Scaffolding Moves to the Contemporary's Bay Lake Side as the Refurbishment Stretches Toward 2027

By entgrove · August 14, 2026

New scaffolding and green construction walls have appeared on the Bay Lake side of Disney's Contemporary Resort, near the southern end of the A-frame tower by the Convention Center. The exterior refurbishment started in September 2024 and has had its completion date pushed from September 2025 to July 2026 and now to the end of 2027. The resort is operating through the work as crews move the equipment face by face around the tower.

New scaffolding and construction walls have gone up on the Bay Lake side of Disney's Contemporary Resort, the latest move in an exterior refurbishment that began in September 2024. The metalwork now covers part of the A-frame tower nearest the Convention Center, and green walls have closed off a staircase at one Convention Center entrance. Disney's completion target for the project has moved twice and now sits at the end of 2027.

What the Bay Lake side looks like now

The scaffolding structure stands near the southern end of the resort's A-frame tower, the end closest to the Contemporary Convention Center. The metalwork fills several of the open architectural bays beneath the guest-room balconies and rises roughly as high as the lowest balcony level. Multiple elevated platforms give crews access to the exterior columns and the recessed walls set behind them.

At ground level, green construction walls surround the staircase leading to a Contemporary Convention Center entrance. The barriers run beneath the covered walkway and across part of the tiled plaza, with a contractor vehicle parked nearby.

The tower is being worked one face at a time

This is a relocation of the scaffolding rather than the start of a new phase. In July, crews were working on the Magic Kingdom facing portion of the main building, with scaffolding, scrims and balcony barriers shifting across the exterior as sections were finished. A comparable scaffolding setup was used on the opposite side of the building over recent months.

Working a face at a time is what keeps the hotel open. Guest-room balconies run along the same walls the crews are on, so the schedule has to move the equipment around occupied rooms instead of clearing the tower.

A finish date that has already moved twice

Construction began in September 2024 and was originally scheduled to be complete by September 2025. Disney later said the work would run through July 2026, then revised the timeline again to the end of 2027. That is more than three years of exterior work, on a tower that has been standing since 1971.

Why the Contemporary is a slow building to refurbish

The Contemporary opened with Magic Kingdom on October 1, 1971. Its A-frame went up as a steel frame into which pre-assembled guest rooms were lifted and slid into place, a method that was unusual at the time and the reason the tower's exterior reads as a grid of open bays rather than a flat wall. Those bays are exactly where the scaffolding is going now, which is why the work advances in sections instead of sweeping across the building. The monorail still runs through the middle of the tower at the Grand Canyon Concourse, with Chef Mickey's on the concourse level and California Grill at the top.

What this means for guests

Nothing has been announced about closing the resort or its restaurants, and the work is moving around the building rather than shutting parts of it down. The visible effects are the ones guests notice in the moment: scaffolding in the frame of a photo, scrims across balconies, and a walled-off staircase at one Convention Center entrance that adds a short detour on foot. Anyone holding a Bay Lake view for the coming months should expect metalwork somewhere in it, and guests whose room assignment matters more than usual can ask at booking or at check-in which face of the tower is currently under wraps.