We’re finally on the precipice of shovels in the ground at Walt Disney World. A Blue Sky session at the 2022 D23 Expo was met with grumbling from the fan community, but at the recent 2024 D23 Expo, Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro outlined an ambitious slate of projects for Walt Disney World, noting that Disney will be building everything announced.
We were literally on the plane waiting to push back from the gate in California for a flight back to Orlando when it was announced that the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island would become a construction zone for the Cars-themed attractions announced by D’Amaro less than a couple of days prior. Hours later, I was cruising at 30,000ft, scrolling through permits filed by Walt Disney World for the initial phases of the project. After years of waiting and debating about Blue Sky ideas, things were finally moving forward, and moving fast.
To that end, we stopped by Magic Kingdom earlier today to not only check out the new Never Land Tribe scene at Peter Pan’s Flight, but also to take a spin on the Walt Disney World Railroad to see if any land clearing had begun as preparation work for a Frontierland expansion is on the horizon. Spoiler alert, trees are still standing. That said, we wanted to take a look at the land that will eventually be used for the first phase of the project before construction “revs into high gear” next year.
If you’ve read BlogMickey.com for any amount of time, you know that I love taking photos of construction projects. For me, documenting the process of something coming to life is almost as satisfying as experiencing it when it’s finished. There will be a lot of photos of dirt on this website over the next decade, so why not kick things off with a serene trip through the Florida swamp?
First, here’s a look at the permit so we can get our bearings a bit on what we’re looking at because I’ll be real honest, the on-the-ground photos are less than captivating at the moment. In the screenshot below, we can see three areas of interest, outlined in teal. Those are the construction laydown yards that will be built over the next few months. These are areas where material and equipment will be staged as work in the Rivers of America area goes from draining to demolition to backfill.
The teal laydown yard closest to the Rivers of America is what we’re going to take a look at today. In the 10-year plan outlined by the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, this area was called Marginally Unsuitable for development. In total, there are 1,371 acres in this category or 13% of the undeveloped land area in the District.
Ok, let’s go Beyond Big Thunder Mountain to see what the land looks like today, and some of the challenges and opportunities Disney has in the near future.
First, let’s talk about the Walt Disney World Railroad. The railroad passes right by the construction laydown yard area, and it could face an extended closure in the coming years. In short, Disney will be staging construction materials and equipment on the west side of the tracks, and everything they will be building sits to the east of the tracks.
If Disney was merciful, they wouldn’t close the Railroad again and find a way to move the equipment across the tracks and into the Rivers of America construction site either overnight or in between Railroad loops. The Railroad was (relatively) recently closed for years due to the TRON Lightcycle Run construction, and another multi-year closure of the Railroad would, quite frankly, be a failure. That said, we can’t see a scenario where there isn’t at least some downtime for the Railroad in the years ahead.
Back in September 2022, I wrote an article taking a look at what was Beyond Big Thunder Mountain from the Liberty Square Riverboat. At the time, I wasn’t aware that I was actually floating through the construction zone, not just observing it from a distance. For a refresher on what’s past Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in terms of theme park show scenes, check out the article below (the pictures are much nicer to look at than the ones in the remainder of this article).
Ok, while it’s still operating, we hopped on the Walt Disney World Railroad at the Frontierland station for a quick jaunt over to the Fantasyland Station and past the “Beyond Big Thunder Mountain” construction site.
In this first photo, we pass over a bridge that connects a backstage waterway (left) to the Rivers of America (right). This waterway connects directly to the Seven Seas Lagoon, and then Bay Lake beyond that. It’s unknown just how much water will remain in the Frontierland expansion area, but we could imagine Disney wanting to preserve some waterways, just not enough to have a Riverboat attraction or island anymore.
The rest of the photos are simply illustrative of what the area looks like. In short, this is what a swamp looks like in 2024. Ground testing has been ongoing in the area in recent months, and just about everything in this immediate area next to the train track is under at least a foot of water, and then 5-7 feet of mud below that. It’s a little bit difficult to tell, but the railroad track is built up at least 6-7 feet above the rest of the area. After Disney clears all of the trees, a lot of fill will be needed to build the area up for the construction laydown yard.
These are the same woods that a bear was roaming nearly a year ago, forcing the closure of about 1/3rd of Magic Kingdom. It’s pretty easy to see how a bear might mistake this area for woods and not literal steps from the world’s busiest theme park.
The boundaries of the laydown yard walk right up to the edge of the Native American village seen on either side of the Railroad. The photos below were out of the left side of the Railroad, showing two show scenes that will likely remain untouched as part of this initial phase of the project. Eventually, the Villains Land construction will require the removal of the Native American village.
While Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro has said that earth is moving now for some of the Walt Disney World projects announced at the D23 Expo, no visible work has taken place on this specific project. That said, we expect to see some work either later this year or early next year as Disney prepares to expand Frontierland with two Cars-themed attractions.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
