Finishing up with my entries on my recent(?) trip to Walt Disney World... I thought I'd end my near THREE WEEKS(!) of Disney-related posts by talking about the future.

As summed up in my entry about the announcements of D23, Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World is getting its own version of Cars Land. I had thought that it was being put BEHIND Frontierland...

But nope. It's going INSIDE Frontierland, and they're paving over the Rivers of America to get it there...

Now, on its surface, this doesn't seem like the worst idea... for Walt Disney World (the same thing cannot be said for the original at Disneyland, which is sacred). The rafts to Tom Sawyer Island (not to mention the island itself) is hardly popular any more. And the Liberty Square Riverboat barely has people on it most times. So why not pave it over and put in attractions which people will actually want to experience?

When I was in Magic Kingdom on my trip, I didn't want to visit Tom Sawyer Island, but I did want to say good bye to what the park would be losing. So every time I walked around the "river" I was sure to take a good look...

And then I had pause.

It's not that the attractions on the river and on the island are not very popular and it would be good to have something people will actually want to visit... it's the aesthetic of what the river and island provide for the area around them.

Frontierland and Liberty Square have their entire vibe defined by their location being along that lazy river. It's scenic. It's relaxing. And walking along the body of water makes it feel a bit cooler on a sweltering Summer day. Removing it is going to have a serious affect on visiting these areas. An argument could be made that a river is a bit out of place in Frontierland given the dusty frontier town they're striving to replicate, but that's not the point. It's not what it's supposed to be, it's what it is now.

I think that the area will suffer once the river is gone.

Though I'd have a tough time arguing with Disney management to keep investing the money needed to maintain and improve the river and island when they're clearly one of the most unpopular areas in the park.

And then we need to jump over to Disney Hollywood Studios, where Monstropolis (the city from Monsters, Inc.) will be located. Rumor has it that they will be paving over Muppets Courtyard for that (and probably blowing into the employee parking lot behind it a bit)...

Map and Satellite Image © Google

Now if Muppets Courtyard has to be leveled for anything, I'd rather it be paved over to join Star Wars Land (on the left) with the Star Wars Star Tours ride (on the right), and be used to add another Original Trilogy attraction...

Map and Satellite Image © Google

That would complete Star Wars Land and also give us a bit more Original Trilogy to experience which, let's be honest, is what everybody would rather have anyway. Then Monstropolis could be put in its entirety in the employee parking lot like so...

Map and Satellite Image © Google

Now, this would necessitate some serious Imagineering because foot traffic would have to go over (or under!) the Cypress Drive access road, but doing that would further separate Monstropolis from the rest of the park, so I choose to think of it as a good thing. And of course they'd have to find a spot for employees to park, but that's the easiest of all problems to solve because they could be shuttled from the lot to the park fairly easily. And the payoff? Well, just look at how big Monstropolis would be able to be! You could really do it justice in an area like that (plus have room for expansion).

And lastly we need to jump over to Animal Kingdom, where Tropical America Land will go. I think the biggest problem with this entire concept is that I can't see how any of it relates to animals. It's built around Indiana Jones Adventure and a Casa Madrigal boat ride? WTF? There's also the matter of dinosaurs being incredibly popular with kids and DinoLand USA being fairly well done (and dinosaurs being, you know, animals)... which makes it a little tough to think about it being ripped out. But, again, I'm guessing they wouldn't be paving it over if it were popular enough to keep. And if DINOSAUR wasn't such a badly nerfed version of the original Countdown to Extinction.

And there it is. The future. Maybe. Because Disney could just be announcing all this to counter what's happening over at Universal Studios' "Epic Universe." They could cancel any of it or all of it at any time.

Which would be pretty bad, because they certainly needs to do something to stay relevant in the Florida theme park business.