While visiting Magic Kingdom today, we stopped by Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to find that construction is underway in the area. The construction, which is visible from the queue, the ride, and the Walt Disney World Railroad, is taking place behind the attraction, and across the railroad tracks. Let’s take a look!
Construction Behind Big Thunder Mountain
As you can see from our photos below, the work appears to be quite expansive. While we’re all eagerly awaiting the start of the Cars Frontierland expansion and Villains Land, we understand that the work taking place now is more directly related to the upcoming lengthy refurbishment of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
As you may know, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad will temporarily close for refurbishment on January 6, 2025. Walt Disney World says that the attraction will reopen with a little bit of new magic in 2026. It is expected that the ride will receive a re-track and the explosive finale scene seen in other versions of the ride in other parks.
We’ll start with a peek at the work from the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad queue. As you can see, a large tarp is strung between trees in an attempt to limit the backstage views from the Walt Disney World Railroad and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad attraction.
Here’s a wider view from the queue of the area behind Big Thunder Mountain Railroad that now has construction equipment moving earth backstage. In the second photo below, we can see a train ascending up the lift hill. It looks like it’ll be a pretty good view of the construction site from there, so let’s keep moving!
Here’s a view of the construction site from on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad attraction.
As we start up the lift hill, we can get a better look at the work. Shovels are clearly in the ground and earth is moving for what we understand is early preparations for the upcoming refurbishment project. It’s not exactly clear what work is taking place besides some sort of excavation, and Walt Disney World has not returned a request for more information.
If we had to guess, and this is just a guess, it’s possible that some of the land clearing here is to support heavier equipment that would presumably be needed for the (still rumored) re-track of the attraction.
For more context on where this work is taking place, let’s take to the skies above Walt Disney World for a look at the backstage area where the ride vehicles for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad are stored, and where this work is taking place.
As you can see in our photos below from a flight over Walt Disney World earlier this month, the land clearing is taking place near the backstage vehicle storage area for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Obviously, more work has taken place since we flew over Magic Kingdom, as evidenced in our photos earlier in this article.
Again, we don’t think that this work is related to the “Beyond Big Thunder Mountain” project at Magic Kingdom. Walt Disney World is still working on a response to the state following an extensive list of feedback that has put the project on hold.
Beyond the regulatory hold-up, there’s no evidence of land clearing in the northwest corner of Magic Kingdom yet. Here’s a look at the area where the Cars Land expansion and Villains Land will be built over the next decade.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
