Disneyland Extends Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Ride Closure Again

Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride is closed right now for what is a multi-month refurbishment, and a reopening date was just removed from the calendar. The ride closed at the beginning of September, and we have now seen a reopening date visible on the calendar multiple times. The closure was previously extended.

Now, we see that the closure has been extended on the Disneyland refurbishment calendar. We watch these closures closely to bring you updates whenever we get more information on ride closure dates. We know that ride closures impact vacations. At Mickey Visit, we bring you all the latest Disney news.

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Big Thunder Mountain Ride Closure Extended

Big Thunder Mountain closed at Disneyland on September 2, 2025, for a scheduled refurbishment. Last month, the Disneyland calendar was updated to show that the ride was going to reopen on October 2, 2025. The closure was then extended to an unlisted date, a couple of days after the reopening appeared on the refurbishment calendar.

Then, the Disneyland refurbishment calendar was updated over this past weekend to show that Big Thunder Mountain was going to reopen on November 23, 2025.

We assumed that this reopening date for Big Thunder Mountain would stick because the reopening date listed was getting into the busy Disneyland Christmas season and was just before Thanksgiving week at Disneyland.

Midday today, October 13, 2025, Disneyland updated the refurbishment list on their website to again list Big Thunder Mountain as closed through at least November 24, 2025. So, the closure has been extended on the calendar. There is no stated reopening date for Big Thunder Mountain at Disneyland.

We hope to bring you more complete information on this closure when we get it. Right now, we don't have any sense of how far the closure is going to be extended or what is causing these extensions of the ride closure. I am curious if the extension today was due to an error in how they added it to the digital calendar or if there was something discovered in the ride that requires more work.

Previously, when the Big Thunder Mountain closure was extended, we received information from Disneyland. That information likely still applies to this closure extension.

Disneyland officials shared that sometimes, due to the complexity of certain ride refurbishments, the team handling refurbishments wants more time in the final stages of inspections and approvals before sharing a reopening date. They said that to allow for this, a reopening date will be posted closer to the completion of the refurbishment.

The Disneyland team schedules routine maintenance for its attractions. This happens in addition to bigger additions and changes to rides. Sometimes this work is as short as a day, and other times it stretches on for longer periods of time. When major attractions like Big Thunder Mountain or Radiator Springs Racers are closed, there are noticeable impacts on crowds in these areas of the theme park.

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You can see the full Disneyland refurbishment calendar for the latest closures happening. There are also closures scheduled for Casey Jr. Circus Train and Storybook Land Canal Boats in Disneyland Park and Mickey's PhilharMagic in Disney California Adventure.

The Disneyland Big Thunder Mountain refurbishment is different from the closure of the ride at Disney World, where they are making big changes to the Magic Kingdom version of Big Thunder Mountain. Unlike that closure, we do not anticipate any substantial changes to the Disneyland ride when it reopens.

At Walt Disney World, they are making changes to the lift hill scene that you can see in the concept artwork above. They will add new effects to that scene. They also promised other special effects magic. The Magic Kingdom version of Big Thunder Mountain closed in January 2025 for a bigger refurbishment that will last through 2026. See all details on those changes here.

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