@@joannbeiser4907 AMEN! It's an integral part of the Magic Kingdom experience. I had tears in my eyes as I heard the various whistle signals. Nice "window" in tunnel as Tron cycled by.
Former WDWRR conductor and engineer here (mid '70's, pre-construction of the Fantasyland station and relocation of the Frontierland station). I miss the live spiel we gave as conductors, and am surprised how far back they have cleared the foliage along the right of way between Frontierland and Fantasyland. It used to almost brush the side of the train cars! So good to see it return after so long an absence, especially for Christmas!
We would love to hear more Brian. We're big fans of Walt, WDW, Roy and of course the WDW RR! About 5 years ago when I last road those rails the brakes were sooo squeaky and high pitched it hurt my ears every time we stopped. I'm glad to see the RR having gotten what seems to be a good renovation overall and yes, the landscape is definitely trimmed up and manicured nicely from my opinion. Do you remember what train engines were on the RR when you worked there in the 70s?
for those of you who don't know, the frontierland station had to be moved when walt disney world was building splash mountain. during the time when the station in frontierland was gone, the railroad only went between the main street USA station and the mickey's starland station. mickey's starland was a land that originally was added to celebrate mickey mouse's 60th (i believe) birthday, then was changed into mickey's starland, then it became mickey's toontown fair, then finally it became part of fantasyland. half of the trips, the train moved backwards
14:22 great shot of the light cycle. The tunnel itself looks boring (maybe at night it will have some effects), but the window with the track, if you catch it right, is cool.
I know the railroad is considered transportation, but this is my favorite ride at WDW. Glad to see it return!!!!! Walt is the reason I have a ride on railroad around my home, just like he did! Love those trains!!!
I am really surprised that they added a splash mountain reference on the audio spiel. Splash mountain is closing next month so it’s a little interesting that they kept the splash mountain spiel on the ride.
So Happy to see the train back in operation. My Handicapped Granddaughter loves riding the train. It will be the first ride we go on when we vacation there in February for her 16 Birthday.
So disappointing. They had so much opportunity with that Tron tunnel. They could have taken a cue from Disneyland’s Grand Canyon and Primeval World. They could have constructed a long tunnel and done something with it. Maybe something similar to Disneyland’s old peoplemover’s light speed tunnels of Tron (projections made to look like you’re moving really fast).
The narration mentions Brer Rabbit in splash mountain which I find interesting for a ride closing in like a month. Be good that we will be able to see construction of Tiana through the windows
The tunnel is cute, though I do wish they'd done a projection based tribute to the Tunnel through the world of Tron on the Peoplemover. (Yes I know it was at DL vs MK)
At least they did that little homage to it in the narration (with the train stumbling into the grid, rather than just the engineer describing the Tron adventure).
Major missed opportunity to have a dark ride element like Disneyland's railroad. It would have been so cool for the tunnel to have projection effects similar to speed tunnels of past attractions that make it look like the train is entering a digital portal. Flowing grid patterns could make up the landscape along with stylized digital trees.
The tunnel does need a lighting effect and possibly mist/mist fans would be cool. Adding Tron also seems like a missed opportunity to create a Tomorrowland station.
Adam the Woo was there the moment the soft re-opening happened. Moments later, it felt like 1990 as I trundled along the track watching over Adam's shoulder (via RU-vid). Well worth a look.
How exciting! Wish it was up when I was there a couple of weeks ago. I'm coming back in May for 2 parks but sadly one is not MK. The logistics are complicated, but I wonder if they would consider letting people pay a $10 fee or something just to go to the Main Street station, ride the train and exit again...
I'm so happy to hear about this and to see it today! Now all I want is for the park reservation system to go away forever-dining reservations required for resort entry needs to go away too!!!!
Outstanding stuff. Thrilled to hear the Tron Legacy theme being used - I know it was on the Shanghai ride but it's great to hear it confirmed for Florida. One of my all time favourite film scores.
Seeing the Tunnel that was put up for Tron, at most this train should have been down for a month. There is so much structural pre-fab that could have been done before bringing the tunnel sections in. Leaving only the pouring of concrete to be done once the prefab tunnel sections were in place. If there were safety issues around structural steel construction and construction equipment for the ride over the tunnel, they could have left this construction until off hours. Or done limited train shut downs to accommodate construction. All while constructing other sections of the ride area. We have all seen road closures and bridge construction that are much larger projects take vastly shorter amounts of time with less disruption to traffic flow, than this project took. All for such a short and painful boring tunnel. Good to have the train back. Thanks for the video
COVID-19 also had an effect. If you were to ask me, there probably isn't anything inside the tunnel due to the fear that the steam may mess with such effects.
I feel like they could have done a lot more with the tunnel underneath Tron to be honest but hey 🤷🏾♂️ I can't complain. Good to see the railroad running again 😁
Fantastic! Thank you! Emotional and wonderful. A wonderfully timed video with the boat, the monorail... everything! So nice to have the train back! Merry Christmas to us!
So, how long is everyone thinking until "influencers" start making videos of themselves jumping off the train to pose at certain points before running and hopping back on?
🤨 It's unfortunate the TRON tunnel was lackluster after many years of planning and construction. Projections and/or lightning effects would have been a nice touch - another missed opportunity for Imagineering to "wow" guests.
Thank you so much for this video! Us steam train buffs have been waiting for this moment for four long years. Four years...all just for a cloned Vekoma Booster Bike coaster that (in my opinion) is not all that great of a ride. (At least the one at Shanghai Disneyland did not do much for me when I rode it when it was new.)
when my mom told me the railroad reopened last month, i nearly passed out from happiness, especially because it has been so long since the train closed in 2018
Even tho I haven’t been to WDW since 2019 and idk when I’ll Be back, but hearing that Tron overlay on the Twain when it goes by gives me chills… awesome movie in a more awesome place. Hope to return sooner then later 😢
You'd think that after more than 4 years where they could've done any amount of work that they wanted, they would've done more than just add some mulch around to cover the dead grass.
