Multiple projects are happening across the Walt Disney World Resort this year.
Signs are coming down in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and tracks are flying through the air at Magic Kingdom Park. The refurbishment and revitalization of Disney World seems particularly concentrated in 2025 as Central Florida wrangles with the addition of Universal Epic Universe. While maintenance at Disney World may not be intrinsically linked to the opening of Epic Universe, it is interesting to see the correlations between the two biggest players in the Sunshine State’s theme park space.
On January 6, Big Thunder Mountain closed indefinitely at Magic Kingdom, marking another major attraction closure at the resort. Construction teams were quickly onsite, and parts of the track were seen being lifted by crane through the air. Disney has confirmed that Big Thunder Mountain will reopen sometime in 2026 with “a little bit of new magic.”
Of course, Frontierland as a whole will undergo a major thematic overhaul in the coming years as Disney Experiences looks to welcome the automobiles of Radiator Springs to the area. The addition of Pixar’s Cars franchise was announced at last year’s D23 Expo, and quickly divided opinion.
It hasn’t just been Frontierland that has lost attractions in 2025. Over the other side of Magic Kingdom, Astro Orbiter is also closed indefinitely, with Disney stating it plans to reopen the high-flying ride by the summer of 2025. Last week, a crane was seen on site in Tomorrowland and now new reports confirm the attraction is unrecognizable.
Photos from WDWMagic show that the iconic planets integrated into the Astro Orbiter attraction have been completely removed, leaving just the ride’s skeleton.
“A large crane, brought in at the start of the refurbishment, was used to remove the planets over the weekend,” the outlet wrote. “Based on past refurbishments, including the 2014 update, it’s likely the crane will be temporarily removed once this phase of work is complete.”
“It is expected to return later in the refurbishment to reinstall the planets and finalize other thematic elements of the attraction,” they added.
Astro Orbiter is a key part of the Magic Kingdom skyline, along with the likes of Space Mountain and Cinderella Castle. The lack of its brightly-colored planet components for the foreseeable future will be noticeable to guests visiting the parks over the next few months.
Magic Kingdom is not the only theme park at Disney World getting the refurbishment treatment. Notably, Animal Kingdom has broken new ground on its Tropical Americas-themed location that is replacing DinoLand U.S.A. Already, a number of attractions and experiences have closed down at the Disney park, with Walt Disney Imagineering commencing the next chapter of the transformation last week.
How do you feel about losing Astro Orbiter indefinitely at Magic Kingdom? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!
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