As Walt Disney World prepares to reopen Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Magic Kingdom, new construction walls have arrived. The new construction walls will actually be the walls that separate the walkways around Big Thunder from the Piston Peak National Park construction site. We recently made it out to Magic Kingdom to take a look at the work.
New Construction Walls at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
New construction walls have been installed at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in Magic Kingdom. These construction walls are actually behind the current perimeter set by construction walls, but not for long. Crews have been working on installing new construction walls/fences over the past few days and weeks as Disney prepares to reopen Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in early May.
When these construction walls are complete (along with the ongoing pavement work), Disney will be able to remove the current set of construction walls to open up access to The Wildest Ride in the Wilderness. Walt Disney World has not announced an official opening date beyond “early May”, but we expect to see testing ramp up very soon. In fact, we’ve seen reports of multi-train operations, but we haven’t been lucky enough to catch those yet ourselves.
Beyond the construction walls, most scaffolding has been removed from the queue area, and the main attraction sign has been refreshed. Here’s a look around.
When it reopens, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad will come with some new magic. The attraction has been closed since January 2025 to allow for a full roller coaster track replacement. Beyond that, Imagineers have made some additional upgrades to the ride:
- All-new trains
- Refreshed Audio-Animatronics throughout the attraction
- Returning effects that haven’t been present for years
- Rainbow caverns that come to life at the mountain pushes back against our presence
- Actual gold out on the mountain for the first time ever
One effect that Disney fans assumed would be part of the refresh is the exploding finale scene present in other versions of the attraction in other theme parks. While Walt Disney World hasn’t confirmed or denied that the exploding finale will come to Magic Kingdom, there are hints that it is not part of the plans.
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!