Here Are the Ongoing DVC Refurbishments This Summer

Welcome to Disney Vacation Club refurbishment season! Okay, that’s technically not a thing, but it definitely feels real given everything happening right now. Let’s discuss the ongoing and upcoming DVC refurbishments at your favorite resorts. 

The Grand Floridian Lobby

Let’s start with a refurbishment that could affect many of us. Even guests who aren’t staying at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa often spend time in the lobby here. 

Currently, said lobby is quite the mess. Technically, Disney workers are refurbishing rooms in the main building. While they perform this construction, the impact leaks into the public spaces, particularly the hotel lobby, where you can’t help but notice construction walls everywhere. Paul & Amy Krieger take a look at the lobby construction one of the latest DVC Fan videos:

I would estimate that Disney has blocked off one-quarter of the lobby during this construction. As I type this, the currently closed section is near the main entrance, but that can always change, depending on the date of your visit. 

Thankfully, all of your favorite hotel lobby amenities are available. I’m talking about the stores, restaurants, elevator, and piano. So, you can still listen to Disney music on many nights. Thankfully, the walkway to Magic Kingdom has reopened, too. 

Disney’s Vero Beach Resort 

The rest of the current/scheduled refurbishments more directly impact your hotel stay. As a reminder, Disney Vacation Club refurbishments fall into two categories.

Every seven years, Disney performs one of two types of renovations. During a “soft goods” refurbishment, management updates various elements of in-room décor. I’m talking about the upholstery, the linens, and maybe even the window treatments and/or flooring.

During a “hard goods” refurbishment, DVC basically starts from scratch with a room design. Let’s say that you stay on the final date before the refresh and then the first day afterward. Your in-room pictures will look nothing alike because the entire room has changed. 

So, a soft goods refurb means minor changes that won’t take long. A hard goods refurb ensures an entirely new hotel room experience, but it takes a while to complete. 

Disney has confirmed a fall update coming to Vero Beach. A recent update suggests that refurbishment will occur from October 2023 through January 2024. 

Typically, resorts undergoing such projects must block some walkways, which explains the construction walls I just mentioned at the Grand Floridian. The good news is that cast members generally work from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., assuring you’re unlikely to be awakened by noise or face issues at night.

Also, please understand that the dates sometimes change for planned refurbishment. In fact, let’s discuss one such instance now. 

Disney’s Beach Club Villas 

The pandemic wreaked havoc with DVC’s previously announced refurbishment projects. One of the oddest involved Disney’s Beach Club Villas.

DVC announced that the project would begin during the first week of January and last for approximately three months. That timeline proved wildly ambitious, as Disney realized in February that it couldn’t complete the project.

Instead, DVC delayed the refurbishment until August. It’s possible that some of the work could occur even earlier, though. I say this because Beach Club has also recently undergone lobby renovations. They only started a couple of weeks ago, which could indicate that Disney decided to speed up the timeline. The reservation bookings still suggest August through October as the new target dates for the refurb. Here’s a look at some of the newly updated DVC Studio Villas: 

Speaking of October, that’s when Beach Club intends to renovate its quiet pool. Work will begin on the Dunes Cove Pool then and should continue into December. Of course, as long as Stormalong Bay is open, nobody thinks twice about Dunes Cove Pool anyway. 

Three Other Upcoming Refurbishments 

We’ve got three other DVC refurbishments to discuss. First, Disney’s BoardWalk Villas will undergo a hard goods refresh later in 2023. The current schedule calls for work to begin this fall and continue through next spring. And all DVC members know that the hard goods projects often run late. So, you should keep this in mind when you consider your 2024 vacation plans.

Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge will start its refurbishment on April 29th, 2024. Disney will take a unique approach by working on four Cabins at a time to keep the rest open to guests. Since this resort is turning seven next July, it’s a soft goods refurbishment. 

Finally, we have the most pressing refurbishment update. Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort is starting its renovations right about…now. The booking notifications state July 2023 as the start date but don’t list an end date yet.

Hilton Head had previously slipped through the cracks during the pandemic. Its last soft goods project occurred in 2014. Disney delayed the seven-year timeline due to more pressing matters. Now, this resort will receive a hard goods refurbishment that shouldn’t finish until sometime in early 2024. 

I should also mention that Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge finished its hard goods refurbishment earlier this year. Here’s a video of the new rooms thanks to our friends at DVC Fan:

The Donald Duck scouting painting is my everything. It’s the kind of delightful touch you can expect whenever Disney performs a hard goods refurbishment.

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