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Good morning from Magic Kingdom, where we have some fresh photos from the massive northwest expansion project. As you may know, the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island have been demolished to make way for a Cars-themed expansion of Frontierland called Piston Peak National Park. Furthermore, a new Villains Land is being constructed on the northern half of the 33-acre dirt plot in Magic Kingdom. Here’s the latest!
We’ll start with the newest news, and that is that new construction materials have been staged in the area that will become Piston Peak National Park. This Cars-themed area will be situated between Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and the Haunted Mansion attractions.
Here’s a look at the new construction materials. It looks like there are multiple stacks of lumber, along with a shipping container.
Another bit of progress that we noticed was the pouring of new themed pavement at the exit to the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad attraction. As you may recall, there was a rather flimsy-looking structure under construction here earlier this month. That structure is now gone, and the first concrete has been poured. This area was demolished down to dirt and regraded to accommodate the new grade going in at the former Rivers of America site next door.
Finally, here’s a look at the grading taking place at the former Rivers of America construction site. More specifically, this grading is to take the former Tom Sawyer Island dirt mound down to a grade that is similar to the rest of Frontierland and Liberty Square. From here, crews will fill the Rivers of America basin to grade the entire area.
Beyond the grading efforts, there really isn’t much more to show. The site is alive with activity and construction vehicles moving around. I wouldn’t expect to see anything interesting for the remainder of 2026, but I’d be happy to be proven wrong. I guess I will add one caveat – seeing the construction site from Big Thunder Mountain Railroad when it reopens this Spring should be interesting.
We’ll give one final honorable mention to some really large trees that have been cut down at the back of the construction site. I believe that these trees would be from the area that was recently cleared behind the “it’s a small world” attraction.
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!
I’m confused by the comment “I wouldn’t expect to see anything interesting for the remainder of 2026.” That’s 12 months. That lumber that showed up looks to be re-usable panels for forming concrete, for example for footers and foundations, which would seem to be likely in the next couple of months if it’s sitting onsite now.
I’m not sure if that lumber is for Cars or Big Thunder. Either way, they have a massive amount of grading to complete, along with underground infrastructure. I guess I could’ve qualified “interesting” better. I’m not sure we’ll see vertical construction on attractions this year, but I suppose it’s possible. It’s a massive site and they’re still clearing land
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