Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Magic Kingdom has been closed since January and isn’t expected to open until sometime in 2026, and we’re having withdrawals.
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Luckily, some of our amazing Disney Food Blog reporters got new pictures of the construction at Big Thunder, so we can analyze every detail while we wait for it to reopen.
Disney added some tables and chairs with umbrellas around the area, which is great if you want to sit and eat a snack while staring at the construction, like us. Since there’s no roller coaster going on, it’s fairly quiet and is a nice little hideaway.
A great stop to cool off
We also noticed a lot of tarps. We can’t quite tell what they’re covering, but there seems to be work happening underneath.
SO many tarps
It also looks like the track is getting some major work! We’re not expecting it to be perfectly smooth like Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (come on, the fun of Big Thunder is how rough it is!), but we’re hoping the track is a little smoother on turns and drops.
Track work
In certain places, it looks like they completely gutted the track. Yes, that is a piece of wood that says “hole” on it. Safety first!
Taking out the track!
We can’t see inside the caves, but we’re hoping they’re getting added projection work like Disneyland’s Big Thunder Mountain. It’s a great way to combine modern technology with a classic ride and gives you another reason to want to ride the wildest ride in the wilderness. Disney says when the ride reopens, it will be “with a little bit of new magic.”
Big Thunder
While not confirmed, there’s speculation that some of the changes happening behind Big Thunder Mountain could be preparing for the new Villain’s Land being added to Magic Kingdom. We won’t be sure until Disney confirms it, but we are very excited about the new land. Very few details have been released, but it’s likely to take a few years for it to be finished, so we aren’t expecting any major construction any time soon.
More work to be done!
We’re going to watch ride-through videos to make it feel like we’re back on the train, but in the meantime, make sure you’re following the Disney Food Blog to stay up to date on everything Disney.
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This is my favorite ride. I’ve been known to ride and then get right back in line to ride again. It was fun to play with the various machines (even though there were signs that said do not touch but who followed that). I’m looking forward to riding it again.
Wouldn’t it be great of they added a 2nd lane on the track so that riders do not know which lane they may switch to during the ride, and then switch back for the landing. Kinda like how Tower is ever changing.