The South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) has granted Walt Disney World’s application for stormwater modifications related to the demolition of the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island at Magic Kingdom. The permit encompasses about 62 acres in the Magic Kingdom area, which demanded more scrutiny from the SFWMD than a more simple permit may have. To that end, this has been a multi-month saga between Disney, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, and SFWMD that dates back to August. Here’s the latest!
Disney World Granted Permit for Rivers of America Demolition Project
We’ll start at the beginning and try to paint as complete of a picture as possible as we go on this journey together. If we go back to a September 2022 D23 wishlist article, we can see the first time that we really put on paper the idea that Frontierland could use an expansion. As it turned out, Disney would announce a very Blue Sky idea for the expansion of the northwest corner of Magic Kingdom. At the time, the plans called for an expansion called Beyond Big Thunder Mountain, introducing IPs such as Coco, Encanto, and Disney Villains. While D’Amaro would insist that the plans were not daydreams, but rather solid plans within the hallowed walls of Imagineering, the plans would change just a couple years later.
By August 2024, the plans had changed significantly as D’Amaro stood on stage at the 2024 D23 Expo in front of 12,000 fans and announced that two Cars-themed attractions were coming to Magic Kingdom and that the Villains Land idea would also come to fruition. What D’Amaro avoided telling fans was the location of the Cars-themed attractions.
The day after the D23 Expo concluded, the Disney Parks Blog announced that the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island were not long for this world, and newly released concept art (below) confirmed that at least a portion of the Rivers of America would be demolished for the new Cars-themed expansion of Frontierland.
Along with the announcement of the Cars-themed expansion was an announcement that permits for the project would be filed that very same week. Indeed, Disney filed the permit that same week, offering fans a first look at plans for initial site prep work for the largest expansion in Magic Kingdom history. The early work would entail the draining of the Rivers of America, and site prep work along a piece of land abutting the northwest section of the Rivers of America. Additional site prep work would take place in a backstage area near the parade warehouse, along with other sections of land near Magic Kingdom, but not visible from within the park.
The site prep work would largely consist of tree clearing to create “laydown yards” to stage construction equipment and materials. These laydown yards would be used to support the massive undertaking of the demolition and filling in of the Rivers of America to create a suitable base from which Disney could build the all-new Cars-themed attractions, and, eventually, Villains Land.
Following the August 2024 filing of documents in the permit request to the SFWMD, BlogMickey.com was the first to report a possible snag for the project. While it is normal business for the SFWMD to request additional information within the permitting process, the amount of information requested for the Rivers of America demolition project was voluminous. In our years of experience covering Walt Disney World, we had never seen a “Request for Additional Information” (RAI) so lengthy. The RAI would set the project back as Disney looked to fulfill the SFWMD request.
In fact, the RAI from the SFWMD was so out of left field that Disney’s responses to many of the State’s requests pointed back to a grandfathered document that Disney and the State entered into decades ago, allowing Disney to modify land as it sees fit. That said, Walt Disney World also provided additional information in its December 2024 response, putting the ball back in the SFWMD’s court.
That takes us to today, where the SFWMD has found Disney’s response satisfactory to the point that it has granted Disney’s permit for the draining and demolition of the Rivers of America, and significant land modifications outside of Magic Kingdom to support the expansion plans for Frontierland and Villains Land. At this point, Disney has the green light to begin construction, and we expect that they will want to move quickly.
As of publish time, Walt Disney World has not announced closing dates for the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island. The assumption is that they were waiting for final permitting approval before they made an announcement about the closures. With the green light from the state, we imagine that it’ll only be a matter of weeks before they make an announcement about the closing dates for the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island.
Another element to consider is the current refurbishment of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The Frontierland attraction will be closed into 2026 as Walt Disney World completes a full track replacement for the 44-year-old attraction. We imagine that Disney will want to get started on work for the Rivers of America demolition while Big Thunder is closed. In fact, I’m sure that the plan was to have the Rivers of America closed now or very soon if the permit wasn’t caught in limbo. I would be shocked if the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island were still open by Christmas (or even Thanksgiving), much less by the time Big Thunder Mountain Railroad reopens in 2026.
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!
This sucks.
So sad. We loved that beautiful, gentle, peaceful riverboat ride, which truly fit the frontier theme. Tell me again how “Cars” does?? Just another IP monetization, no doubt with more frenetic motion-sickness rides. Classic Disney is all but dead.