Disney says permits will soon be filed to begin work on Magic Kingdom's 'Beyond Big Thunder Mountain' expansion

Apr 04, 2024 in "Magic Kingdom"

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Beyond Big Thunder Mountain Blue Sky concept art

Posted: Thursday April 4, 2024 11:00am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

In a recent presentation to invited reporters at Walt Disney Imagineering in Glendale, California, earlier this week, the company confirmed that plans are moving forward with the 'Beyond Big Thunder Mountain' expansion at Magic Kingdom.

Specifically, Michael Hundgen, VP, Walt Disney World Portfolio at Walt Disney Imagineering said that permits would soon be filed for preliminary work on the site. The plans will likely be Water Management District permits, typically required before large projects break ground.

The yellow area indicates the approximate area of the project

According to the Blue Sky concept unveiled by Parks head Josh D'Amaro, the new land behind Big Thunder Mountain at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom would include Disney animation IPs, including Coco, Encanto, and villains.

Beyond Big Thunder Mountain Blue Sky concept art

We expect to hear more about the Magic Kingdom expansion at the upcoming D23 Fan Event in August 2024.

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IncomudroAug 15, 2024

Excellent article.

IncomudroAug 15, 2024

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea...

DisoneAug 15, 2024

I could live with the above. Although as the following article states it seems odd that with the blessing of slides they would need to get rid of rivers of America. With the blessing of size it seemed like they would not need to get rid of anything. How about for once we just genuinely add? Apologies of this article is not typically allowed but it's such a good article. Spot on. https://www.frommers.com/blogs/arthur-frommer-online/blog_posts/disney-is-about-to-gut-magic-kingdom-fans-are-furious-and-you-don-t-have-much-time?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=user%2FFrommersMag&fbclid=IwY2xjawErSgBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHXAyq0g9od8Bk40SLDhCBvMSb-DzChXC5TVSsJw-7VU4g-iB0ij6ceT5GQ_aem_eUxZdCAmtbxFYB7CYHMEiQ

BuzzedPotatoHead89Aug 14, 2024

TDO won’t do that, don’t worry. It’ll sooner sit there as an empty plot of unused land a la Primeval Whirl, Tron, Animation Courtyard, or huge sections of EPCOT even if they delay the Villains project. Then they can chalk the savings to deferred construction costs.

UNCgolfAug 14, 2024

I don't know why anyone would even want to keep the back half -- the part that creates the waterfront at FL/LS is the only part that's really important. If they're going to eliminate that, go ahead and eliminate all of it and then create some new water features that fit into Villains (or whatever else eventually gets built up there).

Ghost93Aug 14, 2024

I don't like all of this chatter about keeping part of ROA because I have a feeling if that happened there would be less space for the Villain land (which I want to be as big as possible).

Haymarket2008Aug 14, 2024

It certainly looks like that could be a possibility when looking at the concept art.

DisoneAug 13, 2024

Me wonders if there's any opportunity at all to keep the back half of the rivers of America?

BocabearAug 12, 2024

not only losing the charm of the riverboat and the water, but spatially this area along the riverfront is going to feel very compressed visually... There will effectively be a visual stop just beyond the roadway where the river is... It will feel much more enclosed ...without that openness that the ROA and TSI bring, it may also have less air movement and be hotter.... So I imagine it will be a view similar to the view from Fantasyland looking at 7DMT... a fence barrier and rockwork and trees....

SirLinkAug 12, 2024

I will say this when someone says beyond big thunder, it sounds like it should expand beyond the berm but from recent developments it sounds like it won't which is why this Blue Sky pitch idea in 2022 was stupid.

SupernovaAug 12, 2024

I really need to see the sight lines for this from guest level at liberty square and Frontierland. An aerial makes it difficult to judge. If they can nail some beautiful views - a potential new mountain - and hide the cars from those sidelines in the park, I’ll feel more relaxed about this. Losing the charm of the riverboat is pretty devastating. As others have said, it’s not all about “riding” the riverboat, or making it out to the island. Just walking by and looking at it made me feel so content and immersed in that Disney magic

J4546Aug 12, 2024

Its really a Trucks land imo but we dont really know if there will be any type of cadillac range equivalent or not. we also dont know how much is outdoors....we really dont know much yet.

MerlinTheGoatAug 12, 2024

The art of the Cars miniland they're building at MK looks significantly less entertaining and massively less visually impressive than the DCA variant, even within the different environment. One of the big things that made the original Cars Land so incredible was the impressively large and well themed Cadillac Range. There's pretty much nothing to compare with that in MK's iteration aside from a relatively small mesa/hill/mountain looking thing awkwardly crammed up against the Frontierland/Liberty Square walkway. Not to mention the absence of the connecting Radiator Springs town. The original RSR also had a lengthy and impressive interior dark ride portion inside at the beginning taking up about half of the ride time, whereas this MK variant seems to be almost completely outside. There's an extremely small tunnel segment shown crossing underneath the track in one area, so maybe a couple seconds worth of an interior. I suspect it will still be compared to DCA's variant and considered the lesser experience regardless of it being "different".