Disney dropped a few bits of news recently concerning their upcoming renovations and new attractions. While these things are exciting, there is often the downside, which includes attractions currently going down for maintenance or going away entirely. Since these items are all at least tangentially related and I didn't think any one individually deserved its own post, we'll look at them all here.
I'll start with what I consider the least important of these, which is that the Little Mermaid Musical Adventure stage show at Hollywood Studios has been delayed. I can't say this comes as much of a surprise, as the opening timeframe was supposed to be ... well, right around now, and there just hadn't been much word since it had been announced.
If you don't remember, this stage show is taking the place of the OTHER Little Mermaid stage show that had been in the Animation Courtyard section of Hollywood Studios. That original show was a "Cliffs Notes" version of the movie (I distinctly remember my then five year old saying "that's it?!" in despair after the show came to its brief close). This new show will be much like the original in terms of story and songs, but will feature new sets, live performers and visuals.
Really, ANYTHING going into this building will be a plus, as it's more like Animation Graveyard (am I right?) than Animation Courtyard right now. The Little Mermaid remains one of the most popular Disney movies and I see no reason why they would have re-themed this. No reason was given for the delay (not surprisingly) but work is actually scheduled to begin soon, with the new attraction opening in summer 2025.
Let's turn our attention to a newly announced closure as part of Animal Kingdom's overhaul of Dinoland USA into Tropical Americas. We've talked about this a few times on this blog, but now there are concrete dates for some of the changes. As of January 13, 2025, the following sections of this land will be closed permanently:
TriceraTop Spin
Fossil Fun Games
Chester & Hester's Dinosaur Treasures
You'll be forgiven for not knowing that items two and three even existed. We have enjoyed TriceraTop Spin in our children's younger days, and Disney has already announced that a family friendly carousel ride will be coming to the new land, so that seems like a zero net effect. In any case, this area of the land (mostly Chester & Hester's Dino-Rama) will be where the new Encanto attraction and area will be located.
Disney had previously announced that Dinoland would close in stages, but not that it would OPEN in stages. In other words, these attractions will close in January, and work will being on Encanto. Dinosaur (the ride) will remain open during this time, until they are prepared to convert it to the new Indiana Jones attraction.
I don't want to begin to guess on the timeframe for that, though Disney has vaguely noted 2027 as the opening year for Tropical Americas. The Encanto ride and area will be entirely new, so it makes sense to do that work now, where the Indiana Jones ride should need less work, as it's replacing a very similar ride system. Once Dinosaur eventually closes, there will be nothing in that section of the park that is open to the public until everything is completed.
I have high hopes for this new area, as Dinoland is largely a ghost town now and this park desperately needs more capacity. Keeping Dinosaur open for now also allows guests to still enjoy the one "major" attraction in that area for months longer. And this announcement means the long awaited work in this area is finally getting under way, so I'm all for it.
Finally, at Magic Kingdom, the refurbishment of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was officially announced, starting on January 6, 2025. This has been rumored for months (Disney Tourist Blog reported it back in May) but is now officially confirmed. Much like the Animal Kingdom closures, this one is due to start in the "quiet" period after the holidays.
There are a few things of note here. First, Magic Kingdom recently had some closures of popular attractions for smaller time periods - Peter Pan's Flight and Jungle Cruise. That first one is complete, while the Jungle Cruise is expected to open any day now (October 16). I mention these because Disney doesn't want to have too many major attractions down at once, so these had to be complete before the more expansive Big Thunder renovation were to start.
The other factor here is Tiana's Bayou Adventure. Now that this attraction is up and running (and becoming more reliable), Disney can start the work on Big Thunder. When Splash Mountain was closed for its transformation into Tiana's, Big Thunder remained operational. These are the two big attractions in Frontierland, so obviously Disney didn't want both down at once. Tiana's suffered through a lot of operational issues but those seem to be improving so its sister ride is able to have work done now.
The major part of this news is that Big Thunder will be down for more than one entire year as Disney says it will open in 2026 "with a little bit of new magic." Nothing has officially been announced as far as what that entails - most of the work is likely to be on the track and the vehicles as preventative maintenance going forward. That's not the exciting stuff, but it is necessary to continued operations.
Of note, the Disneyland version of Big Thunder closed in early 2013 and reopened in March 2014, so the timeline might be similar here. When that reopened, it brought some new special effects and better lighting, and I expect something similar (if not exactly the same) in this case. Guests will want to see SOMETHING for all of that downtime, and that's the easiest stuff for Disney to showcase.
All of the above means that the announced projects at D23 are really starting in earnest. It's always difficult to thread the needle between giving the guests a good experience today and looking to the future, but that's what Disney has to do here. We'll keep an eye on these and any other developments as they relate to future projects here on this blog.
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