Walt Disney Imagineering has pulled back the curtain on Piston Peak National Park, and the newest look at the Magic Kingdom Cars land suggests Disney isn’t completely leaving its former Frontierland landscape behind.
A detailed scale model displayed at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event 2026 in Anaheim offers a much closer look at the Cars-themed area replacing the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island at Walt Disney World Resort. Among the mountains, waterways, trails, and new attractions are at least four apparent connections to what previously occupied this corner of Magic Kingdom: Fort Langhorn, the Mike Fink Keel Boats dock, Harper’s Mill, and Tom Sawyer Island’s famous barrel bridge.
Magic Kingdom’s Cars Land Replaces a Very Different Frontierland
Disney first announced its Cars expansion at D23 in 2024, confirming that the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island would be transformed into new terrain for two attractions. Disney later named the area Piston Peak National Park and said it would draw inspiration from the Rocky Mountains and the history and scenery of America’s national parks.
Tom Sawyer Island, the Rivers of America, and the Liberty Square Riverboat ultimately closed permanently on July 7, 2025. Inside the Magic documented both the final days of the original Frontierland attractions and the subsequent draining of the Rivers of America as construction began reshaping the area.
That transformation has only accelerated. Recent construction has left the former island and much of the surrounding waterway unrecognizable as Piston Peak rises between the existing Frontierland and Liberty Square environments. Inside the Magic’s July 2026 construction update shows just how dramatically the western side of Magic Kingdom has changed.
Four Tom Sawyer Island Tributes Appear in Piston Peak
The D23 model provides something construction photographs cannot: a detailed look at what Disney intends the finished landscape to resemble.
Four elements stand out as apparent homages to the retired area. Behind the planned family attraction is a fort-like structure incorporating design cues reminiscent of Fort Langhorn, the frontier fort that once anchored part of Tom Sawyer Island.
Elsewhere, a new building near the Haunted Mansion side of the development shares architectural characteristics with the former Mike Fink Keel Boats dock, including exposed timber elements, a dormer-style roof, and cupola. The resemblance is visible in the model, although Disney has not publicly identified the new structure as an official Mike Fink tribute.
A third building appears to evoke Harper’s Mill. The old Tom Sawyer Island gristmill included a prominent water wheel; Piston Peak’s version seemingly translates that visual language into the Cars universe with an oversized brake rotor. Lightning McQueen and Mater are positioned near the structure in the model, although its final guest-facing purpose has not been officially confirmed.
Tom Sawyer Island’s Barrel Bridge Is Getting Another Life
The clearest connection is also one that had been foreshadowed before the closures: the barrel bridge.
Disney’s earlier Piston Peak imagery showed a barrel-style bridge incorporated into the new landscape, something Inside the Magic previously highlighted as part of the planned Frontierland transformation. The D23 model now offers a clearer look at how that familiar feature fits into Piston Peak.
The distinction matters. The new land isn’t rebuilding Tom Sawyer Island, and Disney has not announced that the former attraction itself will return. Instead, Imagineering appears to be carrying pieces of its visual identity forward within an entirely different setting.
That approach extends to the water itself. Disney officially describes Piston Peak as a wilderness of waterfalls, rivers, geysers, towering trees, and snowcapped mountains, meaning water will remain an important part of this portion of Frontierland even though the Rivers of America as guests knew it is gone.
Piston Peak Is Trying to Connect Old and New Frontierland
Those details help explain Disney’s larger strategy for integrating Cars into a land traditionally rooted in American frontier storytelling.
Imagineering says Piston Peak will use National Park Service-inspired “Parkitecture,” with structures designed to blend into the surrounding landscape. Disney has also said trees and mountains will help control sightlines between the Cars environment, Liberty Square, and neighboring attractions.
That transition will be important. Piston Peak isn’t being built as an isolated Cars Land like the version at Disney California Adventure. Instead, it becomes part of Magic Kingdom’s existing Frontierland, alongside attractions including Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
The transformation is already visible throughout the park. Construction has removed numerous pieces of the former Frontierland landscape, while later work has brought Piston Peak into an increasingly substantial construction phase.
What Happens Next at Magic Kingdom
Piston Peak National Park will feature two Cars-themed attractions. Disney has officially described one as an off-road rally adventure and the other as an experience designed for the whole family, while the land itself will include locations such as Ranger HQ, a visitor lodge, and trails.
Disney has not announced an opening date for Piston Peak National Park.
For longtime Magic Kingdom fans, however, the D23 model answers one question about the project’s direction. Disney may have permanently removed Tom Sawyer Island and the Rivers of America, but it isn’t treating every piece of their identity as disposable.
Fort-inspired architecture, a structure resembling the old keel boat dock, a Cars-era interpretation of Harper’s Mill, and the returning barrel-bridge concept all point toward a Frontierland that remembers at least some of what stood there before—even as Piston Peak fundamentally changes what guests will experience next.
