As you can imagine, the D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event dropped some massive Disney parks news and left us shook!
Magic Kingdom
I mean, we were all “ready” and waiting for the Horizons — Disney Experiences Showcase on August 10th, but truthfully, we weren’t ready. But instead of recapping everything that went down, we want to focus on Magic Kingdom right now as it got a LOT of announcements. We found out about projects like the new nighttime parade, Villains Land, and even Cars Land and they’re all coming to Magic Kingdom sooner than you think! Speaking of the Cars Land, once we found out about where it would be located, you could say that Disney fans are quite divided on the HUGE Frontierland overhaul that’s a coming!
So, just to catch us all up to speed, Disney did officially announce where the brand-news Cars land will be located in Magic Kingdom.
©Disney
Tom Sawyer Island and the Rivers of America and will be transformed into this brand-new land coming to the park. That means that Cars land will be located in Frontierland and that makes sense as Disney will, and I quote, “put our guests in the driver’s seat as we—quite literally—explore a new frontier in Frontierland.” We tried to figure out the exact location by zooming into current Magic Kingdom map and comparing it to the concept art released by Disney. We circled with a red line where we expect the new Cars area to be.
Map of where the new Cars area will be
As further confirmation, there is this one building near the bottom of the concept art that looks a lot like the current Liberty Square Riverboat building.
Concept Art
Moving right along, the new Cars Land in Magic Kingdom will include have two Cars attractions. The first one will have us racing through the mountains and along wild terrains, all while trying to dodge geysers and splashing through mud holes.
Cars is coming to Magic Kingdom! ©Disney
And the second attraction will be more family-friendly (more appropriate for our smaller racers).
©Disney
So, as we were saying, all these announcements have DEFINITELY sparked some emotions in Disney fans and left many divided. For example, DFB reader @masenmotivates shared, “Turning Tomorrowland Speedway into a Cars themed space makes a lot more sense to me.🤷🏻♀️”
There is nothing exciting about this
@dradisney shared the same sentiments and expanded them with, “So many problems. First: Cars theme doesn’t fit at Frontierland TIMELINE. Second: With so many land available, why not beyond Thunder Mountain? Third: why not place the cars rally at tomorrow land, where tomorrow land speed way is? Don’t tell me we will get a new brand rally attraction but speedway will still remain on TOMORROW land? Tomorrow land wasn’t suppose to bring the freshness of tomorrow? Why place race cars in a time where there were horses, wagons and nostalgia? Where is the Magic Kingdom that doesn’t mix storylines and has an underground tunnel made initially to don’t mess with the immersion? Why not place this in Hollywood Studios?”
Tomorrowland Speedway
@vincent_devecchis agreed with, “This is gonna ruin a thematic cohesion of the land. You’re gonna walk out of haunted mansion and boom there’s gonna be talking cars plus the river area kind of cools down the park. If it’s just cement it’s gonna get super hot.” I’m sure that is something that Disney will have to consider as that river does naturally help cool down that side of the park.
Tom Sawyer Island
Then @letsplayschool shared, “Super sad about what’s being replaced and taken away. Excited for the new – just wish it wasn’t taking away such classics…. 😢”. That’s always the unfortunate thing about projects like this — something old tends to give way for something new.
Tom Sawyer Island
Lastly, we have @anthonynunzioviscuse who shared, “This is horrible. Walt not only enjoyed but intended for areas of the park to be passive enjoyment. He loved the west. He loved the stories of America. Tom Sawyer island is a much needed “respite” from the crowds and stimulation of the works themselves. It’s a quiet reflection and place to spend some family time. It’s also a huge piece of living history in the Magic Kingdom. That matters. It isn’t just an add on to the Disney World experience, it IS Disney world. On a personal note, my wife and I said our vows in a cavern of Tom Sawyer island and it means so much to us to be able to take our children to a beautiful, nature filled nostalgic area that I myself grew up visiting with my father. I’m so sad about this.”
Dead Man’s Grotto on Tom Sawyer Island
We do know that the construction on this new land is to begin in early 2025, so if you would like to take one more trip on The Rivers of America or explore all the goodness of Tom Sawyer Island one last time, the clock is ticking!
We’ll be watching for more details as this new project begins at Magic Kingdom and all the other new projects around the Disney World parks. Keep following DFB for all the latest Disney news!
NEWS: Disney Files First Permit for Tom Sawyer Island Cars Land Transformation at Magic Kingdom
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Rivers of America is a lovely esthetic but, a waste of space. Time for it to go.
What is the world is Disney thinking? How can you turn deaf ears or all the flack about this? Do they read reviews, do they ask the people who buy tickets? This was a beautiful, throw back in time, and if you want to upgrade it, then turn the boat into a restaurant and just let it sit. But don’t fill in those waters or put some cartoonish looking ride in the middle of frontierland! It’s as if you are thumbing your nose at America. This area represented our country, and it’s beauty and it’s history and it’s stories. Please don’t do this or I think this will put be the straw that breaks the camels back. Tiana’s “ChiaPet” looking fiasco, should be enough to make you realize you are destroying this park. After 50 years people were still coming back with their children and grandchildren and for what reason? To see the things they remembered and loved and share it with generation after generation. This wasn’t some amusement park, this was a “theme” park, based on fairytales and stories and things we all loved as kids. Disney never had to worry about competing with anyone, they were Disney. Now they are becoming an amusement park, which is not so amusing to many, many devoted visitors. They are getting away from what made them so special. Let them go to Universal if they want video screens, virtual reality rides and rollercoasters. Disney has something much more special to offer. But they are blowing it! If you think these changes are going to put you above Universal you really have lost your minds. People grow up, but they still love being a kid. Don’t make these insane changes or this park will suffer with the loss of even more attendance.
WDW is rapidly changing from theme park to amusement park.
Hey, let’s go to Six Flags over Orlando!
I think it’s very sad to lose this lovely, peaceful place and I’m sure Walt would not have agreed to this. Surely they could use another area – or put it where Tomorrowland Speedway is now ! Plenty of room there & keep the rivers & tom sawyer island as a place to regroup and relax.
In 1965 Walt said, “Here in Florida, we have something special we never enjoyed at Disneyland… the blessing of size. There’s enough land here to hold all the ideas and plans we can possibly imagine.”
One of the biggest problems at WDW is capacity. They occasionally limit the number of people who can visit the Parks, because they want the guest experience to be positive. Well, don’t take out rides just to replace them with something else. Leave the ride alone and ADD something.
Make Tom Sawyer Island more interesting to young people so that they will WANT to go there.
This will totally destroy Frontierland! Why in the world would you do that when you have all kinds of land to expand on? It’s going to be a big eye sore for very long time just like Epcot was!
It truly is time for us to stop going. All the magic and charm that was Walt is being taken over by money and greed. And now with the DAS new rules, it just makes it impossible for us.
The scenery in Radiator Springs is Western, so Cars fits geographically within Frontier Land. I will miss the Liberty Boat Ride, as it was a quaint and relaxing ride.
Maybe this will prompt them to get rid of the Tomorrow Land Speedway, as the cars in there are not responsive to the steering wheel and the place is noisy and smelly.
Not a fan of this change at all. Disney is destroying the beauty of Magic Kingdom. The water attracts the egrets, ducks and great blue herons. It also helps keep Magic Kingdom cooler in the summer. The Disney parks are becoming nothing more than a concrete jungle of random IP-based attractions. Soon it will be difficult to distinguish WDW from Universal. We are finding WDW to be less and less appealing as time goes by.
WDW is quickly moving from a ‘theme’ park to just an amusement park. Soon, everything that made it special will be gone.
Maybe it is “time to go for it”. Really, Fantasyland is just outdated kiddie stuff. Frontierland is nothing but old useless things that only old people care about. Tomorrowland is more like Yesterday land. If Disney was smart, they would bulldoze everything, make a bigger parking lot and use what’s left for Virtual Realty and video games. Oh, and a area where GrubHub can drop off meals.
I agree with those saying this is not a good location for Cars land. While I mostly use Frontierland as a cut through from Pirates to Haunted Mansion, the river & riverboat are beautiful. I always stop on the shore, enjoy the view & relax for a while in the middle of the chaos. It will be missed.