Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Florida consistently ranks as the most-visited theme park on the planet. Rather than resting on its laurels, Disney is expanding the park’s footprint, creating space for even more people to visit daily. While these expansion efforts are underway, Disney is simultaneously updating classic rides and upgrading infrastructure.
In this story, we’ll explore each of the 7 new rides and additions coming to Magic Kingdom, including what’s on the way for the highly anticipated Villains Land. Mickey Visit brings you the latest Disney news and planning resources, including Disney theme park attendance rankings and food coming to Disney Jollywood Nights.
READ MORE – 10 Hidden Gem Restaurants at Disney World Resorts You Are Completely Missing
Cars Ridge Run Rally
A new area called Piston Peak National Park is under construction at Magic Kingdom. Located in Frontierland, Piston Peak will take place within the world of Pixar’s Cars and pay tribute to the natural beauty of U.S. national parks. Piston Peak will contain two rides, including Cars Ridge Run Rally.
Cars Ridge Run Rally will be an outdoor thrill ride. Riders will sit in six-person, open-top cars that traverse up, around, and under Piston Peak’s mountain buttes, mimicking the feel of off-roading. Interestingly, Cars Ridge Run Rally will use a new ride system developed by Disney. In other words, this isn’t a copy of Radiator Springs Racers at Disney California Adventure or Test Track at EPCOT. The details of that ride system are still under wraps.
Disney World Ride Closure ALERTS, Major Park Changes, Secrets Revealed
Get alerts on closures, park changes, exclusive discounts, and free printables. Trusted by 100,000+ Disney fans & planners.
Piston Peak replaces part of what was formerly Tom Sawyer Island and the Rivers of America, which closed in 2025. We’ll dive into the other Piston Peak ride later in this story.
READ MORE – This Might Be the Best Hotel Quick Service Breakfast at Disney World
Disney Villains Dark Ride
Villains Land is under construction as an entirely new land in Magic Kingdom dedicated to the classic antagonists from Walt Disney Animation Studios movies across the decades. Villains Land will feature two rides. Disney hasn’t announced the name of either attraction, but has revealed artwork and story descriptions.
A dark ride will feature the Magic Mirror from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, taking guests on a journey to visit a who’s-who of favorite Disney Villains: Cruella De Vil from One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Jafar from Aladdin, Doctor Facilier from The Princess and the Frog, Scar from The Lion King, and Ursula from The Little Mermaid.
Although concept art depicts a boat-like ride vehicle for the Magic Mirror ride, Disney has never referred to this attraction as a boat ride explicitly. It may simulate the feeling of a boat ride without water. In theme park lingo, a “dark ride” is typically a slow-moving, indoor ride focused on story scenes. The exact ride system of a dark ride can vary. Peter Pan’s Flight and Haunted Mansion, for example, are both considered dark rides despite the former’s vehicles hanging from a track and the latter’s vehicles traveling on the floor.
We’ll explore the other ride coming to Villains Land later in this story.
Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress Overhaul
Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress is a classic Magic Kingdom ride currently undergoing an extensive overhaul. Onboard the ride, guests sit in an auditorium that slowly rotates every 4 minutes into a new scene, presenting a decade-by-decade progression of home technology as an Audio-Animatronics stage show.
The new version of the ride will change every scene, swapping older time periods for 1964, 1985, 1999, and the distant future. The updated version will star Bryan Cranston as the voice of the father character and Jamie Lee Curtis as the voice of the mother.
In addition to the updated time periods, an Audio-Animatronics figure of Walt Disney will be added to the introduction scene, setting up the attraction as a highlight of the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair, where it initially debuted. This follows the first Walt Audio-Animatronics figure, which was unveiled at Disneyland in 2025.
Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress has been closed since July 2026 and will reopen in late spring 2027.
Miss Fritter’s Daredevil Spin-Along
In addition to Cars Ridge Run Rally, the thrill ride described earlier, Piston Peak National Park will also include an outdoor, family-friendly ride called Miss Fritter’s Daredevil Spin-Along.
Miss Fritter is the school bus from Cars 3, and she’s hosting a demolition derby right here at Piston Peak. Four-seat cars will gently spin on a turntable, similar but not quite identical to Alien Swirling Saucers: Lilypad’s Jams over at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Unlike that Toy Story ride, Miss Fritter’s Daredevil Spin-Along will not feature a lead vehicle pulling the riders’ car.
Transportation Expansion
A fourth ferry boat will join the existing three vessels along the Seven Seas Lagoon to transport guests between Magic Kingdom and the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC), where the Magic Kingdom parking lot is located.
Like the other ferries, the new watercraft is named after a leader from Walt Disney World history, in this case Meg Crofton, former Walt Disney World President.
Disney is also working on a different boat dock outside of Magic Kingdom in preparation for the opening of Disney’s Lakeshore Lodge, a new hotel that will welcome its first guests on July 1, 2027. Lakeshore Lodge will offer boat transportation to and from Magic Kingdom, so the park is preparing for an uptick in resort watercraft.
Maleficent Roller Coaster
In addition to the Magic Mirror dark ride described above, Villains Land will feature a roller coaster starring Maleficent, the “mistress of all evil” from Sleeping Beauty. Disney says that the Maleficent coaster will be a “high thrill” coaster and will contain elements not seen in any other Disney theme park coaster.
The ride’s story will involve guests visiting Maleficent’s fortress to take on a challenge. Concept art depicts her in both of her forms: as a dark fairy and as a dragon. See more insight from Imagineers about the Maleficent coaster and a look at the scale model.
The scale of Piston Peak National Park and Villains Land cannot be overstated. Take a look at this aerial photo captured in October 2026 of the huge combined construction site!
If you can’t wait for Villains Land, see our coverage on how scary the Imagineers are pushing the project.
Walt Disney World Railroad Route
To accommodate the gargantuan construction efforts of Villains Land, the Walt Disney World Railroad route at Magic Kingdom is currently significantly shortened. The train track previously circled the whole park, with stops at Main Street, Frontierland, and Fantasyland. The location of Villains Land required Disney to rip up a large stretch of the railroad track near the Frontierland station.
For the time being, the Walt Disney World Railroad only travels back and forth between Main Street and Fantasyland. When this modified route debuted, Disney also introduced a new audio storyline starring Stitch.
It remains to be seen how the railroad track will traverse through, or around, Villains Land once that project is complete. The full-circle route will eventually return, but it will be at least a few years before that happens.
Don’t Miss the Latest Disney News
Don’t miss the latest Disneyland and Disney World news from Mickey Visit. Join the FREE Mickey Visit newsletter that over 100k readers receive every single week. Mickey Visit is here to help you save money and experience more during your Disney and Universal vacation. See the Mickey Visit guide to Disneyland and the Mickey Visit guide to Disney World for tips.
