Well, consider our minds BLOWN today.
Mark Twain Riverboat
Magic Kingdom has had a pretty largescale refurbishment going on at the Rivers of America, Tom Sawyer Island, and on the Liberty Belle Riverboat. Today, these attractions are open for guests once more but it took a LOT of complicated work to get things back in order!
Since the second day of Magic Kingdom being open, guests have been able to take a ride through the Rivers of America on the beautiful Liberty Square Riverboat. Recently though, this tradition was paused as the waterway was completely drained for maintenance.
Drained Rivers of America
Did you know that the Rivers of America haven’t been completely drained since 1996? Wow! So in 24 years, that riverbed has never looked like it did for the past few months!
Rivers of America
The work was primarily to replace the steel rail that guides the Liberty Belle Riverboat, but workers also repaired rock work and performed general maintenance for the river and island. But the really complicated part of the work was moving the riverboat OUT of the park.
Rivers of America
The original journey out of the park was a 2.5-mile journey that took around three hours and sailed the Liberty Belle through Bay Lake and Seven Seas Lagoon. Though the paddle motor on the boat works, she doesn’t have any steering. So, to guide the boat, Cast Members had to tow the boat by hand from the river banks.
©Disney
And this process was SERIOUSLY complicated. It was all done in the middle of the night so as not to interrupt ferry routes and involved discharging part of the monorail track so that the boat could safely sail under.
©Disney
Returning the Liberty Belle to Magic Kingdom was even more complicated, taking three nights. A team of underwater divers was used to reconnect the riverboat to her Rivers of America track by hand. Holy moly! Who knew moving this historic vessel would be such a process?
©Disney
You can watch footage from the process in this video!
Click here to learn more about the refurbishment and reopening!
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Amazing engineering work. Kudos to those involved.
Wow, those were incredible pictures. I still wonder how they got the boat to the Rivers of America from Bay Lake. These Disney people are amazing. Thanks for sharing.
@Diane+P. There is a waterway from the rivers of America that winds behind thunder mountain to access bay lake (under monorail) Check out the sat map:
https://maps.apple.com/?a BBB ddress=4720%20Caribbean%20Way,%20Orlando,%20FL%20%2032830,%20United%20States&auid=7361868563242271150&ll=28.419731,-81.583539&lsp=9902&q=Tom%20Sawyer%20Island&_ext=ChkKBQgEEOIBCgQIBRADCgQIBhAHCgQIChAAEiQp4h3DbFdUPEAxWPkqq+lrVMA5O3Q8doqCPEBBqAbVvsdeVMA%3D&t=h