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Magic Kingdom
Walt Disney World
Orlando, FL
---- THE LATEST BUZZ ----
(3/29/2025) Big Changes Coming To Buzz Lightyear for 2026
(3/28/2025) Starlight Parade May Be Slightly Delayed
(3/16/2025) Big Thunder and Pirates Construction Updates
(3/10/2025) New Details About the Upcoming Cars Off-Road Racing Ride
(3/9/2025) Father Grabs Son And Escapes From Tiana's Bayou Adventure Log
(2/20/2025) Magic Kingdom Cleared To Proceed With Rivers of America Removal
Ride Rehabs - These dates are not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as refurbishments are subject to change.
Astro Orbiter - NOW CLOSED through at least Late Summer 2025
Big Thunder Mountain - NOW CLOSED until Sometime in 2026
Hall of Presidents - NOW CLOSED through TBD
 Park News - (3/9/2025) You may recall reading over the years how crazy guests at Walt Disney World (and occasionally Disneyland) would hop out of the logs on Splash Mountain and start walking through the mountain, looking to escape. To be fair, this was usually during an E-Stop and not while the ride was in motion, but you know… this is still highly irregular behavior. As the kids say… this was “No Bueno!” (And yes, I know that is grammatically incorrect Spanish…)
Anyway, it seems the conversion of Splash Mountain in to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure did little to stop this obnoxious behavior as Yahoo reports that a man decided to grab his son and jump out of a log on the Walt Disney World attraction during an E-Stop, lighting his way through the mountain with his cell phone light, ignoring the repeated demands over the loudspeaker to stop and return to the ride vehicle.
Of course, the Cast Members aren’t going to re-start the ride with a crazy man dragging is son throughout the innards of the attraction unsupervised, so what was meant to be a short E-Stop turned into a 40 minute search and rescue to track them down and remove them from the ride… and hopefully from the park entirely for good after that.
(2/19/2025) This is NOT an April Fools Post… because it’s not April 1st after all, but it’s still just as shocking. Walt Disney World has announced that starting on February 25 the Virtual Queue systems will be closed for good on Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
This means the end of waking up at 7am in order to try your lock at the Virtual Queue lottery system in the hopes of getting a ride on these popular attractions, and instead you will now be able to walk-up and just join the stand-by queue like anyone else. Of course, access to both attractions will still be available for purchase through Disney’s Lightning Lane system.
(2/17/2025) A quick update on the Haunted Mansion / Hanging Corpse scene in the stretching room. Last week a reader reported that it wasn’t there, which caused a little bit of a panic after a WDI member at Disneyland mentioned they were thinking of removing it. The good news is that several readers who visited this week have confirmed that the effect is now there and working… though Screamscape has been told that the current state of the “lighting” in the stretching room is not in the best of shape, and probably in need of a refurbishment or repair.
(2/15/2025) When the updated version of the Bride in the attic of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland was revealed last month, it was a bit sad. While I can appreciate the arrive of new technology and effects to enhance the story told within the Haunted Mansion, the loss of the “Black Widow Bride” did seem to remove a certain bit of darkness from the mansion experience. Of course, I’m also old enough to remember Disney’s original Haunted Mansion experience in the days before the arrival of the Black Widow Bride addition, so in a way this latest bride is more of a return to the style of the Mansions’ original bride, so I wasn’t going to fight that.
One odd thing did some up in some interviews about the new Bride however, was that a Disney WDI rep did mention that they were looking into the idea of removing the “hanging corpse” effect from the roof of the Haunted Mansion’s “stretching room” that guests experience before they ever climb into their Doom Buggy. That seemed to be an odd thing to target, as that concept goes back to the creation of the original Haunted Mansion and in the words of Kim Irvine on the concept, it was only something that they “we’re still looking at that.”
Imagine my surprise when a long time Screamscape contributor just returned from a trip to Florida’s Magic Kingdom, only to report back that the hanging corpse in the stretching room was no longer there when they rode the WDW Haunted Mansion last week. Upon questioning a Cast Member about the missing effect, they were told that this may simply be a temporary thing, possibly a test by someone at WDI to see if the average park guest even notices it.
So if you visit the Magic Kingdom yourself in the near future and notice that the effect in the top of the stretching room is missing, it might be worth your while to stop into Town Hall and let them know your feelings about this.
(1/18/2025) The Astro Orbiter at the Magic Kingdom is now closed for an extensive refurbishment that will keep it closed until Summer 2025. Pictures of what’s going on in Tomorrowland have now been posted over at MouseSteps this week.
(9/6/2024) Finally some good news for Disney fans… the Magic Kingdom has announced that as of Monday, Sept. 9th… the Virtual Queue system used as the only free way to gain a ride on Tron Lightcycle/Run will be taken OFFLINE for good, and a standard “Stand-By Queue” will be open to all guests at last. The purchase of Individual Lightning Lane passes will continue to be an option however.
This move will leave Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind as the sole Virtual Queue required attraction in all of Walt Disney World. This will be a little more weird, just because Guardians opened about a year before Tron did, and has a much higher capacity than Tron as well. Hopefully they will drop the virtual queue from Guardians as well sometime next year.
(8/18/2024) In an unexpected move, Disney have updated a scene in the Peter Pan attraction at The Magic Kingdom, which just reopened after a brief overall refurbishment. The scene that has been updated features the “Tiger Lilly” character and others from the ‘Indian Camp’ side of Neverland. The characters have updated appearances and are now animated, either dancing or playing drums.
Late Summer 2025 - Disney Starlight - (3/28/2025) An update posted to Yahoo Entertainment seems to reveal that the new Disney Starlight parade slated for the Magic Kingdom may be delayed a little bit. According to their latest post about it, Disney apparently only said that the new parade would open “later this summer”, so you may be looking at July or August before it is ready.
(12/4/2024) WDW has announced a revised name of the new nighttime parade coming to the Magic Kingdom in Summer 2025. The full name is now, “Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away”.
(8/11/2024) It has been a long time since Walt Disney World has offered a large-scale nighttime parade at the Magic Kingdom. After retiring the Main Street Electrical Parade and SpectroMagic so many years ago, the park’s after dark spectacles have remained focused on project and fireworks shows viewed from in front of the castle.
According to an announcement at D23, this will all change in Summer 2025 with the debut of the new “Disney Starlight’ parade that will feature fan favorite characters and music from animated films like Peter Pan, Frozen, Encanto and more.
2025 - Pirates Lounge - (12/4/2024) According to the latest update from Disney, the previously announced Pirates of the Caribbean themed tavern is now set to open sometime in “late 2025”.
(8/11/2024) Some new details about a Pirates themed tavern at the Magic Kingdom first teased last year have come to light. At this week’s D23, Disney confirmed that the new pirated themed lounge is still on the way and will be ready to open sometime in 2025 at The Magic Kingdom.
(9/9/2023) According to DestinattionD23, A new “Pirates of the Caribbean-themed lounge” will be coming to Adventureland in the Magic Kingdom.
Early 2026 - Buzz Lightyear Updated - (3/29/2025) Some fantastic news came from Walt Disney World this week about planned improvements coming to the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin attraction at the Magic Kingdom. The concept of the ride has achieved a bit of a rare status within the Disney parks globally, becoming what one would consider to be a “staple” attraction that was built at all six of Disney’s theme park resorts around the world.
The Walt Disney World one was the very first to open way back in 1998 when the park chose to renovate a retired attraction (Delta Dreamflight) as something new, while keeping the same style omnimover ride system in place. The concept was a smash hit and new versions of Buzz Lightyear were created from scratch (with slight variations to the name) at Tokyo Disneyland in 2004, Disneyland in 2005, Hong Kong Disneyland in 2005, Disneyland Paris in 2006 and even as an opening day attraction at the new Shanghai Disneyland in 2016. (Note: The theme of the Hong Kong version was updated from Buzz Lightyear to a Marvel themed “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Nano Battle!” in 2019 to co-exist along with a new Iron Man ride next door, transforming that part of Tomorrowland into the “Stark Expo”.)
One major difference between the first Buzz Lightyear that opened in Orlando and all the rest that followed is that the blasters themselves were mounted to the dash of the ride vehicle, while all the rest featured hand-held blasters that were simply tethered to the vehicle by a cable. The effects and targets used on the laser generation rides were also greatly upgraded to be more visual, as well as reactive with a spectacular lighting effect when they were struck.
The early limitations of the first attraction in Orlando’s Magic Kingdom are about to be removed, with all new hand-held blasters and reactive targets to be installed. According to this update, the ride vehicles will also be updated in new colors, see the addition of video monitors to display your score (as opposed to the old red LED style clock displays) and an all new robot character named “Buddy”, created by Disney Imagineering and Pixar Animation, will be added as well.
Look for Buzz Lightyear to close for this major refurbishment in August and reopen sometime in early 2026.
2026 - Big Thunder Mountain Restoration - (3/16/2025) A new video shot by KingDaKev gives us a look at the current progress taking place over at Big Thunder Mountain this week. While there isn’t much to see from the pathways (some queue refurbishment), taking a ride on the railroad shows off that some NEW track has now been installed in the flooded town scene. A little later in the video he catches a large straight piece of new track being lowered into place by a crane elsewhere on the ride. Footage shot on the riverboat also gives us a close-up look at how much ground-work they are doing in the areas of the ride close to the river's edge, which seems to suggest they are going to need all new footers here before they install any new track in that location. If that’s the case, either they are just wanting more supports for these high speed turns, but that perhaps there could be a little track re-profiling going on perhaps.
At the end of the video, they also show off a little bit of Pirates of the Caribbean, where a good bit out of the outdoor queue area is walled off, and I’m told part of the gift shop at the exit is closed too. This is expected to be work in progress to prep for the new Pirates themed tavern space that I think was supposed to be ready by the end of this year if possible.
(2/17/2025) Screamscape was sent a series of great photos of the construction taking place on Big Thunder Mountain attraction as seen while riding the Liberty Bell this past week.
(2/1/2025) Our friends at Orlando Experience dropped into the Magic Kingdom this week to see what’s going on with the construction and track removal at Big Thunder Mountain, as well as work now taking place to renovate the park’s Astro Orbiter attraction in Tomorrowland. Based on the video, it looks almost all of the track pieces have been removed from the Big Thunder Mountain landscape.
(1/14/2025) One of our readers sent in a video clip showing off a large section of track from Big Thunder Mountain being hoisted up into the sky by the large crane they’re assembled backstage. Meanwhile a family member was also visiting the park today as well and sent in a couple of photos for everyone to enjoy, including one where where the crane appears to be hauling off a large scrap dumpster.
(1/11/2025) More pictures of the construction work now taking place on Big Thunder Mountain can be seen over at MouseSteps this week.
(1/9/2025) A reader reported in that the giant yellow crane set up backstage behind Big Thunder Mountain was seen lifting, what appeared to be a large section of roller coaster track up and away from Big Thunder Mountain. If this is true, then those rumors about the ride getting retracted over the next year are looking to be true.
(1/6/2025) Just a reminder that Big Thunder Mountain at the Magic Kingdom has now closed for an extensive refurbishment… and probably also to allow for the demolition of the Rivers of America which runs alongside the back half of the attraction. The exact reopening date has not been posted by Disney, who has only confirmed that we won’t see Big Thunder run again until sometime in 2026.
Leading up to the closure, many guests noticed that large construction cranes have also been set up nearby since the Christmas holiday season, so look for the Frontierland section of the park to be a hive of construction activity for the foreseeable future.
(10/15/2024) In a surprise announcement that many Magic Kingdom fans have been dreading, Walt Disney World has confirmed that Big Thunder Mountain will close for a year-long refurbishment starting on Jan. 6, 2025. While they won’t say exactly what is going to happen to the ride, do they confirm that it will reopen “with a little bit of new magic in 2026”.
Of course, this is also likely going to be the end of the road for Tom Sawyer's Island and the Rivers of America, as this time-frame will likely give Disney the time to resort exactly how guests are going to get “past” Big Thunder Mountain and head off into the new expansion territories that will be built behind it that will include a Cars themed land/attraction as well as the eventual construction of a Disney Villains themed land before re-connecting this new loop eventually with Fantasyland in the years to come.
Prior to the announcements made at D23 featuring the expansion of the Magic Kingdom north of Frontierland, most were expecting Disney to close Space Mountain for 12-18 months and completely refurbish / rebuild the attraction inside, but it sounds like those once rumored plans will have to wait. Your chiropractor will be very happy, indeed.
???? - Cars Land - (3/10/2025) Disney released a new image showing off some basic concept art for the new Cars themed off-road vehicle designs they are working on for the new attraction coming to the Magic Kingdom. While we were expecting this to be essentially a copy of the same ride system they used for the Cars attraction in California, which itself was an upgraded version of the Test Track ride system, it now sounds like this new attraction will be something entirely new.
According to the Disney Parks Blog, Disney Imagineers are “creating a new type of ride vehicle for this experience.” They studied what an off-road vehicle experiences when driving over rocky terrain, climbing “mountain peaks, and dodging around geysers”. Then they had a motocross style dirt track built (see below) so they could gather data to determine how these new off-road vehicles will need to feel as they move around the course.
(2/20/2025) While we’ve known for quite some time that it was all leaving, apparently Disney has received the final approval they needed from the Water Management District in order to proceed ahead with the plans to remove Tom Sawyer’s Island and the Rivers of America from the park. As previously mentioned, this area will be filled in and replaced with a new land themed around the movie “Cars” and feature a major new Cars themed off-road race attraction, as well as open up the rear-section of the park to further expansion plans, including the proposed Disney Villains themed land.
(12/21/2024) New documentation from Disney to the state has been posted showing off the revised plan sent to the local water management district about the plan to replace the Rivers of America area with a new “Cars” themed land, that will also serve as a gateway to the future Villains land. As you can see in a piece of concept posted below on Twitter, it clearly shows that the entirety of the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer’s Island will be filled in and replaced with the new Cars themed land that will feature a large-scale off-road racing themed attraction.
Meanwhile an image posted to WDWNT from those plans also confirms the plan for the Rivers of America site, and a portion of where it leads backstage to the canal that is attached to the Seven Seas Lagoon, will be filled in to an elevation of at least 98.75. Surface water runoff will be redirected either into the canal area where the Electrical Water Pageant barges are stored, or into an existing canalway to the north that lies just outside the railroad tracks.
The plan also shows the creation of some “gravel laydown yards” just outside the construction zone off Floridian Way and Caribbean Way (backstage roads). These are used as temporary sites where construction equipment and materials are stored, allowing easy access for equipment drop off from the outside, as well as easy access for crews into the future construction site as they transform the Rivers of America into something entirely new.
(8/18/2024) I have to admit, I’ve been saying this for years now, but Toms Sawyer’s Island and the Rivers of America at The Magic Kingdom were going to have to leave someday in order to allow the park to properly expand. My feeling on this subject were always a little two-fold anyway, as having grown up in California with Disneyland, the version of Tom Sawyer’s Island in Walt Disney World always felt a little sub-par by comparison. When Disneyland added Fantastmic to the park in the 90’s… the inadequacies of the Florida version became even more apparently, as there was no way The Magic Kingdom version could ever transform to become a magical stage setting for the Fantasmic after-dark spectacular, so Disney was forced to build a whole stadium and stage for it at the Hollywood Studios park instead.
Again, when Disneyland set to work to create Galaxy’s Edge inside Disneyland, they changed the landscape at the backside of the island and Rivers of America to accommodate the new land in a way that just wouldn’t quite be possible with the Florida version. Once again, Hollywood Studios served as the location of Florida’s version of Galaxy’s Edge while it became clear that Imagineers were started to hungrily eyeball the open space behind the Rivers of America for an assortment of possible future expansion concepts.
The land was there for the taking… but it was very clear that Tom Sawyer’s Island and the back half of the Rivers of America were just in the way of the park ever attempting to properly access this space. So when Disney announced plans to create a new Cars themed space that would replace part of Frontierland, I had a feeling that they might finally be ready to remove Tom Sawyer’s Island after all.
According to the latest reports, this is indeed what will be happening, with the Rivers of America to be retired along with Tom Sawyer’s Island, though it isn’t clear what the final fate of the LIberty Belle Riverboat might be, as odd as that sounds. While I think it is clear that its days as a moving attraction are numbered, there is a good chance that Disney may park it permanently somewhere close to the Tiana’s Bayou Adventure attraction, where it could be used as a walk-through space, or even an outdoor seating area for some kind of restaurant, or even as a parade viewing spot.
While no timeline was given at D23 for when this new Cars themed land would appear next to Frontierland, it would also seem clear that Imagineering would have to tackle this project before moving on to the bigger Villain Land concept that will lie behind it. So realistically, you’ve probably got a couple more years to enjoy Tom Sawyer’s Island, so enjoy it while you can.
(8/11/2024) According to a quick announcement at D23 a “Cars” themed attraction space is coming to the Magic Kingdom, which will take over and re-imagine a small section of Frontierland. They say that there will be two Cars-themed attractions built, one of which will be an off-road rally race through the mountains, while the other ride will be a smaller scale attraction themed for the smaller racers in your family.
(4/10/2024) Consider this another “Wild Rumor” for the time being, but there is an interesting rumor floating around out there about one possible mega addition that could be added to the Magic Kingdom theme park as part of the Beyond Big Thunder expansion.
Unlike the addition of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure being added smack in the middle of of Frontierland, this one actually makes a bit more sense, and would visually tie in as a pleasing extension of the Big Thunder Mountain landscaping if it is true. The idea being whispered would see a copy of the Radiator Springs Racers ride from Cars Land at Disney California Adventure added in as a major new attraction just behind Big Thunder Mountain. The towering rock structures and high desert themed canyon walls that surround the attraction space would be a near perfect match for an attraction positioned next to Big Thunder, as well as providing a sizable physical barrier along the backside of the park, blocking the view of the outside world beyond, much as the California version blocks out the view of Anaheim's many hotels lying just beyond the park’s perimeter.
The idea is a good one, as it would provide yet another high capacity E-Ticket attraction into this corner of the park, which traditionally was always a very busy one as thrill seekers would bounce back and forth between Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain. Another interesting aspect is that the Walt Disney World Railroad could also potentially be re-worked and incorporated to travel through the Radiator Springs landscape as well.
???? - Villain Land - (11/21/2024) Disney’s Josh D’Amaro dropped an interesting new detail about the new planned Villains themed land in development for The Magic Kingdom theme park. During the D23 Brazil event, D’Amaro mentioned that the Villains land will be inspired by 13 specific villains after a “mysterious spell” was cast that summoned the various villains from their individual realms together in this new space. “In this land, heroes don’t come to save the day - and there may not be a happily ever after!”
Sounding very much like the turbo-charged version of the cast of Fantasmic, the 13 gathered villains are:
Queen of Hearts (Alice in Wonderland),
Jafar (Aladdin)
Lady Tremaine (Cinderella)
Yzma (The Emperor’s New Groove)
Cruella de Vil (101 Dalmatians)
Captain Hook (Peter Pan)
Gaston (Beauty & The Beast)
Mother Gothel (Tangled)
Ursula (The Little Mermaid)
Hades (Hercules)
Chernabog (Fantasia)
Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty)
and the Evil Queen (Snow White & The Seven Dwarves)
It’s not a bad list at all, bringing in most of the top tier baddies, though I wouldn’t mind seeing Lady Tremaine swapped out with someone a bit more sinister like Claude Frollo (Hunchback of Notre-Dame) or really Dr. Facilier (Princess and the Frog), especially after the good Doctor was completely overlooked for use on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
(8/11/2024) The idea of a Villain themed park or land has long been a dream for many Disney fans, and at last Disney is going to go all in to create one at The Magic Kingdom. No timeline on this of course, so expect this to very concept that is still many years away, but they do confirm that it will feature two major attractions as well as new dining and shopping spaces of course.
This is expected to take over the undeveloped space beyond Big Thunder Mountain and will likely head back around the River to connect with Fantasyland near the Haunted Mansion. Of course, there is that Cars themed attraction space coming to Frontierland as well, which will likely get first, closer to Big Thunder and serve as a transition area into the new Villains land.
I’ve got the feeling this whole concept is still very much in flux about what it might be in the end, so stay tuned. I’m sure we’re going to get a ton of rumors about this one over the next several years.
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(4/4/2024) According to a post over at WDWMagic, a Disney exec confirmed that the initial permits to begin work on a “Beyond Big Thunder” expansion of the Magic Kingdom would likely be filed soon. Don’t count on knowing what is happening yet, these should just be plans regarding water management on the site, but it should give us a clearer view of the property to be used for the expansion.
Some initial concept art shared at a D23 Expo shows off a land that might include some themed spaces for Disney Villains as well as Coco and Encanto, but I’d suspect those plans have probably changes a little since then. Especially since the house from Encato was last seen in artwork for a transformation of the Dinoland area over at Disney’s Animal Kingdom instead.
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