Big news from the Mouse House. Fantasyland is undergoing a major expansion with new rides, attractions and restaurants planned. Work is expected to be completed in 2013.
http://www.wesh.com/themeparks/26529986/detail.html
http://www.clickorlando.com/entertai...01/detail.html
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/the-d...,4303622.story

Disney World has so much land around them.. I don't understand why they didn't expand further upwards behind the castle, even past the train tracks?.. instead, they are tearing down and building. Snow White Scary Adventures could have stayed.. I heard that they are salvaging Mickey and Minnie's house and moving it towards the original Fantasyland.

If they expand past fantasy land beyond the train tracks, they will be expanding toward the contemporary resort and/or the TTC/parking lot.

Everything in the MK is mostly surrounded by other buildings - they have just fooled you into thinking they are in the middle of empty land.

They use paint called "go away green" to help with that illusion.

I think the Contemporary is right next to Tommorrowland and Space Mountain. There does "seem" to be more land behind Fantasy Land, but I really have no idea.

It's the same general area. There does appear to be land, but it's water

With the major land mass Disney World is sitting on.. seems like some became real estate and some became bogs just waiting to be developed. I would have personally liked to see Magic Kingdom double in size as demand goes up.. after all according to www.themeparkinsiders.com, Magic Kingdom is the most popular and most visited theme park in the world.

Tearing down and infilling new attractions is a bit of a waste.. I heard fantasy land used to have a ride called a thousand leagues under the sea.. would have been neat to ride that classic.

The land around Fantasyland and Toontown is being used for backstage purposes, especially ToonTown. I believe they aren't expanding further that way to ensure the park is keeping with the magic.

I agree a plan and flow in place is good.. and I'm glad they are adding a full service/quick service restaurant "Be our Guest" in keeping with Beauty and the Beast. It's frustrating to think that only 100,000 people is capacity at Magic Kingdom, and they've got enough land within proximity to fit potentially millions of spectators at one time.

If any theme park needs a restaurant add-on, its Magic Kingdom.

Short response is it'll never happen. While it looks like wide open spaces, MK is actually shoved almost to the northern most part of what is Disney property. To expand, especially behind Fantasyland, would involve moving too much infrastructure to be worth it. Not to mention having nowhere else relocate said infrastructure at that end of the property. Just working to the north you have the main cast member and freight entrance to the tunnel, train tracks, fireworks bunker, fire house, monorail/steam engine shop, water treatment facility, chiller plant, holiday storage warehouse, Disney University, waste transfer station, main cast parking for MK, and a whole bunch of things that make up the north service area. I believe that we will continue to see small expansions at the existing park and addition of all new parks over the years on the parts of property that can spare the land.

Also worth mentioning is that there is 7,500 acres(~1/4 of WDW) of land that is dedicated to conservation and can never be developed so every project that requires developing fresh grounds is carefully thought out. The area where Fantasyland is expanding is on land that was cleared a long time ago so it won't be any acreage lost.

First let me say I love the classics. When I visit the parks it isn't to do all the latest and greatest things but rather escape the real world for my childhood and do the things that have remained unchanged my entire life. That said 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea IMHO was bar none one of the worst attractions they have ever had. A while back they actually gave it full renovation and update but it still wasn't worth the land it sat on.

And yet that was one of the rides that I loved the most as a child and would love to have had a chance to ride again.

^..

Something I love about the concept of Disney World is their conservation.. good to know they reserved 25% of the land for this purpose. Vasts arrays of transportation and expanse of land make it so attractive to stay at Disney World, and visit theme parks weeks on end. Nature aspect is a plus at WDW.

Thats' dumb that WDW didn't have the foresight to see that expansion could happen with Magic Kingdom. I would estimate higher crowds with a Bigger Magic Kingdom.. I wish the Imagineers had the foresight to see that Magic Kingdom would be the most popular theme park in the world.. instead, in order to keep up with the quality, WDW has to wreck attractions to put up new ones.. when they have dead land laying around.. was one big miscalculation imho.

I couldn't agree with you more. I'm always perplexed with where they place their parks with respect to the land they have available. Animal Kingdom is really the only park that could be expanded with relative ease.

Hollywood Studios is pinned against World Drive with the parking lot to the east where there would've been space to expand. Expansion to south is possible with the relocation of the entry road to the parking lot but would've been set up much better if the parking lot was put where the park is and the park where the parking lot is.

Epcot is surrounded. I guess no lessons learned from where they placed the Magic Kingdom. Buena Vista Drive to the south, Epcot Center Drive to the north and east, and the Epcot Resort Area to the west. There's the potential of small expansions to the NE and NW but IMO poorly thought out with the land available.

Looking at all of the parks it seems like the Magic Kingdom is actually the least likely to receive any major expansion with its current setup which is too bad because I agree with you that it would most likely benefit from any additions. If Disney builds it, they will come. Hopefully as the years go by they will slowly be able to add on.

Well, maybe just for argument's sake I'll disagree and say I'm happy with the parks the sizes they are already.

I'll start with EPCOT, since I think it's an easier case to make. First off, that park is huge to begin with. It easily swallows crowds the other parks would have difficulty absorbing. And there is pre-planned room for additional pavilions to be added if there is need. Yesterland has a great article, focused on World Showcase, that shows how easily additional countries could be (and have been planned to be) added.

For the Magic Kingdom, I think the fact is that they don't NEED to expand it. As pointed out, it is the most popular theme park in the world. Even so, it rarely runs at capacity. Adding physical space and additional attractions would not necessarily draw significant additional guest counts. To me, it's like some 700hp supercar. Sure, the manufacturer could change the engine in the next model year to put out 750hp, but would anyone really care or be willing to pay a significant premium for it?

Added to that, increasing the square footage or the attraction count results in definite, concrete additional operating expenses. They have to hire more cast members, put in additional bathrooms, use more electricity, etc. So from a purely financial perspective (and as much as I hate to admit this, Disney is a business and needs to think of some things in profit and loss terms) it does not make sense to expand the Magic Kingdom. It DOES make sense to demolish old, unpopular attractions and replace them with new, crowd-drawing ones. After the initial capital outlay, their ongoing expenses remain fixed.

I find criticism of Disney's planning amusing. They are likely some of the best planners in the world. DJ has hit all the points I would have hit.