2025 brought quite a few changes to Walt Disney World! While we know that Disney is always updating and improving things we wanted to let you know what’s happening in 2026.
Here is a summary of everything going on with new park developments, attraction closures, and refurbishments.
Magic Kingdom Refurbishments and Closures
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad: Closed, opening date TBA
- Tom Sawyer Island and Liberty Square Riverboat: Permanently closed
- Carousel of Progress: Will temporarily close sometime in 2026 for refurbishments. No official date yet.
- Cars Land: opening expected in 2029 (!!)
- Tom Sawyer Island and Liberty Square Riverboat: Permanently closed
- Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin: Closed for refurbishment and will open in 2026 but no official date yet. You can see all the new updates coming here.
EPCOT Refurbishments and Closures
- Test Track: Open!
- Frozen Ever After: Will close January 26, 2026 for new animatronics. Will reopen on February 12.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom Refurbishments and Closures
- Conservation Station, Affection Section, and Wildlife Express: temporarily closing February 23 with a reopening date of summer 2026. A new Bluey experience will be debuting.
- DINOSAUR: Permanently Closed
- TriceraTop Spin: Permanently Closed
- The Boneyard: Permanently Closed
- Dino-Rama Area: Permanently Closed
Disney’s Hollywood Studios Refurbishments and Closures
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith: Last day will be March 1, 2026.
- Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring the Muppets: Opening in 2026. No official date yet.
- Muppets Courtyard: Permanently closed to make way for Monsters, Inc. land – date TBA
- Star Wars Launch Bay: Permanently closed
- Disney Junior Play and Dance!: Permanently closed
- The Magic of Disney Animation: Opening in 2026. No official date yet.
How This Impacts Your Vacation
Announcements of ride closures at Walt Disney World bring a myriad of feelings. Everything from “finally, its about time” to “NO…I loved that ride!” How 2026 attraction closures impact you is largely subjective.
That being said, you will likely notice that Magic Kingdom feels – and potentially looks – quite different for 2026 and beyond. The closure of Tom Sawyer Island and the Liberty Square Riverboat are a big loss. Not only is this area huge, but it provided space for kids to play, families to enjoy a boat ride, and grandparents to reminisce about watching the riverboat glide by when they were kids. The closure of this area is bittersweet.
Big Thunder Mountain closing for an entire year, through 2025, was a massive disappointment if you had never been to Disney World and wanted to ride this classic coaster. But 2026 brings back this beloved attraction and the improvements look fantastic!
Test Track in Epcot is another long waited for attraction that is now open and once again, the wait was worth it as it brings Disney fans a ton of excitement – and long lines!
Animal Kingdom said farewell to “It’s Tough To Be a Bug” but opens “Zootopia: Better Zoogether! in the Tree of Life Theater. Over at Hollywood Studios we find some new attractions including Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After, which opened with rave reviews early on! We were able to experience it on our last trip and it was a blast!
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith is being redesigned into Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring the Muppets which will be opening this year!
If you know your vacation dates you can go here and check what attractions are scheduled to be closed. Of course, keep in mind that Disney is constantly changing and updating their rides.
On a recent vacation we found out shortly before we left that Jungle Cruise was going to be closed. Were we disappointed? Yes! But we were glad we could adjust our expectations before we left. Try to have an open mind and you should be just fine!
