One of Disney’s most iconic attractions has closed.
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The Liberty Square Riverboat has closed at Magic Kingdom. This historic attraction takes guests around the Rivers of America, a man-made body of water intertwined with several Magic Kingdom locations, such as Liberty Square and Frontierland.
While this abrupt closure may come as a surprise, The Liberty Bell is only scheduled to be closed from August 20 to August 22, indicating that the maintenance and refurbishments the attraction is receiving will be fairly minor.
However, this closure comes days after The Walt Disney Company announced it would be overhauling the Rivers of America to make way for a brand-new expansion based on Pixar’s Cars franchise.
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Disney first dropped the news during its D23 event in August, showing off concept art for two new Cars-inspired attractions for the Magic Kingdom. However, Disney left out the exact location of this new expansion, waiting until after D23 had wrapped up to deliver the news that Magic Kingdom’s new Cars expansion would be taking over the location of Rivers of America, as well as Tom Sawyer Island and the Liberty Square Riverboat.
This decision proved to be incredibly divisive within the Disney theme park community and has already become one of the company’s most controversial projects to date.
The Rivers of America are the first thing guests see as they take the final plunge on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure or as they wait in line at Haunted Mansion.
Not only are the Liberty Square Riverboat, Tom Sawyer Island, and Rivers of America fun attractions to enjoy, but they also contribute to Magic Kingdom’s overall look and aesthetic and have all been part of the park for decades.
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Exact dates regarding the closure of Tom Sawyer Island, Rivers of America, and the Liberty Square Riverboat are unspecified at this time, though construction on Magic Kingdom’s new Cars area is scheduled to begin in 2025, meaning guests likely will not have much time left to enjoy this trio of classic Disney attractions.
This was far from the only announcement Disney made during D23, with the company sharing updates on a variety of other projects. Disney confirmed two new Marvel rides are slated for Disneyland in California, and a new log flume adventure based on The Lion King will be built at Disneyland Paris.
Walt Disney World is also getting many new upgrades, with a new villain’s land planned for the Magic Kingdom and a new area inspired by Monsters Inc. (2001) announced for Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
How do you feel about Disney closing Rivers of America and the Liberty Square Riverboat?
Again crazy. Why close a major part of the magic Kingdom after it was just renovated just a few years ago. It’s not big enough to host all of Disneyland’s Cars Land. Why not expand a bit more behind Big Thunder. 64 sq miles of central Florida, why not use it instead of having years of congestion, a half a** Car Land that makes no since where it’s located. I guess the idea of immersion and continuity no longer exist. Good by imageneers, hello engineers, welcome to Six Flags over Florida.
Luke, who doesn’t like enjoying good food and a floor show. Cosmic Ray’s is a mainstay. Than again I thought I would always be able to share a turkey leg with my grandchildren on the porch of Aunt Polly’s, jump on the barrel bridge from Fort Longhorn and squeeze through Injun Joe’s cave. Enjoy the memories, my friend.
Let me get this straight. Disney is closing and redoing Peter Pan’s area because it is not ‘woke’ enough for Native Americans, its OFFENSIVE. However, Disney WANTS to discontinue an actual Native American area in the Rivers of America to make way for a 20th Century automobile ride. Did I get this correct? Does the left hand know what the right hand is doing?
With all the land around the back of Thunder Road and haunted mansion they can make their additions without disturbing the riverboat why spend a fortune filling in when they can just clear the trees and walkways over and have a bigger area and what is there?