It’s full steam ahead at Magic Kingdom, where crews have made some excellent progress on the demolition of Tom Sawyer Island. In the span of just a few weeks, we’ve seen crews go from demolishing the first few buildings, to demolishing all buildings, to demolishing the cave systems, to now starting demolition of the island itself. Recent photos from friend of the site Bioreconstruct, once again provide a wonderful view of the scope of demolition as part of the largest-ever expansion at Magic Kingdom. Let’s take a closer look at aerial photos of the demolition of Tom Sawyer Island!
Aerial Photos of Tom Sawyer Island Demolition
Before we jump into the photos, a quick reminder of what stage of the project we’re in, and what the end goal is. First and foremost, Tom Sawyer Island and the Rivers of America are being transformed into a Cars-themed expansion of Frontierland called Piston Peak National Park, and a Villains-themed land. Walt Disney World hasn’t given an opening date, timeframe, or year for either of the projects, but work is well underway.
In terms of where we’re at in the project, we’re clearly in the demolition phase. The Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island were closed permanently back in July, and water began to be drained from the river in August. Since then, crews have worked on tagging and removing select props ahead of the demolition of structures. With buildings demolished, we got an amazing look at the demolition of the cave systems on the island.
That brings us to today, where aerial photos show that crews are demolishing the actual island, or islands, really, themselves.
We’ll start with a wide overview of the area. In the photo below, taken from some 3,100 feet in the air and from a vantage point west of Magic Kingdom, we can see not only the drained Rivers of America and partially demolished Tom Sawyer Island, but we can also see some land clearing north of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
Here’s another angle that I like, looking south across the demolition site. From here, tall trees look like sticks, and the entire area has gone from lush to nearly barren as Disney preps the site for the next phase of construction.
Speaking of the next phase of construction, once the islands are leveled, Disney will work to bring the entire area up to a grade that would be roughly level with the shoreline of the Rivers of America, if not a few feet higher to get closer to the level of the main walkway of Frontierland.
From there, crews will begin to install infrastructure for not only the Cars-themed area, but Villains Land as well. If you’re looking for a little light reading this weekend, might I suggest a borderline insane essay about drainage lines and what they can teach us about the future of Magic Kingdom? Enjoy at your leisure.
Once the infrastructure is installed, Disney can begin to create the attractions and themed areas that guests will enjoy for decades and decades to come, as the Magic Kingdom theme park experience is reimagined.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Back to the demolition photos that were promised at the top of this article.
For everything we know about the upcoming Villains Land at Magic Kingdom, check out our dedicated Villains Land page below!
For everything we know about the Cars-themed expansion to Magic Kingdom’s Frontierland, check out our dedicated project page below!
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!
So very very sad. A Cars attraction should have simply replaced Autopia.