For many Disney World guests, the frustration doesn’t happen at check-in.It happens weeks—or even months—earlier, right when they try to book.The dates are open. The budget is set. The resort is chosen. And then, suddenly, the room they planned their entire trip around just isn’t there.Credit: Brian McGowan, UnsplashOver the past year, Disney World’s hotel system has quietly shifted in a way that’s forcing guests to rethink where they stay long before they arrive. Entire sections of resorts have been taken offline for refurbishment. Villas have been removed from inventory. Room counts have shrunk, sometimes dramatically at certain resorts.And when guests can’t book where they intended to stay, they don’t cancel their trip.They relocate it.When “Sold Out” Isn’t the Real ProblemOn the surface, it looks like demand.Resorts appear full. Availability dries up faster than expected. Prices fluctuate wildly depending on the week.But behind the scenes, the issue hasn’t been crowds alone—it’s capacity.Throughout 2024 and 2025, Disney World has been gutting and rebuilding hotel rooms across nearly every tier of its resort lineup. These aren’t quick touch-ups. Many projects involve stripping rooms down to their frames, reconfiguring layouts, and rebuilding entire interiors.Credit: Jerry Clack, FlickrWhile that work is happening, those rooms don’t exist.Guests planning trips for late 2025 or into 2026 have increasingly run into a frustrating reality: the resort they want to stay at simply doesn’t have bookable rooms during their travel window, even when demand appears manageable.So they pivot.Value and Moderate Resorts Felt It FirstPop Century is one of the clearest examples. For much of 2025, the resort operated with a reduced room count due to a rolling refurbishment schedule that won’t fully wrap until early 2026. Entire buildings rotated in and out of availability, quietly shrinking the number of rooms Disney could offer at one of its most popular Value resorts.Port Orleans Riverside is experiencing a similar squeeze, with sections of Magnolia Bend undergoing refurbishment while French Quarter finished its own room updates. During overlapping phases, guests looking for Moderate pricing often will find far fewer options than expected.The result wasn’t forced displacement—it was forced choice.Guests either adjusted their dates, paid more for a different resort, or changed their entire stay plan.Credit: DisneyEven Deluxe Inventory Has TightenedDeluxe resorts haven’t been immune.Bay Lake Tower finally completed a long-awaited room overhaul, but ongoing construction at Disney’s Contemporary Resort has continued to limit flexibility. At Animal Kingdom Lodge, Kidani Village entered a hard-goods refurbishment cycle that removed large blocks of villa inventory, with more work scheduled into 2026.These projects matter because Deluxe rooms aren’t interchangeable. When a specific room type or villa category disappears, it creates gaps that can’t easily be filled elsewhere.Guests planning far in advance have increasingly found themselves adjusting expectations—not because they changed their minds, but because Disney’s inventory changed underneath them.Treehouse Villas Are the Next Wild CardLooking ahead, Saratoga Springs’ Treehouse Villas could become the next pressure point.New permits filed in December strongly suggest upcoming refurbishment work that could extend well into 2027. While Disney hasn’t announced closures yet, even phased work would remove some of the most unique, high-capacity accommodations on property.That matters more than it seems.The Treehouses often absorb larger parties who might otherwise need multiple standard rooms. If that option disappears—even temporarily—it pushes more guests into fewer remaining categories. And once again, guests adapt by relocating their plans.Credit: DisneyThe Emotional Toll of Planning Around UncertaintyWhat makes this situation particularly exhausting for guests is how invisible it all feels.There’s no banner saying “inventory reduced.”No warning that your favorite resort is operating at partial capacity.No clear explanation for why rooms vanish months earlier than expected.From a guest’s perspective, it just feels harder to plan.The resort they’ve stayed at for years may potentially not be an option anymore. The budget they carefully mapped out doesn’t stretch the same way. The trip still happens, but it looks different than they imagined.And for many families, that shift happens quietly, without a single dramatic moment to point to.A System Still in FluxAs of December 17, 2025, Disney World’s hotel system is still deeply unsettled. The projects mentioned above are just some of the construction projects that are being done — or completed — at Walt Disney World Resort. More refurbishments are scheduled. More rooms will cycle offline. More inventory will quietly disappear before returning in refreshed form.None of this means Disney World vacations are falling apart.But it does mean that where guests end up staying is increasingly dictated by construction calendars rather than preference.And until those projects slow down, planning a Disney World hotel stay will continue to feel less like choosing—and more like adjusting.Have Disney’s ongoing refurbishments affected your Resort stays? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments! 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