Exterior refurbishment work at Disney’s Contemporary Resort has expanded. After kicking off in April, the scope of the work appears to have roughly doubled since then. We recently made it out to Magic Kingdom and snapped some photos of the exterior refurbishment of the iconic Magic Kingdom area resort from the ferryboat back to the parking lot. Here’s a look!
Contemporary Resort Exterior Refurbishment Continues to Expand
IN THIS ARTICLE:
- See how far the wrapping has expanded since our April update
- Get a closer look at the scaffolding and crews at work
- Find out what the projected timeline means for a summer stay
THE STORY SO FAR
Refurbishment at Disney’s Contemporary Resort has been a moving target. The work has come in different phases and different scopes, touching the atrium, Bay Lake Tower, and now the Main Tower exterior. Through all of it, the timeline keeps changing.
Disney first listed the work as running from September 2024 through Summer 2025. The company then pushed the end date a full year to July 2026 in June 2025. By November, Disney extended it again to late 2027, adding 30 months to the original plan. In March, Disney announced the Main Tower work would begin on March 23, 2026, alongside Skyway Bridge and pool closures.
We then spotted crews installing scaffolding in late April, with roughly 20 rooms out of service for the first phase.
The specific work matters less to most guests than one simple question: will the hotel be under construction during their stay? For the foreseeable future, the answer is yes.
HOW FAR HAS IT EXPANDED?
The change since April is easy to spot from across the water. Protective tan and beige wrapping now covers a wide vertical section of the tower’s Magic Kingdom-facing side. It climbs most of the building’s height between two structural columns. When we last reported, the work sat lower and across fewer rooms. Today, the covered area reaches up toward the top guest floors, near the roofline.
The phased approach Disney described appears to be holding. Crews have expanded the construction zone outward from the initial southwest section rather than wrapping the entire tower at once. For now, the bulk of the iconic A-frame facade stays uncovered. By our count, about 40 rooms are now out of service. That is up from the roughly 20 we tallied in April.
A CLOSER LOOK AT THE WORK
Zooming in, the scope of the maintenance becomes clearer. Scaffolding lines the base of the wrapped section. Orange safety netting runs along the platforms. Workers in high-visibility vests stand on the balconies behind the wrapping. Ladders, buckets, and rigging lines hang from several of the affected floors.
The wrapping hangs from the balcony railings and drapes down across the room exteriors below. The work appears to involve removing the building’s exterior theming elements, then rebuilding them from scratch. That would explain why the horizontal bands across the facade sit in different states from floor to floor. Disney has not detailed the specific scope beyond calling it exterior maintenance.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR A SUMMER STAY
If you have a stay booked at the Contemporary this summer or into the Fall, here’s what to expect. The rooms in the construction area have been taken out of service. For guests staying at the resort, the work can be heard during the day, and there are visual impacts from common areas. Disney’s own notice warns guests to expect to see and hear work during the day. It also advises allowing for alternate paths of travel at times.
The good news is that the project is phased. With the work limited to one construction zone, the bulk of the building stays in service. The construction zone will likely migrate as phases progress, so the part of the tower under wraps today may not be the same part months from now.
WHAT WE STILL DON’T KNOW
Disney has not published a detailed breakdown of the scope or the order of the phases. We also don’t know how many rooms come out of service in each one. The official end date sits at late 2027 right now. That seems like plenty of time, but given that this timeline has already slipped before, we’ll have to keep an eye on construction to see if that timeframe holds.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!