Walt Disney World Railroad is briefly closed for the development of TRON Lightcycle Run curler coaster in Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom. This covers building progress, photograph & video updates on Cast Member coaching & testing, and our predicted reopening date for the WDWRR. (Updated October 27, 2022.)
First, the fundamentals. Disney introduced that the Walt Disney World Railroad will briefly pause operations, with trains “parked” at Main Street Station starting on December 3, 2018. During this time, Magic Kingdom friends had been have the ability to get an up-close take a look at the railroad and partake in distinctive photograph alternatives for some time. (Note: Main Street Station is now not open to friends as of Fall 2022.)
Additionally, the Tomorrowland Speedway closed on January 2, 2019 to re-route that trip’s monitor. The kiddie automobile trip reopened considerably the identical (barely shorter) method again in Summer 2019. Over three years after it first closed, the Walt Disney World Railroad nonetheless shouldn’t be working as of Late 2022. So…what’s up with it?!
If you’re right here on the lookout for the Walt Disney World Railroad reopening date, we sadly nonetheless have no idea when that’ll occur. Disney hasn’t formally introduced when this iconic attraction will return to Magic Kingdom.
However, we do have some hypothesis and up to date updates, which we’ll share later within the put up. At lengthy final, the WDWRR is getting actually shut to returning!
It was apparent from the unique TRON Lightcycle Run idea artwork that the Walt Disney World Railroad must pause operations sooner or later, given the idea artwork displaying the prepare going below the cover of the TRON coaster…what we didn’t know is that it’d shut so early into building and (doubtless) final so lengthy.
What we predict is fascinating right here is the TRON building progress versus the closure of the Walt Disney World railroad versus the doubtless attraction opening date.
Construction has progressed in precisely the identical method as with Shanghai Disneyland’s TRON Lightcycle Power Run: curler coaster monitor adopted by present constructing adopted by exterior cover and pathways.
In concept, solely the ultimate stage of the undertaking would intrude with the Walt Disney World Railroad. The preliminary levels of building had been all nicely exterior the realm of the prepare tracks, and are accessible from the different facet of the development web site, which is reached from World Drive reasonably than inside Magic Kingdom.
If you’re questioning why Walt Disney World Railroad closed so early within the TRON Lightcycle Run building, you’re not alone. However, opposite to hypothesis, this was not a results of poor undertaking administration or building planning.
Rather, this was fully by design. Taking the Walt Disney World Railroad down below the pretext of building provided the corporate appreciable operational cost-savings. It additionally resulted in minimal pushback from friends and followers because it’s visibly apparent that constructing the brand new curler coaster interferes with the railroad. What’s much less apparent is that it didn’t have to intrude for therefore lengthy.
Our assumption when the Walt Disney World Railroad first closed is that it could be down for a very long time. We estimated that the refurbishment would take within the vary of 18 months to 2 years.
Unfortunately, the closure of Walt Disney World threw a monkey wrench into plans, prolonging the undertaking by over a 12 months. TRON Lightcycle Run was initially slated to open by October 2021, on the newest. Instead, Walt Disney World has purposefully delayed the debut of the curler coaster, and now TRON Lightcycle Run received’t open till Spring 2023.
That brings the grand whole of the Walt Disney World Railroad downtime to three+ years and counting. Fortunately, it most likely will not stay closed for 4 full years.
October 27, 2022 Update: Disney Parks simply posted a brand new video on varied social media channels teasing that “testing is just beginning for the Walt Disney World Railroad crew.”
With building of TRON Lightcycle Run coming into its remaining levels as of Late 2022, it’s now doable that the Walt Disney World Railroad may reopen by someday in November 2022. This can be at the least just a few months forward of the brand new curler coaster, however Disney now has a monetary incentive to do precisely that.
Reopening the WDWRR can be important in offering wanted capability to Magic Kingdom through the busy stretches round Veterans Day, Jersey Week, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve. More capability means promoting extra tickets, which might be Walt Disney World’s rationale for bringing again the railroad earlier than TRON Lightcycle Run opens. (During final 12 months’s vacation season, Walt Disney World needed to cease promoting park tickets on a number of events attributable to capability constraints, successfully leaving cash on the desk.)
As such, Walt Disney World will doubtless try and have the railroad able to roll by the official kickoff of the Christmas season (and in time for the busy Veterans Day weekend) on November 11, 2022 if in any respect doable. While we’re skeptical that the Walt Disney World Railroad will have the ability to hit that concentrate on, it must be shut. Thanksgiving is most undoubtedly a chance, particularly given the place issues presently stand.
In current months, we’ve seen (and heard!) the Walt Disney World Railroad testing. On high of that, Disney recalled and began coaching Cast Members again originally of summer time, so that they’re able to roll–and have been for some time now.
Work is fully completed on its tunnel and monitor by way of TRON Lightcycle Run, and the final of monitor is being laid in Storybook Circus. This means there’s nonetheless some testing and adjusting to be finished, however the trains may nonetheless be just a few weeks away from returning.
In quick, the week of Thanksgiving 2022 isn’t exterior the realm of potentialities. That’s most likely the earliest the Walt Disney World Railroad will return, although. (I’d like to be pleasantly stunned and see it reopen by November 11, 2022–however I’m skeptical of that turnaround time. That’s solely a pair weeks away!)
@disneyparks Choo Choo! Testing is simply starting for the Walt #DisneyWorld Railroad crew 🚂 #Disney #DisneyParks #DisneyCastLife #Railroad #Train #TrainTook ♬ unique sound – Disney Parks
Earlier this 12 months, the Disney Parks TikTook account shared a behind-the-scenes take a look at the Walt Disney World Railroad testing happening proper now at Magic Kingdom. The video gives a enjoyable look contained in the engine to see the work required to begin these locomotives for the day.
Walt Disney World didn’t supply a selected date and even an anticipated season for when the trains will return. The Cast Member within the video stated he’s “excited about getting closer to bringing the railroad back” which is probably going a intentionally obscure assertion. Here’s hoping it’s sooner reasonably than later, and we get to expertise Walt’s Legacy through the first half of the fiftieth Anniversary!
If the Walt Disney World Railroad doesn’t reopen till 2023, it’s doable we may see some plussing to the present scenes and different particulars of the attraction a la the Disneyland Railroad when it went down for the Star Wars land building and rerouting.
However, this appears extremely uncertain at this level provided that Cast Members had been recalled and have been coaching for a number of months. That wouldn’t have occurred so early if Disney plans to play the opening additional. Barring any unknown surprises, it’s doubtless the attraction will open precisely because it was earlier than–albeit doubtless with the views into Splash Mountain blocked.
Ultimately, the announcement by Walt Disney World confirms what we already knew about these two transportation points of interest experiencing downtime for the TRON Lightcycle Run coaster building. Beyond that and offering some unfastened dates, it actually raises extra questions for us than the rest…however that can most likely be par for the course as Walt Disney World undergoes a fairly radical quantity of building and modifications between now and 2023.
The excellent news is that, after quite a few delays, we should always now be within the dwelling stretch of the Walt Disney World Railroad closure. Hopefully, the enduring attraction makes its triumphant return with enhancements in late November or early December 2022!
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Your Thoughts
What do you consider this information? Are you okay with the Walt Disney World Railroad being down for therefore lengthy if it had been to imply new present scenes? Do you agree or disagree with our hypothesis…or have any of your personal so as to add? Any questions we can assist you reply? Hearing your suggestions–even while you disagree with us–is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!