From 6 January 2025, the iconic attraction Big Thunder Mountain will be temporarily closed to the public for renovation until early summer 2025. While many Disneyland® Paris teams are already hard at work on this project, here’s a sneak preview of what’s in store! 

For over a year, the Walt Disney Imagineering Paris and Design & Delivery teams have been preparing the latest renovation of this iconic attraction, which will be carried out in collaboration with the Maintenance and Central Workshop teams. This renovation is necessary to ensure the good maintenance of this attraction open all-year-long, but also the quality of the experience while respecting its original creative vision, and preserve its history, which is intimately linked to that of Frontierland®. 

Extensive work on the wood 

First and foremost, the challenge was to ensure the strong immersion in the Wild West atmosphere of Frontierland®. To do so, the Imagineers carried out an in-depth study of the wood, which is very present in the attraction’s décor and its station, with a view to replacing certain structures with new elements made to measure by the Design & Delivery and Central Workshop teams. These new elements are more durable and will be carefully painted to retain the aged look of this gold-rush mine. There will also be refurbishments to certain emblematic elements of the décor on the mountain, such as the famous Mill Camp tower, and the queue section. 

Perfectly realistic animals and plants 

All the animal figures in the attraction, such as Billy the goat and the mules, will be fully restored to their original glory in the Central Workshops. The plants will also be restored with the re-planting of cacti, to complete the authentic landscape evoking the deserts of North America. The Walt Disney Imagineering Paris teams were able to refer to the Big Thunder Mountain archives dating back to its opening in 1992 to ensure the utmost care of these essential elements of the attraction’s history was taken. 

During the closure, the teams will be working hard on the attraction to ensure that Big Thunder Mountain is accessible again from the start of the summer season, ensuring optimum conditions of comfort for guests and Cast Members alike. In the meantime, “The Wildest Ride in the Wilderness” will be taking a well-deserved and much-needed break!