Splash Mountain in the Magic Kingdom
It’s refurbishment season and you need to know what that means for your Disney or Universal Orlando vacation, and what your options are.
While this is a great time to visit the Disney or Universal theme parks – crowds are low, temperature in Florida is fantastic and yes, even prices for rooms and tickets are lower – traveling at this time does come at a price and your family’s favorite attraction could be closed for refurbishments.
This is especially true for water based rides, like Kali River Rapids at Animal Kingdom, Splash Mountain at both Magic Kingdom and Disneyland park, Dudley Do-right’s Ripsaw Falls or Popeye and Bluto’s Bilge Rat Barges in Islands of Adventure.
Why does Disney and Universal choose this time to refurbish their rides? Because of all the reasons why it’s a great time to travel – low crowds and cooler weather. There’s not a lot of people begging to ride these water rides in January and February. And with lower crowds overall it just makes sense to have fewer attractions available.
There are a few rides that are going down for much longer than a yearly refurbishment. This is the case with The Revenge of the Mummy over in Universal Studios, which is closed now through the early summer. This is a much larger project including changing out the entire track of the ride. And in Animal Kingdom, Expedition Everest will be closed now through mid-April. Hopefully they’re giving the yeti a little clean up, and getting all the hair ties off the mountain!
Expedition Everest in Animal Kingdom
Seasonal closures are also possible right now, especially with the water parks. Typhoon Lagoon at Disney just reopened after being closed for nearly 2 years during the shutdown. Now that it’s open again, Blizzard Beach closed for it’s yearly maintenance. And Universal’s Volcano Bay is closed Tuesdays and Thursdays until March. Keep in mind too, these parks can close if the air temperature gets too cold – which can happen even in Florida!
So what does this mean for you? It’s important to know if your family’s favorite ride will be closed during your trip. The refurbishment list can be found on Disney and Universal’s website, usually located in the Park Hours section.
If there’s do or die ride for your family, you’ll need to decide if the other factors are worth missing it, or if you want to reschedule your trip. the good thing is that Disney isn’t going anywhere, so you can take advantage of the lower crowds and better weather and know that you can hit that ride next time.
The main thing is to know ahead of time that this can be an issue so you can plan around it, rather than showing up and being surprised. Luckily, if you booked your trip with one of us, and why would you not??? We are well aware of ride closures and can advise you on the best options.
As always, we would love to hear from you! If you have any questions or comments, you can reach us at info@ears4youpodcast.com, or find us at Ears4You on Facebook and Instagram.
