Big Thunder Mountain Railroad: Refurbishment Watch

[Melanie]

From the Disneyland AP FB page:

Be among the first to preview the return of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad on March 13-16. Passholders can visit the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad FASTPASS distribution location on the day of the event to receive a FASTPASS ticket, or wait in the stand-by queue.

For complete event details: http://di.sn/pSm

Valid AP required. Space is limited. Please check AP blockout dates to ensure the ability to enter the theme park. Subject to change.

[Elias1901]

Guess we'll have to see if we can make it out for HalloweenTime...

[2Epcot]

Looking forward to trying out the new Thunder Mountain. I love that Disneyland will actually take attractions like this, and Space Mountain down for a year or more to replace the entire track, and make the rides better. Some of the new effects that I've seen in video clips look great.

[tinkwest]

Trains are running today. Cast preview.

[Disney4us2]

My friends (CM and family) went on it yesterday. Said it was great and much smoother.

[Melanie]

My friends (CM and family) went on it yesterday. Said it was great and much smoother.

[2Epcot]

I'm going to go on Thursday for the AP preview.

[2Epcot]

Rode it about mid-day today. Lines were short. I rode it 3 times with waits between 10 and 15 minutes each.

Today was a preview day for Annual Passholders. I heard a lot of non-passholders saying that's "stupid", that they could not ride. CMs did their best to let them down nicely.

Love the refurb of the ride. The ride is much smoother. Reminds of how Disneyland's Space Mountain rides after it had its major refurb several years ago. The new ride vehicles look to me just like the old ones ... They didn't make any radical changes that I could notice.

The new effects look great. My only issues was, 2 out of my 3 rides, some effects did not work. Hopefully that is something they are still working out.

Very happy with Big Thunder ... Worth the long downtime to have a much better attraction.

[Melanie]

Thanks for the review, Chris! I'm excited to ride it in October.

[Disney4us2]

Thanks for the review.... sigh... almost makes me wish we still lived in California. Really miss Disneyland.

[BrerGnat]

Been here three days and still haven't ridden. It has been broken down every time we have tried. I'm pretty irritated at this point.

[BrerGnat]

Finally rode! Love the changes snd the track was smooth as butter. Great ride!

[2Epcot]

Finally rode! Love the changes snd the track was smooth as butter. Great ride!

Glad you finally got to ride! Natalie, did you get the full explosion effect at the end (lots of smoke)? This is one of those effects that seems to be hit and miss.

[BrerGnat]

Yes, I got the full smoke effect, but I think there were also supposed to be some projections on the walls during that part that I did not see. I saw them on a YouTube video afterwards.