Credit: Jennifer Lynn, FlickrAs of Monday, September 29, 2025, the former Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island are now fully concealed from Magic Kingdom Park guests. According to Disney Park guest reports, Walt Disney World Resort has installed construction walls, scrims, and other barricades around the entire riverwalk area in Liberty Square and Frontierland.
At D23 Expo 2024, Walt Disney World Resort announced plans to replace the Rivers of America, Tom Sawyer Island, and the Liberty Square Riverboat with two Cars (2006) attractions. Disney Parks fans later learned that the new area will be called Piston Peak National Park and feature two rides: a family-friendly experience and a thrilling rally race.
The Rivers of America, Liberty Belle, and Tom Sawyer Island welcomed their final Magic Kingdom Park guests in early July. Soon after, Walt Disney Imagineers were spotted tagging props on Tom Sawyer Island for either archival preservation or destruction, and guests observed the water levels in the Rivers of America slowly dropping. Construction equipment filled the riverbed, extending from the Haunted Mansion to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. The Liberty Square Riverboat moved to a maintenance dock backstage, its future uncertain.
Aerial look at former Tom Sawyer Island. Rivers of America is being drained.
Aerial look at former Tom Sawyer Island. Rivers of America is being drained. pic.twitter.com/vDUpR0PJOp
— bioreconstruct (@bioreconstruct) August 16, 2025
Throughout September, scaffolding and scrim appeared around the edge of the dried Rivers of America, suggesting that Walt Disney World Resort was gearing up to conceal the remaining demolition and construction from Magic Kingdom Park guests. Over the weekend, Inside the Magic reported that construction walls and scrim had appeared around parts of the former waterway in Liberty Square and Frontierland.
Now, Disney Park guests say that the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island are completely concealed. On Monday, WDWNT reported that the existing gray construction walls in Liberty Square now connect to a tall brown scrim on the border of Frontierland. That scrim continues throughout the wooden pier, and guests can still use it to travel throughout the area.
The scrim-wrapped scaffolding sits in the riverbed, so wooden structures, netting, and other rustic theming leading to the dock to Tom Sawyer Island are still visible to guests. There are a few gaps between the scrim and wooden construction walls, but bushes and other landscaping are all that’s visible through them.
Brown construction walls connect to the scrim near Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, near the dock where guests once boarded rafts to Tom Sawyer Island. Disney Park guests report that some buildings on Tom Sawyer Island are still visible from a distance, especially when standing slightly uphill near the entrance to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
Walt Disney World Resort hasn’t announced an exact grand opening date for Piston Peak National Park at the Magic Kingdom. Simultaneously, Walt Disney Imagineers are developing a Disney Villains land in the area “beyond Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.” Together, these two projects mark the largest-ever expansion to the Magic Kingdom, vastly improving the footprint of the original Central Florida Disney park.
Do you agree with Walt Disney World Resort’s decision to replace the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island with Piston Peak National Park? Inside the Magic would love to hear your thoughts in the comments!