Walt Disney World has submitted updated plans for the Rivers of America demolition in response to the South Florida Water Management District’s Request for Additional Information. As you may know, the back-and-fourth permit application process has been ongoing since we first flagged it back in September. The latest response from Disney puts the ball back in the Water Management District’s court, with a response required within 60 days. Here’s the latest!
Disney Submits Updated Plans for Rivers of America Demolition
Walt Disney World has submitted a lengthy response to the lengthy request for additional information. At a high level, Walt Disney World essentially says that a lot of the requests for more information from the state are answered into a grandfathered master plan document with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. Where applicable, Walt Disney World has provided new information for the Water Management District, including updated demolition plans that better reflect the work that will be done to demolish the Rivers of America.
In the original permit, it was implied, but not explicitly stated that Walt Disney World would be filling in the Rivers of America. In the updated screenshots below, we can see that Disney clearly outlines that they will be draining the Rivers of America and filling the entire area with dirt to create a newly leveled and graded construction area. This will support the eventual construction of a Cars-themed expansion of Frontierland and the next phase of the work will be for a Villains-themed land.
It’s also worth noting that the permits call for the preservation and protection of the existing Walt Disney World Railroad tracks. This means that this phase of the construction will not impact the tracks in terms of physically removing or modifying them, but it doesn’t mean that there won’t be a temporary closure of the Walt Disney World Railroad at some point.
The permit screenshots below show the planned construction laydown yards and the draining and filling of the Rivers of America and demolition of Tom Sawyer Island.
We’ll continue to update this article with more information as we continue to read through the documents. In short, the project is very much still moving ahead and Disney has very likely submitted enough information for the South Florida Water Management District to green-light the project. It is likely that we’ll see some shovels in the ground next year.
For more on what we expect Magic Kingdom to look like in 2025, check out our article 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!
