South Florida Water Management District has given Walt Disney World the final green light on its permit for the demolition of the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island at Magic Kingdom, laying the groundwork to replace the space with Villains & Cars Lands. This details the multi-month saga culminating in this approval, what this could mean for closing dates and construction, and why we (still) believe this is a mistake.
The permit was issued by the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) on February 17, 2025, and expires in 5 years if not otherwise extended. This means Imagineering has until February 17, 2030 to redevelop the area and make modifications to existing utilities, pavement upgrades, updates to the drainage system, facility renovations, stormwater management enhancements, and much more.
The area encompassed by this permit is massive. It’s not just the 14-plus acre project site, but a total of 300.82 acres around Magic Kingdom area and beyond the park, including 61.93 acres of wetland and surface water impacts. As we’ve mentioned repeatedly, the Rivers of America/Beyond Big Thunder project is much more ambitious and impactful to stormwater displacement (SFWMD’s primary concern) than the counterpart Tropical Americas project, which is mostly a reimagining that Disney felt was grandfathered in to existing applications.
In case you’re unfamiliar with these plans to replace the Rivers of America, Walt Disney World announced two all-new Cars attractions in a reimagined area of Frontierland at Magic Kingdom during D23. Along with this, they officially announced Villains Land expansion at Magic Kingdom, essentially behind Cars Land, and between/behind Big Thunder and Haunted Mansion.
Subsequent to D23, Walt Disney World revealed that the Cars area will actually replace the Rivers of America, meaning that Tom Sawyer Island and the Liberty Square Riverboat will permanently close. This news let a lot of the air out of the tires from Walt Disney World’s otherwise blockbuster night, as fans had previously believed this was bona fide park expansion Beyond Big Thunder.
Within days of the D23 announcement, Walt Disney World filed permits with the SFWMD relating to stormwater displacement modifications and the creation of construction laydown yards. The SFWMD permit encompassing this project is the “407 Basin Stormwater Modifications” project.
After Disney filed its first permit with SFWMD back in August, the district responded with an extensive Request for Additional Information (RAI) that sought changes, clarifications and other answers or modifications to the plan.
After getting an extension on the RAI deadline, Walt Disney World provided an extensive packet of information on December 19, 2024, which included a 23-page letter along with countless more pages of maps, plans, appendices, and updates to previously-filed documents.
If you’re really curious about all of this, head to the SFWMD ePermitting page and enter “407 Basin Stormwater Modifications” as the project name in the search. There’s a bunch of stuff there, including the aforementioned 23-page letter, original proposal and the newly-issued Individual Environmental Resource Permit No. 48-111503-P.
In reading all of the SFWMD correspondence on various projects since ~2017, the larger scale and scope of this proposal is immediately obvious, as is SFWMD’s greater scrutiny of it. Since we’ve been covering Walt Disney World, this is the biggest project we’ve seen. Definitely from a stormwater displacement perspective, but probably period.
The approval and issuance of this permit means Walt Disney World has now sufficiently addressed all of the SFWMD’s concerns, adequately answered questions, and made (minor) changes/clarifications to the proposal. All of this addresses the wetlands and environmental impacts of the demolition as well as the stormwater management and new water drainage systems. The project complies with Florida water quality standards, Clean Water Act, etc.
From a practical perspective, this means that the Rivers of America replacement project has been approved by the SFWMD–demolition and construction can commence immediately. Cars and Villains Lands are no longer in permit purgatory, with Disney in a holding pattern. Imagineering can get to work with shovels in soil, earth moving, etc.
While this is not the final permit in the Villains and Cars Lands projects as a whole (not by a long shot), it was the one that posed the greatest degree of challenge and scrutiny from the state–the rest should mostly be rubber-stamped. This was the hurdle that mattered–the only material impediment to the project. Any hope you might’ve held out that the Rivers of America replacement would be derailed should be gone.
In terms of what’s next, lot and lots of dirt moving. There are low-lying areas to the northwest of the Rivers of America, requiring additional work to establish the aforementioned gravel laydown yards. These are a necessary prerequisite to demolishing and filling in the Rivers of America.
There will be three gravel laydown yards in total around the northwestern perimeter of Magic Kingdom. Two will be located beyond the berm, meaning outside of Magic Kingdom guest areas, with the third laydown yard that should be visible from within Magic Kingdom along the northwestern banks of the Rivers of America. These gravel laydown yards will be used for construction equipment, heavy machinery, materials staging, earth-moving, etc.
In addition to the laydown yards, Disney needs somewhere for the displaced stormwater capacity lost from infilling the Rivers of America. Such is the nature of construction in the swamps. This involves creating a new retention pond for water management that’s roughly three-quarters of a mile to the northwest of Magic Kingdom.
Presumably, some of this ground removed when digging the new pond will be used for filling the Rivers of America. Circle of life and all that. Between the pond and the gravel laydown yards, this should explain why the area for the 407 Basin Stormwater Modifications project is over 300 acres. Most of that is beyond the berm.
Once filled in, the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island will form the foundation of Cars Land and a portion of Villains Land. The laydown yards will then themselves eventually be used for future development, including a portion of Villains Land. The water management permits are the first step ahead of beginning substantive construction due to waterways being rerouted and displaced.
As discussed in our latest edition of Walt Disney World’s 5-Year Construction Plan, the site prepwork alone for Cars Land and Villains Land will be a herculean undertaking that will take many months–if not more than a year. Fans will bemoan the lengthy timeline, but Cars Land debuting in 2029 actually seems fairly aggressive given the scale and scope of work. I’d be surprised if we see anything go vertical until 2026 at the earliest.
If recent construction bid postings are to be believed, this dirt moving should start very, very soon.
We reported over the weekend that Villains Land Construction is Rumored to Start Soon at Magic Kingdom. According to that, work will start on this project March 1, 2025. The construction bidding platform lists an estimated budget of $25 to $50 million. This would only cover initial site prep work, like clearing the land and infill.
What was most notable about that construction bid was that Disney was getting the ball rolling on this, proactively anticipating approval from SFWMD, rather than passively waiting for it to happen before making its next move. Meaning that this is not going to be one of those projects Disney drags its feet on for months or years–even if it does take a long time from groundbreaking to opening. Even if groundbreaking doesn’t happen on March 1, 2025, this bodes well for Cars and Villains Land moving forward on an aggressive schedule, with construction starting soon.
As you’re likely aware, Tom Sawyer Island and Rivers of America have no closing date at present. Walt Disney World has only indicated that “guests will have plenty of time to experience the charm and nostalgia of Frontierland as it is today” before construction kicks into high gear.
However, Walt Disney World made that statement back in August and has been silent as to the Rivers of America future since. When offering a sneak peek at 2025 and letting fans know they’d have all year to experience DINOSAUR, Walt Disney World made no such assurances about the Rivers of America. In fact, they didn’t say anything at all. At what point has “plenty of time” passed?
Our guess is Easter 2025 at the earliest. That’s over 8 months for fans to say their goodbyes, which is longer than the average timeframe between booking and traveling. This isn’t to say that Rivers of America will close then…we just wouldn’t expect it any earlier than that. And it really doesn’t come down to giving fans one last visit. It’s more a matter of practicality.
Magic Kingdom might try to get through Summer 2025 before closing Tom Sawyer Island and the Rivers of America.
Disney Starlight Parade is going to be hugely popular upon debut and will need ample viewing space during its opening summer along the promenade in Frontierland. Construction walls up on one side of the walkway would reduce viewing capacity.
Starting the project shortly after Labor Day 2025 is also possible. That gives Walt Disney World all summer with the Rivers of America operating as normal, which might be necessary at a time when a lot will be down in Magic Kingdom. Park operations may not want even more offline–especially if that includes decreased parade viewing options or cuts into crowd flow (the waterfront promenade is an important parade bypass).
It’s not as if walls are going up around Rivers of America overnight now that the SFWMD has issued the permit.
There’s presumably a decent amount of backstage prep and site work that could be undertaken to establish the laydown yards even before the waterway is drained. It’s also possible that Disney could install a coffer dam to preserve access to Tom Sawyer Island and the view of the Rivers of America for the entirety of 2025. (See photo above of the last time a coffer dam was used during a refurbishment a few years ago.)
They’ve done this type of thing before–and it could prolong the amount of time fans have to say goodbye to these areas while also reducing visual blight until it’s absolutely necessary. In such a scenario, the Liberty Square Riverboat would be first to close, and that would probably happen before the second half of 2025. At the very least, Walt Disney World will want to get moving on the back half of the Rivers of America while Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is closed for refurbishment until 2026.
Ultimately, it’s difficult to predict what will happen next now that SFWMD has issued the permit for replacing the Rivers of America. Back when this saga started, Disney announced the plans and then immediately filed the permit. If this project really is as full steam ahead as it sounds, maybe Walt Disney World will make an announcement sometime in the coming days or weeks to let fans know how much time they have left to experience the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island.
In all likelihood, the guest-facing areas are probably safe through at least Easter 2025. It’s hard to imagine anything needing to happen before then, and Walt Disney World will want to offer guests time to plan proper farewell visits. Even Muppet*Vision 3D and PizzeRizzo are staying open through June 7, 2025–that announcement was made earlier and for a project that is widely expected to debut much sooner (albeit a less complicated one, too).
I’d take that a step further and predict that you probably have until August 2025 to say goodbye to the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island. There seems like a decent possibility that Disney does as much backstage work as possible first, and this serene scenery and access are preserved for almost the entire year–maybe into early 2026. I wouldn’t bet the farm on that and I’d plan a goodbye trip well before then if seeing the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island were a must-do, but my suspicion is that we have more time to enjoy these areas.
I’ll wrap this all up by reiterating that removing the Rivers of America is a mistake. This is despite the reality that very few guests go to Tom Sawyer Island or ride the Liberty Square Riverboat. Old school attractions are not the irreplaceable value being lost here; it’s the serenity, charming, and distinct sense of atmosphere.
This is something we covered previously in Truly Terrible Decisions Made by Walt Disney World and at length in the commentary to our original post about Cars Land Replacing Rivers of America. If you’re struggling to understand why fans are upset about this, consider reading one of those. I’m not going to fixate or belabor the point here since it’s already been made repeatedly, but this waterway is part of the heart of Magic Kingdom and not just for the guests who actively utilize these attractions.
I will miss this peaceful promenade and still think it’s a mistake that Disney isn’t retaining the waterfront while redeveloping the back half of Tom Sawyer Island and the area that’s actually beyond Big Thunder. But with the green light to proceed with the project and it being clear that Disney intends to do so as planned, I’m nevertheless hoping for the best with Cars Land. It’s going to be a tough needle to thread, but Imagineering can create a National Parks-inspired Cars area with mountains, water, and more that fit in Frontierland. Here’s hoping they can pull it off.
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Your Thoughts
Thoughts on the SFWMD issuing a permit for the 407 Basin project? Given that this is going to happen regardless at this point, do you hope it’s full steam ahead so we don’t have to endure a repeat of the Giant EPCOT Dirt Pit fiasco? Excited or underwhelmed by the plan to replace Rivers of America with Cars land? Or, are you in wait and see mode with this? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback—even when you disagree with us—is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
