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Ignoring Walt’s Vision: The Fatal Flaw With Disney’s Magic Kingdom Expansion

When Walt Disney opened Disneyland Park in 1955, he created a world that guests had never seen. Not only were they transported to a magical place with a gorgeous castle, but they could travel to places far beyond that.

The park’s design had Sleeping Beauty Castle as the hub, with five stunning lands shooting off from the hub like spokes on a wheel. The original lands at Disneyland Park were Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, and Main Street, U.S.A.

Walt Disney at Disneyland in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle
Credit: Disney

Related: How Walt Disney Can Be Your Guide on Your Next Disneyland Trip

Walt Disney was a stickler for many things, and one of those things was details. Even today, there seems to be hardly a detail that Imagineers don’t think of. Each land had its own unique feel and theme, and the details within each of those lands were, and still are, impeccable.

Walt’s brother Roy kept that attention to detail alive after Walt died, and Roy was the driving force behind the Magic Kingdom and Walt Disney World Resort.

That’s why Disney’s newest announcement has us shaking our heads and wondering what the heck Imagineers were thinking.

Roy O. Disney stands with Mickey Mouse at the opening ceremonies for the Magic Kingdom
Credit: Walt Disney Archives

This year, Disney hosted its biennial D23 Expo — the ultimate Disney fan event — in Anaheim, California. Disney fans flocked to the event to hear the latest movie and theme park news.

During the Parks Panel — the highlight of the weekend — Disney Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro revealed that the Magic Kingdom would be undergoing a huge expansion. In an exciting reveal, he shared that fans would finally be getting the Villains Land they have been begging for.

However, the other Magic Kingdom expansion news has guests shaking their heads and asking Disney to reverse course.

Concept art of the new Villains Land coming to Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom
Credit: Disney

Related: Fans Worry Disney’s New Land Will Ruin Classic Attraction

D’Amaro shared that a Cars-themed area based on the 2006 Pixar film would be coming to the park. While that might be exciting, what was not so exciting was that the new area would be part of a Frontierland expansion. According to reports, Disney will be getting rid of Tom Sawyer Island and the Liberty Square Riverboat, as well as filling in most of the Rivers of America.

Disney Imagineers’ decision to put a Cars area in Frontierland at the Magic Kingdom contradicts everything Walt Disney wanted for his Magic Kingdom.

Concept art for Cars Land coming to Frontierland at the Magic Kingdom
Credit: Disney

Let’s take a look at Liberty Square. Did you know that there are technically no bathrooms within the boundaries of the land? And that is because there were no bathrooms during colonial times.

And the brown bricks that create a trail throughout the land? Well, those are to represent the river of poop that could be found in many a colonial city because people just dumped the contents of their chamber pots out of the windows.

Walt was meticulous about details like that, trying to make each land feel as themed as possible. He truly wanted guests to be completely immersed in whatever world they chose to travel to in the theme park.

Hall of Presidents attraction in Liberty Square at the Magic Kingdom
Credit: Disney

That leaves us asking, “What the heck does Cars have to do with Frontierland?” The simple answer is nothing. There were absolutely ZERO cars on the frontier. It was full of horse-drawn wagons, boats to get through canals, and, in the early 1800s, steam trains (which became the wildest ride in the wilderness).

But cars? Nope, they were not a thing until almost 100 years later. This makes Disney’s decision to put a Cars-themed area in Frontierland incredibly frustrating. It’s like Walt Disney Imagineering took everything Walt wanted for his theme parks and said, “Forget about it, let’s do whatever the heck we want.”

Concept art for the Cars-themed expansion coming to Frontierland in the Magic Kingdom
Credit: Disney

Related: “RIP Frontierland,” Disney’s Latest News Rocks Disney World Community

Now, Disney is expanding the Magic Kingdom beyond Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, where the Villains Land is set to go. If Disney really wanted to put in a Cars area or even an entire Cars Land, like the one in Disney California Adventure Park, it seems logical that it could go next to the Villains Land.

Now, I know that Walt was famous for saying that Disney[land] would never be complete as long as there is imagination left in the world. And I completely agree with that. Change is good, and thinking of new and exciting experiences is good. However, that change must be balanced with the original intent of the theme park. And keeping the immersive experience on theme is not something that should be sacrificed.

Destroying aspects of Frontierland that keep its original spirit alive is disappointing and doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and may not reflect the views of Disney Dining as a whole.

Do you think Frontierland is an inappropriate place for Disney’s Cars expansion? Let us know in the comments!

Krysten Swensen

A born and bred New England girl living the Disney life in Southern California. I love to read, to watch The Golden Girls, and love everything to do with Disney and Universal. I also love to share daily doses of Disney on my Disney Instagram @BrazzleDazzleDisney!

8 Comments

  1. Totally agree. With the area they have they can expand, but destroying the original vision and purpose of the park is wrong. Walt and Roy wanted people to know and learn our history. Erasing that doesn’t teach anyone anything.

  2. Why would Disney put Cars in an area that represents Frontierland?? Bring it, but not in an area that literally had no automobiles during that time! It’s FRONTIERLAND. What part of that do these imagineers not understand?? They certainly wouldn’t be doing something so dumb if Walt was still alive!

    1. Just another woke step to remove anything that is connected with usa’s history. But a mix with ghosts, cars, frontier, bayou,… is just a big mess.

  3. Totally agree. Disney is just messing up everything now a days. They are so money hungry they don’t care what the fans really want and they seem to not care about Walt’s vision and keeping it alive. Cars land has no business being placed in Frontierland. They could put it beside the new Villains land. They seem to just be erasing things.

  4. You all over think this too much. Magic Kingdom will no longer have a 1800’s Frontierland…it’s the far west…in 2024. All good here.

  5. Thank you Disney for not going by Walt or Roy vision, but doing something fast and not thinking it. Disney is couple’s year late of coming up with something while other going to pass Disney. Wait until next year when Universal Studios park’s open up, Disney should get there act togethier and did something about 3 or 4 years ago. Now Disney going to play catch up for the next 3 to 4 years.

  6. Well, Iger and Co., just saved me thousands of future dollars…yes, MK needs to expand (actually Epcot and Hollywood and AK actually are in major need of expansion) but in NO way should the best area be destroyed for Cars. A redo on stinky Indy Speedway maybe, but NOT Frontier Land!!
    So, as a pass holder and long time Disney World guest, I will go to Universal and take my dollars elsewhere. I am not interested in 5 years of construction walls for a crappy ride that has no place in MK. Take it to Hollywood Studios!

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