News Cars-Themed Attractions at Magic Kingdom

[James Alucobond]

So if they're keeping the Liberty Belle launch platform, does that mean it's the entrance to the new ride?

I imagine it'll be converted to a shop or something. The ride path passes behind it, so it doesn't seem to be an entrance. It looks like the entrance to both attractions is along the path that passes to the right of the Liberty Belle's dock. That path seems like it'll ultimately go east to Haunted Mansion, west to Big Thunder, south to Cars, and north to Villains.

 

[erasure fan1]

Honestly that's my biggest fear. They can't open this with Tiana or Test Track levels of downtime.

Unfortunately if we have to guess, I'd say it will. Tiana, rise, mickey and Minnie... All have had tons of downtime. Even tron had tons of down time the 2 days we were there. They can't seem to get the technical bugs out before opening.

 

[doctornick]

Folks, we still have the originals in Disneyland. We're giving up a seldom-used copy for new(ish), more popular attractions. And we still have the entire north area for "Beyond Big Thunder."

We can argue about whether Cars belongs in Frontierland, and what "Frontierland" means. But on the whole, this is a net positive.

I just couldn't disagree more. Especially when there is zero reason to do this - tons of space is available to the north outside the RR berm without touching the RoA.

 

[John park hopper]

There's an argument to be made for Carousel of Progress.



The original concept of Frontierland is problematic for a number of reasons: slavery and racism, the treatment of native Americans; women largely didn't have the right to vote. It would be incredibly difficult for Disney to develop a new story in that context. We got 70+ years out of the idea. Let's be happy with that.

Liberty Square's days are numbered. And this is not the morning for me to get banned from this board for explaining why.



I'm hopeful the water features mostly stay. I think they learned their lesson with Galaxy's Edge.

You can't change history by ignoring it, forget the past and it is easy to repeat

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Wait wait wait...the river is gone here then, correct?

Unless they don’t fill it all in? Which would be smart if possible

River boat is the thing you do to kill time when there's nothing actually fun to do.

But still results in a replacement when capacity is the main thing aggravating customers

Very similar to what happened at studios and Epcot…
Now bobs genius at dak and MK

 

[Mr. Sullivan]

I really only am upset about this from a perspective of the park just needs some water.

But from a perspective of what the park as a whole needs…I can’t say this isn’t going to be a positive.

The Rivers of America/Tom Sawyer Island appeals only to a certain group of people. I’m not even going to say Disney fans specifically because let’s be honest, this is gonna be the first time a lot of them have had a conversation about this area of the park or paid much attention to it in a long, long time. It’s just lived past the point of being what Magic Kingdom specifically needs.

At Disneyland, it’s a sacred part of the park. At Magic Kingdom, it just kind of is what it is. As much nostalgia as we all have for Magic Kingdom, I think WDW fans really have to start coming to terms with the fact that it’s one of the bottom two castle parks in the world and that it’s Frontierland may genuinely be the worst out of all the parks that have a Frontierland.

That has been true at least my entire life.

It just isn’t a section of the park that gets much love beyond the two anchor attractions there. It was inevitable that one day it was going to disappear for something that interested a larger group of guests.

Yes, even I who think Magic Kingdom needs more attractions like this am sad to see the river and the island go. I have a love for it from a nostalgic point of view. But I really cannot pretend it is not in the overall a better option for the park that’s gonna go a long way, along with Villains, in taking it from one of the worst (honestly sometimes it feels lime THE worst) castle parks Disney ever built with the worst Frontierland on the planet to an area that thrives and a park that stands out for more than just being the busiest one.

 

[LuckyOswald]

Liberty Belle 365 days a year: Sits mostly ignored, not a highlight of anyone's Magic Kingdom day.

Disney fans when Liberty Belle is going away: REEEEEEEE no she's an iconic fixture of the Magic Kingdom and Walt will literally send lightning bolts from the sky if she ever goes away.

See also: Maelstrom, Ellen's Energy Adventure

I have to agree. And I’m not someone that has agreed with everything modern Disney has done. But MK needs this BADLY. It’s honestly borderline miserable going to the park these days due to crowd dispersement. It needs more attractions than this even still imo, but this is a good start.

 

[LSLS]

Star Tours seems weird outside of the land but removing more attractions is a bad idea. I don’t like what they are doing at AK either. We need more things

The quiet part out loud. Shuttering stuff to open other stuff means the hiring of new staff is minimal while they can still say "Come see our new thing." This is more than the literal pennies I was losing my mind over with the fridge/microwave, but I'd place a bet this is the number one reason all these projects always involve closing things.

 

[Disstevefan1]

One thing that is accurate in these AI renderings is how few guests there are in the park

 

[Squishy]

Maybe if they get enough blowback on social media and through guest emails, they'll pivot the plans to include more water than they originally planned for or shown in today's concept art. Even just keeping a small section along the existing boardwalk (from the boat dock to Tiana's) would go a long way.

Seems like one of the reasons they're rushing to get started so management can get no take backsies once the blowback comes.

 

[lentesta]

I just couldn't disagree more. Especially when there is zero reason to do this - tons of space is available to the north outside the RR berm without touching the RoA.

They're saving that for another expansion.

 

[ctrlaltdel]

Yes, but even more interesting is the canal back there. How are they going to divert it etc.

Red is the railroad, orange is the canal.

View attachment 808605

My assumption is that is the hard border. I think with this announcement, I am more convinced that Villains will be almost entirely within the railroad as well (though not 100%). Perhaps the coaster will go under of over it since that needs a lot of space

 

[fgmnt]

Liberty Square's days are numbered. And this is not the morning for me to get banned from this board for explaining why.

I'm hopeful the water features mostly stay. I think they learned their lesson with Galaxy's Edge.

Not the thread to discuss these two points further but:

- would be kind of wild to see them wind down HoP after potentially having to add a woman to the attraction for the first time ever in 2024-5.
- I'm praying on Speedway's downfall so hard and hoping we can get a water feature out of that.

 

[discos]

Yes, but even more interesting is the canal back there. How are they going to divert it etc.

Red is the railroad, orange is the canal.

View attachment 808605

Part of me thinks they could just reroute the train closer to the canal then all the land in front gets used for Villains

 

[lentesta]

You can't change history by ignoring it, forget the past and it is easy to repeat

100% agree. The place for this would be Hall of Presidents (while it's around) and The American Adventure.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I have to agree. And I’m not someone that has agreed with everything modern Disney has done. But MK needs this BADLY. It’s honestly borderline miserable going to the park these days due to crowd dispersement. It needs more attractions than this even still imo, but this is a good start.

I'm a little nervous that major E-ticket attractions are actually going to draw in more new people than they help disperse, making things actually feel net-more-crowded, just literally having "more physical space to put people" will be good.

 

[doctornick]

Mostly agree with this.

It's a radical move and the park is going to lose part of its classic ambiance, but RoA in WDW is a copy and will still exist in CA. If they tried to remove it at Disneyland I'd be a bit more up in arms.

I'm not even sure I understand this logic. It's okay to crap all over WDW because DL came first?

WDW has a boatload of space, but has to lose the RoA while DL that is constrained on all sides manages to build a giant land on the north of their river without any issue. Utterly incompetent by Disney.

It's so ridiculous how WDW which is the big money maker for parks is constantly treated like a second (or third?) class citizen

 

[GhostHost1000]

One thing that is accurate in these AI renderings is how few guests there are in the park
View attachment 808606

Well if recent history is any clue, the attractions are probably down at the time this was taken so lol

 

[KDM31091]

This to me is insane especially because there is ample room behind the river, so there’s no reason to even do this. Other than being cheap and lazy. Eliminating another beautiful area of the park.

I understand the need for change and progress, but to not maintain even a fraction of the water is horrible.

They don’t care about the setting, placemaking, or atmosphere. Just shove IP in everywhere at all costs. This is a big cost. The park will never be the same.

Even if the railroad isn’t being rerouted I’m sure it will be closed for years anyway as they wouldn’t want us seeing the construction.

 

[lentesta]

I'm a little nervous that major E-ticket attractions are actually going to draw in more new people than they help disperse, making things actually feel net-more-crowded, just literally having "more physical space to put people" will be good.

Oh, god - the park ops transportation and logistics are going to spawn a hundred research papers. It really will be a challenge.