The Complicated Reason We're Not Sold on the New Cars Land at Magic Kingdom | the disney food blog (2025)

Magic Kingdom’s Frontierland has seen massive changes over the last year, but the change is just getting started!

Over the summer of 2024, Frontierland welcomed Tiana’s Bayou Adventure along with an updated version of The Country Bear Jamboree. But that is not all the changes happening in Frontierland. The Frontierland Shootin Arcade closed to make way for a Disney Vacation Club Member lounge, and Big Thunder Mountain has also closed for a lengthy refurbishment as it is not set to re-open until 2026.

But wait, there is more! The Rivers of America, along with Tom Sawyer Island, are set to close to make way for the Carsexpansion. While we are all for Magic Kingdom getting new attractions, there is a complicated reason why we are not entirely sold on this new area of the park.

Magic Kingdom is home to six themed lands: Main Street, U.S.A., Tomorrowland, Adventureland, Fantasyland, Liberty Square, and Frontierland. Each of these lands sticks to its theming, so we have to ask why cars are being added to the land that represents the American Frontier?

Train? Check. Riverboat? Check. Mine train? Check. A western-themed show where bears sing? Check. A churro cart themed as a wagon? Check. But motor vehicles in the time period of the American Frontier? Now, that may be pushing it a little bit.

In case you missed it, it was announced that a new Cars expansion would be coming to the Magic Kingdom and would feature two new attractions. It was later confirmed that the new area would take the place of Tom Sawyer Island and the Rivers of America, which are currently part of Frontierland.While we had a feeling that Tom Sawyer Island would be receiving some sort of change, we did not expect the Cars franchise to be moving into the land of the Frontier.

Josh D’Amaro, the Chairman of Disney Experiences for the Walt Disney Company, said, “The American West has always been about keeping your eyes on the horizon … believing in yourself, carving your own path, and striving toward success. That goes for miners in the mountains, bears from the country, a princess from the bayou … or a race car from the big city.”

Disney did note that this new area will not be a clone of Radiator Springs like the Cars Land in Disney California Adventure but instead be a new story that seems to be more Western-themed. One of the attractions is set to be a rally race through a mountain terrain featuring geysers and mud holes.

While it seems that Disney is going to try to keep the Western theming throughout the expansion, it still feels that cars, let alone race cars, do not fit within the story of Frontierland. But who knows? As Josh D’Amaro said, Frontierland is home to many stories now. We wonder if there could be a name change on the horizon for Frontierland or if the ‘Cars’ expansion will be considered a seventh land in the Magic Kingdom.

While these new changes in Frontierland may be hard to get used to, Walt Disney once said, “Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world,” and the same goes for Disney World. We only have a few pieces of concept art to go off of, so maybe Disney will surprise us! We will just have to wait and see!

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Cars Land Will Bring A New Shortcut To Magic Kingdom…And We LOVE IT!

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