Magic Kingdom Update – May 2019

Magic Kingdom is the next stop in our Walt Disney World construction updates & photo reports for May 2019. In this post, we’ll look at the Cinderella Castle walkway expansion, more Tomorrowland changes, a ton of new merchandise, and more.

We visited on an overcast and rainy day, so you’ll have to excuse the dreary photos. (Aside from the top photo, which was taken a different day–I wanted at least one nice shot in the bunch.) On the plus side, it was a good time to visit from a crowd perspective, as the rain did a nice job of clearing out guests.

We’ll start with the arrival experience, which is perfectly fine and normal if you’re coming directly to the park via bus. However, going through the TTC is a different story. As we covered last month, walls are up here to improve the infrastructure and prepare for an influx of crowds. That alone isn’t a major issue, but it’s a perfect storm of poor circumstances right now…

As we covered in our Lovebugs at Walt Disney World post, these annoying insects are drawn to exhaust fumes. There’s probably no bigger parking lot in Florida than the TTC, and the lovebugs are especially bad there. Add to that the congestion of narrower walkways and construction walls, and the TTC experience isn’t exactly a pleasant one right now. (We also made the mistake of taking the ferry instead of the monorail–not recommended from a lovebug perspective!)

Moving inside the Magic Kingdom…

Work continues on the pathway widening project that connects Liberty Square to Fantasyland via Cinderella Castle.

Although you can’t tell from the photo, the foundation for the new pathway is up.

The pathway is finally closed, presumably because work is scheduled to start on the walkway itself any day now.

Here are some other photos from different angles:

The last one is of the same path from Fantasyland. Behind this, walls are still up around the gift shop behind Cinderella Castle.

It’s unknown when this work will be done, but our hope is “sooner rather than later.” Cinderella Castle doesn’t look nearly as majestic with its moat drained and heavy equipment down there.

Continuing to Tomorrowland, where we have more paint changes and work progresses on Tomorrowland Speedway and TRON Lightcycle Power Run.

This may not be the best view, but much of Tomorrowland that hasn’t been painted orange, teal, or yellow has received a fresh coat of white paint.

Same goes with Star Traders, which has received more of that dreamsicle color since our last update.

It’ll be interesting to see how this comes together–I think they’ll need to remove many more remnants of Tomorrowland ’94 (and add some Googie stylization for texture) to truly pull it off.

Work appears to be entirely done and testing is underway on Tomorrowland Speedway.

If you’ve missed the stink of smoke in Magic Kingdom these last couple of weeks, you’ll soon be in luck!

Some exciting progress at TRON Lightcycle Power Run (or whatever they end up calling it).

The steel columns will serve as the framework that’ll support the coaster’s track have been installed!

These went up fast. Obviously, there’s an entire show building and the overhead canopy to build and install still, but this is not a complex attraction with intricate show scenes. It’s like Space Mountain, except on the Grid.

Walt Disney World still repeats its standard line: “The TRON attraction is set to open at Magic Kingdom Park in time for Walt Disney World’s 50th anniversary in 2021.” We wouldn’t be surprised if this is more like a May 2021 opening (perhaps earlier), rather than a Fall 2021 one.

Walls are up around Tortuga Tavern.

These encompass the main front entrance and the register area. All of the seating area remains open, which might seem odd since the restaurant isn’t, but this also functions as overflow for Pecos Bill.

We noticed the Adventureland Egg Roll Cart is featuring a new Cuban Spring Roll. I’m really excited to try this, but we were still stuffed from lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern, so it’ll have to wait.

It may surprise some of you, but the ‘regular’ Cheeseburger Spring Roll is fantastic–so good that it’s featured in our Best Magic Kingdom Snacks & Desserts post.

Moving on to merchandise, these new rain coats were released within the last week or so, I believe. When it started pouring, another rack of these magically appeared on the Emporium floor, too!

The one on the left is various food items and the one on the right is Tiki Room. Both are great–solid designs and pretty well made as far as raincoats go–but pricey.

Another hot new item is these cheeky takes on ‘I’m Celebrating’ buttons.

It’s nice to see Disney finally jumping on Etsy trends from 5 years ago!

Maybe I just have weird preconceived notions about what appeals to who, but I’d think there’s not a huge overlap between PeopleMover fans and Purple Wall fans.

I’m not really a fan of any of these, but to each their own.

Between fan-made stuff and Disney’s own designs, it’s a golden age for people who like novelty shirts with cringe-worthy text.

In fairness, Disney’s merchandise teams have also done some great work lately, too. Most of the logo merchandise is exceptional, and I can applaud good designs that aren’t to my personal tastes.

I really like this logo shirt, but I have a growing collection of these 3/4 sleeve raglan shirts–a cut I don’t like all that much. Nevertheless, I’ll pick it up if it ends up at the outlet.

I don’t really “get” the Famous hat. Maybe I’m missing something, but if it were a Disney thing, wouldn’t “FaMouse” be the way to go?

That’s it for this Magic Kingdom update! Walt Disney World still hasn’t announced its plans (if any) for summer, so we’ll either have another update later this month once whatever that is begins, or next month when more changes have occurred in Tomorrowland and elsewhere around the park.

Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!

YOUR THOUGHTS

What do you think about what we’ve covered in the latest update from Magic Kingdom? Have you done the Haunted Mansion on-ride photo yet? Is yours equally spectacular? Thoughts or insights about current construction projects in Magic Kingdom? 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!