Walt Disney Imagineering Adds More Trailers at STOL Port for Magic Kingdom Expansion

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Walt Disney Imagineering Trailer Compound at STOL Port Site

Posted: Tuesday February 18, 2025 7:07am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Walt Disney Imagineering has filed a Notice of Commencement this week for "temporary construction trailers for site and facility improvement" at the former STOL Port site near Magic Kingdom. The permit lists an expiration date of March 31, 2027.

Walt Disney Imagineering Trailer Compound at STOL Port Site

STOL Port, once an airstrip for short takeoff and landing aircraft, has long served as a staging area for Imagineering's major Walt Disney World projects. The site has been expanded over the years, including during the development of New Fantasyland and TRON Lightcycle Run. The latest expansion is in preparation for two large-scale additions coming to Magic Kingdom—Cars Land and Villains Land, which were announced as part of Disney's future expansion plans.

Wide view of the new Frontierland, with two Cars-themed attractions replacing Tom Sawyer Island

The STOL Port expansion is part of a broader increase in Imagineering's on-site presence at Walt Disney World. In addition to these new trailers, Disney has recently repurposed the former Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser facility as project office space for the development of a Monsters Inc. Land at Disney's Hollywood Studios. At Disney's Animal Kingdom, Imagineering has also added new trailer space to support the Tropical Americas expansion, which will replace Dinoland U.S.A.

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FettFan1 hour ago

Would certainly be an improvement over the neutered JC of today, where instead of a big game hunter and his entourage getting chased up a tree by an angry rhino, we’ve got a bunch of hapless butterfly collectors and artists which just isn’t as funny. “Unprepared idiots go into nature and bad things happen” really isn’t funny.

FettFan1 hour ago

(Or another DVC lounge.) EDIT - Wait. Walt’s original idea for ETR was a table service restaurant with animatronic birds…

Streetway Again4 hours ago

What have I started?

Chupaca Bruh5 hours ago

How about they remove the rivers from the Jungle Cruise, fill it in with uneven terrain and have the Cars ride go through the jungle environment.

UNCgolf6 hours ago

None of that applies to Jungle Cruise, which is why it would be fine to remove. It has almost no effect on the design of Adventureland; it would barely even be noticeable if it was gone (the treehouse would be a bigger loss from an Adventureland place-setting perspective). That's why it's not comparable to Cars/Rivers of America (to bring it back to the topic of the thread). The Rivers of America is an integral part of the design of Frontierland and Liberty Square; it is a significant loss to the place-setting and design of the park. It's possible they can design Cars in some way so that it doesn't significantly hurt Frontierland and Liberty Square, but the concept art they've shown doesn't really do that.

disneylandtour8 hours ago

And being landlocked. The only thing you could put there, in terms of an attraction, is another small animatronic show.

The Mom8 hours ago

Please stay on topic. Cars-Themed Attractions at Magic Kingdom

disneylandtour8 hours ago

This is generally true. But a LOT of what envision for those resorts was never built. And I don't mean the Venetian. There was a whole range of projects before that.

phillip969810 hours ago

When a trip to the park for a family is upwards of $700 for one day you can’t expect people to take time to meander around. You have to hit the attractions to make it appear to be worth the money.

Dranth11 hours ago

Seems like a modern issue but it certainly describes a lot of visitors. I guess folks enjoy it, but it sure looks stressful and miserable from the outside.

DisneyHead12312 hours ago

Ha ha, yeah, it depends on a person’s preferences for sure.

JohnD12 hours ago

Can you imagine the wasted space that is World Showcase Lagoon? Jeez. 😉

Agent H12 hours ago

I agree with your assessment but the speedway is about as relaxing as trying to disarm a bomb in the same room as a angry lion.

Animaniac93-9813 hours ago

Last time I went on the ride it was the first day of Jingle Cruise for the season and it had the highest wait time in the park. It's capacity is limited by its design and load/unload process, but the demand for the ride is clearly still there.