Walt Disney World Railroad Refurbishment

[Cardinals314]

The Walt Disney World Railroad is scheduled to be closed for refurbishment from September 30 through to October 20 2013, reopening on October 21 2013. Permits have recently been filed for work on two bridges along the railroad route.

[GoldenBear]

I wonder if this will effect the park opening show?

[Amy]

I wonder if this will effect the park opening show?

That is a good question. I would guess they will still have the opening show but perhaps not utilize the train. The characters could easily just enter and exit from the train station itself.

[Goofyfan]

They need to add a little Disney OOOOMPH. to the Rail Road ride. needs some sprucing up and more to see. IMO.

[theBIGyowski]

They could keep the train as a part of the show and just move it back and forth in the morning. I want to say they did something similar back when they were building Mickey's Starland/Birthdayland.

[cy1229]

Is it me, or are a lot of closings / refurbs occurring in September, when they offered free dining?

Sorry, my cynicism is at an all-time high today.

[Cardinals314]

Is it me, or are a lot of closings / refurbs occurring in September, when they offered free dining?

Sorry, my cynicism is at an all-time high today.

Don't be sorry, it makes sense. September is one of the slowest months at Disney. Since it is right after the summer months and it is still warm outside, it is a perfect time for refurbishments. To entice people coming during the refurbishments, they have free Dinning. Without it, the parks would be dead in September

[theBIGyowski]

September is really the slowest time of the year. There is no one there the first few weeks in December...but all of the Christmas decorations are out...so you can't refurb then. The other downtime is right after New Years until mid February...which is when Splash Mountain always goes down for the annual refurb. But yeah...a TON of things usually go offline in September...especially in MK.

[Amy]

They could keep the train as a part of the show and just move it back and forth in the morning. I want to say they did something similar back when they were building Mickey's Starland/Birthdayland.

The only reason I'm thinking they might not is the fact that there are the permits for work on two bridges. I suppose as long as those bridges aren't in between the roundhouse and the Main Street Station they could do just that.

Is it me, or are a lot of closings / refurbs occurring in September, when they offered free dining?

Sorry, my cynicism is at an all-time high today.

Don't be sorry, it makes sense. September is one of the slowest months at Disney. Since it is right after the summer months and it is still warm outside, it is a perfect time for refurbishments. To entice people coming during the refurbishments, they have free Dinning. Without it, the parks would be dead in September

Yeah, I suppose that is a trade-off that you have to think about if it is worth the lower crowd levels and free dining to be missing some of the attractions that will be down for refurbs in September.

[Wizzard419]

I am guessing the deeply reduced airfare and hotel rates were not enough, I wonder how many years until they start throwing in "Free passes"?

[cy1229]

At my ripe old age (no comments!) I can do without Space Mountain, and we've never been a family to enjoy the railroad much (except that one time we used it to get around the parade crowd on Main Street), so I don't think this would impact how we enjoy Disney. However, my girls LOVE Space Mountain and missing it would be a major disappointment for them. I don't remember the refurbs going on in other parks at the time, but am doubtful they would be silly enough to have all the thrill rides down at once.

[Wizzard419]

At WDW? Probably not since it can be a once in a lifetime trip for many of their visitors. At DLR, they apparently did have all 4 closed for part of a day. BTM was closed for a long refurbishment, they were doing work on the Matterhorn, and splash and space were closed for OSHA violations.

[BuzzyFan]

At WDW? Probably not since it can be a once in a lifetime trip for many of their visitors. At DLR, they apparently did have all 4 closed for part of a day. BTM was closed for a long refurbishment, they were doing work on the Matterhorn, and splash and space were closed for OSHA violations.

Time scale counts, too. WDW/MK could very easily knock out most of its thrill rides for "part of a day," if they're assuming most people aren't there on single day trips (and those who are might be expected to be locals who could more easily come by on another day). Stretch the downtime out, and people will start getting out the torches and pitchforks.

[Club33Hopeful]

They are fixing the Adventureland Bridge and the swing bridge. Additionally, they will be doing some work on all of the stations, and replacing quite a bit of track.

[Len90]

They are fixing the Adventureland Bridge and the swing bridge. Additionally, they will be doing some work on all of the stations, and replacing quite a bit of track.

From the sound of it three weeks is going to be a narrow window to get all that work done in. I would wonder if they are planning on working 24/7 on this.

As for the timing, it makes perfect sense to me. All the refurbishments are done during the slowest times of the year to cause the least amount of inconvenience. That's not just Disney but pretty much the goal of every theme park. Free dining is just one of the perks they throw in to keep the RFID readers green (have to think of something new now that the turnstiles are a thing of the past). From personal experience, I was down in Aug. 19-27 of 2011 and it was starting to thin out during the week I was there. You could tell the summer was ending for WDW and when I got stuck down there for the hurricane until September 1, I was able to see the parks transform from summer to Halloween. By the first of september it was empty in the world.