Walt Disney World has introduced resort refurbishments and resort development initiatives for 2025 & 2026. The largest certainly one of these will happen at and round Wilderness Lodge, and is now confirmed to incorporate a room reimagining. This shares dates, particulars, plus picture updates on the present initiatives, and our commentary in regards to the impacts of the work.
That is one of some initiatives that have been not too long ago introduced, together with the 12 months-Lengthy Pop Century Room Refurbishment and Disney’s Port Orleans Resorts Room Refurbishments Underway Till 2026. These in all probability will not be the one resort renovations on the horizon, both–simply those which have begin dates earlier in 2025. Keep watch over our Walt Disney World Lodge Development Tracker for additional updates.
Wilderness Lodge is not like these two initiatives as a result of the room redo is definitely only one piece of the puzzle there, and possibly the smallest. Let’s begin with what you could know on that entrance, straight from Walt Disney World: From mid-Might 2025 to September 2025, Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge will endure refurbishment. Whereas all Resort facilities will stay accessible, you could discover refurbishment work throughout daytime hours.
This was to be anticipated. As mentioned in our Disney Trip Membership Resort Refurbishment Timeline, this was already introduced on the rental affiliation assembly late final yr, and easily given a 2025 timeline. What the most recent replace does is slim down the dates, suggesting it gained’t be that prolonged of a undertaking.
That additionally is sensible. Copper Creek has comparatively latest rooms, so it is a gentle items refurbishment based mostly solely on timing. It’s value declaring that pre-existing Grand Floridian and Polynesian Villas acquired gentle items refurbishments in the previous couple of years that have been extra formidable than the usual selection.
For reference, listed here are the present Copper Creek customary rooms:
Copper Creek opened previous to the wave of Inova pull-down beds, so it’ll probably get throughout the undertaking. That’s exactly what occurred with the GF and Poly rooms. This is able to imply changing the couch sleeper on the far left of the picture with a combo sofa-bed that pulls down from the wall.
Disney has additionally demonstrated a defter design contact with latest DVC rooms, and we wouldn’t be in the slightest degree shocked to see the interiors ‘thematically streamlined’ a bit. Copper Creek had flashes of excellence earlier than, and if this brings it on par with Boulder Ridge, it’ll be an enormous win.
Talking of which, right here’s a take a look at the brand new Boulder Ridge rooms that will help you visualize what this might appear to be:
As we’ve talked about repeatedly, the Boulder Ridge Villas are our new #1 rooms in all of Walt Disney World.
The Boulder Ridge rooms simply acquired a tough items refurbishment and have been gutted within the course of. In order that undertaking was extra important in scale and scope, however the distinction was the place to begin. The outdated Boulder Ridge rooms have been actually outdated, and whereas a few of us had nostalgia and sentimentality for them, the brand new rooms at Boulder Ridge have extra in frequent with the present Copper Creek rooms than they did the outdated Boulder Ridge ones.
Which is to say that even absent a tough items refurbishment, the upcoming Copper Creek rooms might find yourself wanting just like the brand new Boulder Ridge rooms just because they’re already lots nearer to that. My expectation is that the flooring, current mattress/headboard, kitchenette, and bogs can be unchanged. The largest wildcard is the dresser, and whether or not that’ll be transformed right into a pull-down fifth sleeper and storage combo, just like what you see within the Boulder Ridge picture. A few of the paintings changed and Disney particulars being added are additionally givens.
Maybe that is overly optimistic, however my perspective is that the Copper Creek rooms have a close to 100% likelihood of bettering on account of the room redo. The pull-down mattress alone nearly assures that, however I’d additionally count on new artwork that includes the Junior Woodchucks, Humphrey the Bear, or another outdoorsy Disney IP. Easter eggs to Walt Disney, railroads, and the corporate’s wilderness-inspired historical past additionally appear to be givens. Suffice to say, I’m optimistic.
By way of the impression to company staying at Wilderness Lodge, there in all probability gained’t be a lot of 1. The final time Walt Disney World did a room reimagining in the primary lodge was a couple of years in the past for the resort rooms. Throughout that, total flooring have been taken out of fee separately, and the work was solely carried out throughout daytime hours.
We stayed at Wilderness Lodge twice throughout that undertaking, and I needed to exit of my method to see indicators (actually–pictured above and beneath) of the work. I wouldn’t have even recognized it was happening, however for these and varied hallways being blocked off, which was seen from the foyer beneath.
In case you’re staying above or beneath one of many flooring being labored on and you are likely to take naps throughout the day, it’s completely doable your expertise might differ. By which case, we’d merely suggest putting a room request to be on a flooring that’s not less than one-removed from the present progress. This principally applies to company staying within the Copper Creek Villas, although. In case you’re staying on the resort facet of Wilderness Lodge, you have to be fantastic with none requests.
As intimated above, this isn’t the one work being carried out at or round Wilderness Lodge in 2025 and past.
Walt Disney World filed a development allow a couple of months in the past for Wilderness Lodge that mirrored a prolonged and large-scale undertaking happening over the subsequent two years. We mentioned this at size in New Allow for Wilderness Lodge Development Venture Lasting Till December 2026.
The allow itself didn’t inform us a lot, solely that it was “common development” and assigned to Adena Company, which is a daily collaborator with Walt Disney World. The allow was purposefully prolonged past the default 1-year timeline to December 25, 2026. The undertaking can also be being dealt with by Walt Disney World’s Facility Asset Administration (FAM) group relatively than Walt Disney Imagineering. This sometimes means that’s upkeep of an current facility relatively than a wholesale development undertaking. Resort refurbishments–much more formidable ones like that of the Grand Floridian–undergo FAM.
There are a selection of potentialities as to what that undertaking lasting by way of December 2026 might entail.
One theoretical candidate is changing extra of the Wilderness Lodge resort stock into Disney Trip Membership, however I’m extremely skeptical of that. There’s already a ton of DVC stock accessible for buy or coming on-line, together with on this very area of Walt Disney World. Plus, the resort rooms are brand-new! This isn’t it.
One other chance is a pool refurbishment. Once more, that’s unlikely. Nothing has began or been introduced, and a pool undertaking of that length would’ve appeared on the calendar by now to alert company. So that just about definitely isn’t it, both.
This leaves the most probably candidate as exterior refurbishment work to Wilderness Lodge.
That undertaking began just a few days after the allow was filed, and Walt Disney World added a bulletin to the web site with an open-ended timeframe. That’s a very long time for exterior refurbishment work, however that wouldn’t be too shocking. Walt Disney World took its time with comparable initiatives at Yacht and Seaside Membership a pair years in the past.
Accordingly, we’re going with exterior refurbishment work because the most probably undertaking related to the allow lasting by way of December 2026. Whereas the work might final that lengthy, it additionally might be a case of Disney erring on the facet of warning.
As for visitor impression of the outside refurbishment, we additionally don’t count on an amazing quantity.
I really simply stayed at Wilderness Lodge throughout a latest journey whereas this undertaking was ongoing. Mildly joke, as I hadn’t deliberate to remain there–I used to be booked at Pop Century for an “vital” analysis keep there. Nevertheless, as Mears Join was dropping me off on the resort, Sarah obtained a name from Disney asking if they may bump me to Wilderness Lodge as a result of Pop was overbooked.
That is the form of factor you solely hear about on the web, however by no means occurs to you. (In reality, it had by no means occurred to me previous to this!) And whereas I in all probability ought to’ve stayed at Pop Century for the sake of analysis…c’mon, it’s Wilderness Lodge! I’m solely human. After all I took the free improve.
Anyway, the purpose is that I might see the outside work being carried out from my balcony. I additionally walked across the resort to scope out some other work being carried out. There have been small areas of scaffolding up on varied parts of the resort.
Not as soon as did I hear something from my room, however my room was sufficiently faraway from the outside work. If the work proceeds on this focused trend, that is going to be the expertise of in all probability 98% of company staying at Wilderness Lodge at any given time.
The one exception to that is the rooms which might be close to the scaffolding, however these will in all probability be taken out of fee if/when the work will get to these factors. So once more, a easy room request to be away from the work ought to suffice. I in all probability wouldn’t even proactively make that request because the odds of impression are exceedingly low.
Lastly, there’s the continuing work on the former River Nation website, which is close by Wilderness Lodge.
A pair months after this undertaking resumed, Walt Disney World lastly formally confirmed that the undertaking has resumed underneath a brand new identify: Disney Lakeshore Lodge (previously Reflections – A Disney Lakeside Lodge).
Within the announcement, Walt Disney World confirmed that development is presently underway and that new blended use property (that means it’s Disney Trip Membership and a daily resort, just like Disney’s Riviera Resort) is projected to open in 2027. Which means development between every now and then.
Development on Disney Lakeshore Lodge was additionally ongoing throughout my latest keep (above picture taken from the boat dock at Wilderness Lodge).
Throughout that, I noticed development in motion on boat rides to and from Magic Kingdom. Most apparently, work was being carried out beginning early within the morning–even after I departed for Early Entry–and on weekends. The big cranes have been transferring supplies even at 7 am! So clearly it’s full steam forward on Reflections–err, Disney Lakeshore Lodge.
Whereas technically between Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness, the Disney Lakeshore Lodge development website is way nearer to Fort Wilderness than Wilderness Lodge. It’s far sufficient away that, once more, my expectation is that the impression to company at Wilderness Lodge ought to be minimal. You’ll see work within the distance, however that’s about it.
The largest exception to that is company staying within the Cascade Cabins on the far finish (nearer to Fort Wilderness).
In some unspecified time in the future, Disney goes to start out constructing the previously-announced A-frame cabins and treehouse villas within the common neighborhood of the present Cascade Cabins. As soon as that begins, company staying in these waterfront DVC models which might be closest to Fort Wilderness will probably be capable of see and listen to work being carried out.
Visitors staying on the far finish of Boulder Ridge may additionally be capable of see or hear work from their balconies for the A-frame cabins and treehouse villas.
Most likely not sufficient to justify avoiding these rooms, except you want sitting in your balcony and being immersed within the wilderness as you get pleasure from your morning espresso or decompress noon. That’s really me–so I’d think about requesting a room away from the motion at Boulder Ridge (these are additionally actually lengthy hallways, so a room request isn’t a foul concept there).
Once more, the primary constructing of Wilderness Lodge is fairly removed from this undertaking. I couldn’t see the cranes from my room (which confronted that path) and the 2 images above taken from the monorail don’t even present Wilderness Lodge as a result of it’s pretty far out of the body. This isn’t to say work on Disney Lakeshore Lodge gained’t be seen or audible in some unspecified time in the future between now and 2027–it’s a 10-story tower, in spite of everything–but it surely’s not a undertaking that may concern me as a resort visitor at Wilderness Lodge.
Finally, there’s a whole lot of present and upcoming work at Wilderness Lodge between now and 2027. All of this may sound overwhelming, to the purpose that the totality of it makes you rethink staying right here. In case you’re actually averse to visible blight and noise, maybe you need to.
Personally, this won’t trigger us to rethink our upcoming stays at Wilderness Lodge–not even with a toddler who wants noon breaks for naps. Although it’s going to final a number of years, the work is sufficiently remoted, focused, or off within the distance that it offers me no pause. This gained’t be as unhealthy as staying on the Polynesian throughout Island Tower development, Riviera Resort from Caribbean Seaside, Gran Destino Tower from the remainder of Coronado Springs, and even Disney Lakeshore Lodge from Fort Wilderness.
Whereas I’ve some sturdy ideas in regards to the upcoming 10-story Disney Lakeshore Lodge and am extremely protecting of Wilderness Lodge and its thematic integrity, none of that extends to avoiding stays on the property between now and 2027. Maybe that’ll change if extra initiatives are revealed which have extra of an impression, however for now, I feel most company can be completely fantastic with room requests in the event that they’re actually anxious. Even for those who don’t make a request, you’re unlikely to be inside earshot of the work.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Ideas on the development at and round Wilderness Lodge between now and 2027? Excited for the room refurbishment at Copper Creek? Have you ever stayed at Wilderness Lodge since work started on the outside or adjoining Disney Lakeshore Lodge? What was your expertise? Did you even discover that these initiatives have been occurring? Do you agree or disagree with our advice to make a room request relatively than keep elsewhere? 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!
