It can be jarring to think about the massive changes the Walt Disney World Resort will undergo in the next few years. Dozens of new rides, attractions, and restaurants will be coming to the parks, but what about all we’ve lost to get those new items?
Rather than expand their parks, Disney executives chose to replace attractions. Despite more than enough room around the parks to build out, Disney has chosen this path.
In 2025 alone, nearly a dozen rides, attractions, and restaurants closed to make way for new Land developments at the parks. Here’s what we’ve lost so far this year.
Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom’s transformation has been the most jarring and controversial. When Disney announced last year that a new Cars Land and Villains Land would be coming to Magic Kingdom, fans were thrilled, but that announcement came at a cost.
Disney removed Rivers of America, Liberty Belle, and Tom Sawyer Island to accommodate the new lands. While none of the three were overly popular as attractions, their aesthetic value to the parks is incalculable, and that was the problem.
Slow water rides are expensive to maintain and don’t draw the crowds like an E-ticket attraction. Perhaps that’s why Disney decided they had to go.
Fans desperately tried to keep the attractions open, but it was to no avail. Now, Frontierland is a construction zone for the foreseeable future.
Hollywood Studios
Once again, Disney announced at D23 that Hollywood Studios would get a Monsters, Inc. land, and fans were thrilled. That is, until they realized that it would replace Muppet Vision 3D and the Muppet Courtyard.
The shutdown also includes Mama Melrose Italian Restaurant and PizzeRizzo. Much like with Rivers of America, the day after Muppet Vision 3D closed, PizzeRizzo and the Muppet attraction were erased from the park, and a construction wall went up.
A large portion of Hollywood Studios will remain a construction zone well into 2027 and perhaps longer as Disney erects its Monsters, Inc. Land.
Animal Kingdom
The changes at Animal Kingdom drew the least criticism from fans. Perhaps everyone realized that the park needed more rides, and Dinosaurs didn’t really fit with the park’s theming.
So far this year, Disney has closed Fossil Fun Games, Chester & Hester’s Dinosaur Treasures, and TriceraTop Spin. The Boneyard will join this list on September 1.
DINOSAUR will remain open for the rest of 2025 and close early in 2026 to make way for a new Indiana Jones ride. These changes will make way for the new Tropical Americas Land.
In the Tree of Life, Disney permanently closed It’s Tough to be a Bug, which Zootopia will replace! Better Together. Once again, fans didn’t really complain that much about the change.
EPCOT
Ironically enough, EPCOT, the park with the most construction since the Pandemic, isn’t losing any rides or undergoing many changes.
Test Track 3.0 will open to the public later this month, and Spaceship Earth will close for refurbishment in late August. But other than those, EPCOT is quiet.
With an earnings call and D23 Expo coming in August, Disney could have more park changes in store. Let’s hope we don’t lose any other beloved attractions.
What closed Disney World attraction will you miss the most? Let us know in the comments.
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