Change is the name of the game in Disney World because EVERYTHING seems to be changing all at once. Magic Kingdom recently closed Rivers of America to make way for a new Cars Expansion, while a new Villains Land is being built behind Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which is also being updated. Oh, and Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin is getting updated, too.
Pop Century Resort
Then there are new lands coming to Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disney’s Animal Kingdom (which is also getting a new show in the Tree of Life). Y’all…it is a LOT. Even Test Track in EPCOT recently changed. Well, some big changes are also coming to Disney World hotels, including Disney’s Pop Century Resort. We got a firsthand look at the changes at Pop Century…and well…you’ll see.
We recently got word that Pop Century’s lobby would be getting a huge renovation, and well, that renovation is now underway. We noticed that pretty much everything in the lobby is under construction, with a completion date set for about a month from now. So if you’re visiting the hotel soon, expect to see construction walls. These are in front of the vacation planning and concierge desk.
Construction walls
The kids’ area in the lobby is now behind black curtains.
Kids’ area behind curtains
This area is going to look more like the new wall mural you can already see as part of the “retro-inspired refresh” Disney is giving the hotel lobby.
New mural!
This part is looking pretty nice! The front desk area will also be getting some new murals.
Looking good!
But we’ve got some bad news. The shadow boxes with all the vintage items that we loved to look through are now gone. We confirmed with a Cast Member that these have been removed indefinitely. NOOO!
Diner Shadow Box
This refresh comes after Pop Century updated its Everything Pop! Shopping and Dining area, which contains the hotel’s food court. The hotel’s guest rooms are also being refurbished, with work expected to end in mid-February 2026.
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5 Things No One Tells You Before Staying at Disney’s Pop Century Hotel
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We used to love Pop Century but not anymore. All the changes have ruined it. We don’t like the new food court, gift shop and now the check-in and lobby. There was nothing wrong with any of it! If it ain’t broke….dont fix it!!! Change for change sake is ridiculous and wasteful. And Disney has become quite wasteful while passing the cost to guests who don’t want the changes! Disney seems to be doing everything it can to get rid of the traditional, tried and true that longtime guests loved! That being said, if they really wanted to upgrade the resort to make it nicer, insulate the walls between rooms and install low flush, quiet toilets so we don’t have to hear the neighbors flushing all night!!!
Leave the shadow boxes!
I agree with Cate and why are the rooms being done over again when they just did the rooms about 6 years ago? Once again, a waste of money.
Yeah, it’s a bummer, I know. But, come on, be realistic, how many people actually are actually going to care about what it looks like, when all they want is just somewhere to sleep? Probably only 10% of people staying there are actually going to care
I felt the same way when they removed all the stuff from ALL STAR MOVIES… I like the memorabilia for when I brought first time visitors with me. It was a level of detail that help explain the theme of the hotel. I switched to POP because it still had that tie to theme. I guess disney just wants to burst that bubble. Why be original when you can be a Motel 6
Who is making these awful decisions? They are losing us by the minute! The wrong people seem to be in charge.
The new murals are cute, but… dabbing Daisy? Really? And those shadow boxes were unique, thematic, and great conversation pieces for your family vacation. A lot of the negative reactions Disney is getting to all the changes can be nutshelled as ‘why get rid of something seemingly just to get rid of it?’ Why change just to change, especially when there seems to have been insufficient research about what the customers will think. There is so much unused and abandoned space in WDW. Plenty of room to bring in the new without throwing out so much that is loved by so many. Disney thinks it is appealing to younger guests, but what they have lost sight of is that their guest base was built generationally. Their most loyal customers created the next generation of most loyal customers. But what the youngest generation is seeing in Disney now is ‘don’t get attached – don’t develop NOSTALGIA – because Disney will change it, trash it, and they don’t care what their loyal guests want.’ And there is no reason to keep choosing WDW (e.g. DVC) for your vacations when that is what you see. It’s the ‘older’ (35+) fans in our group who are the most intereted in continuing to go to Disney. These changes are turning the youngest people off the most. Long term, when you ignore your loyal fan base, and only focus in on the new, you have to constantly keep winning customers over with the constantly new. And that’s not practical for WDW, and they won’t be able to constantly do enough. They’re disregarding what has kept customers loyal in favor of a paradigm that they won’t be able to maintain.
WDW has changed itself right out of our hearts and lives!!! We all LIVED to go to WDW!!! We’d scrimp, save, go without this m, that and the next to save for our next dreams to come true bc we went fir two WEEKS at a time… Yes, really. However my family and basically everyone else we know are DONE WITH DISNEY!! We are not returning, probably ever, sadly
This was most definitely NOT our desire n we’re all heartbroken but they gutted and destroyed it
Like another commenter said, change for the sake of change is unwarranted and unwelcome!!! Not that Disney cares anymore. Sad and sickening tbh. Our LAST Vaca was a disgrace!! There were more things wrong than right. It was shockingly terrible!! We were treated with great disrespect for the first time ever in our lives. WDW powers that be: you’ve gutted, destroyed, stopped, cancelled, changes, removed and more the fun, magic, excitement, enchantment, and so much more right out the parks and property. You’ve also cancelled us .. your loyal guests. I highly doubt we’ll EVER return.
Very sorry to see the shadow boxes and their contents go.
The other changes don’t bother me so much.
Glad to see the rooms getting refurbished.
I used to enjoy all the shadow boxes in the Pop lobby which really epitomized all the decades that represent Pop Century! The lobby looks brighter with the new murals but it kind of takes away all that made Pop Century special when checking in!
Amen, Cate, amen!
This whole “change for change’s sake” is an answer to a question nobody asked – and the wasted cost is then passed on to all of us! Then they’ll do it again in 7-8 years.
And I, as a very light sleeper, also wish Disney could better sound-insulate all the rooms at their resorts!
I thought Pop needed some refreshing. I’m not a lobby/giftshop person so I didn’t miss much when they were making the changes. Food court doesn’t seem any worse, but it is cleaner and nice. MY worse fear outside of Disney world is going to a rundown hotel by Marriot, Holiday Inn any other brand. Disney does a good job of of refurbing—pain in the behind sometimes, but deeply appreciated. Stay clean Disney…
If the shadow boxes are noy coming back. then what are they going to do with all of that memorabilia? Why did they permanently remove them in the first place?
How could they get rid of the shadow boxes! What is Disney doing. Did a twenty-something decide to do this😡
Just stayed at the Pop last week of August. Fortunate enough to see half the wall of shadow boxes were still there.
The food court was absolutely nothing to write home about. And no restrooms in the food court. Unbelievable. I had to go out to the lobby for the restroom, and because it was about 11pm, when I came back, the big gate to the store was down. I had to go outside and knock on the windows to alert somebody to open the locked door to let me back in. It was not well planned or thought out. I sure hope they don’t touch the Riverside food court.
It was fun to reminisce with the shadowbox every time I brought a new person to Disney World. We would make a specific trip to pop if we weren’t staying there whenever possible. They trash everything that isn’t making a buck on every customer like rivers of America, but a lobby?? What the heck?