New Permit Filed for Magic Kingdom's Frontierland Train Station Amid Railroad Route Changes

Posted: Thursday June 19, 2025 9:40am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

A new Notice of Commencement was filed this week with the Orange County Comptroller's office for a project at Magic Kingdom's Frontierland Train Station, coming just after Disney confirmed the upcoming route change for the Walt Disney World Railroad.

The Walt Disney World railroad will operate in a limited shuttle mode for the foreseeable future

The notice, filed under the general description of “Provide labor, material and/or electrical for construction,” offers little detail but is tied to an address that matches the Frontierland station location.

This development comes as Disney prepares to suspend the railroad's full-circle route beginning July 7, when the Rivers of America, Liberty Square Riverboat, and Tom Sawyer Island permanently close to make way for the park’s upcoming Cars-themed land - Piston Peak.

Piston Peak

While it’s not confirmed whether this Notice of Commencement is directly tied to the planned changes in train operations, the timing and location suggest it could involve electrical or infrastructure updates needed to support the shift to limited shuttle service between Main Street, U.S.A. and Fantasyland stations. With the Frontierland section temporarily bypassed during the multi-year construction period, Disney may be modifying systems or closing off access at the station as part of the transition.

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HMF26 days ago

I had the pleasure today of checking out @marni1971's video tribute to Grizzly Gulch at Hong Kong Disneyland and it really jumped out at me that this would have been the ideal approach as far as updating Frontierland is concerned rather than the Cars route they are going and really just re-emphasizes the thematic limitations of the Iger IP approach. I really hope they take this approach for future Frontierland updates at the other parks.

TrainsOfDisney29 days ago

Ya know…. I wonder if they are still deciding on the future railroad route - although it seems the route past big thunder wouldn’t change at all

James Alucobond29 days ago

I'm not really sure there's much else to do about it at this point. Walls tall enough to block views from there would be ridiculously oppressive for guests on the ground. I'm honestly more bothered by the still thin line of trees where the crane to work on Big Thunder rested. That feels like it should have been fixed by now unlike the work in progress of Piston Peak, though perhaps they're waiting to address it when they reconnect the railroad.

HauntedPirate29 days ago

The cement wall views from BTM are amazeballs. 👍

lazyboy97o29 days ago

They’re still doing pretty basic site work.

James Alucobond29 days ago

Existing guest walkways or new walkways within Piston Peak? Definitely not the former.

Nickm202229 days ago

question, do we expect based on the construction for the ride to go underneath guest walkways to better utilize space?

parksandtravelJun 10, 2026

PurduevianJun 02, 2026

Nickm2022Jun 01, 2026

if anything I imagine Villian's will have a good view of the fireworks and Frontierland won't. but also don't think that's a bad thing as it kinda forces half of MK (FRL and AL) to stay open as people watch fireworks from Villains, TL, FL, and Main Street

PurduevianMay 27, 2026

Depends on how high the projectors would be on the mountain/peak. I don't think the castle hub slopes down for more people to see projections on it

lazyboy97oMay 27, 2026

Disneyland also redesigned the area around the river to step down to accommodate viewing. Without doing similar you’re going to have the same problem as the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster preshow.

PurduevianMay 27, 2026

Was poking around the DRL fantsmic thread... and I was wondering if anyone thinks they might use Piston Peak as a new fireworks viewing location... DLR uses their fantasmic fountains for projections, but piston peak could use fountains and potentially the peak itself as a projection surface. Could draw some people off mainstreet. Red could be fountain screens (like fantasmic) and green could be projected surfaces that would still get a view of the fireworks. Here is a highly sophicticated mock up.

TrainsOfDisneyMay 03, 2026

That’s an exaggeration- there were lots of theming elements cut from the original released art. Wasn’t there going to be an indoor meet and greet too? I agree. I don’t think the fun map is 2.0 - I think the original released art is still the basics of what we are getting.