Ride refurbishments are now confirmed for a few of Magic Kingdom’s most popular attractions, starting later this summer and lasting through 2025. Here’s everything we know about these Walt Disney World ride closures, along with our speculation about what they might entail, timing for the downtime, and more.
August 15, 2024 UPDATE: The official Walt Disney World website now reflects an early reopening of Peter Pan’s Flight, with the Fantasyland dark ride now has operating hours tomorrow, August 16, 2024. The attraction went down for refurbishment on July 8 for what was scheduled to be a 6-week closure until August 21, 2024.
It’ll be open as normal, starting at 7:30 am for Early Entry and running through midnight for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. This refurbishment was a very last-minute addition to the closure calendar by Walt Disney World standards, but it’s good to have it back early and it’ll be interesting to see what (if anything) has changed. Our suspicion was and is that Walt Disney World was waiting for other pieces of the puzzle–the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad closure timeline as well as Tiana’s Bayou Adventure opening and operating reliability–and was backed into this corner by those timeframes.
As Magic Kingdom’s second most popular attraction by wait times and second-best Lightning Lane Multi Pass, Peter Pan’s Flight is a strategically-significant attraction. It’ll be interesting to see how Lightning Lane demand changes for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Jungle Cruise, Space Mountain, and other headliners in Magic Kingdom now that Peter Pan’s Flight is back.
Speaking of which, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is still using a virtual queue with no signs of it going away anytime soon. Walt Disney World originally stated that the virtual queue would only be used during the “initial opening days” of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, and the ride has now been open for nearly two months.
My view is that the “initial opening days” statement was made on the basis of anticipated demand rather than downtime. Meaning that Disney figured opening weekend would be very busy and they didn’t want an overwhelming line clogging up Frontierland or getting in the way of the parade route. After all, this was before previews or anything else started, so Disney was probably operating under the assumption that Tiana’s Bayou Adventure would be at least as reliable as Splash Mountain.
Obviously, it is not. While the downtime situation had seemingly been improving over the last month, there are still days when Tiana’s Bayou Adventure has several hours of closures or doesn’t open for the day until afternoon. So something is still very wrong. It might be a two steps forward, one backwards kind of deal–but regardless, the ride is not consistently reliable.
At this point, the safe prediction is that Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will use a virtual queue for as long at it’s plagued by downtime woes. Virtual queues offer a means of pulsing demand and are the imperfect solution to operational woes. That’s precisely why Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance debuted the ride VQ back in 2019. Whether that means the virtual queue sticks around until sometime in September or 2025 is anyone’s guess–it all depends upon how quickly a fix is found (if one is found).
Back to Magic Kingdom ride closures, next on the horizon is Jungle Cruise. Walt Disney World has quietly added a closure of Jungle Cruise to the refurbishment calendar that’s slated to start on August 26, with the ride set to reopen on October 18, 2024.
It’s our understanding that this is a routine refurbishment rather than a reimagining, with work needing to be done on underwater infrastructure as well as some of the facades and other elements of the attraction. I know that’s not as sexy or exciting as reimaginings, but this type of work is also very necessary to ensure reliability and longevity. (And who knows–maybe they’ll install a nicer lighting package–Jungle Cruise could use one!)
This Jungle Cruise closure was not one of the original ‘pieces of the puzzle’ for Magic Kingdom, suggesting to us that the plan for the big closure has changed. We’re skeptical that two Magic Kingdom headliners will go down at the same time. If that were going to have happened, it would’ve been more likely with Jungle Cruise and Peter Pan’s Flight.
Speaking of which, this also narrows down the closure date for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to, most likely, sometime after October 18, 2024. It’s possible there could be some overlap between the Jungle Cruise and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad closures, but I’m skeptical. Not only that, but October through December is one of the busiest times of year at Walt Disney World.
More likely, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (BTMRR) goes down in early 2025. If I had to guess a specific date, I’d go with January 13, 2024. That’s the Monday after the Walt Disney World Marathon. This is a significant delay from the timeframe that was originally rumored (see below), but my guess is that the plan has been pushed back.
At this point, taking BTMRR down for refurbishment at the same time that the work begins to fill in the Rivers of America and begin Cars construction makes sense. January 2025 actually seems a little too soon for that, but who knows. Having Big Thunder closed while filling in the Rivers of America would certainly expedite the process and make construction easier.
Although not officially announced, Walt Disney World has filed a permit for “general construction” at an address corresponding with Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in Magic Kingdom. This seemingly confirms the rumor discussed below that we first reported about a month ago regarding an extensive refurbishment to the fan-favorite roller coaster.
There are a couple of key details here that we can glean from the permit, with the first being that it has an expiration date of August 8, 2025. The default 1-year timeline is never noteworthy, but shorter or longer ones always are, as they’re extended or reduced purposefully. Meaning that there’s a reason for doing so.
In this case, that’s because the work is expected to take longer than one year–which aligns with the previous rumors about this project taking over one year and being significant in scale and scope. That means it’s not just a routine refurbishment, like BTMRR receives fairly regularly. (Those typically do not involve construction permits of any duration.)
However, if already planning your next Walt Disney World vacation around the reopening of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, we’d recommend not putting too much stock into that August 8, 2025 date. The roller coaster could reopen before or (more likely) after that.
It’s our understanding that this refurbishment has multiple moving pieces, and although the biggest is likely encompassed by that permit, there’s no guarantee it’ll be done and ready to resume operations by August 8, 2025. Even if work is finished by then, that doesn’t mean the ride will reopen right away–testing and training still take time.
The other key detail is that the permit is assigned to Coastal Steel, a company with a wide range of expertise and experience, from ride systems to steel fabrication and erection. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because you probably just heard about that contractor for the Test Track reimagining.
Outside of Test Track, they’ve collaborated with Walt Disney World on several attractions. For example, Coastal Steel worked with Walt Disney World on a range of projects, from the construction of Expedition Everest and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train to Blizzard Beach, Mickey’s Toontown Fair, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, and TRON Lightcycle Run.
According to wdwmagic, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad could close as soon as September 2024 (as noted above, I think this will be pushed back–but I could be wrong). The Magic Kingdom coaster needs a significant refurbishment involving substantial work on the ride system and retracking. This long-planned project is viewed as preventative work that’s crucial to extend the useful life of the roller coaster, ensuring the ride’s longevity and operational status for decades to come.
While the ride has had a number of winter-time closures for several weeks to over a month in the last several years, the last lengthy closure was in 2016 when Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was down for 4 months in the late summer and early fall. Prior to that, BTMRR had multiple closures in 2012 for extensive work, installation of the interactive queue, as well as the Barnabas T. Bullion and Big Thunder Mining Company backstory.
Every version of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad has had extensive closures in recent years–except Magic Kingdom. Perhaps most instructive is the BTMRR at Disneyland, which closed for a major renovation in January 2013. This project had a similar scope as what’s rumored for Magic Kingdom, with new ride vehicles, track replacement, repainting the mountain, and also restoring the Rainbow Ridge Mining Town.
That was originally scheduled to be completed by Fall 2013, but it wasn’t done until March 2014. By the time Big Thunder Mountain Railroad did reopen over a year later, its return came with much fanfare and new features–and a potential “blueprint” for other projects of this nature that we’re now potentially seeing with Haunted Mansion and Fantasmic at Disneyland. Sort of a quasi “Disney Vault” approach to excite fans.
I’d expect something similar with the Magic Kingdom version of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. A closure that lasted 14 months approximately one decade ago translates to at least 18 months when adjusted for construction timeline inflation. (A thing I made up, but you know what I mean–and that it’s a real phenomenon!)
There’s no way Walt Disney World is going to close Big Thunder Mountain Railroad for between a year and 18 months and not have anything marketable to show for it when the attraction returns. There will likely be new lift hill effects, nighttime lighting, redone show scenes with Easter eggs and other historical tributes–something, anything. Given the cost in time and money, I fully believe they’ll make it count and this won’t “just” be a closure for invisible work that “only” extends the life of the roller coaster.
With a closure that’s going to last roughly a year, timing doesn’t make a huge difference. After all, it’s going to be down during every week and season, anyway. Not only that, but Walt Disney World has shown a willingness to close marquee attractions at popular times of the year. Look no further than Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster during spring break (twice!), Tower of Terror during spring and summer, and the upcoming Test Track closure from summer through at least the holiday season.
If at all possible, it might make sense to get the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad refurbishment done before October 2025. Summer crowds typically start winding down towards the end of July and drop off a cliff at the beginning of August. If this 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 through December. But of course, that assumes they have a choice and can dictate timing–a bold assumption!
As mentioned above, the other big refurbishment is to Peter Pan’s Flight. Walt Disney Imagineering filed a construction permit for the installation of set pieces at Peter Pan’s Flight in Magic Kingdom, listing InterAmerica Stage, Inc. as contractor. The work has the default expiration date of one year, which isn’t particularly noteworthy.
InterAmerica Stage is a frequent collaborator with Imagineering on new and refreshed attractions and shows. Recently, this includes work on Spaceship Earth and, currently, the reimagining of Country Bear Jamboree into Country Bear Musical Jamboree. The permit doesn’t specify the scope of work beyond the vague and generic (and frequently used) “install set elements.” However, this and the permit coming from Imagineering suggests that the project will entail new or reimagined show scenes, or possibly new effects.
We have been critical of Peter Pan’s Flight. It was the most controversial pick on our List of 10 Attractions That Have Aged Poorly at Walt Disney World. So it should go without saying that I’m fully on board with this project. In fact, I hope Peter Pan’s Flight has a multi-month closure to breathe new life into the attraction.
After riding the versions at Disneyland in California and Tokyo Disneyland, I’m very ready to see updates to the Magic Kingdom incarnation. I’d love some of the effects from the Shanghai Disneyland version, which is the best of the bunch. But it’s also brand new, whereas both the Anaheim and Tokyo versions are the same classic style as Magic Kingdom–and have seen enhancements in recent years.
There were actually rumors around 2019 that Peter Pan’s Flight would be one of the classic Magic Kingdom attractions to receive updates ahead of Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary. Supposedly, the plan was similar to refreshes at Disneyland ahead of that park’s 60th Anniversary, where Peter Pan’s Flight closed for over 5 months in 2015. But then March 2020 happened and all of those plans for Walt Disney World’s 50th were abandoned. (…Or the can was kicked down the road to 2024?)
Peter Pan’s Flight is a classic and deserves to be treated as such with respect and loving updates to keep it fresh. Flying over the streets of London and Neverland is a timeless lightning-in-a-bottle experience that should never go away.
Instead, Peter Pan’s Flight should be plussed with projection mapping and other lighting effects–as has been done in Anaheim, Paris, Shanghai, and Tokyo. Updating infrastructure so the flight is less jerky and smoother would help with suspension of disbelief. I could go on, but upgrades to the ride system are not within the scope of this construction permit, so there’s no point.
The most obvious upcoming change is probably the removal or update of the Indians scene in Peter Pan’s Flight. I don’t purport to be an expert on this sort of thing, but the depiction there does strike me as a bit of a caricature (to put it charitably). With that said, I also think it’d be a shame to lose the Indians in the attraction (that seems like the opposite of Disney’s goals). Given her presence in Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure, I assume Tiger Lily is still an acceptable character. Having a new scene with her would be cool.
If that does happen, I hope it isn’t the only change. Peter Pan’s Flight at Magic Kingdom has some great effects and features as compared to the other versions, but it hasn’t been modernized with new effects to nearly as great of a degree, either. There’s a lot of opportunity and untapped potential to make it a ride that actually justifies those triple-digit wait times.
Ultimately, while only the Peter Pan’s Flight closure has been officially confirmed by Walt Disney World, the company doesn’t filed construction permits just for the halibut. Something is happening with both Peter Pan’s Flight and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Although its start date is uncertain and could be delayed until 2025, BTMRR is almost certainly going to be down for around a full year whenever it does close.
If anything, we’d expect more reimaginings and refurbishments of this nature for a couple of reasons. The first is that there was a lot of deferred maintenance and proportionately fewer closures in the last few years due to pent-up demand and budget cuts. So several attractions are overdue for refurbishments and will probably get them in the next couple of years.
Second, the money spigot is about to be turned on for Parks & Resorts, allowing for more projects of this nature to (finally!) happen. Sure, it’s not as exciting as brand-new attractions–and many of you may lament more rides being closed during your vacation–but refurbishments are very much a necessity for maintaining appropriate attraction standards and ensuring that breakdowns don’t continue to happen at a more frequent rate. So here’s hoping we see more on this front!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think about the possibility of lengthy ride refurbishments/reimaginings of Peter Pan’s Flight and/or Big Thunder Mountain Railroad? Hope these classics are updated to ensure their longevity for decades to come? Do any attractions at Walt Disney World strike you as being prime candidates for ride reimaginings? Do you agree or disagree with our choices? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
