Walt Disney World has not yet received initial state approval for its Frontierland expansion project, which will include the demolition of the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island. The demolition is required to prepare the land for a Cars-themed expansion and, eventually, a Villains Land in Magic Kingdom. The State of Florida has sent Disney a 6-page letter outlining dozens of faults in the initial application, which is related to water management actions that Disney has proposed to allow for an expansion of Frontierland. The state is asking Disney to make modifications to the permit within 90 days or the permit application will be denied. Let’s take a closer look at what this means.
Walt Disney World’s Villains Land & Frontierland Expansion Permit Hits Snag
Back on August 12th, Walt Disney World filed water management permits with the state of Florida, outlining the first steps that it would need to take to construct a Cars-themed Frontierland expansion and a Villains Land at Magic Kingdom. The permit proposed an impact on wetlands of more than 300 acres, although much of the work would take place outside of the Magic Kingdom boundaries as Disney created water management facilities in the area to allow for land preparation work within the world’s busiest theme park.
In essence, Disney wanted to construct three “laydown yards” to stage construction materials and equipment. These laydown yards would be built on “marginally unsuitable” land near the Rivers of America and the northwest section of Magic Kingdom along the tracks of the Walt Disney World Railroad. For more on what the permit proposes and the scope of the work, check out our earlier article below.
Turning our attention back to this latest development, Walt Disney World received a Request for Additional Information (RAI) letter from the South Florida Water Management District on September 11th. The letter was delivered via email to a Walt Disney World employee, with employees at the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District and other companies copied. The 6-page letter outlines 20 requests from the state, including a seemingly significant change of the permit type from an “Individual” Environmental Resource Permit into a Conceptual Permit with broader construction implications and additional information about the work that Walt Disney World will be doing.
Broadly speaking, the RAI asks Disney to provide updated information about construction that will happen after this phase of development and how it will impact water quality in the area. The RAI also asks Disney to demonstrate that they have pursued alternative site plans to reduce the impact on wetland functions. Other information that the state is seeking includes wildlife studies and potential impacts to protected species and any mitigation plans. The state would also like to complete a field inspection to verify wetland delineation for the project.
One of the points of concern that was highlighted as being of concern to the staff is that of the hydroperiod, or the period of time in which it takes a particular area to flood. Staff said that they were concerned that the finished elevations would adversely impact the hydroperiod of the surrounding wetlands, and they have asked for graphs that would display the pre-development hydrology and the post-development hydrology.
The state is also requesting information on dewatering operations, noting that the initial application appears to indicate that dewatering will take place. It’s likely that they are referring to the draining of the Rivers of America. The state said that any surface water applications will not be considered complete until information is received about the likely dewatering activities.
In total, the state is requesting a lot of information from Disney before they can consider approving the application. Disney has 90 days to respond before the application is automatically denied. In our time covering Walt Disney World, we have not seen an RAI that has been this lengthy. That said, the acreage impact is also one of the more significant projects that we’ve encountered.
Some of the requests appear to be relatively simple to respond to, while other requests will likely take time to collect the information needed to respond to the state.
At this point, it’s unclear if the RAI will impact the previously announced construction timeframe of “early 2025” for the Frontierland expansion to support the 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!
For the first time I agree with Florida. I think these are attractions that must remain in the Magic Kingdom. There’s plenty of other land for development
I smell DeSantis politics, I’m supposed to believe Florida is concerned about the makeup of rides in MK. Lol
Or Disney’s ability to keep promises to do things right and according to state law.
Ronnie is a big baby. I think Disney should shelve all additions to its property and use the 17 billion to build a new park elsewhere. Florida is all over anyway. Miami will be underwater, more frequent and violent hurricanes. Look at your property taxes, why do you think they have inc5reased so much. it is so ugly, flat and humid
SWFMD is mostly independent of political BS. Any project affecting wetlands, surface water detention and retention and paving always have a lot of hoops to jump through. I worked on a lot of the civil engineering for The Villages, which can never be considered a “liberal” business. They had a lot of requirements and planning changes required to build any of that development.
Yep, this stinks of DeSantis. 100%. No convincing otherwise. He threatened Disney he would do things to impact operations, so this comes as no surprise. I hope Disney takes him to court again on some “Business Interference”, cause that’s pretty much what little Ronny is doing.
Yes, let’s go to courts and tie up the permit for a few years. You certainly know how politics works.
It’s got nothing to do with DeSantis. That’s just an easy cop out to blame. It has to do with environmental and planning laws that have been on the books long before DeSantis ever showed up. If people would use their head and do some research you’ll see this is a common thing when building anything anywhere with zoning and local permitting bodies. They want to make sure it doesn’t hurt or disrupt the ecosystem in that area. People who blame DeSantis are just hell bent about blaming him for everything because they need a person to blame regardless if it’s the right person.