Walt Disney World Railroad closing for refurbishment later this year

Jul 07, 2014 in "Walt Disney World Railroad"

Posted: Monday July 7, 2014 9:32am EDT by WDWMAGIC Staff

The Walt Disney World Railroad is currently scheduled to be closed for refurbishment later this year.

The closure begins on September 28 through to November 8, reopening to guests on November 9 2014. Emails being sent to guests who had booked the 'Disney’s Magic Behind Our Steam Trains Tour' indicate that the closure is due to "unforeseen track maintenance."

Walt Disney World Railroad

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wogwogSep 27, 2014

Reminder, if you are going to MK on Saturday 9/27 it will be the last day of operation until November 9. Rail fans get on board.

dstrawn9889Sep 09, 2014

so from the trackswitch out to the end of main street platform.

danlb_2000Sep 09, 2014

Permit filed today for track maintenance. Work area is from Fantasyland, along the Tomorrowland side, back to the Main Street station. Railroad Tomorrowland Side - Train Track Maintenance

Magenta PantherJul 15, 2014

How much of a refurb is this going to be? Maybe TDO is installing windows so that when you look outside as you ride the train you see flying elephants and sentient Volkswagons. :angelic:

raymusiccityJul 15, 2014

We should never be surprised what Disney decides to throw money at. There are stories and some interesting video clips on the Disney Parks website: "While most of us slept, something quite amazing was happening this month at the Magic Kingdom Theme Park – a massive effort to relocate the 120-ton Winnie the Pooh tree to make way for the upcoming Fantasyland expansion. Florida Imagineers and the Buena Vista Construction Company used one of the largest mobile hydraulic cranes in the construction industry to make it happen over three nights. And today, we’re sharing a behind-the-scenes look at how a year of planning came together to save the landmark tree and how it’ll now be used to connect “The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” to the expansion’s new Fantasyland Forest. It was “Imagineering perfect.”....... .....and, yes, when you make a tree out of reinforced steel and concrete, it weighs a lot !!:)

RSoxNo1Jul 15, 2014

120 tons for that tree seems like an incredibly high number.

Victor KellyJul 14, 2014

That is why rails and ties will be replaced, they cannot refinish the rails. The ties are most likely rotted. Being that the rails are in florida heat 24/7/365 of course they will deform, happens here in Md more than people admit.

Victor KellyJul 14, 2014

Model Railroading since I was 5 thanks to my Grandfather. I don't get to do it right now because we have no extra space in our house.

raymusiccityJul 14, 2014

If they can move Pooh's tree, any of the railroad equipment would seem like a pretty easy challenge! "Pooh’s Tree had to be moved as part of the Fantasyland expansion. The tree, which weighs 120 tons, and to move it required 3 nights of work involving one of the largest mobile hydraulic cranes in the construction industry to move it. The crane actually had to be taken apart and put back together in order to make it across a bridge!"

dstrawn9889Jul 14, 2014

would assume a lo boy with a high weight capacity... like they did when WDW first opened.

ABQJul 14, 2014

How did they get the Lilly Belle off property? I assume she was as complicated to extract as maintenance equipment is to bring in.

dstrawn9889Jul 14, 2014

same problem, thay dont have a rail finishing machine for a narrow gauge track, and doing it by hand would more than likely ruin what profile was already there, a flat on the track could be as hazardous as the mushroom profile there in the first place. Loram doesnt have a grinder/finisher for this gauge. besides the gauge issue, how would you get a 1/4 mile long piece of equipment onto the WDWRR tracks anyway, i do not think that there are tracks that lead to an outside spur to reach the active tracks...

UnpluggedJul 14, 2014

...ah yes, I can here it all now as if it were happening live. (Scene opens with all us members pounding on RR ties in the WDW August heat &humidity.) (TDO) Come on Wogwog! Don't want you lolly-gaggin around with those picks and those shovels. You'd think it was a 120 degrees! Can't be more then 114. (Wogwog collapses into his Dole Whip.) (TDO) Doc that fanboi a days FastPasses for nappin' on the job. (TDO) Now come on fanbois, where's yer spirit? I don't here no singing. When you was CMs, you sang like Tiki birds. Come on, how bout a good old fashioned 7 Dwarves work song? (fanboi's start singing "A spoon full of sugar") (TDO) Hold, hold it! What the heck is that? I meant a song. A real song! Something like "Hi Ho...."!

UnpluggedJul 14, 2014

...and they don't have a screen they hang from the station that's painted to look like the train sitting up there with a loud MP3 whistle? Oh for shame TDO, even your lazy is getting lazy. :D