The bighorn sheep has been removed, more track has been installed, and structures are being repainted at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in Magic Kingdom during the attraction’s year-long refurbishment.
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Construction
In the past few days, crews have installed new pieces of track in this curve of the coaster over the Rivers of America. After the old track was removed, crews redid the concrete below the ride.
The track comes to an end just before it should enter the mountain tunnel. Crews have also been redoing the tunnel’s rockwork.
The new track connects to pieces installed further back on the mountain earlier in April.
Beyond the bridge and scaffolding, we saw a crew member working on the rockwork next to a curve along the mountain.
Two more crew members were working on the track closer to the water.
We could see more crew members in this nearby building. Scaffolding runs along the bridge up to the building.
A week ago, more scaffolding was installed in the town of Tumbleweed on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Crew members are now repainting the Gold Dust Saloon facade. Though saloon is currently green, but it looks like crew members are painting it brown. We don’t know if brown is the final color.
At the edge of the town, the wagon’s roof has been painted blue. It was previously brown.
The bighorn sheep is now missing from its ridge looking over the town. As we previously reported, scaffolding was installed leading up to the ridge. The possums were removed from the tree in the foreground a few months ago.
The animal figures may be refurbished elsewhere while on-site crews work on the mountain’s rocks.
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad closed for refurbishment in January and will reopen in 2026. A more exact opening timeframe was not announced but the most recent permit related to construction expires in April 2026. Disney said the ride will have “a little bit of new magic” when it reopens.
Watch our 4K multi-cam POV of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad below:
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