Another Walt Disney World Resort hotel is heading into construction, which at this point describes most of the property.
Disney’s Beach Club just added lobby work on top of exterior maintenance, which is running into 2027. The BoardWalk is rebuilding its entertainment district. Yachtsman Steakhouse returned from fifteen weeks dark. Crescent Lake and the monorail loop have both been busy.
Checking refurbishment notices is now part of planning a trip.
Disney just posted one for a resort nobody wants to touch carelessly.
Disney’s Art of Animation Resort gets a room refurbishment from mid-June 2027 through October 2028. Roughly 16 months.
Why This One Is Different
Art of Animation is one of the last Disney World resorts that fully commits to a theme.
Disney has spent years modernizing hotel rooms across property. Neutral palettes, clean lines, and a framed character silhouette where a mural used to be. Looks fine. Also looks like a Marriott with Mickey on the wall.
Art of Animation is the opposite. Massive sculpted set pieces. Courtyards that look like you walked into the movie. Suites where theming does not stop at the door.
So this refurbishment lands differently than one at a resort with beige walls. The hope is new rooms without losing the whimsy.
What Disney Confirmed
Mid-June 2027 through October 2028, moving one themed area at a time.
Guests may see or hear maintenance in the active area during daytime hours. The resort stays open throughout.
Four sections make up the resort:
- Finding Nemo family suites
- Cars family suites
- The Lion King family suites
- The Little Mermaid standard rooms
Three suite wings, one standard wing. Sequencing them keeps the rest of the resort bookable while crews work.
Disney’s notice does not say which area goes first. It also does not break the 16-month phase dates.
What Actually Changes at Art of Animation
Disney calls it a hard goods refresh.
Translation: all-new furniture and fixtures, not a cosmetic touch-up. First major hard goods overhaul since the resort opened in 2012.
Fourteen years is a long run for furniture in rooms hosting constant family traffic, so the timing tracks.
Disney showed concept art to the media earlier this year, but has not released any publicly.
That gap matters. Concept art is normally how Disney sets expectations for a project like this. Holding it back on a resort where theming is the entire product guarantees speculation until something drops.
The Bigger Strategy
Disney executives first flagged this in May 2026 during a media briefing on Walt Disney World’s classic attraction reinvestment strategy, in which Art of Animation was named for a summer 2027 room-and-suite refresh.
The new notice confirms that with hard dates.
The phased approach also aligns with how Disney has staged other recent Value Resort projects, suggesting a repeatable playbook rather than a one-off.
If You Have a Trip Booked for Art of Animation
A few practical notes for anyone traveling between mid-June 2027 and October 2028.
The resort stays open. Not a closure. But you could be booked in or near an active work zone, and Disney says guests may see or hear maintenance during daytime hours.
With no published phase dates, there is no way to know which wing is under construction in a given week. If you care strongly about a specific themed area, waiting for details before booking far out makes sense.
Everything else should stay available:
- The largest resort pool at Walt Disney World
- Landscape of Flavors and its five food shops, open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner
- Dog-friendly accommodations
- The Disney Skyliner station connecting to EPCOT and Hollywood Studios
What Actually Matters Here
The timeline is not the story. What the rooms look like afterward is.
Art of Animation works because everything pulls in the same direction. Rooms, suites, courtyards, and a pool. New furniture after fourteen years of family traffic is genuinely needed.
The question is whether Disney treats this as an opportunity to update the theming or to simplify it.
That answer arrives with the concept art.
