Credit: DisneyFrontierland at Magic Kingdom is becoming a very different place.
Some of the changes are enormous. Entire attractions and landscapes have disappeared, major construction is underway, and Disney is preparing to bring a completely new experience into an area that remained largely familiar for decades.
Other changes are much smaller.
But when you put everything together, it becomes increasingly difficult to describe what is happening at Frontierland as anything other than an overhaul.
Now, Disney has confirmed another adjustment inside the land, this time involving McKim’s Mile House, the Disney Vacation Club Member Lounge that only opened in 2025.
The change isn’t nearly as dramatic as the construction happening elsewhere in Frontierland. Still, it comes as Disney continues reshaping nearly every corner of this side of Magic Kingdom.
And the biggest changes haven’t even arrived yet.
Disney Changes McKim’s Mile House Hours Again
Disney Vacation Club has adjusted the daily operating schedule for McKim’s Mile House.
The Frontierland lounge is now scheduled to operate from 10:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. each day. Previously, Disney had been operating the location from 11:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m.
That means members can now enter the lounge one hour earlier, but they’ll also lose the final hour of evening access.
This is already the second operating-hours adjustment since McKim’s Mile House opened. Disney extended the lounge’s hours in January 2026 before making this latest change.
For eligible Disney Vacation Club members, the lounge provides a place to get away from the crowds and Florida heat during a Magic Kingdom day.
Inside, members can find comfortable seating, complimentary soft drinks, Wi-Fi, charging cords upon request and Member Services Advisors. Access remains first-come, first-served for eligible DVC members and their guests. Members need a valid Membership Card and matching photo ID to enter.
McKim’s Mile House sits near Country Bear Musical Jamboree, placing it directly in the middle of a Frontierland that has already experienced several substantial changes.
Disney opened the lounge in March 2025, creating a location inspired by the historic mile houses of the American West. Its name also pays tribute to Disney Legend Sam McKim, who worked as a concept artist on the original Frontierland at Disneyland.
Changing the hours of a DVC lounge wouldn’t normally qualify as a major Frontierland story.
The timing makes it more interesting.
Frontierland Is Already Deep Into Its Transformation
To understand the bigger picture, you have to look beyond McKim’s Mile House.
Disney has spent the last few years updating Frontierland, and the land guests experience today is already significantly different from the one that existed just a few years ago.
Country Bear Jamboree was one of the first major pieces to change.
The original Magic Kingdom show closed in January 2024 and was replaced by Country Bear Musical Jamboree later that year. The new production kept the familiar bear characters but introduced a completely different show built around Nashville-style versions of Disney songs.
Then came Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
Splash Mountain had permanently closed in 2023, ending one of Frontierland’s most recognizable experiences. Disney transformed the attraction into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, bringing Princess Tiana, Louis and other characters into the former Splash Mountain space.
The attraction opened in 2024 and pushed this section of Frontierland toward a Louisiana setting.
McKim’s Mile House followed in 2025.
And Disney wasn’t finished.
Big Thunder Mountain Just Received a Massive Refurbishment
One of Frontierland’s biggest projects involved an attraction that Disney decided to keep.
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad closed in January 2025 for an extensive refurbishment that lasted well into 2026.
Disney didn’t simply give the attraction a quick cosmetic refresh.
The project included new track and refreshed passenger trains while giving Disney the opportunity to renew one of Magic Kingdom’s signature attractions for years to come. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad reopened on May 3, 2026.
Disney also added new story elements to the attraction, expanding the mythology surrounding Big Thunder and the mysterious forces lurking inside the mountain.
That refurbishment is particularly important when looking at the future of Frontierland.
Disney is essentially rebuilding the area around Big Thunder Mountain while keeping the coaster as one of its anchors.
And directly beside it, an even larger transformation has started.
Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island Are Gone
This is where the Frontierland overhaul becomes impossible to miss.
Disney permanently closed the Rivers of America, Tom Sawyer Island and the Liberty Square Riverboat in July 2025.
For decades, that enormous body of water helped define the western side of Magic Kingdom. Guests could take the riverboat around Tom Sawyer Island, explore the island itself or simply look across the water from Frontierland and Liberty Square.
That entire landscape is now being transformed.
Disney confirmed that the area will become Piston Peak National Park, a new section inspired by Pixar’s Cars (2006).
Rather than recreating Radiator Springs from Disney California Adventure, Walt Disney Imagineering is building an original setting designed specifically for Magic Kingdom.
Disney has said Piston Peak will continue the geographic storytelling that moves guests westward from Liberty Square through Frontierland. The new landscape will include rugged mountains, waterways, trees and other natural elements intended to connect the new area with its surroundings.
This isn’t a small addition squeezed behind existing attractions.
It is a fundamental reconstruction of a huge portion of Magic Kingdom.
Two New Cars Attractions Are Coming
Piston Peak National Park will also give Frontierland two new attractions.
The centerpiece will be a major off-road rally attraction.
Disney has described the experience as a race through rugged terrain where vehicles will climb mountain trails, navigate the wilderness and dodge geysers. Disney’s original announcement positioned the attraction as an entirely new Cars adventure rather than a duplicate of Radiator Springs Racers.
A second attraction will target families and younger guests.
That gives the transformed area something Frontierland didn’t previously have in this location: two attractions replacing the former river, island and riverboat experience.
The physical impact should be enormous.
Concept art has shown a dramatically altered western edge of Magic Kingdom, with mountains and natural scenery replacing much of the wide-open river view that defined the area for generations.
Disney has also explained that trees will help create a natural barrier between the rally attraction and neighboring portions of Frontierland and Liberty Square.
When Piston Peak eventually opens, walking through Frontierland will be a considerably different experience.
And even that isn’t the end of Magic Kingdom’s western expansion.
Villains Land Is Rising Beyond Frontierland
Beyond Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Disney is preparing another massive project.
Villains Land is coming to Magic Kingdom.
While Disney treats the Villains project as its own new land rather than simply another Frontierland attraction, its location beyond Big Thunder makes it an important part of the transformation happening on this side of the park.
Disney has confirmed that Villains Land will feature two major attractions along with dining and shopping.
That means Frontierland will eventually become a pathway toward an entirely new destination.
Instead of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad sitting near the outer edge of Magic Kingdom, the coaster will effectively become part of the transition toward another massive expansion beyond it.
Combined with Piston Peak, that’s a remarkable amount of development concentrated around one portion of the park.
This Is Much Bigger Than One Frontierland Change
The latest adjustment at McKim’s Mile House is admittedly minor compared with everything happening around it.
Disney Vacation Club members will simply have a different window for accessing the lounge, with the doors opening at 10:00 a.m. and closing at 7:00 p.m.
But the location itself is part of a much larger story.
Over the span of only a few years, Disney has replaced Splash Mountain with Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, reimagined Country Bear Jamboree, opened McKim’s Mile House, completed a major Big Thunder Mountain Railroad refurbishment and permanently removed the Rivers of America, Tom Sawyer Island and Liberty Square Riverboat.
Now, Piston Peak National Park is coming with two Cars attractions.
Beyond Big Thunder Mountain, Villains Land will eventually add two more major attractions alongside new dining and shopping.
There are pieces of classic Frontierland that remain, but the overall experience is changing dramatically.
That’s why “overhaul” doesn’t feel like an exaggeration anymore.
Disney isn’t simply adding one attraction to Frontierland or refreshing a few aging buildings. The company is changing attractions, replacing major pieces of the landscape, introducing new stories and developing an enormous expansion around the land.
McKim’s Mile House changing its hours is just the latest adjustment.
The real Frontierland story is much bigger.
By the time Disney finishes everything currently planned around this portion of Magic Kingdom, guests could walk into a Frontierland surrounded by experiences that either didn’t exist or looked completely different only a few years earlier.
Magic Kingdom’s frontier is moving forward, and Disney has already made it clear that some of its biggest changes are still ahead.
