay Lake Tower, and both Crescent Lake DVC resorts.
Suffice to say, a lot is happening on the hotel front at Walt Disney World. Let’s take a look at all of the current and upcoming major hotel projects that have the potential to impact guests…
Ongoing or Upcoming Hotel Refurbishments
All Star Movies – While the room renovations at Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort are now finished, more updates are expected in the next couple of years.
Looking way down the road to early 2025, the Fantasia Pool at Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort will be closed for routine maintenance from January 2025 through April 2025. Guests may see or hear construction work during daytime hours. During this time, hotel guests are welcome to swim in the Duck Pond Pool at Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort.
NOTE: This refurbishment was previously scheduled for Winter 2024, but bumped to 2025. Just drawing your attention to that, as literally the only thing about the bulletin that has changed is the year, the months and all other details are the same. Just one full year later, which is a pretty big difference, but an easy one to miss!
Art of Animation, Pop Century, Caribbean Beach & Riviera Resorts – Bad news, as the Disney Skyliner Gondolas Close for Routine Refurbishment in Early 2024. Closures will occur in phases from January 16-27, 2024.
This routine downtime of the “Most Magical Flight on Earth” affects all of the Skyliner routes and resorts. These gondolas service two Walt Disney World theme parks (Hollywood Studios and Epcot) plus four resorts (Art of Animation & Pop Century, Caribbean Beach, plus Riviera Resort & Caribbean Beach again) via 5 stations.
We strongly recommend switching resorts if you’re staying at a Skyliner hotel during those dates. As discussed in that article (link above), the Skyliner is the selling point of those resorts, and why they charge premium prices. We’d also recommend not booking any of those resorts in mid to late January 2025, as another Skyliner refurbishment is likely at that time.
All Star Sports – The room refurbishment at All Star Sports is now almost totally finished.
This wrapped up at most buildings by early this year, but they still haven’t started on Building 1 for some reason. No clue why–it would’ve been done by now if they stuck to the schedule.
Beach Club Resort & Villas – The soft goods refurbishment and lobby refresh of Disney’s Beach Club Resort and Villas is now finished. Not much changed–there’s new carpet in the hallways, and inside the room the carpet has been replaced by a laminate flooring.
There’s also new furniture–chairs and couch–as well as new curtains, Donald Duck wall art, and other refreshed surfaces. That’s all I noticed. These rooms were bland before, and they’re still pretty bland now–but minus carpet and plus better on-theme artwork.
With that said, a huge closure is on the horizon: Stormalong Bay Pool is Closing in 2025 for Refurbishment. From January 2025 through May 2025, Stormalong Bay and Shipwreck Pool at Disney’s Yacht and Beach Club Resorts will be closed for routine maintenance. Guests may see or hear construction work during daytime hours. During this time, Guests are welcome to swim at the Tidal, Admiral and Dunes Cove leisure pools.
BoardWalk Inn – This resort is current in the midst of a multi-year reimagining. No timeline has been given for when the work will end, but our expectation is mid-2024. The room renovations are now finished (see our Review, Photos & Videos of the New Rooms at Disney’s BoardWalk Inn) and work is occurring along the BoardWalk itself.
Walt Disney World is also adding and changing elements of the beloved turn-of-the-century promenade and inside the Deluxe Resort, including a new lobby design, nearby coffee bar, delectable dining options, refreshed guest rooms, and more.
Inside Disney’s BoardWalk Inn, it’s difficult to discern whether work on the lobby is finished. Carousel Coffee has opened and Belle Vue Lounge has been refreshed, with both being done in half-measure. It seems that the same has also happened with the lobby, but it’s truly tough to tell. Very little changed.
The biggest project at the BoardWalk is the new Cake Bake Shop Restaurant will replace ESPN Club, and is slated to open in early 2024. (Judging by the actual pace of progress, it may slip into spring or even summer.) This isn’t the only new “restaurant” coming to this area: pickle-stuffed corn dogs (you read that correctly) will soon be coming to the BoardWalk courtesy of Blue Ribbon Corn Dogs.
Caribbean Beach – The Pirate Rooms at Caribbean Beach Resort have been retired and have been all replaced by ‘Under the Sea’ Inspired Little Mermaid Rooms. Crews have since moved on to other buildings around Caribbean Beach and are doing soft goods refurbishments to those. We’re pretty sure this is also finished–we didn’t see any construction here in November 2023.
From January 2024 through April 2024, the Fuentes del Morro Pool at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort will be closed for routine maintenance. Guests may see or hear construction work during daytime hours. During this time, hotel guests are welcome to swim in any of the 5 leisure pools at Caribbean Beach Resort.
Fort Wilderness Campground – Walt Disney World announced New DVC Cabins Coming to Fort Wilderness Campground. The proposed plans call for more than 350 new cabins to replace the existing cabins at the resort, turning the resort side of the campground into a Disney Vacation Club property. In so doing, a “collection of improvement projects” are underway at Fort Wilderness aimed at enhancing the guest experience, including proposed pool and walking trail improvements.
Work on the Disney Vacation Club cabins has not yet started, and the current cabins are still available to reserve through late 2024. This makes sense, as the current cabins were pre-fabricated off-site and installed unit-by-unit, not built on location. The same will almost certainly be true of the new cabins–it’ll be a matter of swapping out the old cabins for the new ones, which will likely occur in phases next year.
To prepare for the influx of DVC guest$, Walt Disney World reimagined the restaurants in Pioneer Hall. That work is now finished, and both Crockett’s Tavern and Trail’s End have reopened. The latter is now quick-service and a grab-and-go marketplace instead of sit-down restaurant.
Grand Floridian Resort & Spa – Disney Vacation Club overhauled the Big Pine Key building of hotel rooms at Walt Disney World’s flagship resort. This building has since reopened and the new rooms have debuted–see Grand New Rooms at Walt Disney World’s Flagship Resort for a look inside.
These reimagined rooms have since debuted on the regular resort side of the Grand Floridian, and all of the outlying buildings are now finished. Crews have now moved into the main lobby, which is being done in phases. Crews paused their work for the Christmas 2023 season, and we’re anticipating that they’ll resume in January 2024. How long it’ll take is anyone’s guess–it really depends upon how involved the project is. We’re guessing it’ll last for at least the first half of 2024.
We’re also guessing that 1900 Park Fare and the Grand Floridian Tea Room will not return until after the reimagining is finished. In a logical and ideal world, those venues would be reimagined alongside the lobby, and open in time for Spring Break 2024. At present, there’s no indication that’s the intent–no construction activity has been observed in or around either.
Grand Floridian will receive a substantial overhaul with “Enchanted Gardens” as the unifying visual style. The scope and scale are not yet known, but the most likely scenario is the main lobby receiving an aesthetic and new carpet comparable to the smaller outlying buildings. See our Grand Floridian Resort Reimagining Report for more details.
Polynesian Village Resort – Walt Disney World is building a new DVC tower at Polynesian Village Resort between the existing Polynesian longhouses and Wedding Pavilion, near the Grand Floridian.
In light of this, Walt Disney World’s official site has this message: “As we prepare for the proposed expansion at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, you will see and hear construction at certain times of day. To minimize disruptions during your stay, activities that may create noise will not start earlier than 9 a.m.”
If you’re staying at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort anytime in the next 2 years, we’d recommend requesting a room that is not in the Aotearoa, Fiji, or Tuvalu longhouses. Those buildings are adjacent to the construction site, and the only ones that should be impacted in any material way. The DVC tower construction is visible from other locations in the resort, but the impact is otherwise minor.
Actually, we recommend avoiding the Polynesian completely for the next year. As explained in Worst Hotels at Walt Disney World for 2024, the construction impact will be ongoing and it’s likely that smaller projects will be undertaken in addition to what’s already been announced to prepare the resort infrastructure for the tower and its added DVC guests.
Prior to this tower, work wrapped up on the Great Ceremonial House, porte-cochère, new monorail station, and gardens. Room refurbishments were also part of the Poly’s overhaul and those are now finished. See our Review, Photos & Video: New Moana Rooms at Polynesian Village Resort for a tour and thoughts on the changes from our most recent hotel stay.
Port Orleans French Quarter – From January 2024 through April 2024, the Doubloon Lagoon pool at Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – French Quarter will be closed for routine maintenance.
Guests may see or hear construction work during day time hours. During this time, hotel patrons are welcome to swim in the Ol’ Man Island pool at Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – Riverside. (That’s about a 10-15 minute walk from Port Orleans French Quarter.)
Yacht Club Resort – No room refurbishments or common area construction scheduled in 2024.
However, the same Stormalong Bay Pool closure that’ll impact Beach Club will impact Yacht Club in 2025. We’d avoid staying at both resorts during that project unless significant discounts are offered. That’s one of the main selling points of these hotels, and its ‘value’ is built into room rates.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
Have any recent observations or experiences with hotel construction at Walt Disney World you’d be willing to share? Where at Walt Disney World are you staying in 2024 or 2025? Any resorts you’re intentionally avoiding? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments of these resort refurbishment or reimagining projects? 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!
The other impact at Fort Wilderness is that the walking/bike path between Fort Wilderness and Wilderness Lodge is closed. It doesn’t sound like it’s reopening any time soon even though Reflections construction has stopped.
My husband and I are in late 70’s . We want to go for the Food and Wine Festival in early November. Where is the best place to stay on property for adults. Thank You
Any of the Epcot area hotels would be great. Boardwalk and Yacht Club are more on the grown up side. Beach Club is awesome but is attractive to families. You can walk from any of these to both Epcot and Hollywood Studios, and there are also boats that will get you there. Nice at the end of a long day of walking! All of these also have easy access to the Skyliner system with a station close to the entrance to Epcot at the International Gateway. That will get you to Hollywood Studios with stops at Caribbean Beach Resort (you have to transfer here) and Riviera Resort, if you want to check these out. It’s fun just to ride and take in the views – unless riding in an enclosed gondola 100 feet in the air causes anxiety, that is.
If the Epcot monorail line is running again, the Magic Kingdom resorts are all really nice – Contemporary, Grand Floridian, and the Polynesian Village. But the service is not direct, you have to transfer from the resort line to the Epcot line at the Ticket and Transportation Center.
Food and Wine is a lot of fun. Bring a big appetite and a bigger budget! I like to buy Disney gift cards every now and then during the months ahead of our Food and Wine trips, and combine them into one, and use that to pay for the food and drinks. If you’re staying long enough, plan to visit over several different days, to be able to take in all the events and to sample all the delicious foods. Our plan of attack is to visit another park in the morning, then hop to Epcot in the afternoon.
Be aware though that Friday and Saturday nights, it gets a bit raucous and very crowded at Food and Wine. It’s OK until about 4 or 5:00, but after that, the locals come out to “Drink around the world” and it gets a bit wild. This blog has lots of reviews and information about Food and Wine, including the situation on weekend nights.
My husband and I have gone to Disney for the Food and Wine Festival for years now. Last year, we stayed for three weeks at the campgrounds and had an absolute blast! We’re now planning for next year.
Have fun!
Yacht Club or Boardwalk. Both walking distance to Epcot. If you’re looking for a moderate, Caribbean Beach has the Skyliner that takes you to Epcot. But big resort so you’d want to look at the map to request the area you’d like to be.
For the food and wine festival in Epcot I recommend one of three resorts.
The Yacht & Beach Club
And
Boardwalk
Both of the above are walkable to Epcot so you are not relying on any transportation which is real nice!
The Riviera is also a BEAUTIFUL new resort and easy to get to Epcot via the skyliner.
All three resorts above are considered Deluxe Resorts so they can be expensive.
For a lower price point you can find Caribbean Beach which is a moderate resort also able to use the skyliner. It is a very large resort and some rooms are on the second floor with stair access only.
Have a wonderful trip!
So we just came back from our weeklong annual Disney vacation. We postponed a number of times but couldn’t do that to our kids anymore so just decided to give it a go. We have to plan because we are not local and have over an 8 hour drive to get to WDW and we are an avid Disney family. Ahead are my observations and opinions, but mine alone about hotel, dining and the parks themselves. First and foremost the mask policy was never an issue and after buying a few Disney masks for $9.99 we hardly noticed due to the comfortable material. Masks are not the reason we will not be returning in the near future.
So first the hotel, we normally stay on Bay Lake due to ease of access to MK. This time we stayed at Contemporary. The resort was great, especially the pool. My only gripe was housekeeping, which currently is nonexistent!! You have 2 options when you check in, no housekeeping or limited housekeeping. We were staying a week with 2 little crumb makers so we took limited. Limited consists of emptying trash, replacing towels, and new consumables (TP, shampoo, coffee, etc.) every other day. No vacuuming, no new sheets or made beds, no wiping down surfaces, etc. We tried to make a concerted effort to be out of the room between 11am-4pm so they would service our room with their limited service. Out of the whole week they took out our trash and replaced our towels 1 day!! To say the least the room got in disarray with our crumb makers!! This was highly disappointing to us for paying the price for those rooms!! The dining was also a disappointment as well.
Dining overall for us gets a moderate rating mostly because dining options are so limited and the ones that are open their menus are almost cut in half. We normally do the Disney dining plan (DDP) and we missed it thoroughly because we had some trouble making reservations where the menus had items our picky crumb makers would eat, but we persevered nonetheless. Our go to restaurants were mostly on point except for one poorly cooked fish dish. For any stands that don’t have mobile ordering the lines were longer than some rides which is caused by the limited options. (Open the EggRoll Cart!!) Also, having no topping bars at Cosmic Rays or Pecos Bill made the meals at those locations, meh. Also, the character dining options that are currently available are very muted for kids. It was hard telling the little ones they could only wave when before they were able to take pictures with their favorite characters, but they were troopers!!
With character meet and greets currently unavailable at parks, other than at a distance, you can try to catch them on the singular floats roaming MK at random times traversing from Splash Mtn to the Firehouse on Main Street. You can also catch them at MK on the balcony at the train station, again at random times. As for the rides, as well as the Disney app, the wait times are all lies. We waited over 30 minutes at a 10 minute posted wait time and on the flip side walked on a ride posted at 30 minutes. Rides normally that are walk on have much longer wait times than some of the A list rides due to distancing measures. They had social distancing tape on all the wait lines, but from my experience hardly any guests were following it unless we pointed it out to them and there was little to no enforcement by Disney employees. It was also disheartening to still see guests abusing handicap (party of 10 accompanying someone in an ankle brace you can get at CVS as they hop out of their rental wheelchair and with no effort hop on ride) and service dog policies (lady carrying her lap dog that was scared of everything). A hint for those staying at Disney resorts, they are opening certain rides 1 hour to 30 minutes before the parks listed opening time (At MK at least: Peter Pan, Snow White, etc). We are expert Fast Passers and that not only drove where we would go but became a contest between my wife and I on who could get the best FastPass (FP). Without FP it felt like we were chasing the wait times and we rode on about 50% rides. Also, all of the interactive features at all parks are down. The waiting lines interactive features at Winnie Pooh, Dumbo, Snow White, etc. are closed so nothing to keep you little ones preoccupied. At Epcot all of the interactive rooms at Figment, Spaceship Earth, etc are shutdown so nothing for kids to do after the rides, which takes away from the experience for the kids. One positive thing we saw was them running the people mover (TTP) at MK, so if it isn’t open yet it should be soon. One final note on the parks are that no trams are currently operating in the parking lots so be prepared to walk from wherever you park.
Wrapping it up based on the muted experience, not the masks, we will not return until FP, DDP, park experiences/hours, and hotel housekeeping all return to normal. I know this won’t matter to most, but I thought I would share my observations/opinions for anyone else trying to decide. I may have missed some things, but if you have any questions just let me know. Thanks Tom for giving us so many up to date information.
(On a side note for anyone driving down I95 they just opened a Buc-ee’s Travel Stop just south of St Augustine and about to open a second in Daytona. I recommend stopping to check it out, but be prepared for chaos!!)
Thank you so much for this – your description was even worse than my own feared low-ball expectations, and confirms for me my decision to have let my pass lapse, and stay out of the parks for probably another 2 years. I’m not paying top-dollar for bottom-level service & experience.
I am so sorry your stay was not a “magical experience” as they always promise. I am 59 and have been going since the opening of WDW and it was always magical but our last experience left us feeling exactly as you. We have not returned since. We have stayed at most all of the resorts Fort Wilderness was our last experience and might i say we have stayed there multiple times with no problems It was clean the staff was friendly. NOT This last time the cabin was disgusting, couldn’t sit on the furniture except for the kitchen chairs. the beds lumpy and linens although they said were stripped down and clean ones put on I find hard to believe since one of my grandkids socks were still in the same place I placed it just to see if they were telling the truth. Of course they are magical so you never know I could be wrong. The fridge had a huge dent in it and was not cleaned inside basically they are old and i get that but Im old and Im clean LOL. Then having to pay for parking when we are parking literally in front of the cabin Like you said paid a good price its just ridiculous they charge for parking I mean they are making a killing on all of us. The magic of Disney is definitely not the same. The extra hours, the free parking , all the extras you got because you spent so much to stay in the resort and you didnt mind because it was magical. Now its so jammed packed with people and might I add not the nicest people. Cussing yelling and just walking into you I mean I understand the world is changing but so sad after our passes expire its sad to say but we wont be renewing them or returning but were just one family so im sure it wont matter to them. Not getting our money every year wont even miss it. I hope it changes for the future kiddos.
So is the Polynesian booking rooms for after opening? For instance the Moana rooms for fall dates or are they only booking the DVC rooms for
fall dates. I talked to a cast member and got the impression it was the latter. Love reading your blog!
Any word on when O’Hana may open back up?
You know is the standard room at Wilderness Lodge are already refurbished by June 2021?
Any word on when O’Hara may open back up?
Oops, O’Hana. Darn autocorrect
FYI, we own at AKL and we got a notification that the pool at Kidani Village will be getting a refurb Jan-April 2022. Not sure howbmany people are planning that far ahead but it’s good that Disney is giving such advanced notice!
Anything going on at the Boardwalk?
I heard they had some issues with a pipe bursting, etc
Bay Lakes Villas are WELL overdue for renovating. The facility is going down hill very fast, both with room decor deteriorations and public spaces being stained and dull.
Tom, on a facebook group. A lot of people staying at the Contemporary Resort are being moved to GF. They are being told the main tower is going to be closed to refurb April-Sept 2021. Could you verify this information. And if this is the case it will effect BLT at all, or the pools, shops or restraunts at CR? Thanks
I’m glad to hear Poly is getting a hard goods refurbishment. That furniture was getting pretty beat up. Half the plugs in the dresser were dead.
But I’m afraid of them IKEA fying the rooms. Aside from AKL any refurbishment = no theme.
And removal of fans.
Wasn’t GF hard goods done just a few years ago? I think the rooms are pretty good. Fresh & clean still. They used to look like grandma’s room.
Hey Tom, love the blog.
Even if the trajectory/timing is uncertain, anything about refurbs at the Floridian or Contemporary? It feels like the rooms at the GF could use a “plussing” of the period-correct luxury vibe (those bathroom countertops are a decidedly 80s interpretation of the theme), and the pic of the Contemporary rooms have a very… “contemporary for 2009” feel.
Monorail resorts are some of my faves, but it seems the most attention is on the Poly.
Both of those resorts were slated to receive a variety of upgrades pre-closure, but I haven’t heard a thing since the beginning of this year. Now would be a great time to do it, though.
Is the main pool at Polynesian open during current refurbishments? If not, are there other pools available?
Hi,
Your blog is great and very informative. I stayed at the Contemporary 12/7-12/11. It needs major renovations to the hotel and restaurants. We had the best view and the room was great but had no desire to eat there after eating at the Wave when we got there for lunch. Hardly any Christmas decorations, my 6 year old didn’t care for it at all except for her view of the MK. Some kind of construction going on across the street in front of the lagoon next to the bus terminal? I like to different every time we come and even though the view was spectacular I would not want to stay there again.
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And also just did DVC trip last week at Boulder Ridge and although very nice, I did see that the rooms could use updating.
Oops, forgot to put in my question: do you think that the Boulder Ridge rooms will still sleep 5? Will they still have the fold out twin bed? I had two of my adult sons with me last week and the oldest used the fold out twin (I was surprised it worked for him as he is over 6 feet tall) and my youngest was on the fold out sofa bed (he is even taller).
We just purchased our first DVC in July and booked The Polynesian for our first DVC trip in November, but when the renovations were announced with the monorail station closed and fewer dining options, we switched to Bay Lake Towers which worked out great.
Do you know if the slide is open yet at Stormalong Bay?
Any information about refurbishing being done at Boulder Ridge?
Stayed at Jambo DVC and there was no issue with construction, it was at the very end of the building. COVID-19 note though, they are not spacing every other room as I had hoped- they crammed all guests in one wing one floor and therefore guests on both balconies next to us. They did a great job with distancing in parks, but definitely not in room assignments.
They opened Jambo DVC? Thought they were closed. Any added comments would be most appreciated!