Next month, I interviewed singer-songwriter Tyler Dean McDowell about his track” What Walt Do Say”. McDowell’s heartfelt one expresses his pain at how Disney is squandering the reputation of its design gardens by announcing shifts that don’t make sense and damage the original purpose of areas within the parks.
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” I know I’m a Disney fanatic, but it’s not just about wokeness and social claims”, I wrote. ” It’s also about how the company has made doubtful creative decisions, made the tourist experience less enjoyable, and valued raising rates over benefit to visitors”.
The latest decision that has outraged enthusiasts is the plan to replace the Rivers of America piece of Frontierland at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom with a” Cars”-themed place. Removing the organic beauty of the area, Tom Sawyer Island, and the boats that fit the personalization of Frontierland with animation race vehicles is contradictory.
” In Frontierland, cartoon race cars will stick out like a sore thumb next to the more realistic depictions of America’s frontier days”, I noted last month. I’m not alone in thinking so.
” Obviously, that gave me a moment of pause because I remember the old Disneyland show”, McDowell said. ” Obviously, I wasn’t there at the time, but I remember watching the reruns and stuff, and when they would describe Frontierland, they would say,’ Tall tales and true from the legendary past.’ Not race cars”.
Related:  , The Song That’s Calling Disney Out
Caroline Reid at Forbes points out that Disney fans aren’t happy with the decision:
Disney could face a deep-rooted difficulty in any attempt to try and quell this criticism. That’s because the Rivers of America, and especially the steamboat and Tom Sawyer Island are quintessentially American attractions so they are likely to resonate with a great deal of visitors. Indeed, an animatronic model of Tom Sawyer’s creator Mark Twain even hosts the American Adventure review of the country’s history in the futuristic Epcot park at Disney World.
To many Americans, Twain’s stories, and the attractions based on them, evoke memories of lazy days and childhood stories. They have been part of the Magic Kingdom for so long that not only do many guests ‘ parents remember visiting them but their parents do too. It makes the removal of the attractions a potential financial risk for Disney because after all, it is the parents who pay for the visits to its theme parks.
This kind of backlash is the last thing the company needs right now as its stock has lost 20.5 % of its value over the past year alone and is still sub-$ 100, closing yesterday at$ 97.68. Moreover, the expansions to its parks in Orlando should help to combat the imminent threat of arch-rival Universal’s cutting-edge new Epic Universe theme park which opens in May.
Mindful of this, fans are piling on the pressure in an attempt to get Disney to overturn its decision to demolish the Rivers of America.
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Former Imagineers ( the term Disney gives to its creative designers and planners ) aren’t happy, either. Three of them have spoken out publicly about their displeasure with the decision.
One former Imagineer, Jim Clark, created a video showing the serene beauty of the Rivers of America area with a quote from Walt Disney superimposed over it:
— Jim Clark ジム・クラーク ( @ImagineerJim ) March 10, 2025
Retired Imagineer Jim Shull, who cohosts a podcast about Disney Parks history, contrasted the Haunted Mansion in Liberty Square at Walt Disney World with the incongruity of the idea of a” Cars” area of Frontierland:
Image by @disneyglimpses The Haunted Mansion is located in Liberty Square on a river inspired by the Hudson River grounded in reality. CARSland is fantasy and belongs in# Fantasyland in# MagicKingdom. pic. twitter.com/VG0aAnYkli— Jim Shull ( @JimShull ) February 25, 2025
Eddie Sotto, former senior vice president of concept design at Walt Disney Imagineering ( WDI), demonstrated that Disney could add the” Cars” area without removing Rivers of America:
Literally just penciled this out to show that you CAN have it all with a little imagination. Riverboat boards by TBA, track loops w switches ( MS Streetcars ), allowing direct access to BTM, even a stream for Canoes to explore a BTM” cavern” under the rock bridge. MORE land now to… pic. twitter.com/cw8g05z9Bf— Eddie Sotto ( @boss_angeles ) March 10, 2025
Shull took inspiration from Sotto for a similar idea of his own:
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Inspired by @boss_angeles this is my concept to keep Rivers of America while adding CARS Land and a to be developed Villains Land ( which is misspelled ). Done for free because its fun to Imagineer. # MagicKingdom pic. twitter.com/u4Dlsm3B1G— Jim Shull ( @JimShull ) March 10, 2025
Imagineers are usually not inclined to speak out against their former employer, which tells you how big a deal this is. Joshua Harris of E82: The Epcot Legacy told Reid that “retired Imagineers are a lot like former Presidents — they almost never come out and publicly denounce the current administration’s efforts”.
Does this mean that Disney will listen? Sotto doesn’t think so. He told a commenter on X,” Others have tried and failed. As far as I know, the issue is closed. WDI is already well aware of the SM]Splash Mountain*] posts, issues, and opinions”.
It’s a shame that Disney is aware of the backlash but probably won’t change its mind. Then again, it goes along with the tone-deafness that the company has exhibited over the last few years.
*Disney closed the beloved Splash Mountain attraction Walt Disney World in January 2023 and Disneyland in May 2023 because the attraction was based on” Song of the South“, which leftists found problematic. An attraction based on” The Princess and the Frog” replaced it at both parks, but technical issues and the lack of a compelling theme have plagued it.
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