PeopleMover Officially Closed Over a Year - What's the Issue? - Inside the Magic

One of the most talked-about attractions at Disney World currently is the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover — simply because no one knows what is really going on with the ride.

Related: OpEd: Why The PeopleMover Is One Of The Best Disney World Attractions

In case you haven’t been following the news, the Tomorrowland Transit Authority located inside Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World has been closed ever since early 2020, even before the temporary park closure began in March 2020.

Once the theme parks reopened in mid-July, Guests were hoping to see the PeopleMover open back up with the rest of the attractions. However, this wasn’t the case.

Related: Why Is the PeopleMover Refurbishment Taking So Long?

After facing several delays according to the Disney World refurbishment calendar, the Tomorrowland attraction is currently set to reopen on April 4, 2021. But the real question on everyone’s mind isn’t “When will the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover open?” but rather “Why?”

People are really starting to wonder why the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover is facing these delays. Are there serious issues with the attraction? Does it have to do with the current construction on TRON Lightcycle / Run? Well, we are diving into all the possibilities, and you can be the judge.

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PeopleMover Faces Issues in 2020

In 2020, before the Tomorrowland PeopleMover closed “for reasons unknown”, it faced a few serious issues that could have led to the current possible problems. In fact, in January 2020 the Tomorrowland attraction experienced a situation where smoke was coming from the ride. There was no fire reported and Reedy Creek did issue a statement regarding this, stating they did not know what the cause of the smoke was.

Additionally, in February 2020, there were reports of ride vehicles from the PeopleMover crashing into one another. This happened just a few days before the attraction shut down.

TTA Testing Continues Despite Delays

Despite the most recent opening delay (previously March 1, 2021 and now April 4, 2021), testing is continuing on the Tomorrowland attraction.

Because the testing on the ride continues every day, it seems as though the reasoning is not due to something major. Guests can physically see the trams running smoothly and Cast Members were even spotted riding the PeopleMover not long ago.

In my opinion, the continuous testing is actually a good sign that there isn’t something majorly wrong with the ride. If there was, it would be a bit more obvious to Guests and recently, it looks as though the vehicles are running smoothly.

Possible Minor Technical Difficulties

With this being said, there could be some very minor technical difficulties that are not completely resolved — Possibly from when there was smoke in January 2020 or even when the ride vehicles crashed into one another in February 2020.

These minor technical difficulties could also be anything on the backend of things to even problems occurring when the ride vehicles are indoors (such as in the Space Mountain section of the ride or even the Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin portion) since Guests are not able to see the vehicles when inside.

Though this could be a possible reason behind the continued delays, I personally think that if it was really that minor, why would the reopening be pushed back for months and months? If it was a minor problem, more than likely it would have been fixed a while ago. (Again, this attraction has been closed for over one year now with several delays in reopening.)

This leaves me with one final possibility — TRON Lightcycle / Run.

TRON Lightcycle / Run

Now, this is the reason that I, personally, think the reopening of the PeopleMover continues to be delayed.

It has been speculated for quite some time now that Disney was not running the Magic Kingdom attraction due to the construction work being done on the upcoming Tomorrowland roller coaster, TRON Lightcycle / Run. The Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover stopped operating around the same time construction really picked up on TRON Lightcycle / Run.

Disney World could be delaying the opening of the TTA to wait until the construction of TRON Lightcycle / Run is nearly complete so it does not spoil anything for Guests.

When Will The PeopleMover Open?

At this time, we do not know when this attraction will reopen to Guests. Even though the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover is not listed on the Disney World refurbishment calendar beginning on April 4, this is subject to change and could be delayed once again.

Inside the Magic will continue to update you as we get information.

Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover

The official Walt Disney World website describes this Tomorrowland attraction as:

Board an elevated tram for a leisurely voyage through Tomorrowland. During your narrated tour, go behind the scenes of attractions like Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, Space Mountain and Mickey’s Star Traders retail shop. See architectural models of Progress City, the prototype for Epcot. 

If you want to visit the theme parks and check out the iconic Tomorrowland attraction, The Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover, once it is reopened and need help planning — don’t hesitate to reach out to our friends over at Academy Travel. Click here to learn more about the Authorized Disney Vacation Planners at Academy Travel and to get a free quote today!

Do you enjoy riding the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover? Let us know if it’s a must every Disney vacation for you and your family!