Why Rivers of America Is Worth Saving.
Walt Disney World is gearing up to demolish Tom Sawyer Island and commence construction on the Piston Peak ‘Cars’ area of Frontierland this month. The Rivers of America will not be saved, let’s be clear about that. This is not a last-minute plea for Imagineering to change course.
It’s instead aimed at addressing the aesthetic and artistic merit of this area of the park for posterity and precedent. My real hope is that the fans who have been dismissive about the ‘value’ of the Rivers of America can understand why places like this are an asset to theme parks.
Because this isn’t a conversation confined just to this one replacement–it’s an ongoing one that’ll continue in the years to come. That’s true generally, but also more specifically with regard to the Rivers of America, which is on the chopping block elsewhere in addition to Walt Disney World.
This comes against the backdrop of the in-park areas that Piston Peak National Park will replace permanently closing. Rivers of America, Tom Sawyer Island, and Liberty Square Riverboat will all close on July 7; the last day to experience any of these attractions and locations is today (or “was” if you’re reading on Monday).
I wanted to offer a closing ‘love letter’ to the Rivers of America, and the best tribute I can offer is making a case for it (yet again), and sprinkle that essay with my favorite photos I’ve taken of the RoA over the years. So you can either read what I have to say or simply scroll and enjoy the visuals if you’re sick of this debate.
From the outset, let’s make a few stipulations. I’ve seen much of the debate about replacing Rivers of America with Piston Peak revolve around a few points, which strike me as (respectfully) missing the point. With that in mind, I’ll agree to all of the following points and address them in turn:
- Tom Sawyer Island and Liberty Square Riverboat are not popular.
- Cars Rally Racers and the family-friendly ride will be popular.
- Magic Kingdom will be more popular with Cars than Rivers of America.
- Pixar’s Cars franchise can fit Frontierland.
Let’s start at the top. It’s no secret that the Liberty Square Riverboat and Tom Sawyer Island don’t have the hourly throughput numbers as most attractions in Magic Kingdom. Eliminating them reduces operational and maintenance expenses on attractions and areas that are underutilized and don’t offer as much operational ‘bang for buck’ to the company.
Because of this, some fans will likely be entirely okay with this decision to eliminate the Rivers of America–as is their right. Many longtime fans have probably never even been over to Tom Sawyer Island or done a lap on the Liberty Square Riverboat. Others probably have done so infrequently over the years, and will do these new Cars attractions more. This is necessarily true–hence the ‘underutilized capacity’ term.
There should really be no argument that the guest throughput of Piston Peak’s queued attractions will be higher than what it’s replacing. The Cars Rally Racers attraction will likely fall somewhere between Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and TRON Lightcycle Run over time, making it a top 5 attraction in terms of utilization. These are obvious points, not “gotchas.” It’s silly to pretend that any reasonable Disney fan advocating for the Rivers of America believes otherwise.
The more controversial stipulation is #3, which is that Magic Kingdom will be more popular with Cars than Rivers of America. I’ve heard some detractors of the Piston Peak plan claim this is the beginning of the end for Magic Kingdom. While I’m somewhat sympathetic to that line of argument (more on that in a minute), I don’t believe it.
If Imagineering delivers, Piston Peak will be a marketable addition and Cars Rally Racers will appear in ad campaigns. It’ll be on billboards, commercials, promoted social media posts, and so forth. Rivers of America isn’t on any billboards. Aside from saying their goodbyes, a large number of guests are not booking trips specifically to see it. Disney has metrics showing that Cars will move the needle; the same cannot be said for the Rivers of America.
From my perspective, this also at least partially misses the point. Theme parks are not just the sum of their ride rosters, to be raced around and checked off one by one. They are as much defined by the spaces in between; by the absence of attractions, too.
Viewing theme parks checklist style, with each ride being viewed in a vacuum is how you end up with studios parks where everything is housed in a big soundstage and the theme is “movies” or something nebulous because it’s the most efficient route. This approach yields the Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris, Disney California Adventure 1.0, and areas of Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Moreover, this line of reasoning is antithetical to Animal Kingdom, Tokyo DisneySea, EPCOT Center, Disneyland Paris–and the other best versions of castle parks. As much as I love Disney’s Hollywood Studios and think it can have a great sense of place, this is largely true in the areas that did not faithfully re-create the backstage experience. At least, aesthetically.
Suffice to say, there’s a reason so many of Imagineering’s recent lands have been a departure from this style. Toy Story Land and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge are far from perfect, but they’re a stylistic breath of fresh air for DHS. The legacy lands at that park that are best, in my view, are Hollywood & Sunset Boulevard and Echo Lake. Many fans would agree, and that’s largely for the atmosphere. Guests feel the difference, even if they don’t realize it and it isn’t surfaced by satisfaction surveys.
Even Universal has realized this! So much of the praise heaped on Epic Universe isn’t about the attractions (although it does have several excellent and envelope-pushing rides), it’s about the sense of place. Ministry of Magic only has one ride and one show, but the newest Harry Potter land is such a triumph of design that guests enjoy simply being there.
The same can be said for Celestial Park, Dark Universe, Super Nintendo World, and Isle of Berk–every single land. Epic Universe has its issues, sure, but the bones of the park are positioning it for long-term success. They’ve been working at getting away from their soundstage-style for the better part of two decades now, trying to be more like old school Disney, design-wise.
Few areas at Walt Disney World excel from a being there perspective quite like the Rivers of America, Liberty Square Riverboat, and Tom Sawyer Island. These are incredible assets to Magic Kingdom not just for the guests who actively utilize these attractions. They offer serenity and delightful atmosphere even to guests who stroll along the waterfront promenade, stopping for a moment to catch their breath and take in the view. It’s impossible to quantify this. That’s precisely what worries me.
Sometimes Disney’s decision-makers view the parks as figures on a spreadsheet, and from that perspective, it’s easy to overlook “underutilized” things that are incredibly important to the Disney theme park experience from a holistic perspective. A fairly persuasive argument could be made that every guest who walks through Frontierland and gazes over at the Rivers of America, hears the Liberty Square Riverboat, and has their stress-levels drop by a percentage point or two has “utilized” these offerings.
It may not click in the moment, but it’s the “little things” we treasure just as much as a ride on Big Thunder; small details or quiet moments that become indelible parts of our memories from visits to the parks over the years. These little things might seem superfluous on paper, especially when the alternative is expanding the park and growing capacity by thousands guests.
By viewing the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island as underutilized real estate that’s expendable, Disney is missing the forest for the trees. Spaces like these are what help make our days in the parks special and separate Disney from the competition. They give us little moments to pause and absorb the big attractions and experiences we’ve enjoyed. These things and places are what keep us coming back.
There’s a long term price to be paid for viewing the parks from the perspective that every square foot must be put to its most efficient use, have its capacity maximized, or be directly monetized. That’s too myopic of a view, and ignores the practical reality that guests form impressions based on the totality of their visit, with those little things or counterprogramming adding as much as the E-Tickets.
If everything is go-go-go, the guest experience as a whole can suffer. And that’s true even if the individual attractions replacing the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island end up having higher guest satisfaction scores. There are some things that are impossible to quantify–that guests just absorb, even without realizing it. This is precisely why we value atmospheric entertainment–the energy can be felt subliminally even if not consciously. It brightens the mood, even if unknowingly.
It’s the exact same idea with the Rivers of America. There’s no guest satisfaction “metric” for how many guests per day walk along that waterfront promenade, pause for a deep breath, smile and take a photo. It could be an indelible moment burned into their memory, or, more likely, a fleeting bit of happiness. It is striking the delicate balance of experiences and emotions that makes Magic Kingdom, well, magical.
In other words, atmosphere can matter as much–maybe more–than a guest adding another notch to their ride tally. It was important to their day as a whole. It was a much-needed reprieve from the often stressful nature of the world’s most popular theme park. This has long been my perspective on the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island–that they are invaluable assets that serve as counterprogramming to give guests an expand from the paved pathways and hustle and bustle of Magic Kingdom.
Spaces like this also play a role in elevating the cultural role of theme parks, and reinforce our viewpoint that theme parks are not only folly for children. Theme parks as art. One of my favorite hidden gem books is Designing Disney’s Theme Parks: The Architecture of Reassurance. This is one of the most academic and esoteric books about theme parks, and it spends a lot of time examining the design intentions of Disney Parks as symbols of Americana, and the cultural value they offer beyond consumerism. I believe that the Rivers of America fit squarely in this analysis, as a deceptively simple man-made “natural” environment that speaks to something deeper in us. I fear that this deceptive nature means we also won’t appreciate the full extent of what it offers until it’s gone.
Admittedly, it’s also a matter of nostalgia and sentimentality for those of us who lament the loss of the Rivers of America. This waterfront promenade is one of my favorite places in all of Magic Kingdom, and we have so many memories of this waterfront walk late at night with a cool breeze coming off the Rivers of America, or early in the mornings as the sun flitters through the trees. It is one of those places in the park that allows us to slow down, take a deep breath, and soak up our surroundings. Maybe that makes me biased, and overly sensitive to losing the Rivers of America when the average guest reaction will be: “Who cares? Bring on Cars!”
However, Disney is also biased as evident from lessons learned by the late 1990s and early aughts. The company recognized what a mistake not looking at the parks holistically was, and that’s precisely how we got Cars Land at DCA, World of Frozen, and pretty much the entirety of the Disney Adventure World overhaul. Looking back at the portions of opening day DCA that were good and are still around, they’re mostly well-themed, atmospheric locations–Grizzly Peak, for instance.
This is precisely why I’m receptive to the spirit of the argument that losing the Rivers of America could hurt Magic Kingdom’s popularity in the long-term. To be clear, I don’t actually believe that this will happen as an immediate or direct result of this decision. Magic Kingdom will become more popular in the 2030s than it is today.
The concern is with the line of thinking that views the parks as the sum of their individual parts, wait times, and Lightning Lane sales data. Taken to its extreme, this thought process is the one that gives rise to massive E-Tickets in big square show buildings. It’s how the atmosphere is gradually eroded, all in the service of the ride roster or maximizing every square foot of real estate.
Even this concern feels hyperbolic, honestly. The truth is that Walt Disney World has great bones, and was designed tremendously well nearly six decades ago. That there are a lot of cuts that can be made to the ‘fat’ (superfluous serenity and design) before that bone is hit.
We just saw this play out with Island Tower at the Polynesian. Its exterior is ugly; plain, cheap-looking, and discordant with its surroundings. If Seven Seas Lagoon were originally designed as a bunch of Island Towers in the 1970s, there would be no love for the area. No one would have nostalgia because it’d be utterly forgettable.
And yet, it doesn’t destroy the skyline because the bones of Seven Seas Lagoon are so strong that you can overlook it. To the extent that it succeeds, Island Tower does so by leeching off the quality of and love for its surroundings. Irreparable damage to Seven Seas Lagoon would take many more Island Towers, because the original design is just that good.
It’s a similar story with Magic Kingdom or even EPCOT; the bones are so good that it’s hard to imagine any single misguided decision dooming the park. At least, for me. Some fans have identified losing the Rivers of America as their tipping point, and while I hope they’re overreacting, I cannot fault them for the sentiment at this point.
Although this argument strikes me as hyperbolic, it nevertheless worries me because of how quickly fans are to excuse poor decisions or design. It looks fine. It’s good enough. For me, it’s concerning that we as a fandom often make excuses or do not hold Disney to its own high standards. (An issue I’ve had since the Court of Angels controversy and “it’s just stairs” debate.)
As a reminder, Disney itself returned to these high standards only after a series of decisions so poor in the late 1990s and early aughts that they culminated in a series of theme parks that were infamously not up to Disney quality. They were so bad that the tipping point was reached, normal guests noticed, and their attendance suffered as a result.
My view is that great placemaking, themed design, and those “unnecessary” details are precisely what makes Disney, Disney. We all have so many superlatives for why Walt Disney World is a special place, and it usually isn’t just a ride roster. It’s the little things that elevate the theme parks to an art form. It’s precisely what makes us the source of ridicule for outsiders who dismiss Disney as “kids stuff” and us as adults with juvenile interests.
Looking towards the future with a more optimistic eye, my final stipulation on my list is that Cars can work in Frontierland. I would hazard a guess that this is where I lose most fans of the Rivers of America. Many are rightfully worried about loud googly-eyed zooming around the wild west. On its face, this Pixar franchise in Frontierland seems utterly discordant.
My view on this is that Imagineering has worked its magic in the past, taking movies and characters that seemed at odds with their respective parks and lands, and making them feel incredibly cohesive. We saw this with Pandora in Animal Kingdom, as well as arguably Frozen Ever After, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, and Cosmic Rewind in EPCOT. With the exception of the Rat Ride, all of those were met with fierce fan backlash when originally announced. (Especially Pandora–it was just mostly pre-social media, so many fans have forgotten or missed it entirely.)
While thematic cohesiveness of those additions is up for debate, my underlying point is that framing devices and choosing the right canvas can work wonders. In the case of Cars in Frontierland, they’ve picked Piston Peak National Park as the setting. This could work. It could work well! Better than Cars in Future World or Tomorrowland, if you ask me.
When it comes to matters of timeline, lore, setting or story, my perspective is more ‘relaxed’ than many fans. The frontier is an American spirit. That sense of rugged individualism, manifest destiny, big folklore, and western exploration–all of it is as much an ethos as it is an era.
As America gets older and the 1800s are further in the rearview mirror, the case could be made that the bygone era of the U.S. National Parks are part of that spirit. It was a different time in America, but one that embodied a similar sentiment as the “go west, young man” age. Our National Parks are America’s Best Idea, and their spirit and landscape is at home in the modern American understanding of the frontier.
The America of today is further removed from that automotive boom and heyday of the western ‘Great American Road Trip’ than Walt Disney was from the Old West when he dreamt up the concept of Frontierland. At least as far as the passage of time is concerned, the middle of the last century is already older than the Old West was in the 1950s. I could go on and on–and do here: Can the Cars Franchise Fit Frontierland?
But the thing about this is that it only works…if it works.
Pandora could’ve been a trainwreck; a jarring break from the harmonious areas of Animal Kingdom. Ditto all of the changes at EPCOT. You might even contend that some entries on that list were failures, not success stories. I’d argue that Walt Disney World has made plenty of other thematic missteps. Just because Cars can fit Frontierland does not mean it will.
Piston Peak National Park is the right setting, but Imagineers must now nail the design, landscape, soundscape–literally everything. It’s going to be a very tough needle to thread; far more difficult than choosing an obvious thematic fit for any given land. (Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway in Toontown, for example, had no such concerns; nobody is truly worried about Monstropolis being an eyesore in DHS.)
The bottom line is that if we’re losing the Rivers of America, it had better be worth it. The marquee Cars attraction needs to be as good as Radiator Springs Racers. The themed design of the area must be superlative and in keeping of the rugged spirit of Frontierland. The new area must have great kinetic energy and atmosphere.
Since this project was first announced, I’ve been reassured that Imagineering understands the assignment. The new Fun Map looks promising and Imagineering’s explanation of their inspiration and how they’re working to ensure thematic integrity and sightlines is promising.
This Cars miniland is in capable hands. The project team clearly loves Disney history, classic animation, and Walt Disney World as a whole. They “get it” and will do everything in their power to lovingly create a land worthy of the American West and spirit of Frontierland. They realize they cannot deliver two overly-short attractions, a sea of concrete and some trees, along with a concept that feels at-odds with Frontierland.
This has gotta be strong. They have to make the skeptics (like me) concede we were wrong about ever questioning the wisdom of replacing the Rivers of America. The hesitation for me at this point is that we’ve been burned many times in the past. Beautiful concept art to sell fans on projects, with the finished product being a sad shell of the promise. Budget cuts and value-engineering into oblivion. You get the idea.
If the finished Piston Peak looks like the Fun Map, it’s going to be a triumph that makes all the above concerns sound like the silly rantings of a lunatic. But that’s still an “if,” and a rather large one, at this point. Here’s hoping the executives get out of the way and give Imagineers the resources needed to make this essay sound idiotic in a few years. I’d love nothing more than to sound silly; this is one situation where looking idiotic would be a massive win.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
How do you feel about Walt Disney World retiring and replacing the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island with Cars? Has your opinion on Piston Peak evolved or improved at all since Imagineering revealed the Fun Map, plus more about sightlines and inspirations for the area? Do you think the two all-new Cars rides coming to Magic Kingdom are “worth it”? Do you agree or disagree with our sentiment? 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!
I echo Tom’s sentiments. To put things into perspective, I live 40 minutes from Hersheypark, but I only go there during Halloween and Christmas, because for me, it’s about enjoying the aesthetics and theming, not rushing around checking rides off my list. I can’t stand going any other time because it’s too crowded, the lines are too long, and there’s lack of visual thematic interest. In terms of WDW, Hollywood Studios is our least favorite park for the simple fact that it too lacks theming. We skip it entirely on some trips, and if we had to cut one park from our agenda, that’s always the one. I don’t want to feel like I’m wandering around concrete city blocks, and despite the incredible theming of Galaxy’s Edge, I’m not a SW fan. We like to immerse ourselves in the atmosphere, not a two-minute ride. This is why Rivers of America is our favorite part of Magic Kingdom. It’s an escape from the chaos and overcrowding of other areas of MK. I still don’t understand why Disney doesn’t flip-flop Villains Land and Cars Land. Villains could become an extention from Haunted Mansion, and Cars an extention from BTMR. There would even be a moat (Rivers) around Villains, which would also function as a cohesive element. At this point, we can’t stop the demolition, so we can only hope that Imagineering puts every ounce of careful thought and attention to detail into this project and gets it right.
“Guests feel the difference, even if they don’t realize it and it isn’t surfaced by satisfaction surveys.”
This is why it’s so important to trust your creatives (i.e. Imagineers) and not go solely on numbers and data – the intangibles are difficult, if not impossible, to measure with these sorts of metrics. But they make all the difference in creating that transportive sense of place that keeps people hooked and coming back. A point you make yourself, in italics, a few paragraphs later!!
I love the photo of Aunt Polly’s (RIP to the days it actually served food, too). I’ve seen a few BookTokers in Central Florida have a reading day at Magic Kingdom and they pretty much all went to Tom Sawyer Island and, specifically, Aunt Polly’s.
“I fear that this deceptive nature means we also won’t appreciate the full extent of what it offers until it’s gone.”
Soooo many puns to be made here about paving paradise and putting up a parking lot with the Cars Land of it all ….
But anyway, I also hope to be proven wrong when Cars Lands open in a few years and feel very silly for worrying about it!! Thank you, as always, for your thoughtful posts advocating for and articulating the spirit of Disney and creativity that made so many of us fall in love with the place.
While I agree that a good theme park is more than a collection of rides, evolution and progress are key features. As you suggest, Piston Peak could be great. Many of Disney’s newer spaces have created fantastic atmospheres.
In about 10 WDW trips over the last 15 years, I’ve done the Riverboat once and Tom Sawyer Island once.
Like you, I have many great photographs of the Rivers area. Loved watching the fireworks from that vicinity.
But I can’t object to better utilization with the space, hopefully while also creating great atmosphere.
“Better Use” is subjective.
“Better use” is subjective for an individual guest. It has many objective measures for Disney:
Does it better distribute crowds, does it sell more tickets, etc. Those are objective measures.
And guests benefit in ways harder to appreciate. With better utilization of space and crowd distribution, other parts of the park may feel less crowded. Lines could go down elsewhere in the park.
The under utilization of Rivers of America is objective fact. Even if subjectively, there are individual guests who prefer it that way.
Hi Tom and Sarah – Tom Sawyer Island is a key part of my memories in the 90s of Disney with my family (peanut butter sandwiches, running around and exploring the caves). Now that I visit with my almost 5 year old – I look for similar things. Moana’s water area in Epcot is one. Will t be planning more future posts on how your family chooses to navigate parks in a way to a fun day with a little person? my family does the parks for one or two days at a time (now about once annually or every other year- my dad lives in FL, so we don’t need/want to do full weeks there), we take an approach of doing less and finding the magic rather than packing more in. I’d love to read about your approach with a little person.
Whenever I think of Cars being added to Frontierland, I am reminded of the opening of the videogame Red Dead Redemption. The first thing you are shown as the main character arrives at his destination after the opening train ride is a car being lowered out of a boat. This is intentional. It is meant to be a striking visual that clashes with the notion of the traditional Western. It tells the viewer without words that the Old West is dead, and that ‘civilization’ is taking its place.
Automobiles, googly-eyed or not, simply have no place in Frontierland. They are antithetical to its nature. Cars are THE symbol of modernized, post-industrial America. The Frontier is not just a place, it is a time and a feeling. Piston Peak may be geographically Western, but it absolutely does not fit the tone of the Frontier. What is Frontierland now? It’s the Old West! Except it’s also the roaring twenties. Oh wait, actually it’s a modern-day fictional national park inhabited by talking cars! Well, then why is this ‘real’ runaway train right over there? Frontierland is being taken from the most thematically consistent land at Magic Kingdom, to a confused mess like Tomorrowland.
This argument about Frontierland’s thematic coherence went flying out the window as soon as they stuck Splash Mountain in there. The antebellum South has nothing to do with the Old West either other than some very uncomfortable philosophical underpinnings, and I think everyone can agree “Manifest Destiny” is probably not the the best concept to center a theme park land on.
Maybe they’ll put Stetsons on the cars?
Thanks for a thoughtful article. I’m one who doesn’t have nostalgic memories of the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island. We did both on our first visit in 2003, TSI mostly because the kids wanted to look for the hidden paintbrush you could turn in for a free paper Fast Pass. (I’d read about that.) Maybe because it was late August and very hot, or maybe because the cave had um, a very unpleasant smell, that was a one and done for them and they never wanted to go back on subsequent trips. We rode the Liberty Belle which was hot, smoky (yes, I know it’s only water vapor but still), and loud. No one was interested in that ever again, either. But I do go get your points about placemaking and “unnecessary details,” and share your hopes for Piston Peak.
I believe the Cars section is going to be beautifully themed and an asset to Magic Kingdom, but I will miss the River area. It was a place to slow down and catch your breath away from the crowds and noise. It’s my main issue with Hollywood Studios. There’s no place to “get away” except certain areas within restaurant seating areas. I think this is why I love Epcot so much, and why it is my favorite park. It has several “nooks” to escape in, to take a breath and allow my anxiety levels to dissipate for a little while. I’m glad Universal decided to put the “park” back into theme parks with Epic. The seating around the fountain is genius, and I like the small “get away” paths in Celestial Park. I envision lots of passholders chilling here with a coffee and a pizza in the cooler months. Theme parks need a place for visitors to breath, and the park execs should want these quiet, slowdown spots for their guests Happy people spend more money on merch and meals and don’t flood queues in a race to “check” every ride off multiple times. I worry Magic Kingdom will lose sight of this and guest satisfaction will drop even more.
Tom Sawyer Island being gone is disappointing, but losing the Rivers of America and the riverboat is just heartbreaking to me. I loved the ride; being in nature, getting a little peace and quiet. And the riverboat was never anything near empty, with lots of people enjoying it every time I rode. Disney could absolutely have done things differently here.
Disney got a lot of heat for saying they had an “unfavorable attendance mix”. Perhaps adjustments like these as their way of trying to force the issue, and get a “mix” of big-spending full families visiting less than a dozen times which is more to their liking. Let’s say there’s an AP or DVC person with a snarky “unfavorables” shirt, a lanyard of pins, and a headband so tight it gives them a headache. We can all picture such a person; we’ve seen them. Let’s say they going to WDW so often that they need to rely significantly on “non-ride attractions” to keep the experience fresh. Perhaps that’s a person who is just plainly going too often. Maybe they should do more mini-golf, water park, visit the hotels more, or play more GOLF. Or, give more time to the many many other things which Central Florida has to offer them.
I’m with WDW management on this one. Tom Sawyer Island is too similar to the generic trails and rebuilt forts at many many state parks around the USA. It’s not distinctly Disney enough. If it had been fashioned into a Snow White forest and that cave path had been a “dwarf mine”, then sure, save it. But that’s not what happened. Instead, that idea was folded into Seven Dwarves Mine Train. For those yearning for an “escape”, as if Magic Kingdom is the nine rings of Dante’s Divine Comedy… the park does have exits, and re-entry is allowed, after sanity is fully regained.
One of our European friends stated it well when they told us that “Americans always have to be doing something, whereas Europeans just enjoy being there.” We have traditionally taken the later approach with our vacations. We find it’s a healthier approach for our body and mind. One of the things that has made Disney special to us is the beauty and ambience of its parks. A theme park that has nothing to offer but a series of rides to be checked off a list is going to be a once or twice in a lifetime visit for us. These attractions don’t change and become boring for us after a handful of times on the attraction. I understand Disney wanting to change out Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island. These spaces were underutilized, and the maintenance costs were high. After seeing the renderings of Piston Peak, I am hopeful that the new area maintains some of the visual beauty of Rivers of America. Like another commenter on this article, we are bird lovers, and hope to continue seeing the egrets, ibis, great blue herons, etc., that we have been fortunate to see at Rivers of America over the years.
What will be lost here is beauty. Sadly, the park will never again be as beautiful without Rivers of America and its immediate surroundings.
Tom, you write that when it comes to the “Magic Kingdom or even EPCOT…the bones are so good that it’s hard to imagine any single misguided decision dooming the park.” Well, what if they took out the castle? From the standpoint of aesthetic appeal, this is the next-worst thing they could do (perhaps aside from taking out Main Street). Frontierland was always my favorite of the lands, and Rivers of America was the heart of that.
As for Tom Sawyer Island, that is a different kind of loss. It was perhaps the most important attraction in the park among children between the ages of about 4 to 10. Among them (were they asked), I suspect guest surveys would show almost off-the-charts satisfaction scores. And those are the ages during which lifelong attractions to the park are most intensely formed.
When I heard Piston Peaks would have water features, some of my misgivings were allayed. As a bird lover, I’m hoping the ibises & egrets still frequent the area.
I saved many of this article’s photos so I can put them in my desktop THM PRX folder, which I sometimes use as a screensaver when I’m not running my anime screensaver. There’s a lot of Tom’s photos in there. They’re much better than my own; I’m a terrible photographer. But I rarely bring a camera to the parks or even have my phone on.
It rings true about some people being dismissive of Disney Adults (& adult fans of theme parks in general). I’ve read a lot of Berlitz & Monocle travel guides over the years for some “armchair traveling” & they gloss over theme parks as “Oh, & here’s a place to take your kids” & then move on after that one sentence. They think adults just want to see historical Roman villas in the lake region of Italy, & quickly mentioned a couple of theme parks. I looked up the Italian theme parks’ websites & they sound really cool & like something I’d like to visit as opposed to just seeing one Roman villa after another. The authors of those Berlitz & Monocle guides can be such snobs!
I’m not too worried. If ride roster was all WDW cared about then we wouldn’t have Galaxy’s Edge and Pandora opening with only two attractions each and tons of placemaking (which plenty of people complain about — why not more rides???). Piston Peak looks to be headed in the same promising direction. I love that the riverfront promenade seems to be intact in the latest concept art, only now the thing on the other side of that water will be something most people actually want to do. TSI and Liberty Belle were fine for what they were, but they fall into the same category as Hall of Presidents for me — things I remember from my youth and I’m glad exist(ed) but that I didn’t much enjoy. It shouldn’t be a binary choice: we can have both wonderful placemaking AND enjoyable/popular attractions at the same time! Hopefully Piston Peak does both.
It’s not worth saving. If you want to experience all Rivers of America has to offer visit Disneyland. You’ll find it in California. And Tokyo and Paris.
Tom – beautiful pictures. We have been on Liberty Square Riverboat multiple times over the years as it has been a must do on every trip. Sadly we never did it at night so we don’t have pictures as beautiful as the ones you shared with us. We will have to enjoy through your post. Thank you for keeping the memories alive.
I’ve been going to Walt Disney World at least annually from 1990 until three years ago when we moved to Central Florida. Now I go at least once per month. In the last 5 years I’ve been to TSI once and that was within the last 6 months. I’ve also only been on riverboat once in that time and that was years ago. Yes, ROA provides a great aesthetic, but I don’t think that my experience is unusual. Disney is looking at vastly under utilized attractions and asking “why are we still operating these?” Great aesthetics is not a good enough reason. It’s just not.
Walt more or less said it, the parks are not museums.
Though….if you want to rile up Disney fans….change something, even if it’s something they rarely do.
Disney have removed many children’s play areas from all the parks. The removal of Rivers of America is a logical next step in this sad campaign.
This is an ethos that sees every square foot of space as something to be to be monitized for revenue. Every scenic view needs to be developed; upsold as a spot for a Photopass interaction or dessert party.
I find it highly depressing to be honest.
Admittedly we did not go on Tom Sawyer’s Island or Liberty Square Riverboat during our trip in June. We did, however, gladly take in the respite of the Rivers of America. We needed that break to stroll through for some serenity. It’s a vibe. And we will sadly miss its beauty. Echoing the sentiment: it better be worth it.
Without wanting to overphilosophise, I once read that the definition of music is “sound and silence organised in time”. It stuck with me as neither sound nor silence alone create music. It sounds very similar to the argument you make above about the spaces between the attractions in theme parks.
That’s an excellent analogy–I need to remember that one for future use, as it really helps underscore this point.
“Theme parks are not just the sum of their ride rosters, to be raced around and checked off one by one. They are as much defined by the spaces in between; by the absence of attractions, too.”
“My view is that great placemaking, themed design, and those “unnecessary” details are precisely what makes Disney, Disney. We all have so many superlatives for why Walt Disney World is a special place, and it usually isn’t just a ride roster. It’s the little things that elevate the theme parks to an art form. It’s precisely what makes us the source of ridicule for outsiders who dismiss Disney as “kids stuff” and us as adults with juvenile interests.”
Thank you for getting it and saying it better than I ever could!
You said it pretty good as well.
I too love the ‘non-ride’ attraction of the park. Sometimes I just walk up and down main street enjoying the scenery, and the architecture. I’m really going to miss the beautiful boat and the “Rivers” ride.