RIDES CLOSED FOR MAINTENANCE AND REHAB AT WALT DISNEY WORLD
Walt Disney World rides and attractions can be closed for maintenance, rehab, or replacement at any time.
The way I keep up with this is to check the “Refurbishments and Attraction Closures” part of the weekly Walt Disney World Resort Update section of MousePlanet.com.
That said, the most common time for attraction closures is January and early February. For this reason, this site suggests that first time visitors who are unsure whether or not they will ever return should avoid this period.
Why go during a period when some of the best of Walt Disney World may not be available?
For the currently known 2016 winter closures at Disney World, see this.
However, I’ve seen some claims that “only Splash Mountain is closed” during this period, so I went back and analyzed ride closures over the last five years to double check the facts.
The results of this analysis are presented below.
WINTER RIDE CLOSURES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD
Over the past five years, an average of three rides are closed in January at Walt Disney World. (This figure excludes rides closed for massive rehabs—e.g. a nine month do-over.)
The average number of closures drops sharply as mid-February and the President’s Day Weekend approaches, and continues to drop into March.
See the chart for daily averages (click it to enlarge it.)
Splash Mountain is indeed the most common ride to be closed in this period–it has been closed each of the last five years, for at least five days, and for an average of almost 30 days.
Other attractions closed more than once during the period include Test Track, Buzz Lightyear, the Backlot Tour, and the Liberty Belle riverboat. Other significant attractions closed at least once in winter include Rock N’ Roller Coaster, Kali River Rapids, and Indiana Jones.
There’s not much on this list I’d want to miss…so the advice to first time visitors who may not be able to return remains the same–avoid January and early February!
This advice is reflected in this site’s 2014 weeks to visit, ranked in order.
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99 Comments on "Winter Ride Closures at Walt Disney World"
Sorry, Danny, I don’t cover Disneyland.
Hi,
I have read some of the threads about MLK weekend. I will be travelling from Australia and will be visiting LA from the 15th to 19th of January 2016 (5 full days). If I have to pick 2 days of the 3 day weekend, which would be the best day and which would be the next best day to visit Disneyland?
Thanks Steve–Melissa, Steve is referring to his site http://www.militarydisneytips.com/ where you’ll always find the best and most up to date info on available military deals.
Kate, the park hopper only affects what you can do in a day, not how many days you can go. Disney tix are explained here. Start with the concept of base multi-day tickets bought at a military outlet. Disney may also extend the Military Salute, which currently ends at the end of Sept 2015. But this will work for only 4 days and 6 people.
Tell me your exact arrival date and planned number of days in the parks and I can help a lot more!