Disney is set to take the frontier out of Frontierland at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World. The company recently announced a massive “expansion” of the park that would include attractions based on the Pixar Cars series and a land specifically devoted to the Disney villains. The villains “land” in particular is something that Disney Parks fans have wanted for years.
Concept art for Disney’s unnamed Cars attraction for smaller racers at Magic Kingdom
However, instead of utilizing the “blessing of size” Walt Disney touted as the backbone of his Florida project, Disney isn’t actually expanding the park much. There’s some land above Big Thunder Mountain that will likely be a part of the expansion. However, the bulk of these new areas will come from repurposed land, specifically the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island.
Disney seemed to confirm this in some recently released concept art.
Concept art for Frontierland expansion via Disney Parks Blog
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Disney said that the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island, “will be transformed into vast and rugged terrains” for a “brand-new thrilling rally race through the mountains, climbing trails, and dodging geysers.” In the artwork pictured above you can see the area encroaching on the queue of the Haunted Mansion, completely overtaking the riverboat track and obliterating the entire water feature that makes up a large segment of the space.
In its place will be cartoon cars with faces (though not Lightning McQueen and Mater). These will be original character SUVs from the Cars universe that fans have no connection to. We can also see snow-capped mountains and what appears to be some kind of town square. None of it seems to reflect the wild west setting fans have come to know and love from Frontierland over the last 51 years.
The entrance to the Frontierland Station in Magic Kingdom. Photo Credit: Jackdude101, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Scooper and longtime parks fan WDW Pro described this move in a recent video saying that it’s not an expansion, “it’s a deconstruction.” I was on that video with him and floated the idea that when this new area opens sometime in the distant future, it won’t even be called Frontierland at all.
Tom Sawyer Island, based on the works of Mark Twain, was a piece of American history. It’s evergreen educational content that isn’t attached to a Disney IP.
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Many are decrying this move by Disney, stating that destroying the Rivers of America reshapes the Magic Kingdom into something unrecognizable.
The X account @SaveTheDMagic sounded off on this, saying, “Wow, this is absolutely awful. Ripping out the river is a huge mistake. This isn’t good at all. I like how Disney withheld this detail during the announcement. Absolutely garbage. I hate this. They should rip out the castle too while they are it ‘more space!'”
Wow this is absolutely awful. Ripping out the river is a huge mistake. This isn’t good at all. I like how Disney withheld this detail during the announcement. Absolutely garbage. I hate this. They should rip out the castle too while they are it “more space!”. https://t.co/Pu2Wj4L6wU
— Savethemagic (@Savethedmagic) August 12, 2024
When Walt Disney first unveiled his Florida project and the EPCOT concept, he proudly bragged about the benefits of the property’s size.
“Here in Florida, we have something special we never enjoyed at Disneyland… the blessing of size,” Walt said in 1966, shortly before his death. “There’s enough land here to hold all the ideas and plans we can possibly imagine.”
Walt Disney in Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color (1966), Walt Disney Productions
Walt Disney World’s property is 40 square miles, of which more than 24 square miles is undeveloped. That’s about 60% of the space with nothing in it whatsoever. If you took Cars Land, Villains Land, Encanto, Indiana Jones, and Monstropolis, all projects announced this year for Walt Disney World at D23, you could build an entire fifth gate that might be able to stand up against Universal Studios upcoming Epic Universe theme park (opening in 2025).
But apparently, unlike Walt, Bob Iger and Josh D’Amaro don’t believe they have enough land in Florida to hold all the ideas and plans they could possibly imagine. Instead, they have to bulldoze the dreams of the past to make way for the IP-driven dreams of today.
Concept art for Villains Land at Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World via Disney Parks Blog
Do you think this deconstruction and replacement will fundamentally change Frontierland and the Magic Kingdom as a whole? Will Frontierland be renamed? Sound off in the comments and let us know.
Marvin The Movie Monster Montanaro is a YouTube commentator and personality specializing in movies, TV, video games, and professional wrestling. He can be found on his channels Tooney Town TV and Tooney Town Wrestling with daily content and weekly livestreams. He can also be found on That Game Place, the That Park Place video game channel.
