Big Thunder Mountain closing for lengthy refurb.

[MadEye]

How disappointing to hear that! BTMRR is my beloved Mouseoholic's all-time favorite ride... the very first and last thing she simply must do on every trip!! She will be sooooooo disappointed to hear that the whole thing was just a flash in the pan... no real substance to the refurb.
Well, I guess we can console ourselves with the hope that maybe the "soft opening" that y'all experienced wasn't the end of the story... maybe there's more coming. We'll see when we get there at the end of August.

That's the thing. Why wait to do something to the ride itself when you have the chance during a months long refurb? Remember Space Mountain in 09? They didn't touch the ride but for a few new projections but they did most of the work to the queue and everyone thought that they'd close it again to do the work to the ride everyone expected out of that 8 month closure.

[Wizzard419]

When was the last time Big Thunder was closed for an extended period?

Just going from memory, it's not that unusual for the coaster attractions to be closed for long periods of time to return the same (just cleaned up). Having millions of people use the ride and line areas takes it's toll. Pirates at DLR was closed for a while and when it came back it was just cleaned up more than anything else as well.

[MadEye]

When was the last time Big Thunder was closed for an extended period?

Just going from memory, it's not that unusual for the coaster attractions to be closed for long periods of time to return the same (just cleaned up). Having millions of people use the ride and line areas takes it's toll. Pirates at DLR was closed for a while and when it came back it was just cleaned up more than anything else as well.

But if effects are not working for long periods of time (i.e. falling rocks on third lift hill, missing baby possums) and many guests notice it, if a lengthy refurb happens, most would be expecting those effects to return or be fixed. If that is not the case, let the fans know and they won't feel disappointed when it finally reopens and they see it's the same. This got a lot of hopes up and ended up with a dud.

On a side note, there have been rumors of Splash getting an updated queue (long before BTMRR was confirmed to close). Now that the other two Mountains have gotten the queue work, I have a feeling we'll see Splash get said updated queue in the not too distant future.

[Wizzard419]

Some of those things might still be "in progress", if I recall when DLR's pirates came back the pirate strattling the dock and boat was not lit up (presumably partially broken) and then went away and has not yet returned. A big problem has been that they have reduced the labor/hours (at least at DLR) so some of the bigger rides aren't open at the start and some effects may be broken/removed for extended periods of time.

[cy1229]

I wonder if a problem with the falling rocks or the baby possum came up that just can't be fixed, similar to the Yeti on Everest, but not as extreme.

[Mousekedude]

I wonder if a problem with the falling rocks or the baby possum came up that just can't be fixed, similar to the Yeti on Everest, but not as extreme.

Mouseoholic informed me that she saw somewhere that this is probably the case... with the falling rock at least. Something about something falling on someone at the BTMRR in DL, so they disabled it permanently at MK as well because it can't be reliably fixed...

[mjmcsl4me]

We were bummed when we went early May of this year. We knew that the ride would be closed but just bummed since this is my 9-year-old son's favorite ride along with Test Track and that was closed also. He loved the new Star Tours and the new Sorcerer's Apprentice game so it added some new loves to his list.

[MadEye]

I wonder if a problem with the falling rocks or the baby possum came up that just can't be fixed, similar to the Yeti on Everest, but not as extreme.

Mouseoholic informed me that she saw somewhere that this is probably the case... with the falling rock at least. Something about something falling on someone at the BTMRR in DL, so they disabled it permanently at MK as well because it can't be reliably fixed...

If it can't be fixed, remove it. The falling rocks are still in the third lift hill tunnel. The place where the baby possums used to swing above you still don't look like they've been touched and still look like a spot for something that is still missing.

EDIT: Unless they've changed that, you can see what I am talking about in the video I linked earlier in the thread at the 4: 52 mark.

[MadEye]

UPDATE: Baby possums are back. Last time I saw them (a few months ago) they weren't spinning. Anyone know if they are?

Back story for Big Thunder set up:

http://www.wdwmagic.com/attractions/big ... -queue.htm

[Sharonofwindham]

LOVE BTM, and it's one attraction that I have to go on SEVERAL times each visit....in between SM excursions that is . I have to say I'm glad that they didn't make any real "changes" to the actual ride. I remember the first trip to AK right after they opened, and I rode "Countdown to Extinction", I was absolutely blown away! After they made changes, and I'm still not exactly sure what they were, and changed the name to "Dinosaur", it just wasn't quite the same. Can't put a finger on why though . All I know is they needed to make it a bit tamer so they could lower the height requirement, and I thought that was just by making it less "rough". Improvements are always welcome, but I don't like it when they make changes to my faves

[MadEye]

I remember the first trip to AK right after they opened, and I rode "Countdown to Extinction", I was absolutely blown away! After they made changes, and I'm still not exactly sure what they were, and changed the name to "Dinosaur", it just wasn't quite the same. Can't put a finger on why though . All I know is they needed to make it a bit tamer so they could lower the height requirement, and I thought that was just by making it less "rough". Improvements are always welcome, but I don't like it when they make changes to my faves

They didn't really change anything except the name. Pterodactyl doesn't move anymore and charging Carno doesn't get as close to the ride vehicle as it used to but that's about it. Other than that, some effects have been turned off for years ("jumping" compsognathus needs to jump again!).