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Tom Sawyer Island Transformation Underway as Magic Kingdom Clears the Way for Piston Peak National Park
The days of rafting over to Tom Sawyer Island for a quiet escape in Magic Kingdom are officially behind us. New aerial photos from bioreconstruct on X reveal that Walt Disney World has completely cleared the iconic island—trees, caves, and even the old riverbed—making way for the next chapter in Frontierland’s evolution: Piston Peak National Park and Villains Land.
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From above, the changes are dramatic. The winding paths and shady trees that once gave the island its frontier charm are gone, replaced by wide swaths of exposed dirt and construction vehicles. The island’s once-uneven terrain has been leveled out, flattening the land to match the former bottom of Rivers of America. The underground caves and play areas have been demolished, and even the Liberty Square Riverboat’s old track system has been mostly removed, leaving only the dock as a lone reminder of the island’s past.
The cleared space will form the foundation for Piston Peak National Park, a Cars and Planes: Fire & Rescue-inspired area that will bring the world of Pixar to Magic Kingdom for the first time. The project marks one of the largest land transformations in park history, replacing an opening-day classic with a fully new themed zone packed with energy and storytelling potential.
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And while Villains Land—set to rise “beyond” Big Thunder Mountain—is still just a dusty patch of earth, its proximity to the cleared island makes it clear this entire side of the park is entering a bold new phase. The calm waters and rustic trails of Tom Sawyer Island are giving way to something bigger, bolder, and very different.
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