Walt Disney World continues racing in the direction of building of the Piston Peak ‘Automobiles’ space of Frontierland and Villains Land, reaching a serious milestone: full demolition of Tom Sawyer Island. Months after the Rivers of America closed over the summer season, new aerial photographs reveal that each construction on the extinct attraction is gone as of the beginning of Christmas at Magic Kingdom. Right here’s the most recent, plus our commentary about what’s subsequent.
Let’s begin by shortly bringing you on top of things with what’s modified between summer season and immediately. The Rivers of America, Tom Sawyer Island, and Liberty Sq. Riverboat closed again on July seventh. For our tribute to the aesthetics and inventive worth of this space of Magic Kingdom, see Why the Rivers of America is Price Saving. The sentiment there may be a part of an overarching and ongoing fan debate about Walt Disney World that extends far past this one choice.
Together with these everlasting closures, “shuttle mode” operations of the Walt Disney World Railroad have now begun. That is as a result of momentary closure of the Frontierland Station, which is happening to accommodate building. The staging areas and the development websites are on reverse sides of the railroad tracks, therefore the closure. This implies you may now not expertise the Grand Circle Tour of the Walt Disney World Railroad for (in all probability) the following few years. I wouldn’t be shocked if Frontierland Station doesn’t reopen once more within the 2020s, however actually, I’m simply completely satisfied to have the trains in any respect.
Since then, crews have been working to empty the Rivers of America. That was simpler mentioned than performed, as storm season resulted in it being refilled a couple of instances. However crews lastly gained their battle in opposition to Mom Nature, who is seemingly an enormous fan of the RoA, with an help from industrial water pumps. Building partitions, scrims and scaffolding now line the walkways in Frontierland and Liberty Sq., making it tough for visitors to see into the challenge website.
With views from ground-level now principally blocked, we take to the skies above Magic Kingdom for a glimpse over the development partitions. These overhead photographs & video come courtesy of eye within the sky photographs from friend-of-the-site bioreconstruct, the go-to supply for aerial theme park pictures…
Let’s begin with a high-level establishing shot.
This isn’t a fantastic view of the development, but it surely’s a shocking shot proper down Most important Road USA, full with a monorail passing and even daytime lighting. I haven’t the slightest inkling in regards to the challenges posed by taking photographs from a shifting helicopter, however can not think about that that is a straightforward one to seize. Most likely roughly equal to the Helmsman in Pirates of the Caribbean timed completely to a lightning strike. Kudos to bioreconstruct on this one.
Oh, and we do get a peekaboo view of the development website on the far higher left. You may even see one of many laydown yards past Massive Thunder that’ll assist Automobiles and Villains land building.
Right here’s one other view from behind Magic Kingdom, roughly behind Tiana’s Bayou Journey and Massive Thunder Mountain Railroad. This exhibits the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island demolition, but additionally the ultimate laydown yard that we’ve been watching make progress because it performs catch-up to the opposite ones.
We’ve lined these laydown yards and drainage necessities extensively as a part of the allowing course of for this challenge over the course of the final year-plus. As a refresher, the allow for all of this was issued by the South Florida Water Administration District (SFWMD) in Winter 2025, giving Imagineering till February 17, 2030 to redevelop the world.
The underlying SFWMD allow is huge in scale and scope, encompassing over 300 acres round Magic Kingdom and past. Nevertheless, the precise challenge website solely being about 14 acres–the whole lot of it after which some is seen within the picture above. I think some followers would possibly mistakenly imagine this growth is bigger than it really is predicated on the permits and aerial photographs thus far. The laydown yards and whole allow space are a lot greater than the brand new lands, even when this nonetheless is the most important growth in Magic Kingdom historical past.
We don’t have new November 2025 photographs of the opposite laydown yards, presumably as a result of these haven’t progressed a lot (if in any respect). Above is a take a look at the others as of final month.
You may scroll backwards and forwards and see how these look side-by-side. As one other refresher, these gravel laydown yards are in low-lying areas to the northwest of the Rivers of America, necessitating website prep work to make them usable. There are three gravel laydown yards in whole across the northwestern perimeter of Magic Kingdom.
Two are past the berm, which means exterior of Magic Kingdom visitor areas, with the third laydown yard inside Magic Kingdom alongside the northwestern banks of what’s presently the Rivers of America. These gravel laydown yards can be used for building gear, heavy equipment, supplies staging, earth-moving, and so forth.
Work on the laydown yards began in late spring. Above is a good increased stage view from over the summer season again earlier than the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island closed.
As you may see, main progress has been made since Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island closed. The ultimate staging space and challenge website has had most of its bushes eliminated, and is catching as much as the others. One other huge growth is the set up of challenge workforce trailers on the center laydown yard.
That is very comparable permits for a trailer park and staging space behind Kali River Rapids in assist of the Tropical Americas challenge final spring. In addition they repurposed the previous Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser behind Disney’s Hollywood Studios into subject workplaces for the Monstropolis growth there.
Right here’s a more in-depth take a look at the previous Rivers of America, which has now had all constructions demolished.
Because of this Superstition Bridge, Fort Langhorn, Harper’s Mill and Potter’s Mill, Aunt Polly’s Restaurant, the buildings for the caves, and every little thing else. It’s all gone. Solely scattered bushes stay.
The correct half of it will develop into the Piston Peak ‘Automobiles’ land (principally the south island of Tom Sawyer Island), whereas the world that’s past Massive Thunder will develop into Villains Land. That’s the portion of this challenge that’s true park growth.
Zooming in a bit, right here’s the south island of Tom Sawyer Island and the decrease loop of the Rivers of America inside the regular subject of view inside Magic Kingdom.
This additionally exhibits the scaffolding and scrims which can be up alongside the Rivers of America waterfront promenade. These are within the drained riverbed, so the “shortcut” walkway to Tiana’s Bayou Journey and Massive Thunder stays open. There are different areas of correct building partitions alongside the remainder of the waterfront.
I’ve been pleasantly shocked by simply how unobtrusive this challenge is to this point. You may see the partitions when first getting into Liberty Sq., however the way in which that the brown scrim is ready again alongside the shortcut means it doesn’t stand proud of the principle thoroughfare of Frontierland.
It helps that there’s a superb quantity of foliage between Frontierland and the previous Rivers of America or present challenge website. The end result if you’re strolling by means of this part of the park, maybe to go to future UNESCO World Heritage Website, Grizzly Corridor, you don’t actually discover all that a lot. Mix-in brown dwelling as much as its identify.
The development website is there, clearly, however this isn’t a huge crater that instructions visitors’ consideration. Mercifully, it’s completely nothing just like the Big EPCOT Grime Pit. Now, if this drags on for ~5 years with minimal progress and the top result’s one thing akin to the trip model of CommuniCore Corridor, you may count on my tune to alter.
Right here’s one other angle on the south island.
In the course of the island, there are huge mounds of dust. I used to be on the bottom in Magic Kingdom yesterday, and these are about the one factor that’s seen over the partitions. You may see the absence of the mills that used to poke up above the partitions and the remaining bushes, however that’s about it. In any other case, simply the brand new dust mounds.
The subsequent step is probably going utilizing these huge mounds to infill the previous Rivers of America waterbed.
There’s in all probability some remaining clean-up to be performed on the islands themselves, however the level is that the land clearing gained’t be performed right down to the riverbed stage. Somewhat, the previous waterway can be introduced as much as the previous island’s stage. That’s going to require much more dust, so count on extra huge mounds to look because the challenge progresses.
Along with that, crews might want to set up infrastructure and utilities, and do quite a lot of invisible work earlier than vertical building can start. Tropical Americas took about 10 months to go from land clearing to the beginnings of vertical building.
Our greatest guess is that the Piston Peak Nationwide Park ‘Automobiles’ land is nearer to a full yr away. Truthfully, I’d be shocked and impressed if we see this go vertical by Christmas 2026. I’d like to be improper and have this work kick into the next gear, however these initiatives are all the time slow-going…till they’re not. The vertical stage is what goes quick. This occurs time and time once more, and but, followers always query why issues are going so sluggish…after which why initiatives have ‘sped up.’
Right here’s a take a look at demolition on the north island. The far proper aspect can be proper round the place a brand new walkway will join Massive Thunder to Haunted Mansion. It’s tough to see, however a brand new building wall inside the Massive Thunder challenge website has been put in, both to guard the attraction or for future use as soon as the trip reopens inside the subsequent few months.
The walkway undoubtedly is not going to be accomplished (and even began) earlier than Massive Thunder reopens. It wouldn’t make sense to take action, because it’d block entry to the Automobiles building website. We do count on prep-work to start on the Massive Thunder Mountain Railroad aspect because it’ll be simpler to perform that whereas the curler coaster is closed.
One in all my greater questions is what Walt Disney World plans to do with the remaining mature bushes on Tom Sawyer Island. It will be good if there have been a approach to transplant these for future use.
I’m not precisely an professional on tree relocation prices, however I do know that mature bushes are “prohibitively” costly (or so they are saying about initiatives with value tags within the billions of {dollars} and extreme bloat). That is why so many latest initiatives have seemed barren, and to their detriment, for those who ask me.
Epic Universe is the largest and finest latest instance. That park will look nice when a few of its vegetation fills in, however that’s going to take a couple of years. On condition that Piston Peak is meant to be a nationwide park, it’d be good if that included lush panorama and mature bushes. I don’t find out about you, however I haven’t visited any U.S. Nationwide Parks with a bunch saplings that seemed like they had been planted yesterday.
Lastly, right here’s an aerial video of the progress on the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island demolition:
In the end, it’s good to see these ‘Past Massive Thunder’ initiatives kicking into excessive gear forward of the vacations. This additional underscores that Walt Disney World didn’t simply select to shut the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island this summer season to avoid wasting on working bills. From the above aerial photographs, it’s very clear that severe work has already occurred, with infill to speed up within the coming months.
I’m nonetheless not happy that Walt Disney World opted to go this route versus an abridged Rivers of America (retaining the south island and waterfront) plus pure park growth, but it surely’s going to occur and there’s nothing we followers can do to alter the course of this Piston Peak challenge besides on the margins.
Accordingly, I might love nothing greater than for this challenge to maneuver as shortly as doable, with cranes showing on website to start vertical building by late 2026. Get this performed shortly to reduce the visitor influence and have Piston Peak open ASAP. As far-off because it appears immediately, each Automobiles and Villains land opening earlier than 2030 could be an enormous win.
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Your Ideas
Ideas on Disney demolishing Tom Sawyer Island and shifting ahead with infill on Rivers of America? Excited or disillusioned that the Piston Peak Nationwide Park is changing Rivers of America? On condition that that is going to occur regardless at this level, do you hope it’s full steam forward so we don’t must endure a repeat of the Big EPCOT Grime Pit fiasco? Do you agree or disagree with our evaluation? Any questions we will help you reply? Listening to your suggestions—even if you disagree with us—is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!
