Disney World expansion floating along in 3 theme parks

[Disney4me]

Magic Kingdom visitors making their final pilgrimages to the theme park’s Tom Sawyer Island and Rivers of America are witnesses to the latest phase of Walt Disney World’s expansion plans.

The resort is gearing up that part of Frontierland for new attractions based on “Cars” characters, and there’s also a land featuring Disney villains in the works nearby. Tom Sawyer Island and Rivers of America – and its Liberty Belle riverboat – staples since 1973, are going away to make room.

Disney fans can be nostalgic and look askance at these kinds of changes, said Michele Atwood, owner of The Main Street Mouse, a theme-park website, and author of Disney-related books.

She doesn’t think the island itself going away is what unnerves fans.

“I think it’s the idea of the landscape of the park, how people get used to seeing the boat. They get used to seeing the island, the water and the aesthetic,” she said.

 

The man-made island, nestled between Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Haunted Mansion, is a tree-lined setting with trails to hike, caves to explore and a wooden fort that spurs old-fashioned imagination. It contrasts with the modern version of Magic Kingdom and its money-making Lightning Lanes, MagicBands and dessert parties.

Guests cross the Barrel Bridge at Smuggler’s Cove on Tom Sawyer Island at Magic Kingdom. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

“It is a nice little spot for kids, but Disney doesn’t talk about it ever,” Atwood said. “It’s not like one of those places that gets hyped up, so people forget it’s there.”

Sunday is the final day to experience the outgoing Magic Kingdom attractions.

Disney World also is working on new attractions at Animal Kingdom, where Tropical Americas will take over for DinoLand USA, and at Hollywood Studios, where a planned land inspired by “Monsters, Inc.” recently ousted the theater for MuppetVision. The Jim Henson creatures are moving to new roles, eventually, within a re-imagined Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster on the other side of the park.

“I’ve never seen us doing more at Walt Disney World than we’re doing right now,” WDW President Jeff Vahle told members of the media in March. “Everytime I walk someplace, I see we’re digging someplace new.”

A 'Monsters, Inc.' land will be built at Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park and will include a suspended coaster that goes through the door-line Laugh Factory. (Walt Disney Co.)

Universal Orlando’s completion of Epic Universe theme park in May could lead to speculation that the new Disney World projects are in response. But Dennis Speigel, CEO of International Theme Park Services, thinks removal of Tom Sawyer Island has been part of Disney’s long-range plan.

“I think that is because it’s such a prime location,” Speigel said.

“Yeah, it was a great nature place where you could kind of get away and run and hide, but that’s what the minority of the people want,” he said. “They want some action. And they want new attractions that are exciting.”

The success of Cars Land at Disney California Adventure park could have encouraged the Magic Kingdom plan, although the new rides won’t be clones of the originals. The characters will be in a new setting dubbed Piston Peak National Park.

Disney World’s Frontierland has been pivoting away from its Old West theming. Splash Mountain morphed into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, and the long-standing Frontierland Shootin’ Arcade closed last summer. The Country Bear Musical Jamboree was retooled with more Southern twang in its playlist.

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After Walt Disney Co. announced in 2023 that it will spend $60 billion on its global theme parks, armchair Imagineers bolstered talk of an additional WDW theme park, the so-called “fifth gate.”

The time may not be right for that, said Jorge Ridderstaat, associate professor at UCF’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management.

“It’s a whole ecosystem of decisions that need to be made,” he said.

Among the financial factors are the time and expense of infrastructure, the job market, stockholder satisfaction, sustainability and the global travel cycle, he said. A new park would need to fit with the existing Disney parks, he said.

There’s also the prospect of overbuilding. Could eight theme parks actually be enough for the theme park capital of the world?

“Nowadays, discussions about ‘over-touristification,’ they’re coming up, and that’s something that they need to consider as well,” Ridderstaat said.

“You don’t want to be the villain in that spectrum,” he said.

Disney World: Epcot’s revamped Test Track zooms to future

Disney officials have made no public noise about plans for a fifth gate. The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District recently approved a plan that could include a major park addition by 2045, but that was more theory than proposal.

A smaller, multi-prong approach makes sense now, Ridderstaat said.

“I think it’s a good idea to start with expansions of your rides, of your product right now, as like a counteraction against Universal,” he said. “You don’t want to risk losing your fan base because of lack of reaction, lack of novelty,” he said.

Since Epic’s grand opening in late May, Disney World has added two stage shows at Hollywood Studios. The revamped Test Track attraction reopens this month at Epcot, where there’s a new adults-only lounge. Magic Kingdom’s new nighttime parade called “Disney Starlight” debuts July 20.

The addition of “Cars” and other popular intellectual properties come with revenue opportunities such as merchandise, Ridderstaat said.

“You can sell more than just park tickets,” he said.

Adding another Disney park isn’t out of the question, Ridderstaat said.

“I think they will do all their kinds of research to see if it’s not only economically feasible but also acceptable for people – younger generations, as well, for example,” he said.

Satisfying the old and new theme park factions is tricky, Atwood said.

“I really think Disney’s struggling to find some sort of balance into appeasing their die-hard fans, but also creating new fans with the next generation of, you know, kids wanting to go to Disney,” she said.

“But on the flip side of that, you never see a kid not want to go to Disney,” she said.

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