The company that rebuilt Big Thunder Mountain Railroad has finally said so itself. Vekoma Rides, the Dutch coaster manufacturer, confirmed in a statement posted to its social channels in late August that it delivered the new track and passenger trains at the heart of the Magic Kingdom attraction’s 16-month refurbishment, putting a name to work Disney never publicly credited.
Vekoma describes the project as a careful balance of engineering innovation and respect for the attraction’s rich heritage. The new track and trains, the company says, enhance ride performance and reliability while preserving the classic storytelling, with advanced engineering and construction methodologies bringing the ride up to the latest industry standards.
What Vekoma Confirmed
The key confirmation is scope. Crews completely replaced the track during the closure that ran from January 2025 to the ride’s May 3, 2026 reopening, and Vekoma lists the passenger trains alongside the track as its deliverables, where Disney’s own reopening announcement had only described the trains as refreshed. The company also ties its work to the height requirement, which dropped to 38 inches from the longtime 40 when Big Thunder returned, putting the wildest ride in the wilderness within reach of younger children.
Riders noticed the difference immediately this spring. The new track turned one of the park’s roughest rides into one of its smoothest, a change some fans celebrated and a few mourned. Blog Mickey has the full statement.
What Disney Added On Its Own Side
The track and trains were Vekoma’s half of the job. The show enhancements came from Walt Disney Imagineering, which used the closure to expand the Barnabas T. Bullion backstory, hang some 2,000 bats in the mountain, and build out the Rainbow Caverns sequence with phosphorescent pools and iridescent stalagmites that turn an ominous red at a crack of thunder.
Disney announced all of that in the run-up to the reopening without ever naming its ride manufacturer, which is standard practice for the company and exactly why a supplier speaking publicly is worth noting. Vekoma’s fingerprints are all over the modern Disney portfolio, from Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at EPCOT to TRON Lightcycle / Run across the park in Tomorrowland, and it built the Big Thunder Mountain coasters at Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris, but the company rarely gets to take a public bow on a refurbishment of a classic.
The confirmation caps a busy year of work in that corner of the park, part of the same refresh wave that pulled the scrims off the Haunted Mansion’s updated facade this summer. Frontierland’s wildest ride now has new bones, and the company that built them is taking credit.
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