Why Three Popular Disneyland Attractions Are Closing For Refurbishment At The Same Time

Partners statue and Sleeping Beauty Castle at night
(Image credit: Disneyland)

It’s rare to find yourself at Disneyland Resort on a day when literally every single attraction is running perfectly. Rides have to close for regular refurbishment in order to be sure that they don’t break down in catastrophic ways that would keep them out of action for even longer periods of time. 

However, refurbishments are usually spaced out so that there aren’t too many popular rides down at once and to make sure that there’s enough to do for everybody in a given area. Disneyland waited until Indiana Jones Adventure was back up and running before revealing a closing date for Splash Mountain. However, in June Disneyland’s Fantasyland is going to undergo a major refurbishment that will see Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Peter Pan’s Flight, and Alice in Wonderland all go down at the same time.

Disneyland has announced that starting June 5, all three Fantasyland attractions will be going down for refurbishment for an unspecified amount of time. It's somewhat surprising to see three rides all going down in the same land all at once, but there’s a connection between the three beyond the fact that they’re all in Fantasyland. They all share the same show building, with Peter Pan and Mr. Toad being right next door to each other, and Alice in Wonderland located on the backside of the same building.

Because the three attractions share a show building it may simply be easier to do refurbishment work on all three of them at one time. Alternatively, it could be that the work being done requires all three attractions to go down in order for it to be completed. Mr. Toad and Peter Pan are both opening-day Disneyland attractions

What's Closing When At Walt Disney World

Spaceship Earth lit up at night behind momorail

(Image credit: Walt Disney World)

Walt Disney World Refurbishment Schedule

Closing Peter Pan’s Flight alone is going to major blow to regular crowds. It is by far the most popular attraction in Fantasyland and one of the most popular attractions in the entire park. Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride is also a fan favorite. With the three rides down, there will only be two traditional dark rides operational inside Fantasyland, Pinocchio’s Daring Journey, and the recently refurbished Snow White’s Enchanted Wish.

As far as we know, this is just a standard refurbishment for the three attractions, that will clean and polish them up, but won’t change anything significant. But we’ll have to wait and see. Every once in a while Disney Parks surprises us by announcing big changes to an attraction only after it's closed, as they did with the Tarzan Treehouse, which will reopen later this year as a reimagined Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse.

If it is just a standard refurb to keep everything up to spec then we likely won’t see the rides down for too long. Depending on the work being done we may see them all reopen together in a couple of weeks, or perhaps we’ll see them reopen sequentially as work is finished with each one.

Dirk Libbey
Content Producer/Theme Park Beat

CinemaBlend’s resident theme park junkie and amateur Disney historian, Dirk began writing for CinemaBlend as a freelancer in 2015 before joining the site full-time in 2018. He has previously held positions as a Staff Writer and Games Editor, but has more recently transformed his true passion into his job as the head of the site's Theme Park section. He has previously done freelance work for various gaming and technology sites. Prior to starting his second career as a writer he worked for 12 years in sales for various companies within the consumer electronics industry. He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Davis.  Is an armchair Imagineer, Epcot Stan, Future Club 33 Member.