Walt Disney World just announced a major ‘batch’ of ride closing & reopening dates for Magic Kingdom and EPCOT that’ll begin in 2025, with some extending until sometime in 2026. This covers what was revealed and not mentioned, as we try to piece together what the closure calendar looks like into next year.
We’ll start by noting that this is not a list of comprehensive closures. For that, see our 2025-2026 Walt Disney World Ride Refurbishments. (That’ll be updated later today to account for the newly-announced dates.) If you’re wondering about hotel projects, consult our 2025-2027 Walt Disney World Resort Construction Timeline.
Instead, this is a ‘batch’ update on announcements that were just made concerning closures and reopenings starting in Summer 2025 that previously didn’t have confirmed dates. This isn’t the first time Walt Disney World has done this–these ‘date dumps’ have become increasingly common; we received something similar with Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Peter Pan’s Flight, and Jungle Cruise last summer, as well as Dinoland and Muppets Courtyard this year.
Let’s start with the positive news, which is that Astro Orbiter is now open as of June 27, 2025!
Astro Orbiter closed for refurbishment back on January 13, and crews quickly got to work disassembling the spinner. During the downtime, the spinner was completely dismantled, the ride system was rebuilt, and put back together. Cosmetic updates were also made to the planets.
Magic Kingdom’s Astro Orbiter last received significant updates in 2014, when its color scheme and lighting were refreshed. I don’t recall whether it received ride system work at that time, or if it was completely cosmetic. About one decade before that, a similar project was undertaken. So it seems the spinner is due for its 10-year check-up!
I actually had the chance to visit Central Shops backstage at Magic Kingdom a couple months ago and saw a lot of this work-in-progress. It was fascinating to see just how thorough everything was. And also, how large the various elements are when you’re standing right next to them. They don’t seem nearly as big in the park, for whatever reason. Regardless, great to see that Astro Orbiter is back up and running, and adding much-needed capacity to Tomorrowland before the next big ride closure.
Prairie Outpost Summer 2025 Reopening
In a smaller scale update, Walt Disney World has officially announced that Prairie Outpost opens on June 30, 2025.
We covered this a couple weeks ago in Outpost in Frontierland at Magic Kingdom Reopening After 5+ Year Closure. Prairie Outpost & Supply was previously a candy shop. However, the storefront closed in March 2020, and has yet to reopen.
Prairie Outpost & Supply is located in between Country Bear Musical Jamboree and Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn & Cafe–you’ve probably passed by the shuttered storefront without giving it a second thought. Either way, it’ll be good to have another shop open, whether it be for actual purchases or a place to duck into to avoid rain.
The new merchandise location invites Guests to shop for wide-brimmed hats, classic fedoras, customized headwear and more from Chapel Hats at this stylish shop in Frontierland.
Journey of Little Mermaid July 2025 Refurbishment
In more consequential news, Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid will temporarily close for routine refurbishment on July 21, 2025. The not-so-New Fantasyland attraction is expected to reopen on July 26, 2025.
This is the first negative bit of news, and I don’t love two things about this announcement. The first is that this is the day after Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away debuts, and is occurring during what is typically the busiest week of the summer season.
The second is that it’s being announced with less than one month’s notice. As an international tourist destination, Walt Disney World really needs to get better about providing more notice of ride closures. Given these two things, my hope is that the Little Mermaid dark ride needs unexpected, urgent maintenance. The kind of project that couldn’t have been foreseen or scheduled months ago. It’s obviously suboptimal to have that kind of project, but it beats the alternative, which is Walt Disney World not giving proper consideration to guests planning their vacations.
We have zero issue with ride refurbishments at Walt Disney World. There’s a pervasive sense among fans that nothing should be closed during their trip, and the saying “vacation ruined” has attained near-meme status among some fans. Frankly, this is a bit absurd. Fans demand stellar maintenance but also no ride refurbishments during their trip. Those perspectives are impossible to reconcile. In our view, it’s better to have several scheduled ride refurbishments as opposed to a bunch of random downtime due to deferred maintenance. (See what’s currently happening at DCA.)
As before, this lack of notice is frustrating. There have been way too many last minute refurbishments announced by Walt Disney World over the last few months that are impossible to plan around since guests have already locked in their travel dates–not to mention dining reservations, Lightning Lanes, and so forth. For a company that prides itself in exceptional guest service, this is not the way to go about scheduled ride downtime.
Walt Disney World fans often point to Tokyo Disney Resort as the gold standard for maintenance, and they’re right. OLC is old school Disney, and those parks are still held to 1990s standards. One thing Tokyo Disney Resort does right is announcing ride closures 6+ months in advance in a single batch. One thing fans might argue they do “wrong” is having a half-dozen high-profile attraction refurbishments at any given time. That’s how superlative show standards are achieved. But I digress.
Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin 2025-2026 Reimagining
Turning back to Tomorrowland, Walt Disney World has finally announced a specific closure date for the Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin ride reimagining that was previously announced as starting in August. Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin will temporarily close on August 4, 2025.
This is exactly one week earlier than we expected, as we figured it would close when Central Florida schools went back into session. Walt Disney World has not yet announced a specific reopening date or even season–just that it’ll return in 2026.
It’s a fool’s errand to even guess as to when Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin will reopen in 2026. There’s a lot of work to be done to the ride system, show scenes, queue, facade, and hopefully more. It’s hard to fathom the attraction returning before Spring Break 2026. Even that strikes me as a long shot. The start of Summer 2026 strikes me as the realistic best-case scenario, and I could easily see this taking a full year or more.
Honestly, the longer the better from my perspective. Every time I ride at the end of the night (when the queue is looking rougher than normal), I spot about a dozen Four Keys violations on Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. I am perfectly willing to wait until Fall 2026 if that’s what it takes to make this Buzz Lightyear’s Blaster Ride 3.5, and the best incarnation of the attraction in the world. That’s a high bar, but an attainable one!
What we know so far is that Imagineers are taking the bones of Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin and modernizing the attraction with improved gameplay, new handheld blasters, updated ride vehicles, and a variety of enhancements including a new show scene and Audio Animatronics character.
I love the idea of this attraction as a shooter ride that uses physical show scenes to make it engaging for guests who want to enjoy the attraction passively. Some of the staging, props, and Audio Animatronics are really cool. The interactivity is fun, and Walt Disney World could use more attractions like this. These updates will breathe new life into Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, potentially making it the best incarnation of the ‘blasters’ ride in the world.
Spaceship Earth Late 2025 Refurbishment
Next up, we bounce to EPCOT for the big news: Spaceship Earth will be temporarily closed for a routine refurbishment beginning August 25, 2025. Spaceship Earth is expected to reopen later in 2025.
As we have discussed repeatedly, Spaceship Earth is long overdue for track and ride system maintenance that would necessitate a multi-month (if not year-plus) closure. This project was overdue back in 2020 when it was quietly cancelled due to the COVID closure. That was over 5 years ago. I’m no scientist, but ride infrastructure doesn’t strike me as one of those things that improves with age or fixes itself.
We’ve also stated repeatedly that Spaceship Earth would not go down for a lengthy refurbishment until Test Track 3.0 reopened. And just like that, Spaceship Earth is closing about one month after Test Track comes back online.
Note that Walt Disney World has indicated that this is a “routine refurbishment” of Spaceship Earth, and not a reimagining. While they haven’t clarified that the substance of the attraction won’t change, it’s our assumption that there are no massive changes during this particular project.
Maybe if we’re lucky, it’ll include the possible restoration of effects, an improved descent, upgraded cameras, and lighting. Don’t expect a “Story Light” or new show scenes, though. That almost certainly won’t happen during this refurbishment.
While we have no insider information, our sneaking suspicion is that this is similar to the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster refurbishments over the last couple of the years, which occurred in two phases and addressed the underlying ride system without reimagining the roller coaster. That laid the groundwork for the switch from ‘Starring Aerosmith’ to ‘Starring the Muppets’ to occur in a more condensed timeframe in 2026, as that project will largely concern the thematic window-dressing as opposed to the underlying infrastructure.
Imagineering could be similarly setting the table with Spaceship Earth. The attraction was previously slated to close for 18-24 months to accomplish both simultaneously, but it now seems more likely to have staggered closures. In all likelihood, this refurbishment will wrap up by Thanksgiving, which kicks off the busiest month-plus of the year at EPCOT.
Winter and spring are not slow seasons at EPCOT, so we doubt it’ll close again in early 2026. If anything, taking Spaceship Earth or another major attraction offline again around May 2026 makes the most sense. That’s the start of Diet EPCOT, and the slowest 4-5 month stretch for the park.
Who knows, though–it’s a complete guess at this point. (Also worth noting that Spaceship Earth has had routine maintenance to its ride system over the last few years and it seems smoother than it did back in ~2019.)
Whatever is planned for Spaceship Earth, if anything, from a ride reimagining perspective is probably different than what was previously announced. It’s been over 5 years since the Spaceship Earth reimagining concept was developed, and a lot has changed since then–from leadership to budgets to technology. While there could be elements of the Spaceship Earth: Our Shared Story project that come to fruition, it’s also likely that there are major changes to what’s planned.
As for when an announcement could be made about Spaceship Earth being reimagined, the odds-on favorite is during the 2025 Destination D23 event at Walt Disney World over Labor Day weekend. This is the caliber of project to be announced at that event, as opposed to D23 Expo in Anaheim.
Remember, all of this is speculative based on a mixture of the downtime plaguing Spaceship Earth and what we’ve heard about it being overdue for maintenance. There’s no guarantee that Walt Disney World will do anything beyond the routine refurbishment that was just announced. Maybe that’s it for Spaceship Earth, and we will finally see Journey into Imagination 4.0 happen as the big 2026 project.
That might sound far-fetched, but it strikes me as another distinct possibility–that Imagineering does just enough ‘duct-tape’ work on Spaceship Earth to keep it coasting through 2026 and 2027, during which time Figment and Dreamfinder finally get the ride reimagining treatment.
What Was Not Announced
Finally, there were a few conspicuous omissions from the ride refurbishment update shared by Walt Disney World. Hall of Presidents is still closed for a routine refurbishment (rather than a reimagining, as was once rumored). In theory, this doesn’t need to be as long as normal since they already have the Audio Animatronics and dialogue recorded. As we’ve said before, we could see Disney keeping Hall of Presidents closed until the capacity is “needed” in order to save on opex.
However, we suspect it’s going to be needed by July 2025. The Rivers of America, Tom Sawyer Island, and Liberty Square Riverboat will all close on July 7, 2025. Along with that, “shuttle mode” operations of the Walt Disney World Railroad will begin on July 7, 2025 due to Frontierland Station closing on a temporary basis for Cars and Villains Land construction.
On top of that, Starlight Night Parade debuts on July 20, 2025. Given all of that, we kind of expected Hall of Presidents would reopen around Independence Day. And maybe it still will! This attraction has been a lightning rod for controversy, and Walt Disney World quietly reopening it over that patriotic holiday would be a clever move–and one that gets completely buried in the news cycle. Guess we shall see!
Equally as significant, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is Closed for Refurbishment at Magic Kingdom until 2026. Work has been progressing on this project quickly, with all of the track replaced and crews now working on refurbishing the show scenes. It’s expected that ride envelope testing will begin in the coming weeks, and the project appears ahead of schedule.
As we’ve pointed out previously, looks can be deceiving. Some fans are hopeful that Big Thunder Mountain Railroad can reopen by late 2025. While we’d love for that to happen, we’ve been cautioning that there’s still a long way to go before this project is finished. Regardless of whether BTMRR returns in late 2025 or before Spring Break 2026, the specific date is presently unknown and unknowable–so it makes perfect sense that it’s not part of this ‘date drop.’
There are also no closure dates for DINOSAUR, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, or Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. However, we already know that all of those are 2026 projects, so perhaps it’s premature for those. All of the specific dates released above are in 2025, with any 2026 timeframes not having specifics. So not really noteworthy about the lack of dates for this trio of attractions. We still expect both DINOSAUR and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster to close early in the year–perhaps the same day in mid-January for both attractions.
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Your Thoughts
Any questions about this new batch of 2025-2026 refurbishments at Magic Kingdom and EPCOT? Do you wish Walt Disney World would provide more notice for attraction closures? What about scheduling even more of them to avoid unplanned breakdowns? Thoughts on Spaceship Earth’s multi-month closure for routine maintenance? What about anything else discussed here? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? 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!