Disney World’s Purge Begins: Last Chance to See These…

When the Walt Disney Company proudly announced that it planned to spend an estimated £60 billion over the coming decade to “accelerate and expand investment” in the company’s theme parks, the announcement glossed over one little detail.

Especially at the company’s Orlando-area theme parks, Disney intends to “expand” by demolishing a number of rides, restaurants, and shows that fans love.

Closing at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in 2025

Disney fans are now administering last rites to MuppetVision 3-D, the final major project Muppets creator Jim Henson was working on when he died in 1990. When the attraction opened, Disney was gung-ho on elevating the Muppets in its theme park holdings, but in the three decades since, the company’s use of the franchise, which it now owns, has been mostly cursory or short-lived.

The duplicate version of MuppetVision that once ran at Disney California Adventure park in California was shut down in 2014. At Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida, the sensory movie will play its final performance on June 7, 2025.

As a nod to outraged Muppet devotees, Disney has announced the characters will soon appear as part of the décor at what’s now known as the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith, so that ride will also be closing for an extended period, although Disney has yet to supply a date for that.

The area occupied by MuppetVision is slated to be turned into Monstropolis, an area themed to the Monsters, Inc. film franchise. An opening date has not been announced.

Additionally, the change will require the demolition of these Italian restaurants at Hollywood Studios: the table-service Mama Melrose’s Italiano Ristorante (closing May 10) and the counter-service PizzeRizzo (closing June 7).

Closing at Magic Kingdom in 2025

Some of the biggest casualties will be in Walt Disney World’s flagship park, Magic Kingdom. Disney has announced its intention to rip out the Rivers of America waterway system, its central Tom Sawyer Island, and the famed riverboat that has been a staple of Disney’s U.S. castle parks formula since 1955.

No dates have yet been announced for that demolition, but the company did say that it intends to replace the trademark panorama with a fast-moving ride themed to the Cars film franchise.

Visitors to Magic Kingdom in 2025 have to make do without Big Thunder Mountain Railroad as well. It’s s being entirely re-tracked and won’t reopen until 2026.

Also out of commission: the famous Hall of Presidents, which closed January 20. Disney has not announced a return date. Some observers speculate that the all-robot show, which is expensive to maintain and occupies prime real estate in the park, may not return.

And yet another attraction in Magic Kingdom is out of commission in 2025: The Astro Orbiter flying carousel ride in Tomorrowland is down for the count. It, too, is being fully rebuilt. Closed on January 13, the ride won’t be back until summer 2025 at the soonest.