A Disney World Ride Finally REOPENS This Week!

It’s practically spring in Florida, which means the weather will hopefully be warming up. Warmer temperatures mean water rides are a welcome sight!

Kali River Rapids

A popular water ride will be re-opening this week after a lengthy refurb! But while one ride opens, several other Disney World attractions remain closed. Let’s see what’s opening and what’s staying closed in Disney World this week!

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Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Kali River Rapids

Kali River Rapids usually closes early in the year for refurbishment since water rides like this tend to be less popular during the winter months when it’s colder than usual. No one wants to get soaked if it’s chilly outside! In 2024, it closed on January 8th.

Kali River Rapids

Disney has announced that Kali River Rapids will be closed through mid-March. Right now, Disney’s calendar shows that this ride should reopen this week on March 15th! Disney hasn’t officially confirmed this as the reopening date, but we’ll be watching for it on Friday.

The Best And Worst Seats on Each Ride in Disney’s Animal Kingdom

We’re excited to see this water ride end its closure! However, others will remain closed this week. Let’s see what will be closed if you’re visiting Disney World the week of March 11th through 17th.

Magic Kingdom

Country Bear Jamboree

Country Bear Jamboree closed on January 27th, 2024 for refurbishment.

Temporary Stage in front of Country Bear Jamboree

Disney announced that a NEW show is coming to Country Bear Jamboree, with the bears learning an all-new act. The new show is set to open sometime this summer.

3 Ways Magic Kingdom has changed since the Country Bear Jamboree closed

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure

Splash Mountain is permanently closed — this ride is being renovated to become Tiana’s Bayou Adventure! The new ride will be themed to The Princess and the Frog.

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure

We recently learned lots of new information about this ride, including a hint that there will be Splash Mountain Easter Eggs throughout the attraction!

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure queue

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will open this summer in Disney World!

6 new updates at Tiana’s Bayou Adventure

If you miss Splash Mountain or want to celebrate the new ride, you should check out our DFB t-shirts! We have a Splash Mountain Farwell Tour shirt…

DFB Exclusive!

…and a Tiana tee as well!

Check out our new Tiana-inspired merch!

You can shop both tees (and lots of other Disney merch) at our online store.

Click here to shop our DFB merchandise store.

With Country Bear Jamboree and Tiana’s Bayou Adventure closed, that leaves just Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Tom Sawyer Island, and the Walt Disney World Railroad open in Frontierland.

The Barrel Bridge

The Barrel Bridge is still missing from Tom Sawyer Island, and there’s no word on when it might return.

Barrel Bridge Is Missing

Tomorrowland Terrace

Tomorrowland Terrace is a quick-service restaurant that’s remained closed since the 2020 pandemic-related closures, but even before that, this spot was only occasionally open.

Tomorrowland Terrace in 2022

Once in a while, you’ll see the dining room open as a rest area (and it’s still being used for the Magic Kingdom Fireworks Dessert Parties), but it’s usually all roped off and empty. Disney hasn’t announced when this spot could finally reopen, but we’ll be watching for updates.

Check out our recent review at a Magic Kingdom restaurant that blew us away!

EPCOT

Restaurant Marrakesh

Restaurant Marrakesh is still closed in the Morocco pavilion of EPCOT’s World Showcase, and there’s no word yet on when it might reopen.

Restaurant Marrakesh

The restaurant is kind of open right now — it’s functioning as a lounge with just a couple of drink options. However, we’re still waiting for the full restaurant to reopen!

Did you know about this super useful hack in EPCOT?

Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster closed on January 8th, it won’t reopen until the summer of this year.

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster

Although we don’t have an exact reopening date yet, we know that it’ll be at least a few months before the ride reopens. Last year, when the ride closed around this time (on February 20th, to be exact), it reopened on May 26th.

Voyage of the Little Mermaid

Well, it’s official — Voyage of the Little Mermaid is permanently closed in Disney World. We had suspected this was the case for some time (as it hasn’t actually been open for a few years now), but now the permanent closure has been confirmed.

Voyage of the Little Mermaid

Disney is going to introduce a NEW show in this spot, though it will still be themed to the animated movie The Little Mermaid! The new show will be called “The Little Mermaid — A Musical Adventure” and is coming to Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Fall 2024.

©Disney

It will be a “fully reimagined theatrical production inspired by the Walt Disney Animation Studios classic.”

A HUGE Hollywood Studios ride change is coming soon!

Disney World Hotels

1900 Park Fare at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort

At Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort, 1900 Park Fare has been closed for a long time, but Disney has finally announced an opening date and BIG changes coming soon!

It’s reopening soon!

1900 Park Fare will reopen with NEW dining offerings starting April 10th, 2024. It’s been confirmed that one of the signature menu items here — the Floridian Strawberry Soup — will RETURN! New characters will be available to meet at the restaurant for breakfast and dinner. Aladdin in his Prince Ali look, Mirabel, and Tiana in her new look for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will all be present.

©Disney

For breakfast and dinner, you’ll be able to enjoy a buffet meal. There will be new menu offerings available that pay homage to the new characters and their stories. You can now begin to make reservations to enjoy this popular restaurant!

Check out the NEW full menu at 1900 Park Fare!

Fuentes del Morro Pool at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort

The Fuentes del Morro Pool is the most popular pool at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort. The pool is themed to look like a colonial Spanish fortress and has two waterslides (including one that’s over a hundred feet long!), water spray cannons, and a shipwreck play area for the little kiddos.

Construction at the pool

Fuentes del Morro is currently closed, and it’ll remain closed through late March of this year, so hopefully just a couple more weeks. The closure is for routine maintenance, which we often see at Disney’s hotel pools during the winter months. If you’re staying at Caribbean Beach, are you just out of luck? Don’t worry! You can still visit any of the five leisure pools at this hotel. There’s one leisure pool at each village.

Doubloon Lagoon Pool at Disney’s Port Orleans Resort — French Quarter

Doubloon Lagoon at Port Orleans — French Quarter has a 51-foot long water slide that looks like a sea serpent, a whirlpool spa, and Mardi Gras decorations. The pool closed in January and will stay closed through April 2024.

Doubloon Lagoon Pool

If you’re staying at French Quarter and want to take a swim, head over to Ol’ Man Island at Port Orleans — Riverside, which you can easily walk to from French Quarter. Ol’ Man Island is actually a pool complex! The pool area there has waterfalls, a 95-foot waterslide, a whirlpool, and a kiddie pool.

Have you tried the ultimate pool bar crawl?

Typhoon Lagoon

Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon Water Park will be reopening late this week on March 17th, 2024!

Typhoon Lagoon

The water park has been closed since November 2023 while Disney worked on some refurbishments and spruced up the place. While the park was closed, visitors could instead go to Blizzard Beach Water Park, which will still be open for a few more days— but that’s about to change too.

Blizzard Beach will be closed as of March 17th, 2024, so March 16th will be your last day to squeeze in a visit if you want!