Walt Disney World is beginning a new development cycle that will result in $17 billion of spending on new lands, rides, restaurants, and resorts. That last one is actually an assumption on our part. Even though WDW’s 5-year plan was laid out at D23, there was radio silence about hotels–even projects we know are in development.
In all likelihood, there’s a lot more on the Walt Disney World ‘hotel horizon’ in 2025 and beyond that has yet to be announced. This should come as no surprise, as the last development cycle saw multiple resort reimaginings, along with the construction of Gran Destino Tower, Riviera Resort, Swan Reserve, and about a dozen different Disney Vacation Club add-ons. Not to mention the shelved Reflections Lakeside Lodge, which is now part of this development cycle.
What’s notable about most of those projects is that the original announcements were not made at the D23 Expo or other blockbuster events. They instead came via press releases or, on rare occasion, via quiet updates to the official Walt Disney World website or bulletins to travel agents. Point being, you should expect more of the same starting in 2025, with fast-tracked resort projects that have varying degrees of impact to the guest experience.
At its essence, that’s what this list is all about. Walt Disney World has a ton of hotels and a lot of construction, which could impact your vacation. To help make things easier, we’re going to narrow down your choices with a list of accommodations NOT to book, with a rundown of the worst resorts for 2025, including a few hotels that we normally love–and one big time fan favorite!
What makes this list of the worst hotels at Walt Disney World in 2025 different from any other time? Each of these resorts makes the list for a specific reason unique to 2025. In most cases, that’s either due to the impact of construction…or the lack thereof, as time has passed by a couple of these resorts as their “competition” has improved by comparison.
In a couple of cases, we’re also taking into account recent reader feedback, which has soured on some resorts at Walt Disney World more than others. In other cases, we’re proactively anticipating a rise in complaints come 2025, as past precedent is the best predictor of future performance, or guest (dis)satisfaction, as the case may be.
With that said, calling these the “worst” Walt Disney World resorts for 2025 is probably a bit hyperbolic. In many cases, the construction projects impacting each of the resorts will be localized, meaning that you could avoid it with a room request. In other cases, the pertinent closures won’t even last the entire year, so depending upon your 2025 travel dates, you may not experience any issues at all.
If you’re not worried about closures or construction, and are simply looking for how we rank the resorts at Walt Disney World without any special consideration for 2025, we’d recommend reading our Rankings of ALL Walt Disney World Hotels from Worst to Best. Honestly, that’s a better starting place than this list as it covers a wider variety of pros & cons and is just, generally, more comprehensive…
With that said, let’s dig into this list of the worst resorts at Walt Disney World for 2025…
All Star Movies
Walt Disney World has announced that the Fantasia Pool at Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort will be closed for routine maintenance from January 2025 through April 2025. This is the feature pool at All Star Movies.
Guests may see or hear construction work during daytime hours. During this time, hotel guests are welcome to swim in the Duck Pond Pool at Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort.
Obviously, a pool project lasting ~4 months isn’t enough to keep All Star Movies on the ‘worst’ list for the entire year. But wait, there’s more. Movies was also the first of the All Star trio to get entirely reimagined rooms, so these are now the oldest of the bunch, meaning slightly more wear and tear. For that reason alone, book Sports or Music in 2025.
Bay Lake Tower
Bay Lake Tower is in the midst of receiving a full refurbishment. The project just started in October, and is slated to take one full year, which means that it’ll be finished by October 2025. That’s assuming there are no delays or pauses to accommodate peak season dates, and I wouldn’t be so sure of either.
Disney has indicated that this is going to be a “challenging” project, with renovations completed floor-by-floor, requiring a rerouting of utilities so that all operating floors still receive service. The project will also entail infrastructure work in addition to room overhauls. Construction crews are on-site and rooms are already out of commission, but it’s unclear how much worse the impact will get.
Bay Lake Tower is overdue for a refurbishment, and the rooms have been worse for wear for at least 5 years now. The rooms at Bay Lake Tower were poorly constructed in the first place and built just before the current ‘wave’ of innovative accommodations that marry space-saving styles with well-themed ones. The studios are also small by Disney Vacation Club standards, especially when contrasted with the Polynesian.
Consequently, BLT could benefit tremendously from getting the Riviera treatment. We really look forward to returning to Bay Lake Tower once that happens…but won’t until it does! At this point, that means banking and booking a stay at BLT for Christmas 2025 or in Winter 2026.
This is one where a room request could suffice to avoid the construction impact, but given the status of the old rooms, you may be better off using your DVC points at the Poly or Grand Floridian in 2025 if you want a Magic Kingdom resort. As always, you can score significant savings when renting Disney Vacation Club points, which should take the sting out of prices when planning your Walt Disney World trip!
Beach Club
On the plus side, the lobby refresh and room refurbishments are now finished at Disney’s Beach Club Resort and Villas. This isn’t a massive reimagining like some of the resorts have seen–you may not even notice most differences if it’s been several years between stays–but the resort feels fresh as a result. It’s the type of thing that would normally land Beach Club on this list, especially since it’s also a modest thematic upgrade.
But (and this is a big “but”), a huge closure is on the horizon: Stormalong Bay Pool is Closing in 2025 for Refurbishment. From January 2025 through June 2025, Stormalong Bay and Shipwreck Pool at Disney’s Yacht and Beach Club Resorts will be closed for maintenance.
As the #1 pool at Walt Disney World and the biggest selling point of staying here, we just cannot recommend Beach Club for the first 6 months of next year. Personally, I wouldn’t book it for July, either. Walt Disney World usually plays these reopening dates conservatively–and they reopen on time or ahead of schedule 4 times out of 5. That that 20% chance of a delay gives me pause.
Yacht Club
Similar story here, at least with regard to Stormalong Bay in the first 6-7 months of 2025. We wouldn’t book these resorts unless we really didn’t care about the pool, or there were an exceptional discount to compensate for the key feature being out of commission.
That’s not the only sticking point for Yacht Club, though. From January 2025 through May 2025, guest rooms at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort will be under refurbishment. Guests may see or hear construction work during daytime hours.
This is interesting because Yacht Club’s “new” rooms (air quotes) have held up really well and aren’t showing their age. So either it’s time for another soft goods refurbishment or Walt Disney World is making an as-yet unannounced change. My money is on the former–it’s about time for a refresh.
Even so, it’s odd that this project would only last 5 months. Yacht Club is a rather large hotel, and a soft goods refurbishment seems like it’d take longer. Maybe it will, and that end date is wrong, or perhaps it’s not every room. No matter how you slice it, we’d recommend avoiding Yacht Club for the first half of 2025.
Port Orleans French Quarter
Same idea here as with Yacht Club. Through Spring 2025, “some” guest rooms at Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – French Quarter will be under refurbishment. Guests may see or hear construction work during daytime hours.
It’s worth noting that this started as lasting through this November, causing us to speculate that it was a two-phased hard goods room reimagining, with a pause in the middle for the high-occupancy holiday season. After that, the second set of rooms would be redone in the first half of 2025. This has now proven to be correct, as Walt Disney World quietly “extended” this to Spring 2025.
We’re willing to go further on a limb and say it could last even longer than that. Not necessarily the room reimagining (although that could), but bigger picture projects around French Quarter. It’s been a while since this resort had any major non-pool projects, so it’s potentially overdue. On the plus side, the first sets of buildings are now finished, and the new rooms have been nicely modernized.
Port Orleans Riverside Resort
If a time-traveler came back and told me a decade ago that Riverside would be making my worst of list for 2025, I wouldn’t believe it. Mostly because I’m skeptical of time travel. We still love Port Orleans Riverside, but we love the idea of it more than the actual resort. Time has passed it by.
One way or another, that’s why it Port Orleans Riverside makes this list of places to avoid in 2025. Either because time has passed it by and it feels dated as compared to other Moderate Resorts, or because Walt Disney World recognizes this and will finally finish the renovations that were interrupted by the COVID closure.
Walt Disney World has already announced a partial slate of room reimaginings at Port Orleans Riverside in 2025, but our bet is that there’s much more to come. Once Port Orleans French Quarter is finished with its refurbishment, typical cadence would be for those construction crews to move over to Riverside. That’s what happened last time and the time before that. (I’m not sure about the time before that–that’s back in the AOL dial-up days and internet record-keeping isn’t the best.)
The bottom line is that we expect to see a large-scale refurbishment project at Port Orleans Riverside starting sometime between Spring 2025 and Fall 2025. Basically, shortly after whenever work wraps up at French Quarter. Stay there before that if you want to experience a thematic exemplar of Walt Disney World, and would prefer something that’s old school Walt Disney World (and in fairness, that is what many fans favor!).
Fort Wilderness
Walt Disney World is still in the process of replacing the old cabins with new Disney Vacation Club villas. The first phases of cabins are now open, but work continues.
Construction impact will be minimal, as the cabins are pre-fabricated off-site and installed unit-by-unit, not built on location. This will occur loop by loop and should be finished by April 2025. Even if it’s not done by then, we wouldn’t recommend avoiding Fort Wilderness on this basis.
We would, however, recommend avoiding it due to work resuming on Disney Lakeshore Lodge (formerly Reflections). Walt Disney World finally officially announced this, after it being an open secret for months. We just stayed at both Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness within the last month, and the construction from the latter was very noticeable.
It’s on that basis that we recommend avoiding Fort Wilderness for the next couple of years. The whole point of Fort Wilderness for us is its serenity and seclusion. Construction will have an outsized impact on Fort Wilderness guests, as cranes tower over the Settlement to build a tower that will also tower over the campground. Construction blight and noise eliminate the main appeal of Fort Wilderness for us in the first place. We simply would rather sit out the next few years there while this work is ongoing.
Wilderness Lodge
Wilderness Lodge makes the list partly due to Disney Lakeshore Lodge (assuming that actually is the final name), but it’s not nearly as significant of a factor here as it is for Fort Wilderness. Even the waterfront A-frame cabins and treehouse villas won’t materially impact Wilderness Lodge guests, save for those staying on the far end of the Cascade Cabins (easy enough to avoid with a room request).
Officially, there are two current project at Wilderness Lodge: exterior refurbishment work and refurbishments to the Copper Creek Villas inside the main building. During this time, guests may see and hear construction work during daytime hours. It’s unknown when this will end.
These are two lengthy projects that could impact Wilderness Lodge until 2027 if permits are accurate. As a result, this hotel arguably has the biggest slate of construction projects in 2025. However, as we discuss in greater detail in this post about Wilderness Lodge construction, that doesn’t really give us pause about staying there. With room requests, you may not notice any of the work at all.
Wildcard: Grand Floridian Resort
We love the new Mary Poppins-inspired rooms at Grand Floridian and the refreshed restaurants, but Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort still–somehow–a wildcard in 2025.
We say this because nothing material has happened on this project in over a year. The outer buildings are all finished, and Walt Disney World got to the main lobby building and just…stopped. It’s our understanding that work isn’t actually done in the lobby–it just paused for the popular holiday season last year. But then, it never resumed in 2024.
What happens next is unknown. It could just be a light refresh, with work resuming and finishing in the first couple months of 2025. At the other end of the spectrum, it could be a prolonged and involved process, encompassing not just the lobby but the restaurants in the main building, too. It stands to reason that Grand Floridian Cafe will be refurbished at some point, receiving a refresh similar to 1900 Park Fare.
Or maybe not! Perhaps Disney has decided to hang a “Mission Accomplished” banner in the lobby of the Grand Floridian and move on to other projects. Honestly, we’re fine with that. The lobby is fantastic, even if it doesn’t quite mesh with the outer buildings now.
Ultimately, there are a lot of excellent accommodations options for 2025 Walt Disney World vacations. There are tons of recently-redone resorts and room reimaginings, most of which are significantly better than the old rooms (anything pre-2018). This is great for guests, and makes it easier to be picky about where you stay.
The bad news is that some resorts are being refreshed or will have construction closures in 2025. Given the prices that Walt Disney World charges, you should be picky about where you’re paying a premium to stay and make sure all important amenities are available and there’s nothing to detract from your stay.
Our hope is that this list of accommodations helps you narrow down where you want to stay when planning your 2025 trip to Walt Disney World. Just keep in mind that this list is likely incomplete, especially for the second half of 2025, so we’ll keep you posted about further updates and construction projects that are added to the calendar at a later date.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
Which resort(s) will you be avoiding in 2025 at Walt Disney World? Think we’ve making too much of the construction at the Poly or Grand Floridian? What about room conditions at Bay Lake Tower? Think time has passed by Port Orleans Riverside, or disagree with our take on that? What about all the pool and potential Skyliner closures at the beginning of 2025? Do you agree or disagree with our choices? 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!
