Disney World Will Soon Solve Big Thunder Mountain’s Curious Case of the Omitted Opossums

Prior to the start of summer, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad reopened at Magic Kingdom following a 16-month top to bottom refurbishment. When it did, guests noticed that a fan-favorite family was missing, and so began Walt Disney World’s Curious Casing of the Omitted Opossums. We now have an update on that, as Imagineering as filed new construction permits, strongly signaling that the beloved little critters will soon return.

In case you missed it, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad closed for a lengthy refurbishment project early last January. The ride was down for over a full year for a “crevasse-deep to mountain-top refurbishment” in addition to an enhanced Rainbow Caverns scene as well as a Gold Rush finale.

The focal point of the project was a complete re-tracking, thereby extending the classic coaster’s life and making the ride much smoother, which also enabled a lower height requirement. Big Thunder also received all-new trains, refreshed sets and figures, new effects and lighting. In the process, though, the aforementioned opossums vanished.

During an event at Walt Disney World earlier this, we had a chance to hear a presentation by leadership about how they reinvest in classic experiences, spending hundreds of millions of dollars each year in the parks & resorts. As part of that presentation, Michael Hundgen, Imagineering Portfolio Executive and Sarah Riles, VP of Magic Kingdom, discussed the BTMRR project.

They also touched on the one thing about which diehard Walt Disney World fans have been displeased with this ride refurbishment: The Curious Case of the Omitted Opossums.

For those who haven’t already grabbed the pitchforks over the opossums’ disappearance and are unfamiliar with these cute (or creepy) critters, this family of little fellas hung by their tails from a tree’s branches outside the town of Tumbleweed on one of the straightaways aboard Big Thunder Mountain. (The tree is just out of frame in the above photo.)

The opossums were removed during refurbishment and did not return when Big Thunder Mountain Railroad reopened. The reason they have yet to return is due to safety clearance when Disney conducted ride envelope testing. For those who are unfamiliar with that term, the ride envelope testing checks rider reach to ensure even guests with the widest wingspan cannot touch anything in the perimeter of the attraction.

Disney confirmed that opossums failed ride envelope testing. Consequently, Imagineering has been working on finding a way to bring them back. Walt Disney World representatives assured us that the little fellas are returning, they just need to make some adjustments first that could not be accomplished before the ride reopened.

As a bit of an aside, the opossums failing modern ride envelope testing was a big red flag for me when it comes to the rumored Space Mountain retracking and reimagining. Although I never attempted to touch the opossums on BTMRR (because why would I?), I’m pretty confident they were out of my reach by a decent amount.

By contrast, I am not a tall person or one with an unreasonably wide wingspan, and yet there are multiple points in Space Mountain where I can make contact. Never to the point of actual injury, but it has been a reminder to not fully extend my arms in the dark!

As was the case with Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, retracking Space Mountain would trigger new ride envelope testing by modern standards. And Space Mountain, if redone in 1:1 style, would fail that spectacularly at multiple points throughout the ride.

This is precisely why retracking the existing ride as it presently exists probably is not possible. It’s also why we’re likely to get a single track with side-by-side seating as opposed to dual layout when the inevitable reimagining happens. Just preparing you for the inevitable, because I don’t see there being any way around it. That also means Space Mountain will probably be a much longer closure, basically gutting the entire building. Anyway, back on track with Big Thunder…

The newly-filed construction permit lists Icarus Exhibits, Inc. as contractor, and describes the scope of work as “Install set elements” at an address that resolves to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

Icarus Exhibits is one of Imagineering’s go-to contractors for this type of work. They’ve previously collaborated on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, Zootopia: Better Zoogether, and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. A veritable ‘best of’ list of recent Walt Disney World attractions, right?!

Most notably, Icarus also worked on other Big Thunder Mountain Railroad set pieces. The permits for the previous sets on Big Thunder have since expired, hence the filing of a new permit. To the best of our knowledge, there’s nothing else missing from Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Not only that, but there’s been recent activity around the Tumbleweed tree this family calls home, so all signs point to opossums being the subject of the new filing.

It’s possible there’s more “new magic” coming, but we doubt it. During the media briefing on Big Thunder, nothing else was teased or hinted at. Disney was pretty straightforward in sharing that the opossums would be back as soon as a solution was figured out, and that was it. Accordingly, the permit is almost certainly the fruits of a fix being found. It’s an open and shut case.

Ultimately, the refurbishment of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad doesn’t reinvent the wheel. Few fans are going to experience this and think of the ride as having been redone or reimagined. Even though, ironically enough, the track replacement and new trains make it closer to “all new” than any of the recently refreshed rides that we’re more likely to view as reimagined.

Although there aren’t as many visible guest-facing changes as this summer’s reimagining projects, the improvements to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad are important. Re-tracking the entire roller coaster was a herculean endeavor that cost a tremendous amount of time and money. It’s the kind of project that, historically, Walt Disney World has been averse to undertake, instead opting for cheaper and faster duct tape fixes.

It’s also fantastic to see Walt Disney World investing in needed maintenance, preservation, and TLC. From a symbolic and sea change perspective, Big Thunder is among the most meaningful projects Walt Disney World has undertaken in a long, long time. It’s this type of project that makes me more confident both Walt Disney Imagineering and Walt Disney World are on the right track, headed in the correct direction.

A ton of time, money, and passion was invested into this year-plus track replacement and top to bottom refurbishment project, restoring long-dormant effects, improving show scenes, and other little things. It might seem basic, but that’s the type of thing we’re used to seeing Disneyland do, but Walt Disney World much less so.

We are also used to things like the opossums disappearing, Disney making vague “stay tuned” comments, and then nothing ever happening once fans moved on and Disney determined the cost of restoring the broken effect wasn’t worth it. That the end result was “good enough” or sufficiently popular to be deemed a success despite “only” a single missing show element.

Beyond the attraction itself, it’s the successful BTMRR overhaul that is now laying the track for the rumored Space Mountain reimagining, along with the Spaceship Earth overhaul, and several other projects in the pipeline. Even things like fixing the Expedition Everest Yeti and the timeline shift at Carousel of Progress are building on the foundation established by Big Thunder and other recently completed projects.

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Your Thoughts

Optimistic that the omitted opossums will soon return to Tumbleweed? Have you experienced the refreshed Big Thunder Mountain Railroad? What did you think of the new track, trains, Rainbow Caverns, Mother Lode of Gold finale, or anything else? Thoughts on what the opossums failing the ride envelope testing might mean for Space Mountain’s reimagining? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!