Hold on to your hats, because Magic Kingdom is about to go through a whirlwind transformation.

Magic Kingdom

Not only will we be getting a brand-new Pirates of the Caribbean tavern in 2025, but we’re also eagerly awaiting the construction of a new Cars-themed area — even if it means we have to say goodbye to Tom Sawyer Island and the Rivers of America forever. Disney recently hit a snag when it came to some logistics for the Cars retheme, but now it looks like things are back on (race)track. HA! See what we did there?

The new Cars area coming to Magic Kingdom will be replacing the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island — but in order for Disney to do that, they need to make some serious modifications to the existing land. Back in August, Disney filed a permit for 407 Basin Stormwater Modifications. Essentially, Disney needed to build a treatment facility for stormwater drained from the area. Under Environmental Impacts, the permit read, “The project has 7.3 acres of surface water impacts to Rivers of America,” which leads us to believe this permit is for beginning work on the big Cars expansion in the park.

The endangered Tom Sawyer Island

In September, the South Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) — the entity in charge of permitting for this project — requested additional information for the permit, with another letter sent a few days later advising Disney it had 10 days to respond. This prompted the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD) and Disney to request a 60-day extension in order to avoid a denial of the permit.

Aunt Polly’s on Tom Sawyer Island

On December 9th, an email from SWFWMD was sent to the CFTOD granting the request for an extension. Disney has until January 9th, 2025 to provide the requested information for the permit.

Permit number 48-00714-P

Disney will likely not proceed with any construction until this permit has been approved and will need to file other permits for the actual demolition and construction work to take place in Magic Kingdom. Not only that, but we still don’t have an opening timeline for the new Cars expansion (or the Villains land expansion, for that matter) so it’s possible we won’t even see work start on this project for quite some time.

Permit number 48-00714-Pv

Hopefully, this isn’t a sign that the rest of this retheme will hit the same bumps in the road, but only time will well. In the meantime, we’ll be on the lookout for the latest news about the Magic Kingdom retheme and expansion. Make sure you stay tuned to the Disney Food Blog so you don’t miss any important updates!

See EVERYTHING We Know About the Cars Area Coming to Magic Kingdom Here

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What do you think about this retheme? Tell us in the comments.