News Big Thunder Mountain to receive full retrack

HauntedPirate

HauntedPirate

Park nostalgist
Premium Member
PREMiERdrum said:
While we're here... the reason I've been so bearish on their wild TURBOCHARGE claims and specifically the grand vision for BBTM is that more of the honeypot is going to have to be allocated to correct deferred maintenance and infrastructure than they are currently accounting for.

Once BTMRR is fully retracked, receives overhauled rollingstock (full rework of the existing chassis with new bodies), new ride control system, and maybe some updated show scenes, work is likely to begin immediately on SM. There are a few proposals, and nothing's cheap.

They also have huge, expensive looming costs in both transportation systems and IT infrastructure coming due during this period. Not to mention the seemingly-unsolvable riddle at the entrance to their "reimagined" EPCOT... that's perhaps the one I'm most worried about.

Looking at the state of things, we'll get a few new attractions at MK, a well-designed and well-funded conversion of Dinoland to Tropical Americas, and *maybe* an additive attraction or three between AK and DHS. Subject to change of course. :::glares at ESPN:::
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$17 billion just doesn't go as far as it used to. :cool:
 
ToTBellHop

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
Bocabear said:
but...but....the mandate.......
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Here’s Iger giving formal instruction for Operation: TURBOCHARGE
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C

Chip Chipperson

Well-Known Member
ToTBellHop said:
Please, he will be CEO again by 2028. He will live as long as Dumbledore. Easily has 40 years in the tank.

God I would kill to have his hair in my 70s. Who knew sweaters prevent hair loss?
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It makes perfect sense if you think about it. Keep the rest of the body so warm that your head feels cold in comparison, which causes the scalp to produce more hair in an attempt at regulating its temperature. I hear they're building a whole EPCOT pavilion based on that science.l, but it has to wait until Bob has passed on so his hair will always be better than average while he's alive. Can't have the commoners walking around with luxurious locks, ya know.
 
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yensid1967

Well-Known Member
10 years ago it closed for 4 months and reopened...why so long this time? Maybe in 2012 they didn't do a MAJOR refurb?
"The reopening of the former Splash Mountain attraction will bring much-needed capacity to the park,..." But yet they will close another major ride thus creating another capacity killer for the park. I do not think Tiania's Bayou Adventure will be received as well!
 
wdwmagic

wdwmagic

Administrator
Moderator
Premium Member
yensid1967 said:
10 years ago it closed for 4 months and reopened...why so long this time? Maybe in 2012 they didn't do a MAJOR refurb?
"The reopening of the former Splash Mountain attraction will bring much-needed capacity to the park,..." But yet they will close another major ride thus creating another capacity killer for the park. I do not think Tiania's Bayou Adventure will be received as well!
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Tiana's opening will bring capacity needed to close Big Thunder, regardless of how it is received. The guests need to go somewhere lol

The refurb this time is much more extensive than the 2012 work, hence the longer downtime.
 
CaptainAmerica

CaptainAmerica

Premium Member
RSoxNo1

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
I would guess that both Tiana's and Thunder would be open for a short period of time this summer before taking Thunder offline. I don't know that there is a substantial difference in capacity between the two attractions, so essentially swapping out one headliner for another is about all the park can tolerate at the moment.

It puts further support in the camp of the park just needing more capacity, and if this closure helps facilitate that long term, then great.
 
CaptainAmerica

CaptainAmerica

Premium Member
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills... Is anyone going to ask why on Earth Thunder would be getting retracked in the first place? There's absolutely nothing wrong with the ride experience. My 4 year old son and my elderly mother-in-law all ride it comfortably.
 
T

Touchdown

Well-Known Member
CaptainAmerica said:
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills... Is anyone going to ask why on Earth Thunder would be getting retracked in the first place? There's absolutely nothing wrong with the ride experience. My 4 year old son and my elderly mother-in-law all ride it comfortably.
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Are you a certified structural engineer with the expertise required to back up your statement? You don’t know what’s under the facade. I’m sure most of us wouldn’t be able to tell the Surfside Condo building g was about to collapse hours before it did either.
 
RSoxNo1

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
PREMiERdrum said:
It's 180' tall and covered in shiny triangles.
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Starship824 said:
That ride system needed to be fixed like 6 years and it's only gotten worse. Can we just leave the actual show scenes alone and just fix the ride system on that.
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PREMiERdrum said:
While I've heard of some more creative solutions, it really needs a complete retrack to survive another 40+ years.

You can imagine the complexities involved... and the costs.
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At one point when SSE was on the table for refurb, the speculation was 18-24 months. I believe @marni1971 went into detail about the process of simply removing the vehicles being remarkably time consuming.

It would be great if they were willing to take two of the SSE, Imagination, Seas group offline at the same time as all three attractions need massive attention.

I could see one of those three attraction updates starting towards the end of the Test Track redo, but unfortunately I would expect them all to be stacked without significant overlap, pushing things out 6-10 years for all of those projects.
 

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