Walt Disney World just lately prolonged ongoing lodge building initiatives at Disney’s Yacht & Seaside Membership Resorts by way of 2027, however with one part of the work slated to wrap up this month. Since we’re at present staying within the Crescent Lake space and needed to stroll previous these accommodations for Very Vital Analysis in regards to the 2025 EPCOT Meals & Wine Pageant, we made a detour to test on the work.
As a reminder, it’s getting near that point of yr when Walt Disney World schedules a flurry of initiatives for the upcoming fiscal yr (or on this case, years), so there are in all probability extra lodge renovations on the horizon. Keep watch over our 2025-2026 Walt Disney World Lodge Development Tracker for updates on different, smaller-scale initiatives.
Even for the reason that Yacht & Seaside Membership refurbishment extension, Walt Disney World has added a pair new initiatives to that listing. In any case, right here’s the development alert on the Walt Disney World web site for Disney’s Seaside Membership Resort:
Disney’s Seaside Membership Resort is present process routine exterior upkeep by way of 2027. As a part of this work, the porte cochere shall be closed by way of September 2025. This work could impression views from numerous areas all through the resort, and at instances, alternate paths of journey could also be in place.
Whereas efforts shall be made to attenuate disruptions, building could also be noticeable throughout daytime hours. All companies—together with valet, baggage help, and transportation—will stay out there. All swimming pools, resort eating and most different facilities will stay out there.
From January 25, 2026, by way of January 31, 2026, Disney Skyliner shall be closed for refurbishment. Complimentary bus service shall be out there. (Be aware: there’s an nearly an identical bulletin for Yacht Membership, with the one materials distinction being an finish date of late 2026 for the outside work.)
Listed below are present images of the Seaside Membership porte cochere rebuild, adopted by different restricted facade work I may discover at Yacht Membership:
This porte cochere mission began again in mid-June, and I first noticed the development in late July. Not a ton of progress had been made then, however work has seemingly accelerated extra just lately. On the time, it was slated to be a 3-month mission. Technically, it nonetheless is. Though I suppose that could possibly be pushed to three.5 months since “by way of September 2025” may imply the thirtieth of this month.
I’ll begin with my regular preface that I’m not a building professional, so take any opinions right here with a grain of salt. What I do have is in depth expertise in monitoring Walt Disney World building initiatives, and simply judging by the tempo of the work right here to this point, they’re going to be hard-pressed to make that September 2025 deadline.
Crews are principally rebuilding the porte cochere. Walt Disney World describes this as “routine exterior upkeep,” however you possibly can see the scope and scale of the work for your self. Possibly it doesn’t meet some technical definition of rebuilding, however we’ve principally bought ourselves a quasi Ship of Theseus scenario the place a lot is being changed that it’d as effectively qualify as a brand new porte cochere when all is alleged and finished. It seems to be to me as if the entire roof and wooden is being rebuilt, atop the underwhelming structural helps.
That is paying homage to an analogous mission at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort again through the phased reopening, which took loads longer than 3-4 months to finish from begin to end. Granted, that concerned rebuilding the porte cochere round a monorail station, however it was a equally bold and time-consuming mission that additionally concerned an enormous crane.
It’s undoubtedly not going to take till 2027 to complete simply the Seaside Membership porte cochere, however the entrance part of the development not wrapping up till the beginning of the vacation season strikes me as a really sensible risk. Actually, if this isn’t completed by early 2026, I wouldn’t be shocked. Walt Disney World has had a behavior of quietly extending these timelines just lately, so I wouldn’t take the “by way of September 2025” timeline because the gospel. Particularly because it’s now September and the mission nonetheless seems to be like this!
Luckily, there’s a big space on the opposite facet of the porte cochere that also permits for visitor drop-off, unloading of automobiles, valet, bell companies, and many others. Sadly, buses can’t enter this space due to the restricted area and turning radius, so in the event you’re catching Mears Join, you’ll be redirected to a farther-away location.
Nonetheless, I felt this was price trying out and sharing as we had a number of readers who skilled the present arrival expertise and flagged it as ‘suboptimal’ (their phrases have been much less charitable). I may undoubtedly see that on an particularly scorching or wet day (like this one!), however location-wise, it’s nonetheless very near the entrance entrance. Only a barely longer stroll and no cowl from the weather.
The rebuilding of the porte cochere is along with work happening on the outside of the constructing.
The excellent news is that whereas wandering round Yacht & Seaside Membership, I didn’t discover an excessive amount of of an impression on the outside. There have been a number of spots on the Yacht Membership and a healthy-sized crew, however the quantity of blight wasn’t unhealthy.
I wouldn’t have even bothered to cease and take images had I not deliberate on scripting this–that means it wasn’t one thing that stopped me in my tracks. Work has been way more noticeable previously.
Maybe that is the why of the outside upkeep refurbishment mission being prolonged into late 2026 and 2027 on the sister resorts–as a result of Walt Disney World is choosing a smaller crew to scale back the mission space into one thing smaller and fewer impactful.
Arduous to fault them for that method, particularly in the event that they’ve gotten visitor complaints. Which means it’ll take twice as lengthy and have an effect on double (give or take) the variety of visitors over time, however the blight shall be diluted. That, or I caught this at an in-between time earlier than extra scaffolding had gone up.
Both manner, the one factor I hold coming again to when watching the work at Disney’s Yacht & Seaside Membership Resorts is simply how widespread it’s for building and upkeep to be occurring right here. As talked about earlier than, it looks as if there have been practically perpetual initiatives at Yacht & Seaside Membership for the final ~5 years.
Followers like me bemoan the boxy type of Walt Disney World’s newer resorts, however I ponder whether the skyrocketing upkeep and labor prices are an enormous think about that call. Ditto Common opting to construct its in-park lodge at Epic Universe on a budget, as opposing to creating it a flagship luxurious resort. I can not fathom what number of tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} Disney has spent on the exteriors of simply Yacht & Seaside Membership Resorts within the final a number of years; it’s an analogous story with Portofino Bay Lodge over at Common Orlando.
It’s telling that even the freer-spending OLC (operator of Tokyo Disney Resort) opted to construct the extra primary and boring Fantasy Springs Lodge versus outdoing Lodge MiraCosta. Sadly, I think rising refurbishment prices–as a consequence of supplies and building crews–imply we’ll by no means see something that ornate and labor-intensive once more. That’s an actual disgrace for followers of themed design, however I get the practicalities of the choice.
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Your Ideas
What do you consider the outside refurbishment at Yacht & Seaside Resorts? Suppose the porte cochere rebuild will really be completed by the tip of this month? Have you ever skilled building impacts at both of those resorts within the final ~5 years? Do you agree or disagree with our evaluation? Any questions we might help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even once you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!