Welcome to the second article of my monthly 2025 series where we discuss everything of importance in the month ahead! If you read my previous January 2025 article, you know that there was quite a bit happening during the first half of the month. At the end of the article, I alluded to the fact that February was shaping up to be a much quieter month, and it turns out I was right, even a month ago.
But either way, here's everything projected to be happening at Walt Disney World in 2025 during the shortest month of the year.
February 2025
While not nearly as packed of a month as January was, pretty much everything we'll be discussing in this article takes place during the second half of the month, leaving the first half of February that much more devoid of anything news-worthy.
Tuesday, February 18th
I told you the news started late in the month. We're starting off with an... interesting date of importance in this article.
If it wasn't obvious enough by the photo above, February 18th has to do with Disney's proposed plans to essentially "overhaul" a good portion of Frontierland. There's been a lot of commotion for the past couple of years in Frontierland ever since Splash Mountain was reimagined, which was really the start of bigger things to come. Following its transformation into Tiana's Bayou Adventure (more news on that later), the original Country Bear Jamboree got a refreshed show, the Frontierland Shootin' Arcade closed permanently in favor of a new DVC lounge, and now Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is closed for a lengthy 14-month long refurbishment. Essentially, the only attractions remaining in Frontierland that have yet to be touched are Tom Sawyer Island and the Rivers of America. The Liberty Belle is part of the River, but is technically considered to be an attraction in Liberty Square instead, but that's besides the point.
As many of you probably already know, Disney has some big plans for this area of the park, far bigger than a simple reimagining or refurbishment. Back at the 2024 D23 Expo, Disney announced that both the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island would be completely leveled to make way for two new attractions based on Disney and Pixar's Cars.
As you can see in the concept art above, this is a very ambitious project. These two new attractions are about the size of a brand new land at the park, but according to Disney, they will still be considered as part of Frontierland. Here's the statement from Disney below:
"It’s time to leave Radiator Springs behind and head west into exciting new locations. To make way for this completely new frontier, the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island will be transformed into vast and rugged terrain for a thrilling rally race with some of the world’s most iconic racers."
So, what exactly is Disney's plan for leveling the river and the island? Well, shortly after the D23 Expo, Disney filed a number of construction permits directly related to the project in hopes of starting work sooner rather than later. Disney stated work was supposed to begin in "early 2025," meaning January was most likely. The issue is that for this project in particular, Disney needs government approval from the state of Florida in order to begin work. The reason being is because this project poses lots of logistical challenges that Disney usually doesn't need to worry about with their other projects. To elaborate, these issues include factors like flooding, impact on the surrounding wetland environment, and Disney's procedures during the construction process to mitigate these potential issues. After all, Disney is literally filling in a river that is directly connected to the Seven Seas Lagoon and undeveloped swamp land, so environmental impact poses a very real issue.
Getting back to the permits filed, the Florida government (more specifically, the South Florida Water Management District) sent the permits back to Disney a few weeks later in early September, requesting a plethora of new information related to the factors I just discussed. Disney had 90 days to submit the updated permits, or else their application would be canceled. Disney really took their time getting the information back to the state, and even requested another 60 day extension back in November. The SFWMD only granted them a 30 day extension, with the final deadline now set for January 9th, 2025 (giving Disney 120 days total).
Finally, on December 20th, 2024, Disney submitted the updated permits to the state, and are now just simply waiting for a response back. So, what's so important about Tuesday, February 18th you ask? Well, the state now has 60 days to respond to (and most likely approve) Disney's permit, and February 18th is exactly 60 days after December 20th.
Now, the permits will most likely be approved before then, but February 18th is the final deadline. Quite honestly, I'm kind of surprised the permits still have yet to be approved, especially considering the state has less than 3 weeks to do so at the time of writing this. Either way, it's an important date to keep on your radar (unless they get approved sooner), especially because it's related to such a massive project.
UPDATE: (2/17/2025): The permits have been approved... one day before the deadline. Be on the lookout for a closing date for the Rivers and America and Tom Sawyer Island very, very soon.
As far as when we might see the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island close, January has come and gone, and I highly doubt it will be February. As such, I think a March closing date seems likely, but I'd expect to hear a closing date get announced sometime this month as soon as those permits get approved.
That was probably our biggest date to cover in this article, but let's continue on!
Monday, February 24th
Over at EPCOT, February 24th marks the final day to experience the 2025 EPCOT International Festival of the Arts (FARTS). The festival began on Friday, January 17th. It's one of EPCOT's shorter festivals, with about a 5 1/2 week run time.
EPCOT's next festival, Flower and Garden Festival, will kick off a week and half later on Wednesday, March 5th. More details on that in a future article!
In the meantime, you still have almost the entire month of February to experience what I believe is EPCOT's most underrated festival of the year. To experience some of this year's festival highlights, be sure to check out my vlog where we try new food, view some new merchandise, and admire the newly refreshed CommuniCore Hall in World Celebration!
But that's not all happening on this date. Heading back over to the Magic Kingdom in Fantasyland, a small refurbishment is taking place. In Storybook Circus, Dumbo's Playground - the interactive kids play area - will close temporarily for a refurbishment. The play area is part of the extended queue for Dumbo the Flying Elephant, and allows kids to burn off some energy when the line gets particularly long. Here's the statement from Disney regarding the refurb:
"The indoor children’s playground in the Dumbo the Flying Elephant queue will close for refurbishment on February 24, 2025 and is expected to reopen in Spring 2025. The attraction will remain open and available during this time."
Again, just a very minor refurbishment, but still something to note. This doesn't seem like a very lengthy refurb, so I'd assume a "Spring 2025" reopening is probably indicative of late March or early April. Guess we'll just have to wait and see!
Friday, February 28th
Calling all WDW Annual Passholders! There's a new passholder magnet for you to grab over at the Creations Shop in World Celebration at EPCOT. This time, the character featured is Ray the Firefly from the 2009 Walt Disney Animation Studios film, The Princess and the Frog. Here's a look at the magnet below.
The magnet also features a light blue "D" with pops of yellow stars sprinkled all around. It's a super cute magnet that you won't want to miss out on. The good news is that you still have the entire month of February to get your hands on this complimentary seasonal keepsake! Friday, February 28th is the final day to get the magnet.
UPDATE (2/17/2025): Walt Disney World has announced that the Ray Passholder magnet is now unavailable for pickup, and has since been replaced with a Minnie Mouse magnet (the same one that debuted in November of 2022). This was most likely due to a supply and demand issue, with Disney underestimating their stock. However, Passholders who did not pick up their magnet in time will be eligible to have it mailed to them sometime later in the Spring, according to Disney.
In speaking of The Princess and the Frog, there's one other thing I want to discuss. Let's head back to the Magic Kingdom and talk about the park's newest attraction - Tiana's Bayou Adventure.
Tiana's Bayou Adventure: When Will the Virtual Queue End?
After being open for over 7 months at this point (since June 28th, 2024 to be exact), Tiana's Bayou Adventure over at the Magic Kingdom is still operating via a virtual queue. Being the middle of Winter in Florida, you would think that the water log flume would start running a traditional standby line, but the virtual queue still persists...
The question is, why? Especially considering that Disneyland's version of the attraction only used a virtual queue during its opening week in November, why is Walt Disney World still implementing it?
Here's the thing. Magic Kingdom's attraction was never meant to still be on the virtual queue. In fact, Disney themselves even stated that the attraction would utilize a VQ during its "initial weeks of operation." From what it sounds like, Disney was planning on getting rid of the virtual queue at Magic Kingdom as early as August or September, aka the "off" season at Walt Disney World. In fact, it was during September of last year when we saw Tron Lightcycle Run get taken off its virtual queue, so what's the deal with TBA?
It comes down to a matter of ride functionality and consistency. It's no secret that the attraction has been plagued with a number of technical issues ever since it opened in the Summer, leading to multiple hours of downtime per day. And while the reliability of the ride has certainly gotten better, it still has yet to get to a point where it can completely rid itself of the virtual queue.
I bring this up for a reason though. Not because I'm particularly hopeful for the virtual queue to go away sometime soon (although I am), but it looks like Disney might be trying to address the issue. After all, who's going on a water attraction when it's 50-60 degrees outside? As a Florida native, definitely not me.
For the past few days (January 27th - 29th), Tiana's Bayou Adventure has been closing early at 6 P.M. compared to the rest of the park, which has been closing at 11 P.M. These same hours extend into early February as well (February 3rd - 6th). An early closure of 5 hours before the rest of the park must be for a reason, and I believe (and hope) that these early closures are meant for crews to work out certain technical issues infesting the ride once and for all.
If this is the case, there's a possibility we may finally bid the virtual queue goodbye for Tiana's Bayou Adventure, but only time will tell. Either way, I would assume Disney would want to get a regular standby line up and running as quickly as possible considering the amount of closures that have already occurred in just January alone, not to mention what closures are soon on the horizon. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Astro Orbiter, and The Hall of Presidents are all closed right now in the park (temporarily of course), but I suspect that a permanent closure of the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island is coming soon as well. In short, the Magic Kingdom is heading towards having a capacity problem, and Disney needs Tiana's Bayou Adventure to be as reliable as possible in order to combat this potential issue.
On a related (and kind of crazy) note, February 20th marks the 1,000th day that Disney will have implemented the virtual queue at Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind over in World Discovery at EPCOT. It's high time for that virtual queue to also bid farewell, too.
UPDATE (2/18/2025): Turns out my speculation was correct! Disney just announced that starting on Tuesday, February 25th, 2025, BOTH virtual queues for Tiana's Bayou Adventure AND Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind will finally come to an end! This is huge news, and will drastically help crowd capacity at both Magic Kingdom and EPCOT, especially as Spring Break season nears closer and closer. Once that date hits, it will mark the first time in three years where there will be no active virtual queues operating at Walt Disney World, but that is bound to change eventually (looking at you Test Track 3.0). Either way, great news.
But that wraps up our February 2025 article! For there not being nearly as much news to cover as January, I thought this was a fairly hefty blog post nonetheless. Thanks for reading this far, and I'll catch you all in the next one!
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