MK Cars-Themed Attractions at Magic Kingdom

[JohnD]

Confirmed.

It's never been open during MNSSHP to my knowledge. You'll be able to walk around it from Tiana to HM per usual. BTMRR will still be closed for refurbishment.

 

[truecoat]

Since this affords an opportunity, would they also include a redesign of the HM queue? Not exactly like Disneyland but with similar effort and purpose.

 

[FutureCEO]

The part I'm most concerned about is they don't reference the Haunted Mansion in this concept art. The Haunted Mansion is going to be sitting right next to this. They have to know how ridiculous it’ll look next to the entrance to a national park.

Haunted abandoned mining manor

 

[JohnD]

Since this affords an opportunity, would they also include a redesign of the HM queue? Not exactly like Disneyland but with similar effort and purpose.

It won't be hemmed in by a "river" so they can spread it out.

 

[FutureCEO]

However, I just really cannot for the life of me understand why anyone would see an overhaul of Frontierlsnd to be a bad thing. Magic Kingdom’s has needed it for decades. It has been tired and stagnant for my whole lifetime and beyond, and the same cannot be said for other versions.

An overhaul is needed of a lot of things but Disney's track record of late is bad rides replacing great rides/themes.

 

[Mr. Sullivan]

This is almost all incorrect, although said with great confidence.

Western “ghost town” attractions were not novel when Disneyland opened. Knotts Ghost Town had been open down the street for years.

The frontier myth remains absolutely foundational to America and the way Americans think about themselves. While conventional westerns are in one of thier periodic slumps, the genre itself remains, embodied by media like The Mandalorian.

Giving fans exactly what the loudest ones say they want is not Disney’s job. Its a terrible, destructive idea. That said - what “fans” have been clamoring for the destruction or RoA?

I promise you this is not the case. Americans at large in this day and age do not hold any importance in their hearts for the frontier myth. If they think about it at all, they are hostile toward it. The way we as a collective read our past has changed and grown a great deal over the years, and many no longer see that time as something jovial or exciting or celebratory. Important developmentally? Sure. An ideal or something stemming with pride and importance to identity? No. And it has been no for years now.

 

[PizzaPlanet]

Hopefully this kills the speculation that Disney wants to get rid of Liberty Square. It’s clearly part of their vision for this side of the park

 

[JustInTime]

It's never been open during MNSSHP to my knowledge. You'll be able to walk around it from Tiana to HM per usual. BTMRR will still be closed for refurbishment.

You couldn't get to TSI, sure. But the entire river will be gone soon. Walls will be up.

The river with fog and lightning always added incredible ambience to the party and I was hoping to enjoy that one more year. So when I say the Rivers of America would be closed and we wouldn’t get to enjoy them during the party that’s what I mean.

 

[thundermtnGOAT]

They’re not which confirms that this particular version of the land is stepping away from being locked the wild west style that Frontierland has been stuck in for years.

Back when Disneyland and Magic Kingdom were built, the idea of a land based around the aesthetics and vibes of the wild western frontier and the time of cowboys and natives, that ideas was a novel one. It tapped in to an interest that many in the country had. In today’s world, though that idea is not novel.

Not only can you step into a frontier style land in multiple Disney parks, you can step into one in literally dozens and dozens of other amusement and theme parks around the country and even around the world. Today you even have some parks that are built completely around that idea.

Disneyland, and by extension Magic Kingdom, had its lands and attractions based around a lot of Walt Disney’s interests and ideations. A lot of those passions and interests of his have stood the test of time. His his love and interpretation of America’s frontier just hasn’t. When you’re running the busiest theme park in the world you can’t hang onto something solely because of what Walt was interested in.

You have a duty to respond to guests’ changing desires and attitudes. You have to take into account the unprecedented access that guest traveling to Magic Kingdom these days have to other experiences, and that includes other experiences, park lands, and attractions just like current Frontierland.

I understand people may not be comfortable with this change. But the wonderful news is that the Disney parks have grown much further beyond the boundaries at Disneyland and Magic Kingdom. There are traditional Frontierlands in Anaheim, Tokyo, and Paris for people to still enjoy. But with there now being so many parks around the world, Disney’s job—dare I say responsibility even—is to diversify them and create unique offerings for them.

I am not sold on every part of this project. While I have been in support of doing something else with the land that the Rivers of America sits on for years before this announcement, I have not necessarily been in support of that thing being Cars. While this breakdown of information does help to settle that idea with me more, I still think their execution is what matters the most, and there’s a lot of room from mistakes in that. On that front, I understand the skepticism.

However, I just really cannot for the life of me understand why anyone would see an overhaul of Frontierlsnd to be a bad thing. Magic Kingdom’s has needed it for decades. It has been tired and stagnant for my whole lifetime and beyond, and the same cannot be said for other versions.

It’s not as if this is the only Disney park in the world. If it was, I would understand why everyone would want it left alone. But you can get the classic Frontierland experience, (that are even better than Magic Kingdom’s) at multiple other parks around the world. I think it’s good that Magic Kingdom’s is the one that gets a change. We’ve all talked for years how Magic Kingdom seems to he the last castle park to ever be considered for something that is completely it’s own. It’s finally getting that, and it’s also addressing a longstanding area of issue with the park.

Whether or not this specific change is the right change I won’t know until it’s open and I can see it. But those who are totally closed off to the idea of something drastically different in the area entirely I feel are at this point refusing to look at the multiple valid reasons for it.

It may not turn out well. It may turn out great. We won’t know until we get there. But pretending Frontierland has been fine and dandy and without need of reinvention to me is just completely ignoring reality.

This. All of this.

 

[Casper Gutman]

I promise you this is not the case. Americans at large in this day and age do not hold any importance in their hearts for the frontier myth. If they think about it at all, they are hostile toward it. The way we as a collective read our past has changed and grown a great deal over the years, and many no longer see that time as something jovial or exciting or celebratory. Important developmentally? Sure. An ideal or something stemming with pride and importance to identity? No. And it has been no for years now.

I say this with the best will in the world - you do not know what you are talking about here. I don’t know your age - it’s none of my business - but if you’re in college, take some cultural history courses.

 

[disneyC97]

I sure hope you are right. But, we cannot forget that Disney has failed to deliver on concept art on more than one occasion. As long as it is delivered as pictured, it at least softens the blow to me, although regardless I think it's a shame to lose an all ages attraction for another lightning lane sell generating one.

Hopefully more "foresty" than the Fantasyland Forest delivered. I doubt it though. The Magic Kingdom needs those wide open paths everywhere.

 

[Charlie The Chatbox Ghost]

It goes back and forth between Main Street and Storybook Circus, as outlined in @Charlie The Chatbox Ghost post with all the info.

To add, I can't recall if it was specified or not, but I think the shuttle mode implies it'll stop at Frontierland, but it'll then go backwards to Main Street.

 

[truecoat]

From the looks of it, the area is quite small. Using the concept art, it looks to be around 145,000 sf of land.

This is about the same area at RS at DL.

 

[JD80]

I say this with the best will in the world - you do not know what you are talking about here. I don’t know your age - it’s none of my business - but if you’re in college, take some cultural history courses.

As a 44 year old adult with three kids the ideal of the "Wild Wild West" where cowboys shoot indians is an outdated concept that none of my children ages 7 through 12 care about or even think of as relevant outside what they've learned in social studies.

 

[Casper Gutman]

As a 44 year old adult with three kids the ideal of the "Wild Wild West" where cowboys shoot indians is an outdated concept that none of my children ages 7 through 12 care about or even think of as relevant outside what they've learned in social studies.

Do they enjoy The Mandalorian?

 

[James Alucobond]

Isn’t thinking fan outcry made them widen the river as silly as the idea that fan outcry might make them cancel the project?

I think people desperately want to believe they have some level of influence despite the newer descriptions of what's happening matching pretty much exactly what people guessed was happening based on the original concept art. It is perhaps reassuring to hear them say they're caring for the sightlines, but this all barely qualifies as new information.

Because people on this site who have a long and proven history of access to knowledge about what is happening behind closed doors are explicitly telling us so. These folks have given us heaps of accurate information over the years, but now all of the sudden they’re words are just assumption?

I don't think anyone's said that unless I missed some posts.

 

[flynnibus]

What exactly does Cars bring to this project besides name recognition and a chance to sell toys?

Characters.. elements to the plot for the attractions... A hook for people to get interested in... An element of familarity.

I mean, why do they bother to put a story on a rollercoaster?? Because it build a more compelling, often broader appeal overall than just the physical experience.

This question really is no different from 'why do you use existing Intellectual Property or theming at all?'

They're working backwards to try and justify the decision. If you didn't have ride vehicles with giant eyeballs on them, or had an alternate form of transportation to take you through the area, you wouldn't need to worry so much about sightlines or noise reduction. The ride's scenery would blend in and work as an extension of the existing Frontierland...like the RoA they're spending who knows how much to replace.

You could have similar scenery, a similar ride path, a similar kind of ride...and not worry about how to make it "fit"

And who would be interested in booking a trip to WDW to ride oversized, slow ATVs? They need a lot more than just riding through fake scenery to make a compelling attraction.

It would just be another ride through a Frontier setting. One that doesn't have car shaped icons or buildings that are not designed for humans. A much more logical successor to the kinds of rides this is supposed to reference and build upon.

If the argument is 'realism' vs 'characters/toonish'.. I think one just needs to say 'Sir, this is the Magic Kingdom...'

The boat sailed a long time ago on the 'why are they using characters everywhere...' argument

 

[Kamikaze]

Confirmed.

Halloween starts in mid August. Are you saying it will be shut down by then? Most likely they close RoA and TSI in Sept, no?

 

[truecoat]

Halloween starts in mid August. Are you saying it will be shut down by then? Most likely they close RoA and TSI in Sept, no?

July 7th

 

[Incomudro]

As someone vehemently against the removal of ROA, Disney can go a long way with me if they do indeed incorporate as much water as depicted in the images.