Magic Kingdom guests are getting a striking new look at just how dramatically Frontierland is changing — and the latest update is one of the most visible yet. Westward Ho is gone. Completely.
A photo shared from inside the park shows the former Westward Ho area fully cleared away, leaving the Frontierland boardwalk looking noticeably different. The guest who posted the update also noted that the nearby churro cart and Big Al's are missing from the familiar scene.
For longtime Disney World fans, this is more than a routine construction update. The Westward Ho name has ties to Frontierland stretching back more than five decades, and its removal is part of one of the largest projects in Magic Kingdom history.
The End of Westward Ho
Westward Ho Refreshments permanently closed earlier this summer as Disney expanded its construction footprint through Frontierland. The small location served its final guests on June 21, 2026, having offered quick snacks and drinks including mini corn dogs, frozen lemonade, cold brew, and other grab-and-go options.
The closure itself, though, wasn't the end of the story. Construction walls eventually surrounded the building, the large Westward Ho Refreshments sign came down, crews gutted the structure, and the building was then demolished entirely as Disney cleared more space for the massive project taking shape nearby.
"Westward ho has been completely removed. Looks different on boardwalk without it, the churro cart, and big Als" — RockNstardust 🎸✨ (@CoasterK24), August 23, 2026
Without Westward Ho and the familiar carts around it, this section of the boardwalk feels far more open. What was once a collection of small Frontierland structures is increasingly becoming part of an active construction zone.
A Name With 54 Years of History
The Westward Ho name first appeared in Frontierland in December 1971, shortly after Magic Kingdom opened. That original Westward Ho was a small gift shop near Country Bear Jamboree that operated until 1973. The more recent Westward Ho Refreshments was a different location and operation — opening decades later — but it carried that historic Frontierland name forward.
That means the Westward Ho presence and name in Frontierland traces its roots back roughly 54 years, even though the refreshment kiosk itself was not 54 years old. Its disappearance brings an interesting piece of Magic Kingdom history to a close.
Frontierland Is Becoming Almost Unrecognizable
Disney has been transforming Frontierland piece by piece, and some of the biggest changes have involved places that once seemed inseparable from Magic Kingdom.
The Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island are among the most significant losses. Disney announced in 2024 that those areas would be transformed as part of a new Cars-inspired addition to Frontierland. Rather than building entirely beyond the existing space, Disney chose to use that space for the project itself — making this expansion fundamentally different from a typical Magic Kingdom addition.
The result will be Piston Peak National Park, a Cars-inspired wilderness designed around the visual language of America's national parks. Disney says the fictional destination takes inspiration from the Rocky Mountains and the American Frontier, with Imagineers using National Park Service-inspired "Parkitecture" to help buildings blend into the landscape. Concept art shows mountains, forests, waterfalls, rivers, geysers, trails, a visitor lodge, and Ranger HQ all becoming part of this new version of Frontierland.
Every cleared structure — including Westward Ho — gives Disney more room to reshape the transition between the existing Frontierland and the enormous new environment rising behind it.
Connecting Old Frontierland With the New
One of Disney's biggest challenges will be making Cars feel like it belongs in Frontierland. Magic Kingdom's version of the land has traditionally taken guests on a journey through different pieces of American history and geography. Disney now describes that journey as beginning with the colonial influences of Liberty Square before moving west — past the Country Bears, the New Orleans setting surrounding Tiana's Bayou Adventure, and eventually the Arizona-inspired landscape of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
Piston Peak will extend that progression into a national park-inspired setting. Disney has also revealed that trees and natural features will help create separation between the new Cars attractions and existing portions of Frontierland and Liberty Square. Mountains will rise across from Grizzly Hall, while waterways and geysers will help connect the environment visually with Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
That approach helps explain why so much work is happening along the old boardwalk. Disney isn't only building new attractions — Imagineers are changing sightlines, pathways, landscaping, architecture, and the overall flow of this entire section of Magic Kingdom.
Frontierland Has Already Seen Major Changes
Piston Peak isn't the first major transformation to hit Frontierland in recent years. Splash Mountain closed permanently in January 2023 before Disney transformed the attraction into Tiana's Bayou Adventure, which opened at Magic Kingdom on June 28, 2024, bringing Princess Tiana, Louis, Mama Odie, and a large cast of new Audio-Animatronic characters into the land. The attraction continues the story of Disney's The Princess and the Frog (2009), shifting this portion of Frontierland toward a New Orleans and Louisiana bayou setting.
Country Bear Jamboree also received a major overhaul in 2024, with Disney replacing the original show with Country Bear Musical Jamboree — giving the longtime Frontierland characters a new performance while keeping Grizzly Hall and the Country Bears themselves in place.
Those projects offered a preview of Disney's current approach to Frontierland: familiar locations may remain, but their stories and experiences can change significantly. Piston Peak takes that philosophy much further, rebuilding a major portion of the land rather than transforming a single attraction or show.
More Familiar Frontierland Locations Are Disappearing
Westward Ho isn't alone in its absence. Big Al's, another longtime piece of the Frontierland streetscape, also closed as Disney prepared the area for construction. The small merchandise location had connections to an even older Magic Kingdom structure — the building originally served as a ticket booth during the park's early years before eventually becoming associated with Big Al from the Country Bears.
Nearby carts have moved as well. The Frontierland churro and popcorn carts were relocated as construction walls expanded through the area. That combination of changes explains why current photos can look surprisingly different even to guests who visited Magic Kingdom relatively recently.
The transformation isn't happening somewhere hidden behind the park. It's moving directly into areas guests have walked through for decades.
A New Frontier Is Taking Shape
Disney has made it clear that Piston Peak National Park represents an expansion of Frontierland's story rather than a completely separate land. Still, there's no denying how much history is disappearing to make that vision possible. The Rivers of America, Tom Sawyer Island, Westward Ho, Big Al's, and other familiar pieces of the area have either disappeared or are being affected as construction moves forward.
For some guests, that makes this an exciting period to watch — Magic Kingdom is getting a huge new environment and attractions on a scale rarely seen inside the park. For others, every demolition makes the transformation a little more difficult to take in.
Westward Ho may have been a small location, but seeing the building completely removed shows how quickly Frontierland's old landscape is being erased. And the work is nowhere near finished.
As Piston Peak National Park continues to rise, the Frontierland guests remember from previous Disney World vacations will keep changing with it. The frontier is moving west once again — only this time, Disney isn't simply adding another destination at the end of the trail. It's rebuilding the trail itself.