Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disney World Set for Major Overhaul

May 07, 2024 in "Big Thunder Mountain Railroad"

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad overview
Posted: Tuesday May 7, 2024 9:40am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Walt Disney World's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is expected to close for an extended refurbishment later this year, which will see the ride closed for more than a year.

Although not yet announced by Disney, we expect plans to be confirmed soon, with the fan-favorite attraction closing as soon as September 2024. As always, be aware that timelines frequently change, so await official confirmation before making plans.

The Magic Kingdom coaster needs a significant renovation involving substantial work on the ride system. According to sources familiar with the plans, this long-planned refurbishment is crucial to ensure the ride's longevity and continued operation for years to come.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad's refurbishment project will likely begin soon after Tiana's Bayou Adventure opens this summer in Frontierland. The reopening of the former Splash Mountain attraction will bring much-needed capacity to the park, allowing operations the chance to begin work on Big Thunder Mountain. The refurbishment will be the longest in the ride's history and will likely mean the ride will be closed for over a year.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad's most extensive refurbishment was over ten years ago, in 2012, when it closed for four months. Since then, the coaster has had numerous short closures to ensure continued operation until this year's major refurbishment.

Disneyland's Big Thunder Railroad underwent a similar major renovation in 2012, which saw updates made to the attraction, including new ride vehicles, track replacement, and repainting portions of the mountain itself.

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MerlinTheGoat2 hours ago

Spirit, AKA WDW1974, is/was an insider here. He doesn't really post anymore, but he had a very good track record and broke a lot of news about both Disney and Universal (like Tower of Terror at DCA being rethemed to GOTG and Diagon Alley having a train transport between parks). From what I recall, there were plenty of other people who reported on the HM restaurant rumor however. I don't remember what Spirit said about it specifically. I believe the idea has been kicking around for literal decades now. There was even once a conceptual proposal in the 90s to retheme the Harbor House to tie into the ride. Basically a haunted harbor/ship theme (based around Captain Culpepper's backstory). Though later concepts apparently involved some kind of new building behind the ride based off a haunted ballroom. Probably more similar to the ride's ballroom scene.

Agent H3 hours ago

TiggerDad3 hours ago

A lot of ideas get tossed around and even fleshed out before decisions are made about which to implement.

RosR97 hours ago

I have no idea who this guy is but when the leak happened he was going through some of the stuff and posting it, it’s pretty much all been deleted since (I only have this screenshot from sending it to my mom lol)

MisterPenguin8 hours ago

I haven't heard of that rumor. Nearly a decade ago, Spirit was saying there was a HM restaurant in the works. How about a Mine Train Hotel?

Skibum197012 hours ago

Maybe the black track is for the sections inside the caves and it will switch to brown outside. I could see the section from the station to the top of the first lift hill being all black.

RosR913 hours ago

Wasn’t one of the things that came out of that Disney leak a few months back a haunted mansion hotel?

TheCoasterNerd20 hours ago

A villain-themed hotel with a back entrance into Villains-land would go CRAZY. Not like Starcruiser-esque but just a general dark spooky vibe would be amazing. Sorta like this idea by Hey Brickey except new construction instead of a retheme

MagicHappens197121 hours ago

I'm honestly surprised that this is not the plan.

splah1 day ago

It’s interesting the track is black and not brown like before

Agent H1 day ago

danlb_20001 day ago

Even if that staging area was on property they would still need a truck to transport it. I wonder if they are using the staging area just north of ESPN that was setup for Toy Story Land and Galaxy's Edge?

danlb_20001 day ago

No, still hasn't been approved and I believe it's waiting on Disney.

JoeCamel1 day ago

If they were authentic all that scaffold would be timbers, it's what Walt would have wanted......