Disney

Lamenting an Old Favorite? What Is Really Around the Corner at Magic Kingdom

Tom Sawyer Island is gone. Here is what Disney has announced for the space, what one patent hints at, and what nobody has said yet.

Todd Ruffner-Schoenfeld Editor in chief. A knack for the fine print. 4 Nov 2026 8 min read 21 sources E.G. v4.18

A wide view of Tom Sawyer Island and the Rivers of America at Magic Kingdom, the historic area being cleared and drained for the Cars and Villains expansions. — Photo: Chad Sparkes, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Liberty Square Riverboat, the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island closed for good on July 7, 2025. Sunday, July 6 was the last day. The Rivers of America was there when Magic Kingdom opened in 1971, and Tom Sawyer Island opened in 1973, according to WDWNT. If that island was your quiet spot in the park, you know what went with it. By November 2025, Disney Tourist Blog’s aerial photos showed every building on the island gone.

So what is coming? Disney calls it part of the largest expansion in the history of Magic Kingdom. At D23 on August 15, 2026, it named the two rides going into Piston Peak National Park, the new Cars land in Frontierland, and it shared more about two rides in Villains Land. Neither D23’s recap nor Disney’s own posts gave an opening date for any of them. Below, I keep what Disney has said apart from what is a guess, and I say which is which.

Cars: Ridge Run Rally

Ridge Run Rally is the off-road race. Disney Parks Blog says riders climb Piston Peak to an icy, snow-covered summit, drop down a camelback descent, go through a geyser field and circle the Old Tankfull geyser before a sprint to the finish, where Lightning McQueen and Mater call the race.

The vehicle, in Disney’s words. Disney says Ridge Run Rally will have a completely new ride vehicle, “designed not to simulate an off-road car, but to be one.” Michael Hundgen, Disney’s vice president of creative for Walt Disney World, promised riders will “feel every bump, drop, and rock because this vehicle’s tires and suspension are truly driving over and reacting to them.” On weather, Imagineer Jason Grandt said at D23 that the ride is designed to operate in the rain, Blog Mickey reported. The note that it will still close for lightning is Blog Mickey’s, not Disney’s.

How it is guided. Disney has said little. In March 2025 Imagineers said on the “We Call It Imagineering” video series that the “vehicle will steer itself through a track system,” Blog Mickey reported. At D23, Imagineer Jason Grandt told Disney Tourist Blog it is a new ride system but not a trackless one, and that the side-by-side racing in the earlier concept art is gone in favor of a single track. Those are the blog’s words, not Grandt’s.

A patent, and only a guess. Disney Enterprises filed US 2026/0072453 A1, “Ride system featuring a free-range vehicle platform,” on September 11, 2024. It was published on March 12, 2026. It describes ride vehicles that move over uneven terrain, follow a guide wire and answer to a fleet controller that can override what riders do with the steering. The patent says the wire may sit below the surface, on it or above it. The patent text does not mention Cars or Magic Kingdom. WDWMagic said it “could be the technology behind the main rally race attraction,” and added, “These are patent applications, not confirmation of what will be built.” Disney has not said this is the ride, so I would treat it as a lead and not as a description.

Still unsaid. Disney’s D23 posts do not give a top speed, a ride length, an hourly capacity, a height requirement or an opening date. For scale only, Mickey Visit lists Radiator Springs Racers at 40 miles per hour and Test Track at 64.9.

Miss Fritter’s Daredevil Spin-Along

Hundgen announced the second Piston Peak ride at D23. Miss Fritter, the demolition derby champion from Cars 3, will be a “huge school-bus-sized animatronic” who hosts her “wildest demolition derby yet,” Disney Parks Blog says. Disney has said no more than that about it. Nothing official covers the vehicles or how the ride works. From the scale model, Disney Tourist Blog expects something like Cars Quatre Roues Rallye at Disneyland Paris, with cars spinning while they move between turntables. That is a guess.

Villains Land: The Maleficent Coaster

Villains Land is the other half of the expansion. Disney says Imagineers are working on it “beyond Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.” It was announced at D23 in 2024 with two major rides, and at D23 this August Disney shared more. On the Maleficent coaster, riders will “race through enchanted briar surrounding her frightening mountaintop fortress.” Imagineers “teased that this coaster will include elements they’ve never attempted before on similar attractions.” No details have come out on what those elements are, what the train looks like or how the track is laid out. Anything beyond that is rumor.

Red-orange rock spires and a wooden trestle of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad against a clear blue sky at Magic Kingdom. — Photo: HarshLight, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Magic Mirror Dark Ride

The second Villains Land ride is a dark ride. Guests find the Magic Mirror in the catacombs beneath the Evil Queen’s palace, and he carries them to the other side of the mirror to see Disney Villains. Disney says “a combination of special effects and physical set pieces” will bring it to life. The ride vehicle is a blank, so any talk of boats or motion bases is a guess until Disney shows it.

The Floor I Keep Hoping Disney Builds

Nothing Disney has announced puts HoloTile in Magic Kingdom, and I want that clear before anything else. It is in this story because it is the Imagineering invention I keep hoping shows up in one of the parks, and the Magic Mirror ride is the kind of space where I can picture it.

In January 2024 Disney’s research team introduced HoloTile, a modular floor built from tiles that lets several people walk in different directions without leaving the pad. TechSpot reported that it can also move objects, and that Smoot rode across it on a chair. The Disney Research Fellow working on it is Lanny Smoot, who holds more than 100 patents. Disney says he was named to the National Inventors Hall of Fame class of 2024, the first Disney Imagineer to receive that honor, and describes HoloTile as a floor that lets many people share a VR experience and can also serve as a stage insert.

Where it goes next is the open question. Nobody has announced HoloTile for a ride, a show or a park. Disney describes the Magic Mirror ride as a mix of special effects and physical set pieces, and the floor under the guests is not part of what it has shared. A set where a group could wander in any direction is what I hope for in a room like that. It is only a hope. I watched the demo, and I found it mesmerizing. I think it is a giant leap forward for VR. It reminds me of the kind of floor a Star Trek holosuite might use.

Still Open: Water, the Train and Noise

Water comes first. A South Florida Water Management District permit, No. 48-115133-P, was filed October 13 and approved December 12, 2025, for the Cars and Villains Land work, WDWNT reported. It covers 33.15 acres, drainage lines and a new dry detention pond that empties into the L-407 canal, which used to connect to the Rivers of America. The river is not gone entirely. Disney’s own post says a “calming waterway” will run across from Grizzly Hall. Disney Tourist Blog saw a retaining wall going up in March 2026 for what it called a creek, and estimated it would be less than half the size of the old waterfront.

The train comes second. The Walt Disney World Railroad has run as a shuttle between Main Street and Fantasyland since July 7, 2025, because its Frontierland station closed that day. It was shut completely from September 28, 2026 for a refurbishment, and Disney Tourist Blog reported it open again on October 29. The sources I checked do not say when the full loop comes back. For comparison, when TRON Lightcycle / Run was built, the railroad closed in December 2018 and did not reopen until December 23, 2022.

Noise is third. Disney says trees will form a natural barrier between the off-road rally and the rest of Frontierland and Liberty Square. Liberty Square is a quiet part of the park, so how well that works is worth watching once the ride is running.

That is where things stand. Disney has given us names, a route for the race, a few quotes and a closing date. We still do not know how the Cars vehicle is guided beyond “a track system,” what the coaster will be, or when any of it opens.

Last checked November 4, 2026.

Sources & Further Reading

Reported and edited to HeadLines Decoded newsroom standards. E.G. v4.18 · I.R.G. v1.14 · L.R.G. v1.9 · P.L.G. v1.10.

Editor written. AI used for spelling and grammar only.

Written by Todd Ruffner-Schoenfeld Editor in chief. A knack for the fine print.

Todd Ruffner-Schoenfeld has spent his working life being handed things he did not yet understand. He started at the bottom, a developer in a bullpen, and worked his way up to running IT. The places were a strange assortment: consulting firms, accounting firms, a biotech startup, a tech startup in Silicon Valley and, of all places, Chiquita. Four small businesses of his own along the way. The work never really changed. Get into something unfamiliar, find out what is actually going on, and help someone make a hard decision with it. HeadLines Decoded is that job, pointed at the news.