Magic Kingdom is changing forever, and we’ve got the map screenshots to prove it. Yesterday was the final day of operation for the Liberty Square Riverboat and Tom Sawyer Island in the Frontierland section of the park. A Cars-themed expansion of Frontierland will debut in a few years, replacing the two iconic offerings. Early this morning, the Walt Disney World digital map was updated to reflect the permanent closure of the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island. Here’s a closer look.
Rivers of America, Tom Sawyer Island Removed from Magic Kingdom Map

In the overview of the park as seen in the screenshot above, you can see that the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island are one big patch of grass. In reality, there probably won’t be any visual changes to the area for a few weeks, perhaps not until the debut of the Disney Starlight parade on July 20th.
In the meantime, Disney will continue the backstage preparation work that began back in April to get ready for some serious demolition and construction in the northwest corner of Magic Kingdom.
One more thing to note in this overview is the shortening of the Walt Disney World Railroad route. As previously announced, the railroad will operate in “Shuttle Mode” between the Main Street USA station and Fantasyland station. You can visualize that route in the screenshot above, with most of the track removed from Magic Kingdom’s “grand circle tour” attraction.

Zooming in a bit more, we can see that the boardwalk will remain accessible to guests (for now), and that all other major walkways are not impacted by the closure of the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island.
Maybe something of note, maybe nothing, but the Tom Sawyer Island dock and boat launch structure also made the cut in the updated map. While we know that it won’t be used for any guest-facing purpose over the next few years, perhaps it remains standing when the area is completed?
Both the original concept art and the updated “fun map” don’t show the structure. That said, both maps do show the Liberty Square Riverboat building, and it also made the cut in the digital map. Again, perhaps I’m reading too much into it, but something to keep an eye on as work in the area progresses.

We’ll have more thoughts and content from the closure of the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island in the coming days, but for now, Magic Kingdom has been changed forever. It remains to be seen if that change is a net positive or net negative on the world’s busiest theme park. I’m not yet convinced, but we’ll cover every step of the way here on BlogMickey.com.
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!