Two New Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Updates Signal Its Reopening Is Near

After nearly a year on the shelf, Disney World fans got a major update today on the reopening of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Magic Kingdom. While we still don’t have an opening date, today’s updates are a big step forward to the ride’s ever-closer reopening.

Ride Testing

This morning, as guests flooded into Magic Kingdom, there was a sound that hadn’t been heard since early January: mine cars running through the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Earlier today, Disney started its first tests of the refurbished ride vehicles at Big Thunder Mountain.

Disney started push-pull testing in July with the newly laid track. This was a critical step that helped to ensure that the ride had enough clearance to pass through all the new tunnels and ensure guest safety on the new track.

Then, in October, Disney started ride testing the track. However, this was the first time that the mine train cars were brought onto the new tracks, marking a major step forward for the ride.

Because of the construction on Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island, it has been difficult to see any of the changes coming to Big Thunder Mountain. However, some of the mine train cars could be seen climbing the hills for the first time in 10 months this morning at Magic Kingdom.

New Permit

The second update on the progress at the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad comes in the form of a newly filed permit. However, this update is a little vague.

Disney filed a permit this morning for Coastal Steel, Inc. to complete “general construction” at the Big Thunder site. They were also involved in some of the early renovation work on Big Thunder and could have been called back to make some changes after the testing was complete.

At this point, it’s hard to say with this new permit will delay the ride’s reopening or if this is something minor that can be corrected within a few days. We will have to wait and see.

What we do know is that when Big Thunder Mountain returns to operation, it will have new effects and a new backstory. As Disney World has done with some of its more recent renovations, it could offer a soft opening before the ride’s official reopening, but there is still no information on when that could be happening.

Are you excited for the return of the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Magic Kingdom? Let us know in the comments.