We finally have a real timeline for the biggest overhaul Disney’s Art of Animation Resort has seen since it opened…
…and this one’s going to take a while.
Disney had previously only said the refurbishment would begin sometime in summer 2027, but the dates are now locked in: work starts mid-June 2027 and runs all the way through October 2028. That’s roughly 16 months of ongoing refurbishment, though the resort will remain open and operating throughout the entire process. The project will happen in phases, with one themed area tackled at a time rather than the whole resort going dark at once, so guests may see or hear maintenance work happening during daytime hours, and alternate walking paths could be in place until each section wraps up.
Here’s the part that matters most if you’re a fan of this resort’s very specific aesthetic: this covers The Little Mermaid standard rooms as well as the Cars, Finding Nemo, and Lion King family suites. And this genuinely is the first major hard-goods refurbishment Art of Animation has had since it opened back in 2012. Up until now, the resort’s only real updates have been soft-goods work — carpet swapped for laminate flooring between 2019 and 2021, a multi-phase lobby floor replacement, and the oversized character icons around property getting repainted to hold up against the Florida sun. Nothing at the scale of what’s coming in 2027.
One confirmed detail so far is that while keeping their animation-heavy theming intact, The Little Mermaid rooms will be getting pull-down Murphy beds, giving guests the flexibility of either a second bed or a table depending on what they actually need during their stay. That’s a feature we’ve already seen roll out at other Disney resorts recently, so its arrival here isn’t a huge surprise, but it’s a genuinely useful space-saving upgrade for a resort that leans hard into family suites built for bigger groups.
Disney hasn’t specified which themed area will go first, and details on exactly what’s changing beyond the Murphy beds haven’t been shared yet either. Given how distinctive Art of Animation’s theming is (massive sculpted set pieces, courtyards that genuinely feel like you’ve stepped into the movie, suites where the theming doesn’t stop at the door) this refurbishment carries a little more weight than a typical Disney room refresh. A lot of Disney’s recent room updates have leaned toward neutral palettes and cleaner, more generic hotel styling, and Art of Animation is one of the last resorts on property that’s fully committed to big, bold, immersive theming instead. The hope, at least from where I’m sitting, is that Disney finds a way to modernize the rooms without sanding off what makes this resort feel different from everywhere else on property.
This also fits into a much bigger pattern of hotel refurbishment activity happening across Disney World right now. The All-Star Resorts are already mid-refurbishment on a project expected to run into 2028 or 2029, Pop Century’s latest refurbishment recently wrapped, and several other high-profile projects are winding down soon, which tends to free up resources for exactly this kind of next big overhaul. If you’ve been tracking Disney’s resort construction calendar at all lately, Art of Animation’s turn was really just a matter of when, not if.
If a trip to Art of Animation is in your future sometime between mid-2027 and late 2028, it’s worth keeping an eye on which section is under construction as your dates get closer — especially if you’re specifically booking for one of the themed family suites rather than the standard Little Mermaid rooms.
Are you hoping Disney keeps Art of Animation’s bold theming intact through this refurbishment, or are you ready for a refresh? Let me know your take!
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