The Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island are permanently closed. Walt Disney World fans now look to the future as work begins on a Cars-themed expansion of Frontierland to replace the two iconic attractions in the northwest corner of Magic Kingdom. Like a number of Walt Disney World projects, the Cars-themed expansion has gone through some changes since it was first announced back in August 2024.
Last month, Walt Disney World released a “fun map” of the new Cars-themed Frontierland expansion, showing some significant changes to the plans for the area, and revealing the name for the expansion: Piston Peak National Park.
The fun map was met with a lot of praise from the Disney theme park fan community, but this article aims to temper those expectations. In short, Disney fans would do well to remember that concept art is not the final product (far from it in some cases), and (here’s the important part) a “fun map” isn’t concept art. We are a few degrees removed from reality here, and I wanted to go through the fun map a bit, tempering expectations for the project ahead.
Concept Art Is Not Reality
We’re going to start with a major sticking point within the Disney fan community, but one that was simply dismissed once fans saw the fun map showcasing what they thought was a major change for FronTIREland. As tenured Disney fans will know, concept art is not reality. This shouldn’t be a controversial statement. In fact, the fan community is usually pretty good at bringing this up during just about every concept art release from Disney, but skipped right over it when the Piston Peak fun map debuted.
Projects such as the DinoLand USA replacement project and even the Rivers of America replacement project have seen some extreme changes and pivots since they were first announced. This isn’t a commentary on the change, but rather a reminder that concept art is just that sometimes: a concept.
A Fun Map Is Not Concept Art
If we’ve established that concept art isn’t always representative of reality, we then have to take that one step further and acknowledge that a “fun map” isn’t concept art. When Walt Disney World released the fun map of the Cars-themed expansion of Frontierland (seen below), it was interpreted by the fan community as nothing short of a win. With more water present than what appeared in the concept art, theme park fans assumed that a portion of the Rivers of America may be saved. That’s not happening. They also assumed that Disney pivoted and changed their plans based on guest feedback, and I also think that is a bit farfetched.
Instead of changing the plans, I think Disney decided to emphasize some of the fan community’s pain points, taking some heat away from the project in the process. Now, that’s not to say that plans haven’t changed at all, because they clearly have if the fun map even attempts to reflect reality even a little bit. That said, most of the changes appear to be surrounding the mystery “family fun” attraction, and not with regard to saving a portion of the Rivers of America. It’s time to temper expectations a bit.
Tempered Expectations for Cars in Frontierland
Ok, we’ve established that concept art doesn’t always reflect reality, and that a fun map isn’t concept art. At this point, we’re two degrees away from reality, which should naturally cause us to temper expectations a bit.
Water Elements May Be Overstated
In the press release attached to the Piston Peak National Park fun map, Disney said that the new Cars-themed area would be filled with “towering trees, snowcapped mountains, breathtaking waterfalls, roaring rivers and impressive geysers”. That’s a pretty lofty goal.
Drilling down a bit more, Disney says that a “calming waterway” will be located across from Grizzly Hall. This is the portion of water that fans have assumed will be similar or even a preserved part of the Rivers of America, seen in the fun map. I’m less convinced.
First, it’s probably worth noting that there are no permits that suggest that a portion of the Rivers of America will be preserved. In fact, an early permit calls for the draining of all surface water, and for the entire Rivers of America/Tom Sawyer Island basin to be filled to a minimum elevation of 98.75′ above sea level.
To put that into context, various structures around the Rivers of America are at 98′ above sea level such as the Diamond Horseshoe, the Hall of Presidents, and even Tom Sawyer Island itself. In short, not only do permits not allow for the preservation of any portion of the Rivers of America, they also call for the infill of the area to make it level with the grade established in the rest of Frontierland.
Beyond that fact, there is also the fact that Disney has very limited space to work with for the Cars-themed area of Frontierland. At most, they probably have just over 4 acres of space to work with. Disney is not going to devote a ton of space to a river.
Snowcapped Mountains & Trees
Next up is the topic of “towering trees” and “snowcapped mountains”. Listen, that sounds great, but I am reminded that there is already a snowcapped mountain range in Magic Kingdom.
The Be Our Guest Restaurant, seen below, features “snowcapped mountains” and “breathtaking waterfalls”. In short, this is what I’m currently expecting out of the Cars-themed expansion of Frontierland. The mountains will probably be a bit taller, but I’m not expecting a Pandora-level of immersion or scale.
The best-case scenario is probably something like Grizzly Falls over at Disney California Adventure.
Excellent Imagineers
While the majority of this article has set out to temper expectations, this section will briefly discuss a possible bright spot for the Cars project at Magic Kingdom. I’m not sure that I’ve seen it published who is leading the Piston Peak National Park Cars project, and I’m not going to be breaking any news here, but there is some cause for hope. The Imagineers that I’ve seen attached to the project have created some new favorites and modern classics. They are able to execute in both a creatively difficult environment and environments that extend timeless corners of the existing theme parks. Currently, the biggest thing giving me some hope for the Cars-themed expansion is the Imagineers attached to the project.
What’s Next?
As Disney rolls up its sleeves, I’d like to see something a bit more concrete than the fun map. With the project appearing to have changed since the August 2024 concept art, I’d love to see some new concept art released that either proves or disproves some concerns outlined in this article.
The next logical time for Disney to release some updated concept art would be at the Destination D23 event in late August.
In the meantime, we expect to see the Rivers of America drained in the coming weeks (if not sooner), and demolition to begin on Tom Sawyer Island this year. As for when we anticipate being able to experience Piston Peak National Park, and the Villains-themed land, 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!
