Yachtsman Steakhouse Closing Date Confirmed & Crew’s Cup Lounge Reopening Soon at Disney World

Walt Disney World has finally confirmed a reopening date for Crew’s Cup Lounge, which comes back online right as the adjacent Yachtsman Steakhouse closes for a multi-month refresh. Here’s the latest on two of our favorite Walt Disney World restaurants, including dates, commentary on the possibility of reimagined interiors and redone menus.

These closures are at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort, and are the latest in a bigger-picture overhaul that has involved everything from guest rooms (see Review: Refined Redone Rooms at WDW’s Most Sophisticated Resort) to the porte cochere.

It seems like Yacht & Beach Club have been in a state of perpetual construction for the last few years, and beyond the restaurant refurbishments, there’s currently ongoing visible exterior maintenance work lasting through late 2026. We last took a look at this project back in April: Major Construction at Disney’s Yacht & Beach Club Resorts During Year-Plus Refurbishment Project. Suffice to say, a sizable area of the sister resorts are currently behind scaffolding.

Now let’s turn to the restaurants. Walt Disney World previously announced that Yachtsman Steakhouse will receive a refurbishment during this multi-year, multi-phase overhaul of Disney’s Yacht Club Resort.

Yachtsman Steakhouse will close in May 2026 for a refresh, with reopening expected by August 2026. Guests may see or hear daytime work until the refurbishment is complete. Technically, an exact closure date still hasn’t been announced. However, the restaurant isn’t posting hours starting May 11, 2026 and Advance Dining Reservations are not available starting that date, either.

Based on that (and more), it’s pretty safe to surmise that May 10, 2026 is your last chance to enjoy the current incarnation of Yachtsman Steakhouse. Move over Cake Bake Shop–this is the perfect Crescent Lake restaurant for a Mother’s Day feast!

Prior to this, Crew’s Cup Lounge closed on February 23, 2026, with reopening expected in May 2026. No specific date has been announced.

It’s been our expectation since these projects were announced that Walt Disney World would stagger these closures so that Yacht Club is not down two restaurants simultaneously. Meaning that Crew’s Cup Lounge will reopen and Yachtsman Steakhouse will close shortly thereafter.

This turned out to be correct. Crew’s Cup Lounge now has hours posted starting May 10, 2026 when it’ll be open from 4 pm until 11 pm. This instantly makes it our #2 recommendation for a Mother’s Day dinner, right behind Yachtsman Steakhouse. (Sorry again, Cake Bake.)

Other dining options remain available around the connected Yacht & Beach Club Resorts, including Ale & Compass, Beaches & Cream, Cape May Cafe, as well as quick-service dining at Beach Club Marketplace and the Market at Ale & Compass.

For Signature Dining, there’s also Flying Fish over at BoardWalk, and of course, the aforementioned Cake Bake Shop. There’s also a wealth of options inside EPCOT’s World Showcase, over at the Skyliner resorts, and inside Disney’s Hollywood Studios, all of which are easily accessible from Y&BC.

Then there are the dozen-plus restaurants over at the Swolphin, including the new Bourbon Steak by Michael Mina. Given that it’s also a steakhouse, that’s the most direct replacement for Yachtsman Steakhouse during the closure. It’ll be interesting to see whether it also serves as a blueprint for the restaurant refresh.

In perusing the Crew’s Cup Lounge food menu, I don’t see any meaningful changes.

The Yachtsman Signature Bread Service, Lobster Bisque Soup, Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail, selection of salads, and my beloved Prime Rib Sliders are all still there. It doesn’t look like anything has been added or removed.

However, this does appear to be a final menu, as there are some more significant changes on the drink side. The sections for coffees, cognacs and scotches have all been removed, and there’s a significantly expanded wine list. Other sections are unchanged, like the specialty cocktails.

It’s surprising to me that a couple more menu items from Yachtsman Steakhouse aren’t joining the menu, at least in the short term as a gap filler while that restaurant is closed. Then again, given the low capacity of Crew’s Cup Lounge, perhaps Walt Disney World doesn’t want it to become a de facto restaurant, and would instead prefer guests head to other options for that.

Either way, I’m slightly disappointed there aren’t more consequential changes. While those Prime Rib Sliders are fantastic, that’s the only unique menu item at Crew’s Cup Lounge that’s memorable. There are other good options, to be sure, but they’re in the menu overlap with Yachtsman Steakhouse.

Contrast that to the menu at Crew’s Cup a decade ago, which was one of the best in all of Walt Disney World, and there’s clear room for improvement. It used to be one of our favorite dining spots outside the parks, and we dined at Crew’s Cup more than any other resort restaurant. We cut back significantly as prices exploded and they removed their best menu items, with sporadic visits for the Prime Rib Sliders. For the last 5 or more years, we’ve actually eaten at Ale & Compass more frequently.

My hope is that a menu update is still coming, either when the lounge reopens (sometimes the paper menus list more than the online ones) or when the refurbishment of Yachtsman Steakhouse is finished.

My other hope is that this refurbishment focused more on back-of-house or invisible updates and less on the interior. That Disney took a ‘don’t fix what isn’t broken’ approach to the themed design of Crew’s Cup Lounge.

The inside of the Crew’s Cup is sophisticated and upscale–exactly what you’d expect from the Yacht Club. It has an abundance of masculine woods, and reminds me of a quiet place Teddy Roosevelt would come for some whisky after a long day of sculling. Even if you don’t get down with rowing, it’s the perfect place to decompress during a day at EPCOT or Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

My fear here is that Walt Disney World will modernize the interior, and the end result will be bland, boring, and bright. The Three Bs we’ve seen from many refurbishments over the last decade. That’s obviously cause for concern, but there’s also reason for cautious optimism, and that’s the successful room redo and the refreshed lobby, which maintain the thematic integrity of the resort.

Much of this style is carried over into the adjacent Yachtsman Steakhouse. The restaurant has a distinct New England nautical style; its dining rooms are light and airy, punctuated with rich woods, knotty-pine beams, warm lighting, and nautical touches.

One of the things we’ve appreciated about Yachtsman Steakhouse is that it’s still allowed to be itself, free of any totally unnecessary “modernization.” Other fans might look at the interior and find its appearance dated, and the upcoming refurbishment overdue.

While they’re not entirely wrong that Yachtsman Steakhouse has elements that are showing their age, we disagree to the extent that anyone is suggesting it needs a wholesale overhaul.

Yachtsman Steakhouse is on theme, and has a delightfully personable and warm atmosphere.

I would add that this type of coziness, charm and comfort (the Three Cs) are starting to come back into style, so it would be a mistake for Walt Disney World to remove all of that and make Yachtsman Steakhouse more akin to Ale & Compass.

The argument could be made that the interior is now old enough that it looks dated; like the last decade’s flavor of modern minimalism. By contrast, maximalist design is making a comeback.

Here’s hoping that Walt Disney World purposefully chose the word “refresh” to describe the Yachtsman Steakhouse project, and the multi-month project will be measured and restrained. I could certainly get behind some fresh carpet and a restoration of the woods.

My other worry at this point is that the approach of the steakhouse will fundamentally change. To be clear, I’m not averse to a menu refresh at Yachtsman Steakhouse. Like Crew’s Cup Lounge, I think this could use a shot in the arm with an expanded menu and new dishes.

This is where the Bourbon Steak comparison comes into play. With many, if not most, major refurbishment projects of this nature, Disney has repositioned the redone restaurants to aim more upmarket. It would arguably make sense to transform Yachtsman Steakhouse into something more chic, trendy, and (most importantly) expensive given Yacht Club’s status serving the conventioneer crowd, which makes up a huge slice of the hotel’s business.

We love that Yachtsman Steakhouse is one of the few unpretentious Signature Restaurants. You’ll see a range of patrons here, from families to well-dressed convention guests to older locals who have been dining at Yachtsman for decades. So an update would be nice, but I hope it’s one that threads the needle and doesn’t fundamentally change the look, atmosphere, or personality of Yachtsman Steakhouse.

Ultimately, I hope that my fears about these projects end up being completely unfounded. That the interior refreshes are expertly-executed with a focus on attention to detail and thematic integrity, without compromising on character. That the inevitable menu changes don’t alter the character of either location, but instead are upgrades.

There’s a reason Yachtsman Steakhouse is on our list of the 26 Best Restaurants at Walt Disney World in 2026, and Crew’s Cup is one of the Best Bars at Walt Disney World. Hopefully both maintain their places on those lists. Better yet, I’d love to see Crew’s Cup make the cut on the overall list, where it would’ve been a decade ago.

We generally love Yacht Club and find it to be an underrated hotel, especially following the wonderful room redo. The resort has a certain air of stateliness and sophistication, with rich woods, dark colors, leather furniture, antique decor, and an abundance of yachting decor to reinforce the theme. We’ll keep you posted on what changes with the refurbished or redone restaurants.

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Your Thoughts

What do you think of Walt Disney World undertaking multi-month restaurant refurbishments at Yacht & Beach Resorts? Optimistic or pessimistic about the likely changes coming to Crew’s Cup Lounge and Yachtsman Steakhouse? Hope there are more menu additions at Crew’s Cup Lounge when it reopens? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? 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!