With just a few days left until the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island are permanently closed and demolished, Walt Disney World has significantly expanded the backstage land clearing necessary to support the upcoming projects. We first started tracking the land clearing back in April, and a couple of updates since then have shown how the work has expanded. Now, we’re taking to the Walt Disney World Monorail to get a look at how the land clearing continues to grow.
Massive Land Clearing to Support Magic Kingdom Expansions
Before we take a look at the construction, let’s first get our bearings a bit by taking a look at two permits that should shed some light on what we’re looking at. The first permit below shows three points of interest, all west of Magic Kingdom. These three points of interest are three separate “laydown yards”. A laydown yard, in construction terms, is a place to stage or store materials and equipment related to construction. When we last checked in on the project, Walt Disney World was in the process of clearing the “Pilot 2-3” laydown yard. Now, they have nearly cleared the entire “L407-2” laydown yard as well. Photos in a second.
This second permit overlay shows Disney’s intent to add trailers for Walt Disney Imagineering and contractors for an on-site headquarters necessary for the multi-year Magic Kingdom expansion projects. One project, which will begin this Summer, is the draining of the Rivers of America, and the demolition of Tom Sawyer Island.
Following that work, Disney will be able to begin construction of Piston Peak National Park, a Cars-themed expansion of Frontierland that will take up the southern half of the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island.
After Piston Peak National Park is built, Disney can focus on creating a Villains Land in the upper 2/3rds of the Rivers of America/Tom Sawyer Island footprint.
Before any of that work can be done, Disney needs to continue clearing the laydown yards, which is where the remainder of this article will focus.
Zipping by on the Walt Disney World monorail, we can see the backstage canal that runs north and south, west of Magic Kingdom and west of Magic Kingdom backstage support buildings. It is this canal that Disney will tow the Liberty Square Riverboat along one final time this Summer as it leaves Magic Kingdom. Disney will also utilize this canal to drain the Rivers of America into the connecting Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake bodies of water.
In the photo below, we can see some yellow construction barriers already in place, likely related to the land clearing to prevent any debris from flowing into Magic Kingdom. Disney has a lock system a little further along the canal that they’ll be able to utilize to cordon off the Rivers of America once it is drained. The canal itself will very likely remain filled, as it is the daytime storage area for the Electrical Water Pageant pontoons seen below.
As we continue to pass by on the monorail, we get a wonderful, elevated view into the construction site. As you can see, land clearing has been substantially completed in the foreground, with crews focused on the “L407-2” plot of land to the north in the distance.
The final plot of land earmarked for a laydown yard is the “L407A-11 & 12” plot along the northwestern section of the Rivers of America. Disney is saving this plot of land for last, likely waiting until after the Rivers of America is drained (at a minimum) and perhaps after Tom Sawyer Island has been demolished.
In reality, the only date that they likely have to wait for before substantial land clearing in this plot of land is July 7th. Starting July 7th, both the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island will be closed to guests. Critically, the Walt Disney World Railroad will begin “shuttle mode” operations, traveling between Fantasyland and the Main Street USA station only. This means that the railroad will bypass the Frontierland station and the entire stretch of railroad track that cuts through the future laydown yard.
Current plans indicate that the railroad track between the Frontierland station and Fantasyland station will not be demolished or otherwise touched during the laydown phase. Any other modifications to this section of the railroad route once Villains Land opens will likely be announced at a later date.
One final thing to note is that while these laydown yards are currently intended to support construction staging for the Cars-themed Frontierland expansion and Villains Land, they could be a future expansion point for Magic Kingdom itself.
Also, it’s possible that Villains Land may use a portion of the “L407A-11 & 12” plot directly abutting Magic Kingdom. While we know the exact location of Piston Peak National Park, the layout of Villains Land remains a bit of a mystery at this point.
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!
