Disneyland Shows Off Future of Rivers of America

Disneyland has begun closing parts of the park in preparation for construction of the new, 14-acre Star Wars land, which is coming to the area behind Frontierland and Rivers of America.  On result of these closures and the new construction is that Frontierland is going to look get a new river front section, and the Disneyland railroad is going to have a new layout along that section of the route.  Disneyland has just released a new piece of concept art showing this redone section.

Disenyland Rivers of America

RIVERS OF AMERICA — As part of an ongoing, planned expansion at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, Calif., the Rivers of America at Disneyland Park will receive a brand-new waterfront, just outside the location of the new Star Wars-themed land. The new riverbank will also feature an elevated trestle over which the iconic Disneyland Resort Railroad will travel. (Disney Parks)

Sadly no new concept art for Star Wars land, but this does give a sense of what the existing lands will look like after the construction.  And since everyone loves train trestles and waterfalls, it looks pretty great.  Although it might be a year or two before this actually opens, no dates have been set for the opening of Star Wars land after all.

Disneyland Riverboat.

The Mark Twain Riverboat along with other Rivers of America attractions will be temporarily closed during construction of Star Wars land. It’s not clear exactly for how long yet, but could be awhile.

As for the closures, a few attractions are now permanently closed, including Big Thunder Ranch, Big Thunder Ranch Barbecue, Big Thunder Ranch petting zoo and Big Thunder Ranch Jamboree.  A few things are going to be temporarily closed, such as the aforementioned railroad, the Mark Twain Riverboat and the Sailing Ship Columbia, and Tom Sawyer’s Pirate Lair.

The Disneyland Railroad

The Disneyland Railroad will be closing, but that means guests will be able to get up close to the engines and talk about them with the engineers.

One plus of these is that guests will have an opportunity for a rare treat, to get up close to the Disneyland Railroad steam engines.  Guests will find engines sitting at the New Orleans Square and Main Street stations, available for photo ops, and train engineers will be on hand to talk about how the engines work and share stories about the history of the Disneyland railroad.  In some ways that’s actually even better than the railroad!  The Disney Parks blog also hinted that some special things will be happening on the Columbia and the Riverboat as well over the course of the year, so keep your eye out for those.

And of course, as more details come along about Star Wars land or re-opening dates, we’ll let you know!

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