A HUGE Change is Coming to Magic Kingdom Next Week

Something HUGE is coming to Magic Kingdom in JUST ONE WEEK, and it’s worthy of getting excited about.

After over a year, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad will be reopening, and you’ll once more be able to go on the Wildest Ride in the Wilderness, which has received a ton of updates and changes.

On May 3rd, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad will reopen to Disney World visitors for the first time since January 2025. Yes, it’s been more than a year since we’ve been able to hop on this ride, and to say we can’t wait to see the updated version is an understatement.

So what’s changed on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad? Well, Disney has shared a lot of details about what we’ll see on the new updated version of the ride. For starters, we know the track has been completely changed, as have the ride vehicles. Other improvements were made to the ride, allowing Disney to reopen it with a lower height requirement. The new height requirement is 38″ (before it was 40″).

We also know that the exterior of the ride is getting updated so that it will fit in better with the upcoming Cars expansion in Frontierland, Piston Peak. There’s even a new scene on the ride featuring the Rainbow Caverns (this is a nod to the ride’s history, so this one is for the Disney history buffs).

Even the ride’s backstory has been expanded. According to Disney, “The story of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad dates back to Olden Times, or rather, Golden Times, during the early days of America’s first major gold rush. When Barnabas T. Bullion struck gold in the Big Thunder region, he saw a future full of riches and hustled to start the Big Thunder Mountain Company.”

However, Bullion found himself battling nature itself as “strange and unexplainable things started happening” inside the mine. So now, “the unsuspectin’ passengers who board the runaway trains will learn just how wild the wilderness can get.”

Disney also promised some other surprises and updates, so we won’t know exactly what those are until we ride it, but we can’t wait to see what else has been done to the attraction. We’ll also be curious if we can see more construction on the Villains’ land going behind Big Thunder Mountain Railroad from the ride.

So don’t forget…one week until Big Thunder Mountain Railroad opens. We’ll be there on opening day to tell you all about it, so check back with AllEars again soon for more.