The Magic Kingdom is a flurry of construction activity! The last time we checked in on the creation of Piston Peak, everything was still in the land clearing and preparation phase. Now, visible work is starting to kick into gear. Let’s take a look at what’s going on just beyond the construction walls.
Friend of the site DC Baker visited the Magic Kingdom and captured some great pictures of what’s happening with Piston Peak, Villains Land, and the Haunted Mansion. Remember the view across the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island towards Liberty Square? It’s pretty different now.
Concrete forms can be seen at the bottom of this picture. In the background, check out the green scaffolding covering most of the Haunted Mansion. While construction on Piston Peak takes place just past the Haunted Mansion queue, the ride itself is having a significant exterior refurbishment.
Shifting our perspective a little, we can see a better angle of the concrete forms. True vertical construction isn’t far off. In the background of this picture, there’s a bunch of land cleared to the side and behind the Haunted Mansion.
Disney has said they’re building Piston Peak in a way that won’t disrupt the rest of Frontierland and Liberty Square. Supposedly, we won’t even hear the Cars off-road rally race attraction from outside of Piston Peak. We hope that’s actually the case. It’ll take a lot of landscaping work to pull that off.
We’ll wrap up this little construction tour with a view of the area just outside Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
While Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is closed for its own extensive refurbishment, crews are able to work right up against the ride’s entrance. This angle really puts things into perspective for us. We’ve walked to and from Big Thunder Mountain Railroad countless times. It’s hard to believe this is the same spot.
We’ve been pretty critical of Disney’s decision to remove the Rivers of America. However, we’re keeping an open mind. Maybe “cautiously optimistic” is a better label. Things are at least getting more exciting now that the Piston Peak project is shifting from demo to building.
Disney has said Big Thunder Mountain Railroad will reopen in Spring 2026. Piston Peak doesn’t have an opening date at this time. It’s probably still years away because it’s a massive project. We’ll keep updating you through every major milestone, so keep checking back here at NotesFromNeverland.com.
