Tomorrow, July 6, will be the final day for Walt Disney World visitors to enjoy one of the most beautiful theme park attractions in the world.
The Magic Kingdom's Rivers of America.
Surrounding Tom Sawyer Island and navigated by the Liberty Belle riverboat, the Rivers of America flows alongside to Liberty Square and Frontierland on the west side of Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. Disney is closing these attractions on Monday to clear space for a connection to the upcoming Villains land that it is building behind Big Thunder Mountain. The space also will be home to two Cars-themed attractions that will be decorated to evoke national parks in the Rocky Mountains.
As many Theme Park Insider readers might know, Tom Sawyer Island was my favorite Disney attraction as a child and it was the first attraction that I worked as a Walt Disney World cast member. In the 1990s, I published a tribute page to Tom Sawyer Island that evolved into the Theme Park Insider website that you are reading now.
Tomorrow, I will publish my final goodbye to TSI. But for now, please enjoy this video tour of the Rivers of America, recorded from the Liberty Belle.
To keep up to date with more Disney and theme park news, please sign up for Theme Park Insider's weekly newsletter.
I’m not crying you’re crying. Tomorrow is my birthday and I wish I could be there to walk the paths one last time (wipes tear from cheek)
Just will not be the same....
Nothing says 4th of July like a big company ruining their brand for the sake of the Almighty dollar.
I was at MK on Thursday and Saturday and was surprised to see the ride was a walk on, both days. Certainly yesterday (5th) I was expecting a lot more people, but then I thought, just how many of the visitors actually know it's closing?
It's a shame the vast majority of the passholders can't visit today. I realise they would have ridden the Liberty Belle before being blocked out, but Disney should have opened up Sunday to give them one last chance to celebrate the riverboat's final day.
I wonder where the Liberty Belle will end up ?? Hopefully not in pieces on a burning wood pile :(
If you still keep spending money at Disney you show them you are okay with whatever they are doing. Now tear it down and build something you can monetize the hell out of.
I love this island more than anyone, but it's time for this to go. There are better versions of in paris, tokyo, and anaheiem.
It was also time for the muppets to go.
It's alot of space and dated.
Go hiking in chatatanooga if you want to be out in nature. Great caverns, bridges, and waterfalls there.
What upsets me most is the loss of "beauty." I get it, people didn't ride it. But I would argue people would have flocked to it with more chairs, a dixieland jazz band/singers on board and some promotion.
Whenever I hear that Disney is replacing an old ride and hear the predictable criticisms, I ask myself, what would the reaction be if Disney announced that they were building it today? Disney knows that the crowd pleasers are the high tech or high energy rides like Rise of the Resistance or Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway. Imagine that Disney announced that it is dedicating a substantial part of the park to what is basically a large, inaccessible garden with a river through it where you sit on a boat and watch the world go by. Yawn.
Dumbest thing they have done. The slow, quaint areas of the park are what elevates the WDW parks. It absolutely will impact my visiting. They even have plenty of land, but they would rather build more predatory time shares than a fifth gate.
Seeing it all in Disneyland only proves how much it's needed. Hopefully that version stays.
Eh who cares. MK is just a copy of Disneyland with a bigger castle anyways. It's good to see them adding something fresh.
It’s a shame, but sadly many walked by and never went on the rides. I am more concerned for the wildlife, not the alligators but the owl that was seen at the dock for the riverboat
I cannot get myself enraged about this. MK's Rivers of America is comfortably the ugliest at any Disney park and the replacement looks to be both better looking and a way better use of the space.
You must be registered and logged in to submit a comment.
Vandalism.