We’ve got less than a month until the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island are closed permanently at Magic Kingdom. Disney isn’t exactly sitting on its hands over the next month though, as land clearing continues near Magic Kingdom as part of a construction support site for the Magic Kingdom’s largest expansion ever. We started tracking the land clearing back in late April, and a late May update showcased how the work was progressing. Now, we have a new look at the nearly 18-acre site.
Land Clearing for Magic Kingdom Expansion Project
This particular plot of land is highly unlikely to become a theme park space anytime soon. That said, it will be utilized as a construction staging area, including trailers for Imagineers and third-party contractors to be close to Magic Kingdom. Here’s a look at a permit that we covered back in late May.
Referring to the permit, all of the land south of the northernmost blue trailer is now cleared. In fact, there is even more land clearing than is visible on this permit. We estimate that the tree clearing is nearly 18 acres, using a water management district permit to attempt to draw boundaries on the land clearing.
We’ll start this photo update with a new angle. The photo immediately below was taken from the Walt Disney World monorail and gives us a good idea of how close the work is to Magic Kingdom. The canal that you see in the photo below is the backstage canal that runs from the Rivers of America south to the Seven Seas Lagoon. The route is west of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, and other backstage buildings – including the parade building, and even Pirates of the Caribbean. You can also see the Electrical Water Pageant pontoons staged on the Magic Kingdom side of the canal.
The rest of the photos were taken from public roadways along the west side of Magic Kingdom. It’s somewhat difficult to illustrate the scope of the land clearing, but it is some 4 times larger than the space carved out for the Cars-themed expansion of Frontierland. With the land clearing, multiple landmarks come into view such as Cinderella Castle, the pink show building for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, and even Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
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!
