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Though we've already taken a look back at the attractions, shows, and restaurants that we lost forever in 2018, as we continue to review the past year, we'll take a look at one of the more unique phenomena we saw this year: projects that were announced, but then cancelled, before construction was able to ramp up! 

The Magic Kingdom Main Street Theater

Image: Disney

Back in 2017 it was announced that the Magic Kingdom would be adding a brand new entertainment venue to Main Street USA. Based on the iconic Willis Wood theater that existed in 1920s Kansas City, where Walt Disney lived after he left his hometown of Marceline, this historic recreation was all set to be be built in what is currently the backstage bypass area between Main Street U.S.A. and Tomorrowland.

However, though preliminary work on the Magic Kingdom theater project started around the beginning of the year, it was completely halted back in February, with staging and fencing being pulled down in just a matter of days around where vertical construction would have begun. And though this all happened about 10 months ago, Disney still has not made any official announcements regarding the cancellation of this project, only removing it from their list of upcoming attractions on their website and fiing new permits that omit the previous plans for this new theater. 

Image: South Florida Water Management

Though there's no real way to know why Disney cancelled such a high-profile project with virtually no warning after preliminary construction had already begun, we'd guess that there was some kind of budget issue behind the sudden death of this project. While its doubtful that a performing arts venue broke the budget all by itself, with so many projects going on right now, including the construction of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway, The Guardians of the Galaxy Roller Coaster, the Tron Roller Coaster, Ratatouille, and more, it could be that Disney decided to cut something from the lineup, and unfortunately the Magic Kingdom theater was the easiest to halt construction and development on since preliminary work had just gotten underway at the beginning of the year. 

 
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