Disney yesterday closed Hurricane Hanna's Grill at Diseny's Beach Club Resort for a lenghthly refurbishment. The quick service location is expected to re-open on December 18 2012. Quick service dining is still being offered at Disney's Beach Club Marketplace, located near the main lobby of the hotel.
Disney have closed The Yachtsman Steakhouse at Disney's Yacht Club Resort. The restaurant is expected to re-open on September 14 2012.
Disney will be closing The Magic Carpets of Aladdin at the Magic Kingdom from October 18 to October 25, reopening on Octover 26 2012. This is a minor refurbishment and it is not expected that there will be any noticable changes to the attraction.
Disney have kept their Winter Summerland miniature golf course and Disney's Blizzard Beach Water Park closed today due to poor weather from Tropical Storm Isacc.
Disney have just announced that the "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" playground movie-set adventure at Disney's Hollywood Studios will be closing from September 10 to September 14 2012, reopening on September 15. This is a brief closure and is likely for minor works such as cleaning and painting.
Epcot's "Nature - Inspired Design" tour will be closing on July 4 permanently. The tour involved visiting Soarin', a tour of the greenhouses in the Land Pavilion, a guided tour of The Seas with Nemo and Friends and finally a Segway off road tour.
Guests wishing to do the tour should book asap to avoid missing it after the closure date.
The Country Bear Jambory, located in Magic Kingdom is scheduled to close from August 22nd through to October 17th (reopening on October 18th 2012). Given the extended length of this refurbishment, the ride will likely receive a 'mid-sized' revamp, which usually includes repainting, replacing worn/damaged props and possibly modifications to the auto-animatronic figurines.
The Liberty Square Riverboat, at Magic Kingdom will be closed for a short refurbishment from August 4th to August 10th (reopening on August 11th 2012).
Big Thunder Mountain today re-opens after a 5 month refurbishment. The ride closed on January 9th, after notice was given in early October 2011, this was something Disney had long been planning as the ride was in desperate need of work, with multiple effects missing for some time and areas of the ride showing its age with general wear and tear.
Over the last week, the ride has opened several times for a 'soft opening' launch, and the general consensus has been positive.
Here's a rundown of what we know has already been done as part of the maintenance:
One fix that has not been performed is the moving rock scene. Whilst there is a possibility that it was just switched off during the soft opening, it does seem as though there may have been a deeper issue there.
As part of the queue changes, the standby and fastpass lines have been switched around. It does also appear that there will be an interactive queue system, however it was not running during the soft-opening.
The 'Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!' at Disney's Hollywood Studios will be closing for two days next week; May 16 and May 17 2012 for minor maintenance.