The Wildest Ride in the Wilderness will close January 7 for a ten month refurbishment. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is a favorite at Disneyland and will be greatly missed during the extended closure.
Disney has a unique challenge maintaining its older attractions because they have become part of the quintessential Disneyland experience. While other theme parks retire old rides and bring in new attractions on a regular basis, Disney has several attractions that are decades old and yet beloved by regular guests.
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad opened in 1979 and the attraction has seen its fair share of wear and tear over the years. The ride has finally reached the point where the track and ride vehicles need to be fully replaced.
Disneyland has taken a similar approach with Space Mountain and the Matterhorn. The attractions were basically rebuilt from the ground up with all new vehicles and a new track that followed the original layout. The ride experience is essentially the same, but Disneyland gained a “new” roller coaster that can operate for many years to come.
One of the biggest operational challenges is the added time it takes to load guests with disabilities. It takes a few extra seconds to transfer from a wheelchair and this delay can cause the ride to break down when it is running at full capacity. Space Mountain solved this problem during its refurbishment by adding a separate loading area with a track switch. Guests can take as long as needed to board the vehicle. The employee then flips a switch and the car transfers over onto the main track. Here’s hoping that Big Thunder Mountain gets a similar addition during its lengthy refurbishment.
Although the refurbishment will cost the same as building an entirely new ride (Disney is basically replacing the entire ride system and vehicles), it will be hard for Disney to market this as a new experience when it eventually reopens. To help show that the experience has been refreshed, we can expect to see some new additions to the ride, like an interactive queue (similar to what is being added in Walt Disney World) and new story elements that will tie the ride to the TV show in development.
The mountain itself will get a fresh coat of paint, similar to the facelift Disney recently gave the Matterhorn. The Imagineers have learned a lot of techniques for making fake rocks look real, so we can expect to see a big improvement over the current 1979 look.
There’s no word yet on what classic elements of the attraction will remain, but we’re hopeful that the Rainbow Ridge buildings will remain. These little storefronts are from the Mine Train Through Nature’s Wonderland attraction that originally sat on that land. When Big Thunder was constructed, the facades of the town found a new home near the end of the attraction. There isn’t much to them, but it would be nice if this piece of the past could be preserved during the extensive remodel.
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad will remain open through the busy holiday season, before closing down January 7. Be sure to get your rides in now, as it will be a long time before October 2013 rolls around.
Photos via Loren Javier and Disney
I can’t believe the ride will be closed that long. There’s basically nothing left in Frontierland with that ride closed.