Walt Disney World has formally confirmed a prolonged trip refurbishment of Large Thunder Mountain Railroad at Magic Kingdom, beginning in 2025 and lasting by 2026. Right here’s every little thing we learn about this Walt Disney World trip closure, timing for the downtime, our hypothesis about what they could entail, and extra.
First, this Large Thunder Mountain Railroad closure is the third main refurbishment that we first lined months in the past in Magic Kingdom Trip Refurbishment Rumors. It follows the month-plus closure of Peter Pan’s Flight over the summer season, which resulted in a brand new scene with Tiger Lily and different Indians. (Inappropriate, however I believe that scene is rather well achieved and suits the spirit of the attraction.)
Following this, Jungle Cruise closed for a multi-month refurbishment. This undertaking was by no means formally introduced, and its actual scope of labor is unknown. A minimum of, formally. Disney did file permits with a contractor that does underwater engineering, and Solid Members stationed exterior the attraction have indicated that the undertaking entails solely routine upkeep to the waterway infrastructure. Fairly secure wager that’s what’s occurring. As we lined in our submit about that undertaking, Jungle Cruise is now scheduled to reopen early.
The ultimate main refurbishment of the trio is Large Thunder Mountain Railroad. Our suspicion was and is that Walt Disney World was ready for different items of the puzzle–the opposite refurbishments wrapping up in addition to Tiana’s Bayou Journey opening and working reliability–earlier than saying the BTMRR closure. They had been possible backed right into a nook by these timeframes.
Tiana’s Bayou Journey is nonetheless utilizing a digital queue with no signal of it going away anytime quickly. Walt Disney World initially said that the digital queue would solely be used in the course of the “preliminary opening days” of Tiana’s Bayou Journey, and the trip has now been open for a number of months.
The excellent news is that Tiana’s Bayou Journey’s downtime scenario has been bettering during the last month-plus. The trip nonetheless has downtime (and dangerous days), however it’s nothing like the three+ hours of common day by day downtime that the trip was experiencing just about day-after-day over the primary few months. It’s been a lot better for the reason that begin of September.
It’s to the purpose that we now absolutely anticipate Walt Disney World to retire the digital queue for Tiana’s Bayou Journey earlier than the Large Thunder Mountain Railroad refurbishment begins. Actually, it wouldn’t shock us to see the VQ retired any day now–particularly with cooler climate proper across the nook. However that’s not the purpose of as we speak’s submit.
Walt Disney World has now introduced that Large Thunder Mountain Railroad will shut for refurbishment on January 6, 2025.
The final day to expertise BTMRR in its present kind is January 5, 2025. The wildest trip within the wilderness is deliberate to reopen in 2026 with somewhat bit of latest magic.
It’s additionally our understanding that Tiana’s Bayou Journey won’t obtain a Winter 2025 refurbishment, which was customary for Splash Mountain. The attraction continues to be brand-new (or newly-redone), so this is smart.
Taking BTMRR down for refurbishment on the similar time that the work begins to fill within the Rivers of America and start Vehicles building is smart.
With that stated, one essential factor to notice is that we don’t anticipate the Rivers of America, Tom Sawyer Island, or the Liberty Sq. Riverboat to shut in early 2025. Primarily based on what we’ve heard and the general public allowing course of, these closures are a number of months behind BTMRR, at greatest.
For a way more thorough dialogue of after we anticipate to see these points of interest and areas to completely shut, see When Will Rivers of America & Tom Sawyer Island Shut at Magic Kingdom?
Regardless, work on Vehicles Land is more likely to begin sooner or later earlier than 2026. Having Large Thunder closed whereas filling within the Rivers of America will surely expedite the method and make building simpler. Not solely that, however there might be a path that connects Large Thunder Mountain Railroad and Frontierland with Liberty Sq. and Villains Land, so work on this will start in the course of the refurbishment.
The BTMRR year-plus closure has been an open secret for a number of months now–we first reported on it in mid-Could.
After that, Walt Disney World filed a allow for “basic building” at an deal with corresponding with Large Thunder Mountain Railroad in Magic Kingdom. It’s value noting that this allow was filed again in June when the undertaking was anticipated to begin initially of August or September on the newest.
There are a few key particulars right here that we are able to glean from the allow, with the primary being that it has an expiration date of August 8, 2025. The default 1-year timeline isn’t noteworthy, however shorter or longer ones all the time are, as they’re prolonged or lowered purposefully. That means that there’s a purpose for doing so. (With the beginning date of the refurbishment delayed, you may anticipate that allow to be prolonged by 6-8 months.)
On this case, that’s as a result of the work is predicted to take longer than one 12 months–which aligns with the earlier rumors about this undertaking taking on one 12 months and being vital in scale and scope. Meaning it’s not only a routine refurbishment, like BTMRR receives pretty recurrently. (These usually do not contain building permits of any length.)
It’s our understanding that this refurbishment has a number of shifting items, and the most important is probably going encompassed by that allow.
The opposite key element is that the allow is assigned to Coastal Metal, an organization with a variety of experience and expertise, from trip techniques to metal fabrication and erection. If that title sounds acquainted, it’s since you in all probability simply heard about that contractor for the Check Observe reimagining, which can even take a couple of 12 months.
Outdoors of that reimagining, Coastal Metal has collaborated with Walt Disney World on a number of points of interest. For instance, Coastal Metal labored with Walt Disney World on a spread of initiatives, from the development of Expedition Everest and Seven Dwarfs Mine Prepare to Blizzard Seaside, Mickey’s Toontown Truthful, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, and TRON Lightcycle Run.
Primarily based on earlier rumors over the course of the final 6 months, it’s our understanding that Large Thunder Mountain Railroad coaster wants a major refurbishment involving substantial work on the trip system and retracking. This long-planned undertaking is considered as preventative work that’s essential to increase the helpful lifetime of the curler coaster, making certain the trip’s longevity and operational standing for many years to return.
Whereas the trip has had a variety of winter-time closures for a number of weeks to over a month within the final a number of years, the final prolonged closure was in 2016 when Large Thunder Mountain Railroad was down for 4 months within the late summer season and early fall. Previous to that, BTMRR had a number of closures in 2012 for intensive work, set up of the interactive queue, in addition to the Barnabas T. Bullion and Large Thunder Mining Firm backstory.
It’s additionally our understanding that Imagineering has tried to take BTMRR down for multi-month or year-long refurbishments just a few occasions during the last a number of years, however park administration pushed again each time. Because of this, prolonged initiatives that had been beforehand deliberate bought truncated into weeklong routine upkeep.
Each model of Large Thunder Mountain Railroad has had intensive closures in recent times–besides Magic Kingdom.
Maybe most instructive is the BTMRR at Disneyland, which closed for a serious renovation in January 2013. This undertaking had an identical scope as what’s rumored for Magic Kingdom, with new trip autos, monitor substitute, repainting the mountain, and likewise restoring the Rainbow Ridge Mining City.
That was initially scheduled to be accomplished by Fall 2013, however it wasn’t achieved till March 2014. By the point Large Thunder Mountain Railroad did reopen over a 12 months later, its return got here with a lot fanfare and new options–and a possible “blueprint” for different initiatives of this nature that we’re now doubtlessly seeing with Haunted Mansion and Fantasmic at Disneyland. Type of a quasi “Disney Vault” method to excite followers.
I’d anticipate one thing related with the Magic Kingdom model of Large Thunder Mountain Railroad. A closure that lasted 14 months roughly one decade in the past interprets to at the very least 18 months when adjusted for building timeline inflation. (A factor I made up, however you already know what I imply–and that it’s an actual Disney phenomenon!)
There’s no method Walt Disney World goes to shut Large Thunder Mountain Railroad for between a 12 months and 18 months and never have something marketable to point out for it when the attraction returns. There’ll possible be new carry hill results, nighttime lighting, redone present scenes with Easter eggs and different historic tributes–one thing, something.
Given the fee in money and time, I absolutely consider they’ll make it rely and this gained’t “simply” be a closure for invisible work that “solely” extends the lifetime of the curler coaster. Walt Disney World has kind of confirmed as a lot with the imprecise line about added magic.
With a closure that’s going to final roughly a 12 months, timing doesn’t make an enormous distinction. In spite of everything, it’s going to be down throughout each week and season, anyway. Not solely that, however Walt Disney World has proven a willingness to shut marquee points of interest at common occasions of the 12 months. Look no additional than Rock ‘n’ Curler Coaster throughout spring break (twice!), Tower of Terror throughout spring and summer season, and the upcoming Check Observe closure from summer season by at the very least the vacation season.
If in any respect attainable, it’d make sense to get the Large Thunder Mountain Railroad refurbishment achieved earlier than October 2026. That is purely speculative on our half and lots might change between every now and then–clearly. Nonetheless, we suspect Disney would’ve indicated if the plan had been to have BTMRR again up and operating by early or mid-2026. Between the scope of labor on this undertaking itself and the filling in of Rivers of America for Vehicles Land, downtime lasting into the second half of 2026 makes full sense.
Summer time crowds usually begin winding down in the direction of the tip of July and drop off a cliff initially of August. If it is a year-plus closure, it’s logical to have BTMRR down for the months of August and September twice than it does the months of October by December. However in fact, that assumes they’ve a alternative and might dictate timing–a daring assumption!
Finally, we’d anticipate extra reimaginings and refurbishments of this nature for a few causes. The primary is that there was quite a lot of deferred upkeep and proportionately fewer closures in the previous few years on account of pent-up demand and funds cuts. So a number of points of interest are overdue for refurbishments and can in all probability get them within the subsequent couple of years.
Second, the cash spigot is about to be turned on for Parks & Resorts, permitting for extra initiatives of this nature to (lastly!) occur. Certain, it’s not as thrilling as brand-new points of interest–and plenty of of you could lament extra rides being closed throughout your trip–however refurbishments are very a lot a necessity for sustaining acceptable attraction requirements and making certain that breakdowns don’t proceed to occur at a extra frequent charge. So right here’s hoping we see extra on this entrance!
It’ll be attention-grabbing to see whether or not Walt Disney World scrambles to schedule extra transient refurbishment initiatives in Magic Kingdom between now and January 2025. Whereas this usually wouldn’t be the time for closures, it’s attainable that Disney will wish to get as many transient refurbishments out of the way in which earlier than Large Thunder goes down for over a 12 months. We’ll maintain you posted!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you concentrate on the prolonged trip refurbishment/reimagining of Large Thunder Mountain Railroad? Hope these classics are up to date to make sure their longevity for many years to return? Do any points of interest at Walt Disney World strike you as being prime candidates for trip reimaginings? Do you agree or disagree with our selections? Any questions we can assist you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even if you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!
