Email Us | Newsletter
A newly filed series of permit documents provides some new insight as to the scope and scale of Magic Kingdom’s largest expansion ever. As you may know, the Rivers of America, Tom Sawyer Island, and surrounding areas are being demolished to support a Frontierland expansion themed to the Cars franchise, and the first-ever Villains-themed land. In this article, we’ll take a look at the new documents and the new information gleaned from them.
A new Environmental Resource Permit has been filed by Walt Disney World and Walt Disney Imagineering for modifications to the northwest corner of Magic Kingdom. The permit was filed earlier this week with the South Florida Water Management District, and it pertains to water management in the northwest corner of Magic Kingdom now that the Rivers of America is being filled in, and new hardscape is being created for attractions and experiences in two new themed areas.
The screenshot above showcases the project scope, comprising 33 acres of theme park and backstage areas. In general, the permit does not directly deal with buildings or attractions planned for the outlined area. Instead, the permit showcases how Disney plans to deal with stormwater once the grading of the northwest section of Magic Kingdom has changed as a result of the planned expansions and offerings.
The permit is for the construction of a conveyance system and a new dry detention pond (attenuation only) for discharge into the nearby canal. The project boundaries contain 33.15 acres of land, including hardscape and natural ground.
While this phase of the project doesn’t deal directly with buildings, we can still get some information based on the planned drain lines.
In the screenshot below, we can see the plans for creating drain lines for stormwater management in the area. Where this becomes useful is in determining what could be the main walkways in the expansion areas. The theory, and I could be off here, but the theory is that Disney would not put drainage lines under large buildings or structures. In theory, you’d want to retain a certain amount of access to these drain lines. If that’s the case, we’d expect that the drain lines would move along lightly-themed areas – such as walkways.
Here’s a cleaner look at the drain lines, followed by an overlay on top of Google Maps to try and give us some context as to where these lines will be running once the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island are graded and ready for site prep.
Another “new” part of this project, beyond the drain lines, is the small retention pond on the north end of the construction site. This is where water will drain before continuing on to the nearby canal and through more water management gates.
In attempting to prove the theory right about the drain lines being major walkways through the expanded area, we’ll start with the “easy” proof: Piston Peak National Park. Buckle up.
It has been widely believed that Piston Peak National Park, the Cars-themed area coming to Magic Kingdom, will open before Villains Land. To that end, we have far more concept art and even a “fun map” showcasing the layout of the area.
If we look at the Piston Peak National Park fun map, or even the original concept art before that, we can see that the southern half of the planned drain line route does match up with large walkways, avoiding planned attractions and buildings.
The fun map above offers the best “view” of the walkway. If we turn the permit overlay to match the vantage point of the fun map, we can see how the walkways in the fun map begin to line up with the drain lines in the permit. When the work is complete, we would expect to see a walkway starting to the north of the former Liberty Square Riverboat launch and south of The Haunted Mansion, to run toward Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. This would “preserve” views from the Liberty Square bridge and Magic Kingdom hub a bit, while offering easy access from both Fantasyland and Liberty Square to the main Piston Peak National Park walkway.
Where things get more difficult to prove, but perhaps more insightful is when we turn our attention to Villains Land.
Unfortunately, we only have one piece of concept art for Villains Land at the moment. The concept art below was shared during the 2024 D23 Expo. In the concept art below, we can see jagged rocks, thorns, a menacing mountain top castle, Maleficent dragon, a torn-themed roller coaster, and a village area.
If we turn our attention to the drain line permit map, we can start to see how this could all be pieced together. Looking at the drain line permit overlay below and the concept art above, it seems like our vantage point in the concept art could be from near the Haunted Mansion, looking back toward the rest of the Villains Land.
Using the concept art above and permit overlay below, we can see that there is a main walkway on the left side of the concept art that would roughly align with the drain line in the permit below. That would put the roller coaster to the left of the main walkway (perhaps even going under or over the walkway toward the Haunted Mansion), and the menacing castle toward the back of the plot, perhaps just south of the (likely backstage) retention pond. That would allow for Disney to create a new show building for an indoor dark ride north of The Haunted Mansion, perhaps somewhere along the drain line that runs left to right toward the northern bend in the former Rivers of America.
Putting this all together, here’s a very bad Photoshop of the possible layout of Villains Land. In theory, the green areas would be for the Maleficent thorn roller coaster, perhaps even crossing over the main walkway. The red blob could be where the mountaintop castle is located, and the blue area could be a mix of shopping, dining, and a second major attraction. Again, this is all dependent on my drain line theory and a massive dose of guesswork.
Where this gets more interesting is when we look northwest of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. It’s possible that the drain lines over there could be for backstage support areas, or that could be where the roller coaster is located. Maybe my entire speculation map needs to shift considerably left of where the current layout is. Or, perhaps, there is something else planned for this area in the future.
Only time will tell, and we’ll be there every step of the way as demolition continues and new construction begins!
For everything we know about the Cars-themed expansion to Magic Kingdom’s Frontierland, check out our dedicated project page below!
For everything we know about the upcoming Villains Land at Magic Kingdom, check out our dedicated Villains Land 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!
