Refurbishment Schedule - How Far In Advance Do They Announce? Possible Concern.

[Model3 McQueen]

Is there a rhyme or reason as to how Disney announces refurbishments prior to when they're going to be done?

I have a Disney trip schedule Jan 27th to Feb 2nd. One of my FP+ reservations were for Kali River Rapids. I had received an email from Disney on Dec 11th saying that there was an "unexpected change in the operating schedule of an attraction" and they changed our FP+ to Kilimanjaro Safaris (which i'm not complaining about, this works well with Everest and Dinosaur). KRR was going down starting Jan 7th.

I scheduled my trip with two major attractions in mind as an absolute must; Everest and ToT. Had it been one of these two, I would've promptly cancelled the trip. So here's the thing; if you cancel within one month of your trip, Disney's policy is that you wont get a full refund. Thankfully i'm not affected because this was announced a month in advance over our scheduled trip, but I can't help but say i'm a little interested in why they scheduled a refurbishment within one month. Had I been one of the luck few who, say, scheduled my trip on Dec 8, 9, or 10 and a must-do ride was announced for refurb on Dec 11th, starting Jan 7th, that would've been.. not good.


TL;DR: KRR was announced on Dec 11th to be refurbed, starting on Jan 7th (that's within one month). Had it been a absolute must-do attraction and our trip was planned on, say Dec 8, 9, or 10, we would've cancelled but Disney policy is to not give full refund within a month of your vacation date. Generally curious, how do they plan the refurb schedule and the timing of their announcements.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

I have gone normally during this time and KRR Usually has a their Refurb during the end of Jan/Feb since it does tend to be a little cooler...This is a common thing..

 

[Model3 McQueen]

I have gone normally during this time and KRR Usually has a their Refurb during the end of Jan/Feb since it does tend to be a little cooler...This is a common thing..

For a WDW newbie we wouldn't know

 

[JIMINYCR]

Some refurbs are planned further out than others. Sometimes its all about how badly the need is, other times getting it authorized and timing issues. Most of the Disney planning sites ( and there are many ) will post refurbishment schedules and info as Disney lets it be known, or about rumors of refurbs so guests planning trips can be kept informed. I have had many trips where a favorite attraction was closed for the time I was to be on site. It does ruin your hopes if youve been waiting for a year or longer to experience a favorite ride to learn its out of the plans. But Ive never considered cancelling because one or two are down. Theres a lot more to do that can make the trip a success. But yeah.... it does get depressing sometimes.

 

[Model3 McQueen]

Some refurbs are planned further out than others. Sometimes its all about how badly the need is, other times getting it authorized and timing issues. Most of the Disney planning sites ( and there are many ) will post refurbishment schedules and info as Disney lets it be known, or about rumors of refurbs so guests planning trips can be kept informed. I have had many trips where a favorite attraction was closed for the time I was to be on site. It does ruin your hopes if youve been waiting for a year or longer to experience a favorite ride to learn its out of the plans. But Ive never considered cancelling because one or two are down. Theres a lot more to do that can make the trip a success. But yeah.... it does get depressing sometimes.

Honestly, a huge reason as to why i'm visiting Disneyworld is for those two attractions I listed earlier; especially to see ToT again after that abomination they replaced it with at DCA. I'm finally able to go and it would've been pretty sad to see it go down. I mean we were a little sad we aren't gonna do Kali because my lady loves those types of rides, but like you said there's plenty of other things to do. I'm just concerned that Disney would announce a refurbishment with less than a month to go on an attraction, and was wondering how often it does happen.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Honestly, a huge reason as to why i'm visiting Disneyworld is for those two attractions I listed earlier; especially to see ToT again after that abomination they replaced it with at DCA. I'm finally able to go and it would've been pretty sad to see it go down. I mean we were a little sad we aren't gonna do Kali because my lady loves those types of rides, but like you said there's plenty of other things to do. I'm just concerned that Disney would announce a refurbishment with less than a month to go on an attraction, and was wondering how often it does happen.

Usually they announce ride refurbs at least a few months in advance. Not sure why they wouldn't announce Kali being down further out, since as mentioned it's usually down in January. It's one of those things you can almost set your watch by, like Splash Mountain being closed for most of January and February most years.

ToT is one of my must-do attractions as well. I just wish they'd take it offline for a month or two and give it the long overdue TLC it needs.

 

[Model3 McQueen]

Usually they announce ride refurbs at least a few months in advance. Not sure why they wouldn't announce Kali being down further out, since as mentioned it's usually down in January. It's one of those things you can almost set your watch by, like Splash Mountain being closed for most of January and February most years.

ToT is one of my must-do attractions as well. I just wish they'd take it offline for a month or two and give it the long overdue TLC it needs.

Right!? After reading your responses I figured that since it's usually on a schedule, they'd be more consistent with the announcement and would allow for more time to notify guests. I mean normally I know this stuff for DL but not so much WDW and Florida, for that matter.

Also from what i'm hearing, I don't doubt it wouldn't mind if it happened sometime outside of when i'd plan to visit WDW lol. I don't even go to DL when a favorite like Splash or Haunted are down.

 

[thomas998]

As a rule WDW gives you at least 3 months of notice, often more than that. DL is the one that is notorious for having refurbs pop up out of nowhere. We normally don't schedule trip out more than 6 to 8 weeks in advance and at WDW never had any unexpected refurbs hit us... but we've had them all the time at DL.