After more than a year of refurbishment, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad has officially reopened at Walt Disney World.
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Reopens at Magic Kingdom
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad closed in January 2025. Disney did not initially share a reopening timeframe but eventually announced it would reopen in early May. After lots of testing activity on May 2, the attraction officially reopened for guests on its scheduled date of May 3.
Lightning Lane passes for the ride were unavailable by 9:11 a.m. ET, and as of 9:30 a.m. ET the coaster was showing a two-hour wait time on the My Disney Experience app.
Photos show the chaos of the guest queue, which currently spills out of the ride and along the construction walls surrounding what will soon become Piston Peak.
Stay tuned for our full POV video of the reimagined Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride experience at Magic Kingdom.
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Updates
The ride has an updated opening scene with a transformation of the Rainbow Caverns. When guests enter the Rainbow Caverns they see a scene of bats, phosphorescent pools, and stalagmites and stalactites. Then thunder rumbles and the scene shifts to a menacing atmosphere.
The ride also has refreshed Audio-Animatronics and new gold props. The ride’s entire track was replaced and it has new trains. Inoperable effects have been restored. We recently saw Disney testing a steam effect at the front of the attraction. A new sign was installed last month.
With the improvements and after a comprehensive review by safety teams, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad now has lower height requirement of 38″. It was previously 40″.
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Backstory
The story of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad dates back to Olden Times, or rather, Golden Times, during the early days of America’s first major gold rush. When Barnabas T. Bullion struck gold in the Big Thunder region, he saw a future full of riches and hustled to start the Big Thunder Mountain Company.
However, them shiny dreams rarely come without a cost, and Bullion quickly found himself in a battle with the forces of nature and in a whole heap of trouble. One day, strange and unexplainable things started happening. Machines failed. Cave-ins shut mines down.
No matter how deep the miners dug into the heart of the mountain, the forces of Big Thunder fought back. And when the attraction reopens next year, the unsuspectin’ passengers who board the runaway trains will learn just how wild the wilderness can get.
Will you get to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad today? Let us know on social media.
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