Walt Disney World is in the midst of multiple projects at Pop Century Resort, including a year-long room overhaul that’ll be completed in 2026. That’s just one of four enhancement projects at the Value Resort this year and next, a few of which have already finished. This shares new mid-November construction photos, dates & details, plus our commentary about the scope, scale & guest impacts of the work.
The refreshes and reimaginings at Disney’s Pop Century Resort are one of a few hotel projects between now and 2027, with several other popular resorts under refurbishment now or in the coming months. Keep an eye on our Walt Disney World Hotel Construction Tracker for further updates. (That’s actually due for an update in the next few days based on our check-ins with multiple projects around Walt Disney World. Stay tuned.)
Let’s start with the official ‘warning’ bulletin from Walt Disney World about the Pop Century room redo: “From March 2025 through mid-February 2026, refurbishment work will take place in select areas of Disney’s Pop Century Resort. While Guests may see or hear work in the area during daytime hours, most Resort amenities—including dining, recreation, and merchandise locations—will remain available.”
It’s easy to miss, but Walt Disney World quietly changed the completion timeline for these rooms from mid-February 2026 to just February 2026. Honestly, I’m not even sure when this language tweak was made–I just caught it for the first time when sitting down to write this article. (Hence it being easy to miss!)
This could be because the project is expected to be finished earlier in the month, so mid-February 2026 is no longer apt. I’m skeptical of that. When Walt Disney World wants to give itself more wiggle room on a project, they’ll often reduce specificity. So my best guess is that the expectation is now late February 2026.
The new rooms feature more pops of color, a patterned flooring inlay, new furniture, curtains, and other furnishing refreshes. These rooms are an incremental upgrade, and the fan feedback has been mostly positive. I haven’t heard anything negative about the before vs. after, which makes sense given that the changes are minor. The response has been neutral to positive.
You can see these for yourself in First Look Photo Tour of New Rooms at Disney’s Pop Century Resort. We are fans of the refreshed rooms at Pop Century, but then again, we loved the original generation of “new” rooms that debuted back in 2017. From a functional perspective, the Value Resorts are honestly some of our favorite standard accommodations at Walt Disney World right now.
I was just at Pop Century this week and checked out progress on all of the projects. Here are new construction photos of the room redo:
At this time, Building 9 is in progress. Buildings 7 and 8 yet not yet begun. This section around the Computer Pool is the remaining cluster of buildings to be completed.
Out of curiosity, I asked a few Cast Members at the front desk when they expected the project to be completed. They said the cadence has been about one building per month, suggesting it’s possible for the overhaul to wrap up in early 2026. Maybe even January as opposed to February.
I’d take this with a grain of salt. Given that these projects often pause (or scale back) for peak holiday dates in November and December, it wouldn’t be the least bit surprising for Building 9 to finish this month or in early December without Buildings 7-8 starting at that time.
That leaves the door open for Walt Disney World to have full room inventory at the highly-popular Pop Century during the heart of the holiday season. Perhaps not, but that’s something that’s been happening with room refurbishments in the last few years.
As for the guest impact of the room renovations at Disney’s Pop Century Resort, it’s minimal.
I was initially inclined to say “virtually nonexistent” based on our experience, but reminded myself that my anecdotal snapshot-in-time experience isn’t representative of everyone else’s. There have been times in the past when, instead of reopening or closing an entire building during peak season dates, Disney splits the building in half to increase room availability.
Which is to say that if you found yourself staying in Buildings 7-9 in the next month or two during their construction, you could feel a significant impact. But that’s purely theoretical–not what’s happening now. Just in walking around the 80s and 90s section, the work was barely noticeable. I wouldn’t be surprised if some guests staying in this section are totally oblivious to the ongoing work.
For everyone else, the impact is virtually nonexistent. It’s difficult to even tell which building is under refurbishment unless you walk right up to it. Even though it’s a year-long project, this is a soft goods refurbishment, and isn’t creating visual blight around the exteriors of buildings. We stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter around the same point last year in its year-long overhaul, and that was much more impactful. This is nothing by comparison.
The other big ongoing project is the Pop Century lobby overhaul. Here’s the official bulletin from Walt Disney World about this project:
From July 28 through
early Octoberat least early Novembermid-November 2025, the lobby at Disney’s Pop Century Resort will be getting a retro-inspired refresh. The lobby will remain open during construction and all amenities will be available. Guests may hear or see maintenance in the area until work is complete.
As you can see from the strikethroughs, this was going to be finished early last month before being extended through at least early November. It’s since been extended to mid-November, although “at least” early November technically provides unlimited wiggle room.
Regardless, here’s a look at progress as of mid-November:
It’s difficult to gauge progress on a project like this. The work is happening entirely behind scrims, and those can come down overnight.
In fact, it’s entirely possible that these photos are already obsolete, and work is now finished. It’s also possible that it looks exactly the same as of today, and will tomorrow, and next week, and into December.
The good news is that this is not be a “generification” that makes the lobby bland and boring. Prior to this lobby renovation, the lobby was showing its age with muted colors and faded surfaces. What we’ve seen emerge from behind the walls thus far is vibrant, featuring Disney characters and pop art.
In terms of substantive changes, there are now check-in kiosks as opposed to a unified front desk; that’s the direction Walt Disney World has gone with every single lobby refurbishment in the last few years. I don’t really have a strong opinion on these.
The thought is they’re more free-flowing and allow iPad carrying Cast Members to approach guests, instead of keeping them stuck behind a counter. It’s unlikely that Walt Disney World is spending so much money ‘modernizing’ check-in counters for no reason, so guest response is presumably positive.
The biggest downside of this lobby update is that the memorabilia-filled shadow boxes that were on the walls are now gone. At least, in the initial sections that have emerged. Those were chock-full of pop art, and are one of the most on-theme aspects of the resort. They’ve been replaced with character art that’s “more Disney,” and does look nice. My hope is that there’s still a shadow box or two in the center section as a compromise and nod to the past of the resort, but I’m not holding out much hope.
All in all, I do think this new lobby looks nice. And it probably does make sense to weave more Disney references into Pop Century, as I’m guessing that comports with guest expectations. Each year removed from the decades represented at Pop Century arguably makes the resort resonate less with younger generations.
These aren’t the only recent major changes at Pop Century. The resort has wrapped up a lengthy refurbishment of Everything POP Shopping & Dining that has been extended a few times, but is now finished.
This new seating area is nice, with mid-century stylization and far more vibrance and visual interest than the old seating area had. The colors, patterns, and textures all work well. It looks clean and has a pop flair thanks to the upholstery, flooring, and light fixtures. There’s also a greater variety to the seating, with booths, tables, and chairs adding a more laid back lounge type of vibe.
As part of this project, Walt Disney World also added a New Coffee Shop to Pop Century Resort. That offers specialty beverages to perk up guests throughout the day, and is the whole reason why Disney switched up the style of seating around Everything Pop.
Here’s a ton of photos from Everything Pop, featuring everything from resort-specific merchandise to specialty entrees, the new seating areas, and more:
Also on the horizon this winter, all routes of the Disney Skyliner gondolas will be closed for refurbishment from January 25, 2026 through January 31, 2026. Complimentary bus service will be available in its place.
This impacts Pop Century and Art of Animation headed to Caribbean Beach, as well as the hub station to both Disney’s Hollywood Studios and EPCOT’s International Gateway. (And all other Skyliner resorts and stations, for that matter.)
We strongly recommend avoiding Skyliner resorts during this time, which does not include the Crescent Lake hotels. See Disney Skyliner Gondolas Closing for Quick Refurbishment in 2026 for more info and detailed advice.
Another recent change that impacts Pop Century–in a good way–is Walt Disney World rolling out Airport Luggage Transfer at the Value Resorts. Guests staying at these Walt Disney World Resort hotels can drop checked baggage off with Luggage Assistance to be delivered directly to your flight.
A new third-party service, known as BagCheck, will take your luggage directly to the airport for your Southwest Airlines flight. Currently, this pilot service is available at Value Resort hotels for Guests with Southwest Airlines flights departing from Orlando International Airport (MCO).
This started back in the spring, and quickly expanded from Pop Century to the All Stars and Art of Animation. The bad news is that it hasn’t started at any of the Moderate or Deluxe Resorts. The good news is that Airport Luggage Transfer at Value Resorts is Available for Arrivals Starting Later in November 2025!
As for whether you should avoid Pop Century in the near-term due to another construction project, the answer is an easy no. There are simultaneous projects (for now), but the guest impact of each is minimal. Pop Century having clusters of outlying buildings makes this type of project less intrusive than it’d be at many of the other resorts.
We wouldn’t hesitate to stay at Pop Century between now and Spring 2026; we’d simply make a room request for one of the finished buildings in the 50s, or for anywhere but the 80s and 90s.
Realistically, though, the odds are in your favor to get a new room even without making a request. The only available buildings that haven’t been redone and have potential construction impacts are 7 and 8. And soon, one of those will be down, too.
Buildings 1-6 and 10 are done, and that’s ~70% of room inventory at Pop Century. Only ~20% of the rooms are still the 2017 vintage at this point. (The remaining ~10% are under the knife, and unavailable.)
Ultimately, we’re pleased with Disney’s Pop Century Resort getting so much attention. We were fans of the resort before, and all of these projects and enhancements only makes it better. The soft goods room refurbishment, in particular, has been a success at addressing complaints about the rooms being bland and boring.
From our perspective, everything on the above list qualifies as “only” incremental improvements–but they’re nevertheless noteworthy. The aesthetics are getting better, giving the resort more of a mid-century style with more personality and pops of color. If the new-look lobby is anything like the Everything POP refresh, it should be another win.
Pop Century does not “need” improvements to nearly the same degree as other resorts, but it’s still nice to see it receiving TLC. There’s a reason why Pop Century is so high up our Rankings of All Walt Disney World Resorts from Best to Worst!
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Your Thoughts
Are you a fan of Disney’s Pop Century Resort? Excited about the resort overhaul or concerned Pop will lose its personality? Pleased by the Everything POP refresh and new coffee shop? What about the more colorful rooms? Have you stayed at Pop Century during the soft goods refurbishment? Care to share your experience–good or bad? 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!
