2024 & 2025 Disney World Refurbishment Schedule & Ride Closures

Nothing is worse than spending hours upon hours planning your trip to Walt Disney World, only to find out your favorite attraction is under refurbishment. That’s why we created this 2024 & 2025 Disney World Refurbishments and Closure schedule, which will help you know what’s open and what’s closed.

In this post, we will look at all 4 theme parks at Walt Disney World (Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom) and let you know the refurbishment calendar and which rides are closed in each park.

While it’s always the biggest bummer to go to Walt Disney World and have your favorite attraction closed, at times it happens. Sometimes you can prevent it by looking at the closures schedule and planning your trip for another time, but other times, Disney decides to refurbish attractions at the last minute, without notice.

Why does Disney do refurbishments to rides?

As much as we don’t like them, attraction refurbishments are necessary from time to time. With the millions of people that ride these attractions each year, eventually, they break down and need fixing.

Some of the Disney World ride closures could last a few days, and sometimes they last for months. It all depends on the type of work being done. In the long run, it’s best for these attractions and if they didn’t close from time to time, their lifespan would be much shorter.

So while it’s never fun when you can’t ride certain attractions, they are unavoidable.

Disney’s Magic Kingdom is the centerpiece of Walt Disney World, and there have been numerous refurbishments both big and small over the last few years.

Disney would like to touch up a lot of the older attractions before the festivities begin, but it’s unclear how much is in the budget for big refurbishments. It’s likely we’ll just see a lot of small improvements.

Refurbishments:

• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (Closed 1/6/24 – Early 2026) – Disney has announced the long-awaited refurbishment to Big Thunder Railroad, and we know they have already filed for work permits on the project. It is scheduled to close starting January 6, 2025 until at least Spring 2026. This will be the attraction’s biggest refurbishment yet focusing on the ride system and other essential components.
• Country Bear Musical Jamboree (NOW OPEN) – The newly updated version of the classic Country Bears Jamboree is now open with new songs that pay homage to the Opry-style shows of Nashville.
• Dumbo the Flying Elephant queue (Closing TDB) – Permits have been filed to update the playground flooring and replace the playground netting. No dates have been announced at this time.
• Frontierland Shootin’ Arcade (Closed Permanently 6/23/24) – This classic attraction closed for construction of a new DVC Member Lounge.
• Happily Ever After (NOW OPEN) – This beloved nighttime spectacular is back nightly at the Magic Kingdom after being gone for 18 months.
• Jungle Cruise (NOW OPEN) – Jungle Cruise was closed for a multi-month maintenance with no changes to the show scenes this time.
• Liberty Square Riverboat (TBD) – They normally do a short maintenance once a year.
• Move It! Shake It! MousekeDance It! Street Party (Closed 3/16/20 – TBD)
• Peter Pan’s Flight (Closed 7/8/24 – 8/21/24) – This attraction will close for a short refurbishment which will modify set elements. It’s likely Disney will address some of the scenes that some consider culturally insensitive.
• Splash Mountain (Closed Permanently on 1/23/23)
• Swiss Family Treehouse (Closed 11/18/24 – 12/20/24) – Closed for regular maintenance
• Tiana’s Bayou Adventure (NOW OPEN) – This is the permanent replacement for Splash Mountain and features characters from Princess and the Frog.
• Tomorrowland Terrace Restaurant (Closed 8/5/21 – TBD) – The location of this quick service restaurant is often seasonal and used for fireworks show rather than a real restaurant.
• TRON Lightcycle Run – (NOW OPEN)

Coming Soon:

• Pirates of the Caribbean Tavern – (ETA: Late 2025)
• Cars Rally Ride – (ETA: 2029)
• Cars Kiddie Ride – (ETA: 2029)
• Villains Roller Coaster – (ETA: 2030)
• Villains Ride #2 – (ETA: 2030)

EPCOT

This is the park in Disney World with the most refurbishments at the time, which is understandable considering the massive transformation project EPCOT is currently undergoing.

Have patience, especially when visiting EPCOT park since it’s likely that attraction statuses could change between now and your vacation.

EPCOT is also the park with the most coming attractions, though again that is very much in flux right now since Disney’s huge budget cuts last year, and they aren’t spending as much money as originally planned.

We anticipate many of the park’s attractions to be delayed and the work as a whole to move much slower than thought.

Refurbishments:

• Luminous the Symphony of Us (NOW OPEN) – This new nighttime show permanently replaced Disney Harmonious and EPCOT Forever.
• Moana: Journey of Water (NOW OPEN) – The first attraction in a Disney park based on Disney’s Moana. Cast Member and Annual Passholder previews are currently underway.
• Test Track (Closed 6/17/24 – TBD Late Summer 2025) – Disney has announced a complete overhaul to the Test Track attraction, let’s call this version 3.0. The update will include homage to the classic attraction World of Motion. We are waiting for a reopening date but it will be in late summer 2025. This is a lengthy refurbishment, right around one year total for the project.

Coming Soon:

• Spaceship Earth Lounge- (ETA: Late Spring 2025)

Hollywood Studios

Hollywood Studios just recently went through a ton of new construction and now most projects are being done in other parks. No big refurbishments are scheduled for the time being.

Refurbishments:

• Jedi Training: Trials of the Temple (Closed 3/16/20 – TBD)
• Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy (Closed Permanently 10/7/24) – This closed down inside Sunset Showcase in 2024 to make room for the new Villains show “Disney Villains Unfairly Ever After” coming in the summer of 2025.
• Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster (NOW OPEN) – This popular Aerosmith-themed coaster closed for a multi-month refurbishment and reopened to guests on July 1, 2024. Even though it is a 6-month project, we did not see the long-rumored theme change away from Aerosmith, and this refurbishment is only to fix the lingering reliability issues the ride as faced in recent years.
• Roundup Rodeo BBQ (NOW OPEN) – The new table service restaurant in Toy Story Land opened on March 23, 2023.
• Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular (Closed 3/16/20 – TBD) – All nighttime spectaculars including fireworks shows are closed right now in Disney World.
• Voyage of the Little Mermaid (Closed 3/16/20 – Fall 2024) – The Voyage of the Little Mermaid has permanently closed and is making way for a newly re-imagined show “The Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure” which will come to Hollywood Studios in Fall 2024.
• Walt Disney Presents (NOW OPEN) – The walk-through exhibits and movie portion of the attraction are now running after a small refurbishment.

There are very few refurbishments going on at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and except for the park’s entrance, everything is very quiet.

Refurbishments:

• Dinosaur (Closing Permanently in 2026) – This will close as part of the Tropical Americas expansion and will be replaced by an Indiana Jones-themed attraction.  No closing date has been announced for Dinosaur, only that it will remain open for 2025 and will close sometime in 2026.
• Dino Diner (Closed 9/15/22 – TBD) – It closed after the announcement for the Animal Kingdom expansion project and it’s not known at this time whether this has closed permanently or if it is coming back.
• Kali River Rapids (NOW OPEN) – Closed for a standard refurbishment during the Winter months.

Coming Soon:

• Encanto Ride – (ETA: 2027)
• Indiana Jones Ride – (ETA: 2027)

Water Parks

Both Disney World Water Parks, Typhoon Lagoon, and Blizzard Beach have been closing on and off since March 2020. Since the reopening in July 2020, only one water park has been open at a time. Each time they reopen one, they close the other. We expect this to continue until staff shortages are adressed.

Blizzard Beach (Closed 3/19/24 – TBD)

• Blizzard Beach is closing for a long refurbishment in March 2024. This is likely routine maintenance. Recently, many small enhancements were made including new “Frozen” themed areas.

Typhoon Lagoon (NOW OPEN)

• Typhoon Lagoon is now open from a multi-month refurbishment. Due to an overall staffing shortage, there are not enough employees for two water parks to run simultaneously at this time. Typhoon Lagoon reopened on March 19, 2024, with Disney H2O Glow After Hours events and new treats to enjoy.

General Disney World Water Park Refurbishment Info

• The Walt Disney World water parks run seasonally and are closed often due to the weather. The water parks usually close one at a time from January to March annually for regular maintenance and refurbishments, so one park should always be open.

Make sure you look at this list of Disney World hotel refurbishments before you plan your trip so you know what kind of work is being done at your hotel and if you are ok with it.

Unfortunately, there are also still some hotels in Walt Disney World that are closed, many without reopening dates. We’ll continue to update the list as soon as we have those dates. Read our post on Disney World Hotels after reopening to see all the changes to expect when you go and our Rankings of the Best Disney World Resorts if you are trying to figure out where to stay.

Here is the current list of Walt Disney World Resort Hotel Refurbishments:

Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort

• Fantasia Pool (Closed January 2025 – April 2025) – Closing for routine maintenance and repairs.
• Lobby Remodel and Update (NOW OPEN) – The entire lobby is getting updated with a refreshed look and new layout and design similar to Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort and Old Key West Resort.

Disney’s All-Star Music Resort

• Re-Imagined Guest Rooms (NOW OPEN) – The reimagining of all the guest rooms at All-Star Music was going on when the resort closed and now the rest of the rooms have been upgraded.

Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort (NOW OPEN)

• Re-Imagined Guest Rooms (NOW OPEN) – Like the other 2 All-Star Resorts, the All-Star Sports was scheduled for a re-imagining of all the guest rooms. Work has now been completed.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge Resort

• No current refurbishments

Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas

• No current refurbishments

Disney’s Art of Animation Resort

• Guest Room Refurbishment (Completion TBD) – Guest rooms at Art of Animation are being lightly upgraded with changes to furniture, carpeting, etc. Work is done on the Cars suites, and now is being done to the Nemo suites, with The Little Mermaid and The Lion King after that.

Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort

• No current refurbishments

Disney’s Beach Club Resort

• Lobby Refurbishment (NOW OPEN) – Work has completed on a refurbishment to the lobby. General refreshing was done to the decor and colors.
• Stormalong Bay (Closing January 2025 – June 2025) – The popular pool area will undergo a five-month refurbishment. This routine refurbishment will include Stormalong Bay, the shipwreck, the lazy river, and waterslide. The Tidal, Admiral, and Dune Cove leisure pools will remain open.

Disney’s Beach Club Villas

• No current refurbishments

Disney’s Boardwalk Inn

• Resort-wide Refurbishment (1/10/23 – TBD) – A huge resort-wide refurbishment of the Boardwalk Inn Resort has started including a new lobby design, updated guest rooms, and new dining options.
• Re-Imagined Guest Rooms (NOW OPEN) – The renovation to all of the guest rooms at the BoardWalk Inn on the hotel side have now been completed.
• The Cake Bake Shop (Opening 2025) – This new bakery/table service restaurant is taking the place of the old ESPN Zone restaurant. It will have savory and sweet options and focus on its many decadent dessert options including cakes.
• Big River Grille and Brewing Works (Closed Permanently on 1/21/24) – This restaurant and brewery located on the Disney BoardWalk closed for good on January 21, 2024. Food trucks will be added for additional lunch options.

Disney’s Boardwalk Villas

• Re-Imagined Guest Rooms (1/10/23 – TBD) – The renovation to all the DVC Villas at the BoardWalk Inn is still going on at this time.

Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge

• No current refurbishments

Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground

• Chuck Wagon Food Truck (NOW OPEN) – This was a short refurbishment.
• The Cabins DVC Remodel (Opened July 1, 2024) – The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness were refurbished and have now become a separate DVC property.
• Trail’s End Restaurant (NOW OPEN) – Trail’s End Restaurant has converted from a table service restaurant to a marketplace concept with expanded quick service options.

Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa

• 1900 Park Fare (NOW OPEN) – This was closed for 4 years and reopened in April 2024 with a new decor, characters and menu.
• Garden Tea Room (Closed 3/14/20 – TBD) – This closed with the resort back in 2020 but it hasn’t reopened since.
• Guest Rooms Update (2022 – TBD) – Guest rooms are being updated with a more modern look and subtle touches of Mary Poppins theming.
• Lobby Refurbishment (NOW OPEN) – The classic Victorian lobby is getting refreshed, yet it will maintain its elegant theming.
• Narcoossee’s (NOW OPEN) – This was closed for a lengthy refurbishment, similar in size and scope to that of Citricos. There are new dining room updates and a refreshed menu.

The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa

• Disney Vacation Club Expansion at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort. (NOW OPEN) – The Disney Vacation Club has converted 200 villas from existing hotel rooms at the Grand Floridian Resort.

Disney’s Old Key West Resort

• No current refurbishments

Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort

• No current refurbishments

Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows

• New DVC Tower (Opening TBD, 2024) – Disney is building a new DVC Tower at the Polynesian Resort on the old site of the Spirit of Aloha dinner show.

Disney’s Pop Century Resort

• Everything POP Food Court (NOW OPEN)

Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – French Quarter

• Scat Cat’s Club (9/23/24 – Mid-October 2024) – Closing for a small refurbishment. No details have been given about potential changes once it reopens.

Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – Riverside

• Magnolia Bend Guest Rooms Update (Closing Early April 2025 – January 2026) – Complete reimagining of the Magnolia Bend rooms which are currently mansion-style buildings. I expect the outside style to remain the same but the rooms themselves will get a total refurbishment.

Disney’s Riviera Resort

• No current refurbishments

Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa

• High Rock Spring Pool (NOW OPEN)
• On the Rocks Pool Bar (NOW OPEN)

Disney’s Wilderness Lodge

• Resort-wide Refurbishment (Completion Date TBD 2026?) – Construction permits were filed with Adena Corporation who has worked on numerous projects around WDW. These permits have an expiration date of December 25, 2026. At this time we don’t know what will be included but we will keep you updated.

Disney’s Yacht Club Resort

• Guest Rooms Update (Early 2025 – May 2025) – Guest rooms are being updated. It would make sense for it to follow the other resorts and giving the rooms a Disney theme.
• Stormalong Bay (Closing January 2025 – June 2025) – The popular pool area will undergo a six-month refurbishment. This routine refurbishment will include Stormalong Bay, the shipwreck, the lazy river, and waterslide. The Tidal, Admiral, and Dune Cove leisure pools will remain open.

Disney Springs

• No current refurbishments.

Permanent Ride Closures

While some attractions close only temporarily, others sadly close permanently. This happens when the ride is no longer deemed popular enough or Disney has other plans for that space, perhaps bringing in a new attraction in its place.

Here is a list of the permanent closures in Disney World in the recent past:

Magic Kingdom

• Disney Enchantment – (Closed 4/2/23)
• Frontierland Shootin’ Arcade – (Closed 6/23/24)
• The Pirates League – (Closed 3/15/20)
• The Muppets Present…Great Moments in American History – (Closed 1/1/20)
• Splash Mountain – (Closed 1/23/23)
• Stitch’s Great Escape – (Closed 1/6/18)
• Wishes – (Closed 5/11/17)

EPCOT

• Agent P’s World Showcase Adventure – (Closed 2/17/20)
• The Circle of Life – (Closed 2/4/18)
• Disney Harmonious (Closed on 4/2/23)
• Ellen’s Energy Adventure – (Closed 8/13/17)
• EPCOT Forever – (Closed 9/28/21 and again 12/4/23)
• Illuminations: Reflections of Earth – (Closed 9/30/19)
• Mariachi Cobre Presents… The Story of Coco – (Closed 6/2/20)

Hollywood Studios

• The Disney Society Orchestra and Friends – (Closed 10/4/20)
• Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy (Closed 10/7/24)
• Star Wars: A Galaxy Far, Far Away – (Closed 2/23/20)
• The Great Movie Ride – (Closed 8/13/17)
• The Voyage of the Little Mermaid – (Closed 3/16/20)
• Wonderful World of Animation – (Closed 5/13/20)

Animal Kingdom

• Primeval Whirl – (Closed 3/16/20)
• Rivers of Light: We Are One – (Closed 3/16/20)
• Finding Nemo – The Musical (Closed 3/16/20)

Resorts/Experiences

• Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser – (Closed 9/30/23)

Disney World Seasonal Closures

Some closures in Disney World are seasonal, meaning similar work happens on those rides around the same time each year. Some of this is weather-based, like water parks for example, that are less likely to be popular during the Winter.

Here is a list of Seasonal Refurbishments in Disney World. These dates are estimates based on closures in past years:

• Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water Park – Closes October to January for general maintenance and seasonal refurbishment.
• Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon Water Park – Closes January to March for general maintenance and seasonal refurbishment.
• Kali River Rapids – Can close anytime from January to March for general maintenance and seasonal refurbishment.
• Jungle Cruise – Usually closes in Late October to Early November for Jingle Cruise holiday overlay; closes in Early January to remove holiday overlay.
• Splash Mountain – This is one of the most refurbished attractions in Disney World. Usually closes in January/February for general maintenance and seasonal refurbishment.

What Season Does Disney Do Refurbishments?

Disney tends to do more refurbishments and ride closures in the “off-season” and when there are fewer people in the parks.

January and February are popular months and are good times to tune up the rides after the holiday season. This is especially true for water attractions like Kali River Rapids, Splash Mountain, or the water parks.

September is another popular month for refurbishments in Disney World since most of the crowds have gone home with the kids back in school. That means it’s a perfect time to fix up attractions needing maintenance.

While going to Disney World during the holidays or the busy season is more crowded, you are also less likely to find your favorite attraction closed for refurbishment at that time, which is a definite advantage.

Rumored Refurbishments

There are many rides in Disney World that NEED refurbishing, some staying the same for decades.

Here is a list of some Disney World attractions that have been rumored to be getting refurbishments and could be closing soon. Most of these haven’t been confirmed by Disney yet, but they are the most likely to close.

Magic Kingdom:

• Big Thunder Mountain – special effects additions
• Walt Disney World Railroad – scene enhancements
• Carousel of Progress – scene change
• It’s a Small World – Disney character addition
• Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse
• Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room
• Astro Orbiter

EPCOT:

• Spaceship Earth – A total overhaul of this attraction was supposed to happen in May 2020, but then was postponed when the parks closed. No new date has been given yet.
• Journey Into Imagination – This has been the most rumored attraction to be getting a refurbishment, yet nothing confirmed from Disney. Many fans are not fans of the current version, but doing something that keeps Figment in the attraction is a must.

Hollywood Studios:

• Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster – Rumors of a possible theme change away from Aerosmith.
• Tower of Terror – It’s possible new special effects could be added

Animal Kingdom:

• Expedition Everest – We’ve been hearing about fixing the Yeti for years now, but it’s a very complicated task that would take months to do. Not sure that this will ever get done but we can hope.

Your Thoughts

I want to know what you think about the current list of ride closures and attraction refurbishments at Disney World…

• Which ride are you most disappointed to see close?
• Which rides need refurbishing the most?

Let us know in the comments section below!

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