When Will Walt Disney World Railroad Reopen?
Walt Disney World Railroad is temporarily closed for the construction of TRON Lightcycle Run roller coaster in Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom. This covers construction progress, photo & video updates on Cast Member training & testing, and our predicted reopening date for the WDWRR. (Updated October 27, 2022.)
First, the basics. Disney announced that the Walt Disney World Railroad will temporarily pause operations, with trains “parked” at Main Street Station beginning on December 3, 2018. During this time, Magic Kingdom guests were be able to get an up-close look at the railroad and partake in unique photo opportunities for a while. (Note: Main Street Station is no longer open to guests as of Fall 2022.)
Additionally, the Tomorrowland Speedway closed on January 2, 2019 to re-route that ride’s track. The kiddie car ride reopened substantially the same (slightly shorter) way back in Summer 2019. Over three years after it first closed, the Walt Disney World Railroad still is not operating as of Late 2022. So…what’s up with it?!
If you’re here looking for the Walt Disney World Railroad reopening date, we unfortunately still do not know when that’ll happen. Disney hasn’t officially announced when this iconic attraction will return to Magic Kingdom.
However, we do have some speculation and recent updates, which we’ll share later in the post. At long last, the WDWRR is getting really close to returning!
It was obvious from the original TRON Lightcycle Run concept art that the Walt Disney World Railroad would have to pause operations at some point, given the concept art showing the train going under the canopy of the TRON coaster…what we didn’t know is that it’d close so early into construction and (likely) last so long.
What we think is interesting here is the TRON construction progress versus the closure of the Walt Disney World railroad versus the likely attraction opening date.
Construction has progressed in exactly the same manner as with Shanghai Disneyland’s TRON Lightcycle Power Run: roller coaster track followed by show building followed by exterior canopy and pathways.
In theory, only the final stage of the project would interfere with the Walt Disney World Railroad. The initial stages of construction were all well outside the area of the train tracks, and are accessible from the other side of the construction site, which is reached from World Drive rather than inside Magic Kingdom.
If you’re wondering why Walt Disney World Railroad closed so early in the TRON Lightcycle Run construction, you’re not alone. However, contrary to speculation, this was not a result of poor project management or construction planning.
Rather, this was entirely by design. Taking the Walt Disney World Railroad down under the pretext of construction offered the company considerable operational cost-savings. It also resulted in minimal pushback from guests and fans since it’s visibly obvious that building the new roller coaster interferes with the railroad. What’s less obvious is that it did not need to interfere for so long.
Our assumption when the Walt Disney World Railroad first closed is that it would be down for a long time. We estimated that the refurbishment would take in the range of 18 months to 2 years.
Unfortunately, the closure of Walt Disney World threw a monkey wrench into plans, prolonging the project by over a year. TRON Lightcycle Run was originally slated to open by October 2021, at the latest. Instead, Walt Disney World has purposefully delayed the debut of the roller coaster, and now TRON Lightcycle Run won’t open until Spring 2023.
That brings the grand total of the Walt Disney World Railroad downtime to 3+ years and counting. Fortunately, it probably will not remain closed for 4 full years.
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October 27, 2022 Update: Disney Parks just posted a new video on various social media channels teasing that “testing is just beginning for the Walt Disney World Railroad crew.”
With construction of TRON Lightcycle Run entering its final stages as of Late 2022, it’s now possible that the Walt Disney World Railroad could reopen by sometime in November 2022. This would be at least a few months ahead of the new roller coaster, but Disney now has a financial incentive to do exactly that.
Reopening the WDWRR would be critical in providing needed capacity to Magic Kingdom during the busy stretches around Veterans Day, Jersey Week, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve. More capacity means selling more tickets, which would be Walt Disney World’s rationale for bringing back the railroad before TRON Lightcycle Run opens. (During last year’s holiday season, Walt Disney World had to stop selling park tickets on multiple occasions due to capacity constraints, effectively leaving money on the table.)
As such, Walt Disney World will likely attempt to have the railroad ready to roll by the official kickoff of the Christmas season (and in time for the busy Veterans Day weekend) on November 11, 2022 if at all possible. While we’re skeptical that the Walt Disney World Railroad will be able to hit that target, it should be close. Thanksgiving is most definitely a possibility, especially given where things currently stand.
In recent months, we’ve seen (and heard!) the Walt Disney World Railroad testing. On top of that, Disney recalled and started training Cast Members back at the beginning of summer, so they’re ready to roll–and have been for a while now.
Work is entirely finished on its tunnel and track through TRON Lightcycle Run, and the last of track is being laid in Storybook Circus. This means there’s still some testing and adjusting to be done, but the trains could still be only a few weeks away from returning.
In short, the week of Thanksgiving 2022 isn’t outside the realm of possibilities. That’s probably the earliest the Walt Disney World Railroad will return, though. (I’d love to be pleasantly surprised and see it reopen by November 11, 2022–but I’m skeptical of that turnaround time. That’s only a couple weeks away!)
@disneyparks Choo Choo! Testing is just beginning for the Walt #DisneyWorld Railroad crew 🚂 #Disney #DisneyParks #DisneyCastLife #Railroad #Train #TrainTok ♬ original sound – Disney Parks
Earlier this year, the Disney Parks TikTok account shared a behind-the-scenes look at the Walt Disney World Railroad testing taking place right now at Magic Kingdom. The video offers a fun look inside the engine to see the work required to start these locomotives for the day.
Walt Disney World did not offer a specific date or even an anticipated season for when the trains will return. The Cast Member in the video said he’s “excited about getting closer to bringing the railroad back” which is likely a deliberately vague statement. Here’s hoping it’s sooner rather than later, and we get to experience Walt’s Legacy during the first half of the 50th Anniversary!
If the Walt Disney World Railroad doesn’t reopen until 2023, it’s possible we could see some plussing to the show scenes and other details of the attraction a la the Disneyland Railroad when it went down for the Star Wars land construction and rerouting.
However, this seems highly doubtful at this point given that Cast Members were recalled and have been training for several months. That wouldn’t have happened so early if Disney plans to play the opening further. Barring any unknown surprises, it’s likely the attraction will open exactly as it was before–albeit likely with the views into Splash Mountain blocked.
Ultimately, the announcement by Walt Disney World confirms what we already knew about these two transportation attractions experiencing downtime for the TRON Lightcycle Run coaster construction. Beyond that and providing some loose dates, it really raises more questions for us than anything else…but that will probably be par for the course as Walt Disney World undergoes a pretty radical amount of construction and changes between now and 2023.
The good news is that, after numerous delays, we should now be in the home stretch of the Walt Disney World Railroad closure. Hopefully, the iconic attraction makes its triumphant return with enhancements in late November or early December 2022!
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Your Thoughts
What do you think of this news? Are you okay with the Walt Disney World Railroad being down for so long if it were to mean new show scenes? Do you agree or disagree with our speculation…or have any of your own to add? 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!
I love the Railroad…..I’m going to miss it a lot. I’m going to Disneyworld next month – and it’s sad that I won’t be able to ride the train. I too don’t care about TRON – another roller coaster. I would rather have the train up and running.
TRON is Spectacular. THE top attraction in Shanghai (I’ve been many times). Lines of 3 hours+ not uncommon. Like Pandora here.
You won’t be disappointed.
We’re going to have one very disappointed little man in June! Our grandson age 11 is confined a wheelchair, so the train is one of his favorite things to do in WDW. On our two previous trips in 2015 and 2017 we spent a LOT of time on the train. The train Cast Members came to know him and to expect us for our daily rides. I’m sure we will find other things to do, but our Nate “The Train Man” Rentzell is going to be very disappointed to not ride the train this year. Praying something will change before June 23rd.
Railroad won’t be open til summer of 2020
FWIW, I talked to a cast member at the parked locomotive at the Main Street station after the railroad was closed down. His opinion was that the closure would last close to 2 years. (It was a great conversation- about 15 minutes without interruption as we were the only people there mid-day.)
The one plus side of the closure is that Disney can do the major maintenance on several locomotives at the same time so once the railroad reopens the locos should collectively be in their best shape in years.
They already 100% completely renovated the Trains, Steam Engines included, only 2 years ago.
this duration should have been better planned out. Taking WAYYYY too long and one of the only features that any/all people can enjoy.
Dnot give a hoot about the Troy costed but I love the Train there should be another option than to shut it down for two years very disappointed
I don’t know what other option you could have in this case. What do you want them to do? Ask the folks at Disneyland if they thought the major downtime was worth it for the Rivers of America and Galaxy’s Edge. I think they’d agree it was worth it.
TRON Shanghai is Spectacular. Been many times. You won’t be disappointed.
I rode the train today. (Last day it’s open.) The conductor said it’ll be down for 18 months. As we were going by the area where Tron is being built he said “Look to your left. See those trees? Tomorrow they’ll be gone as they continue on with the construction for Tron”.
Been going to Disney world since august 1972. Shutting down for railroad is heart breaking. I hope they dont take it away for good. We love it and want it to stay. Tron ride will be fun and looking forward to that. Never rode on the speedway and don’t care to, take it away. Thank you for all the good infro, keep it up.
I’m excited for Tron! We rode it about 10 times in Shanghai.
We can’t win. Went to DL with my little nephew (big train fan) in 2017 and their train was down because of Star Wars construction.
Going with him to WDW in December 2018 and told him I’d ride the train with him and now it will be closed too. His first trip to both parks and trains are down at both. How unlucky!
I wonder if this will also affect the railroad tours that you can schedule. We are planning a trip for late September/early October 2019, but if the railroad is closed my family may not want to go now. This was one thing that my husband looked forward to at MK. He’s not a roller coaster rider. So, he liked the steamboat and the railroad.
Railroad re-opens summer of 2020
Problem is Magic Kingdom 50th Anniversary in October of ’21.
Major Projects are happening towards that overall goal. So unfortunately, it’s just how it’s “going to be” for another 2 years.
Is there any guess on a date in December for the train to close? Hope in that it will be still open when we get there on the 6th. Just heard Vamperina is replacing Jake at breakfast and 2 out of 4 kids Andre in tears and rebut both things! Oh dear.
My daughter and I visit WDW 2-3 times a year (from NYC). Since she’s now an adult, we haven’t ridden the Speedway in many years, but we do always stop to watch it from the walkway outside Space Mountain. We laugh a lot watching the reactions of the kids and the adults as they drive around. I’d hate to see this ride removed. It may be just a simple ride, but the folks who actually do it seem to be having a great time. That the wait-times can get rather lengthy would seem to indicate it has not waned in popularity. The enjoyment of it is created solely by the riders themselves and is not dependent on VR, CGI or audio-animatronics. Sometimes simple is really good..
Hope the Tron coaster in MK is longer than the one in Shanghai. Watched a POV video and that ride goes by quick.
Can they PLEASE just get rid of Speedway already?
Or just upgrade it. It’s supposed to be “Tomorrowland” not 1972 land. The combustion engines in those cars are horrible, smell terrible and are definitely not environmentally friendly. Make it a true race track of tomorrow.
Agreed, the smell is horrible and definitely not any forward theming! Couldn’t they at least be electric or hybrid?
That’s a great idea. Maybe make them “hover-mobiles” like something from Back to the Future, etc. Have some buttons inside that kids can push to make different futuristic sounds… so many things they could do to make this an awesome ride for younger kids.
We’re bummed about the train closure for our 2019 trip… my whole family are fans of the train and enjoyed taking a mid-day break from rides, to just sit on the train and circle the park a few times while we hydrated and rested our feet. We will miss it next year!
I’m not exactly sure how sci-fi is about tomorrow anyways. There are a lot of strange decisions being made about placement of things at Disney World. I always thought Tomorrowland should be done away with and attractions like like the Carousel of Progress should be moved to Epcot’s Future World, which is terribly in need attractions, particularly less expensive worlds fair displays of modern tech, robots, 3D printers, solar, automated restaurants, VR, live rendering, etc. Potty mouth Guardians of the Galaxy is a nice addition but doesn’t really make sense in Future World. Also, the aquariums at Epcot should obviously be moved to Animal Kingdom (12.5 million per year), which was underwhelmed from the very beginning. Tron would probably make more sense in Hollywood Studios. In addition to the massive boost from Star Wars, it would increase long-term attendance there (only 10 million per year), and ease pressure on Magic Kingdom (over 20 million per year). Magic Kingdom could certainly use the increase in capacity but given the target age profile of the park, I could imagine a much better use of the space. In truth, given the massive crowds, Magic Kingdom needs a major expansion, just like the monorail service. All this domestic neglect was put on hold for decades, partly because of massive buyback campaigns by management to the tune of tens of billions of dollars just since 2005 (Shanghai’s entire park was over budget at ~$6 billion). Disney is not a poor company. For the year ending Sept. 29th, net income was $13 billion. Now construction costs are much higher but they are way behind. Disney also employs way too many people. For ~6x (after inflation) opening ticket costs, the Magic Kingdom has not changed much over time.
https://www.thewaltdisneycompany.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/q4-fy18-earnings.pdf
https://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2017/05/25/this-judgmental-map-of-magic-kingdom-is-pretty-accurate
Absolutely….. that thing belongs in a small town carnival…or in Old Town…. not in “magical” Disneyworld.
In an exit survey done in 2015 (My company performed it), the #1 choice of a guest to “visit as their last ride of the day” – was the Speedway – by thousands of responders.
It’s not going anywhere. *That’s why they didn’t put TRON there, which was an original thought.
Why not run train from Main Street station to fantasyland station and then just go in reverse? Trains go backwards all the time. That way train still runs and just misses one small stop.
My guess would be that parking the train is a way to save operating expenses and have a valid excuse for doing so. If my assumptions in this article are correct, there’s also not much of a reason for the train to go down this early, either.
So…..Is the train going down beginning December or sometime in December? Any guesses?
Higher chance for derail if operated in reverse… esoecially at operating speed. Cant see to clear track also.
Railroad will re-open summer of 2020.
The TRON overlay to the Speedway was never officially announced as far as I recall. So they aren’t going to say anything about it in a blog post. The re-theme still seems planned. It’s likely they don’t want anything more than necessary closed in 2019 because of Galaxy’s Edge and the fact that because DHS will be overwhelmed, so will the MK. It makes more sense to close it again closer to the time TRON opens and properly re-theme it and open it all together. But they often do what they want so I guess time will tell. It’s still something that could easily be cut I guess. Seems silly to though.
“The TRON overlay to the Speedway was never officially announced as far as I recall. So they aren’t going to say anything about it in a blog post. The re-theme still seems planned.”
I hope this is correct and think it could be, but it seems odd for the blog post to go out of its way to “debunk” that rumor. Hopefully this is one of those “no changes are planned at this time” kind of deal, where nothing is official so it’s not technically inaccurate.
I was really hoping that even if they don’t change the track layout much that they would change the cars to electric. The fumes from the current gas operated ones are horrible. It makes it almost unbearable to ride or even just walk by in general!
I think that could still occur with this (or a future) refurbishment. It’d still be the same attraction, just with electric cars. In fact, I’d be shocked if the vehicles weren’t replaced (in some fashion) before 2021.
Do you think there is any possibility it could close temporarily, and then never reopen? 🙁
I don’t think there’s a chance either will close permanently. Even though I wouldn’t be surprised if management wished the railroad didn’t exist, I don’t think they’d close it now–too strong of a legacy.
I would hope that is the case, but it makes me nervous! I could see them closing to refurb/for construction and then quietly never reopen it. Wouldn’t be the first time I would have had the thought “they’ll never do that” and then been wrong!
Steam locomotives are incredibly expensive to maintain, which is why they were replaced by diesels. There’s maintenance going on during the time they’re running, daily maintenance, and scheduled maintenance which at times amounts to a near-complete rebuilding of the firebox, boiler, cylinders and related mechanisms. On top of this governmental regulations keep getting more strict, time-consuming and expensive.
Worse, the industry which used to exist to provide parts and services to keep steam locos running no longer exists. Not a factor for Disney’s smaller engines, but there are parts of the larger locos which literally can’t be replaced – there’s no factories anywhere int the world which can cast their large frames. Fortunately the smaller parts are starting to be made again by a handful of companies which service the steam loco fan train industry.
A related issue is finding/training workers to do this work, and it’s only becoming more expensive.
Unfortunately as a moderate steam loco fan I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Disney trains eventually pulled by battery-powered locos designed to look like a steam loco. The cost savings would be well in the millions of dollars.
I wish they could find a way to get the train back up and running sooner. It is one of things I love about MK. It also gives some of us who are tired from a long week a little rest between long walks and wait lines.
Bummer about the railroad, always enjoyed it as a break in the day. Planning trip for December 2019, it will be missed.
I like the railway ride as a nice break in the middle of the day! I’m bummed it will be down so long!
“the announcement appears to quash rumors that Tomorrowland Speedway will receive an aesthetic refresh” That is horribly disappointing! Of all the rides in MK that need help, this one is it.
I hope Tron follows a different timeline than Shanghai – 18+ months seems forever to have the railroad closed.