Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Refurbishment Update: New Lift Hill and Track Installed at Magic Kingdom

Interested to see if they have any design/tech changes for that uphill break section to assist with resets.

More track is in place - photos from today:

Is it my turn to say, "Wow, this is coming along fast. Will they open this months ahead of schedule!"? If not, whose turn is it?

I’m scheduled for next Tuesday, so have at it.

What's the over/under on the number of railroad ties they install under the tracks

also, still a curious choice they went with black track instead of brown

I think we all look at the progress on the track and get excited. But there is still a lot to go. While the track is 97% the same it looks like it sits higher than the previous track in some areas and in others causing the rock work to be edited all over. There is a lot of rock work repair that has to happen as in big holes and huge runs of chipped away areas to repair. Do the fake wooden tracks come back? I assume they would paint the mountain as well during this time. Have to build a maintenance track and shed. New Effects. Then a lot of testing.

I don't think this thing is opening too early if at all.

I’m really hoping they do. I know they have to install similar track, but the track definitely looks like it’s made to have wooden ties in it. The bars that the wood sits on even look to have holes for the screws maybe.

The new track looks like it has the correct size spaces to fit two wood ties between each pair of metal support beams, same as the old track. That will come much later though, it'll be after they fill back in the rockwork they had to tear out. I'm not sure whether these beams are bolted into the track structure or the rockwork, possibly the latter or both depending on the area. They have actually removed and replaced quite a lot of these wood ties over the years, presumably as they've rotted out. I know it went without some of them when the ride was being neglected heavily (even moreso than recently) in the early 2010s. Pretty sure replacements can even be done overnight.

As for the track color, I also wonder what they intend to do. I believe it's actually possible to paint coaster track even on site after it has been installed. So I suppose that's plausible. That said, it's possible they intend to just let it age naturally and develop a bit of surface grime and rust on its own. Most of the track structure below the rails and connecting crossbeams is going to be covered by the themed elements such as the rockwork. And the supporting crossbeams will also be somewhat offset and obscured by the wooden ties. They could also add some paint and fake weathering on these beams too without issue. We'll see. Things do weather on their own pretty fast in Orlando.

I'm surprised they used wood and not just plastic or another composite made to look like wood to eliminate rotting. They don't have any structural purpose so they could be made out of cardboard if it would hold up outdoors.

Cardboard and a can of Scotch Guard. Done.

Wood is cheap, especially if it just needs to sit there out of reach.

Disappointed this won’t be open in December. Oh well, next visit.

Just one can?

Considering there's already mounting points built under the main rail, yes.

I wanted to set the line on the number of planks ha like guess the jellybeans in the jar