Nature “Reclaims” Rivers of America as Disney World Drains Waterway for Demolition

Almost three months after closing, nature is starting to reclaim the Rivers of America, crews try to drain the remaining water, construction walls are up, and there’s a flurry of worker activity in Magic Kingdom. There are a a few new notable changes worth sharing as Imagineering gears up to start on Piston Peak and Villains Land, and we’re going to cover those here.

As we previously reported, permits have already been filed for the demolition of Tom Sawyer Island. In the months since that area closed, countless workers have been spotted on the island, initially with boats transporting items away. As is normally the case, a variety of teams from Operations, Imagineering, and the Walt Disney Archives tag various items for reuse, preservation, or resale to collectors.

While we’re sure that the Lopez Bros, Stamos and NPH are all adding to their collections as a result of the closures (happy for them–but jealous), we’re really hoping a lot of this stuff receives a new lease on life at Lakeshore Lodge, Fort Wilderness, and elsewhere around Walt Disney World. Lakeshore Lodge was once slated to have a Princess and the Frog waterfront restaurant; if that’s still the plan, docking the riverboat alongside that would be awesome.

On this particular day, I actually did spot construction crews on Tom Sawyer Island, but wasn’t quick enough on the draw with the camera to capture them in action. There was also a lot of visible activity at Big Thunder, and I did catch some of that, as documented below. Otherwise, the last couple of months have been uneventful from within the park.

Work has still been largely occurring backstage as more land has been cleared for the laydown yards, as Walt Disney World has prepared to drain the Rivers of America. We have had glimpses of progress that’s out of guest view thanks to aerial photos, but work of the visible variety has been slow-going from within the park.

That’s been somewhat good news for guests taking summer trips up until school starting going back into session in mid-August. Aside from short sections of construction walls, the views were pretty similar to what you could’ve experienced pre-closure. The water level had been gradually dropping for reasons unknown, but it wasn’t until fairly recently that Walt Disney World started to actively pump the Rivers of America, revealing the man-made concrete riverbed and track underneath.

The latest development, if you want to call it that, is that Mother Nature has started to reclaim the drained Rivers of America. There are several words in that sentence that could have air quotes–development, Mother Nature, reclaim, and drained. Anyway, let’s take a look:

Rivers of America Refilling, Draining & Dredging

As is probably evident from the lighting and sky, the above photos are actually from a few different visits to Magic Kingdom. More astute eyes might notice that the water levels differ from frame to frame, which you might assume is because of ongoing draining lowering the levels. Wrong.

In the last few days, the water level has actually increased in the “drained” Rivers of America due to some fairly intense afternoon storms. Just a few days ago, there was only a bit of standing water in the mostly dried-up riverbed. Now the riverboat track is close to being submerged in spots. Only another week like this and the Rivers of America will be refilled!

In actuality, the Rivers of America has been actively drained and soon (hopefully) dredging will begin to remove the muck and junk and yuck from at least the perimeter of the riverbed along the waterway. In some of the above photos, you should be able to see tire tracks from vehicles that have already been in the basin during overnight hours.

We did spot one (1) vehicle in the back half of the river, but have yet to see anything on the guest-facing side. That’s presumably on purpose, at least until the walls go up, as Walt Disney World doesn’t want to disregard show standards completely. It’s like a quasi-Catch-22 situation, as they can’t drive here during daytime hours until the walls are up, but the walls can’t go up without heavy equipment…and that can’t happen until it stops raining.

In the meantime, I’m not so sure what we’re seeing now qualifies as “good show,” but again, there isn’t really an easy alternative. The perfect solution in a rain-free Florida would’ve been doing this all in the span of like a week. Hopefully Mother Nature cooperates soon, allowing for the remaining draining and dredging to be completed so the construction walls can be installed.

Then again, it does appear that she’s sending Tropical Storm Fernand up along the coast, so perhaps this is her way of saying not so fast to Cars. Maybe the assistants of Vahle, Iger, and D’Amaro shouldn’t have sent her boilerplate responses to her polite letters expressing disappointment about paving over paradise. Who knows.

Now let’s take a look at the construction walls that are currently up around the Rivers of America, so you can get an idea of how this looks in-person and impacts the guest experience…

Current Construction Walls Around Rivers of America

Construction walls are already up everywhere but the waterfront walkway that offers a “shortcut” along the parade route between Liberty Square and Frontierland. Since that promenade is the largest stretch and runs parallel to the Frontierland thoroughfare, it’s the most noticeable section–and it’s wall-free.

Otherwise, construction walls now extend from Haunted Mansion to the Liberty Square Riverboat landing, and again from the bypass bridge by the Tiana’s Bayou Adventure splashdown loop over to Big Thunder. Assuming the weather cooperates and Tropical Storm Fernando keeps tracking east, it should be only a matter of days before the waterfront walkway starts having walls added.

Now an update that’s for the birds… 

Fowl Fishing & Foul Fragrances

I’ve been watching the “progress” on the Rivers of America draining for a few days, but one particular morning caught me by surprise as a huge number of birds were fishing in the riverbed. These fine feathered friends are the real winners in this saga, showcasing the circle of life in full force. Birds eat fish, river gets paved for Cars. The circle of life is a highway, you might say.

Perhaps it was because I arrived over here particularly early (I was supposed to be rope drop testing on an 8 am park opening day, but ended up being distracted by this and bailed on the plan–oops), but this was the first I had seen so much ‘hunting’ in the Rivers of America by such a wide variety of wildlife.

Now, I know we’re supposed to be in awe of Mother Nature and all her creatures, yadda yadda yadda. But I’m going to be blunt: most of these birds were gnarly. Not the usual suspects, either. I’ve visited Walt Disney World for years, so I’m very familiar with White Ibis, Egret, and Heron. Our neighborhood was once taken over by roaming “herds” of Sandhill Cranes.

Some of the normal Magic Kingdom birds were present for this task, but there were also some unfamiliar fowl. I tried to identify them with the fancy new feature on the iPhone, but the same birds kept being identified as a few different species. So there’s only one logical conclusion: they’re mutants. It makes sense that Walt Disney World would import mutant birds from the Reedy Creek Nuclear Power Plant to do the heavy lifting, as the cleanup here is basically dumpster diving.

They’re probably eating just as much garbage as they are clams, mussels, and fish. That’s not really a joke (well, the nuclear power plant part is), as I stood here for a good 15 minutes watching these fellas fish. And they were eating good. All the while, though, they were dodging MagicBands, bubble wands, hats, and other debris. I’m sure some of that gets consumed, sadly.

As you can probably imagine, tons of birds, stagnant muck water, fish carcases and other garbage can lead to some foul fragrances. In my time over here the last few days, there have been times when it didn’t smell at all and other occasions when the unpleasant odor was pretty intense!

Here’s a look at morning along the former Rivers of America as the birds fish. I found this to be oddly peaceful and relaxing if you can, ya know, ignore the underlying circumstances!

At this point, I’m ready for the walls to go up. I had my ‘last chance’ to say goodbye and photograph the Rivers of America even after Tom Sawyer Island closed but before the waterway was drained. It was nice to have a few more weeks of the pristine landscape.

But now that even that is gone, it’s time to fasttrack the demolition and construction walls, at least to the extent that Mother Nature will allow. I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but now that it’s crystal clear that this Cars project is happening, we want it to accelerate.

Minimize the amount of time there’s construction blight in Magic Kingdom, avoiding a repeat of the Giant EPCOT Dirt Pit fiasco. The longer any project drags on, the more likely it is that to be budget-cut or value engineered into oblivion. The view below is long gone, and what’s left is ugly. There’s no reason for fans to want this slow-rolled anymore.

I still don’t love this idea (see Why the Rivers of America is Worth Saving), but it’s going to happen and there’s nothing we fans can do to change the course of this Piston Peak project except at the margins. Accordingly, I would love nothing more than for the future-former Rivers of America to be unrecognizable by January 2026, and cranes appearing on site to commence vertical construction. Get this done quickly to minimize the guest impact and have Piston Peak open ASAP.

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Your Thoughts

Thoughts on fishing fowl, foul fragrances, or Mother Nature saying “not so fast” to the draining and dredging of the Rivers of America? Ready for more walls to go up and demolition to begin in earnest? Mourning the closure of Tom Sawyer Island, Rivers of America, and the Liberty Square Riverboat? Did you have a chance to say your goodbyes? 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!