New Concept Art Shows Reworked Rivers of America at Disneyland

© Disney

I'm not sure which I've seen more buzz about on social media lately: the enormous Powerball lottery jackpot or the temporary closing of the Rivers of America at Disneyland.  The large section of the park and its railroad closed this past Sunday for what will be more than a year.  The closure is necessary to rework the size of the river itself, and also the reroute the park's railroad tracks.

The closing day caused such a stir online that one might have thought the area was being permanently removed, but thankfully the next day Disneyland shared new concept art of the area to help fans pass the time.

© Disney

And this is the full sized art that was released - you can click to see much more detail.  It appears as though the overall river will be reduced considerably (Dateline Disneyland put together a neat map to show this), but the renovated area looks quite promising.

The park's railroad will cross a massive trestle, set among tall roaring waterfalls and intricate rockwork.  Many of the area's famous displays will be relocated, like the Indian village, which of course means some will not.  This new North part of the river will be backed by mature trees, creating a berm separating it from the new Star Wars land.  Disneyland isn't totally confirming that all current forms of water transportation will return, though several of them can be seen in this new art.

For now the bulldozers will roll in and heavy work will soon start - but we can count of plenty of updates as time goes by!