MK Cars-Themed Attractions at Magic Kingdom

[mlayton144]

See now this is where it gets interesting. As someone that hasn't been to Epcot or DHS, would I even know or care? Is this what Disney is banking on? After the 40+ year olds die off nobody will care? The thing that makes the ROA different in my view is that is a huge/ integral part of the park but it's also timeless. They can claim that it's underutilized and thats fair even if they are partially to blame and doesn't really account for its value that doesn't show up on a spreadsheet. But they cant claim it went out of style. I'm not sure we can say the same about the majority of the Epcot or DHS attractions that went away.

Will younger generations still understand and appreciate the Disney difference? They re still a cut or two above the rest although Universal is catching up. IMO what sets Disney is apart was their visual story telling/ placemaking especially when it's in themes that take us to another time and place. I think the ROA turning into a Cars attraction is a downgrade in that sense.

I think you are on point , the nostalgia for people is always personal , you can’t miss what you never experienced. I have experienced Epcot from the 80s onward , do i miss the old future world, fountain of nations, tapestry of nations and Illuminations ? heck yeah

Bringing much of those back today would ring hollow for today’s youth IMO

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Disney has totally failed to understand why Cars Land at DCA is so popular. They think it's the brand recognition. The excellent quality of RSR, the beauty of the canyon and the charm of the town are totally lost on the executive team who don't like theme parks and don't see how the quality of an experience can transcend the appeal of its source material.

Can't the same be true with Piston Peak though? The charm and beauty of a national Park, the ranger station, the walking paths the rainbow springs the geysers etc ?

Not saying it will but why is it impossible that the area will have a quality experience that happens to have a Cars attraction in it as well?

 

[Casper Gutman]

Four?

If all goes to plan, there's gonna be some surprises

Will there be a Bantha ride around Villains Land to add kinetic interest?

 

[GenChi]

Except the tracks were destroyed are completely unusable. The only way to bring back a pm is to rebuild it which would require removing Buzz, Star tours, carousel building completely and then you have autopia and subs that would be affected. There will never be anything worse than the rocket rods travesty.

Agreed, what you're mentioning is actually what I was referring to by a TL transformation. It can only happen if the whole land and mentioned buildings gets revamped due to supports, but it is very feasible they will redo the entirety of Tomorrowland at some point.

Funny enough both are misguided attempts to try and force an e-ticket. While that one was the worst until now, I think ROA is the worst because while there is some percent chance of PM being revived in the right circumstances, there's zero chance this can ever be fixed.

 

[HMF]

I think you are on point , the nostalgia for people is always personal , you can’t miss what you never experienced. I have experienced Epcot from the 80s onward , do i miss the old future world, fountain of nations, tapestry of nations and Illuminations ? heck yeah

Bringing much of those back today would ring hollow for today’s youth IMO

Really, then why did ROE last for 20 years while it's god-awful replacement lasted barely two? The Fountain did not need to be removed and the music from ToN still played every night for 20 years, long after the parade itself had been cancelled. If you create something truly timeless people will remember it forever. Today's EPCOT is a sad shadow of what it used to be and even the things about it that are impressive don't work right.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Another possible data point on 'why Cars?'...

For boys. So that MK isn't thought of by boys as being for babies and for girls (Princesses!!).

DL has a SWL for the 'boy demographic.'

MK doesn't have SWL, nor can it get a Marvel Land.

And so... Cars.

Beep beep.

 

[mickEblu]

I think you are on point , the nostalgia for people is always personal , you can’t miss what you never experienced. I have experienced Epcot from the 80s onward , do i miss the old future world, fountain of nations, tapestry of nations and Illuminations ? heck yeah

Bringing much of those back today would ring hollow for today’s youth IMO

Right and I understand Future Worlds challenge like TL is to stay relevant so with that in mind we can stomach or even welcome changes every few decades in those lands but for something integral, historic and timeless like the ROA that’s a tough pill to swallow. It’s also not exactly hiding in a show building somewhere in the corner of the park either.

 

[Brer Oswald]

It’s really flawed logic that got them to the Cars decision. Boys had plenty in Magic Kingdom. They had Peter Pan, the Mountains, Pirates, Mansion, Jungle Cruise, etc. There was a place for Cars and that was the Studios. That park needs more for the whole family to enjoy.

Disney thinks so little of their audience that they think they can only find enjoyment in film franchises they’re already aware of…but then they fail to recreate the worlds of those films, completely defeating the purpose of the initial reasoning that led them to decide on Cars. I wonder if it really is just about simplifying the merchandise distribution for themselves.

 

[CoastalElite64]

Another possible data point on 'why Cars?'...

For boys. So that MK isn't thought of by boys as being for babies and for girls (Princesses!!).

DL has a SWL for the 'boy demographic.'

MK doesn't have SWL, nor can it get a Marvel Land.

And so... Cars.

Beep beep.

I can confirm our boys loved Cars. Cars and Villains will be a hit with them.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Can't the same be true with Piston Peak though? The charm and beauty of a national Park, the ranger station, the walking paths the rainbow springs the geysers etc ?

Not saying it will but why is it impossible that the area will have a quality experience that happens to have a Cars attraction in it as well?

I expect the exterior to be attractive, because the exterior is more or less all there is to the attraction and Disney can do rockwork. Unfortunately, the well-done exterior will be full of very basic cars-base visual puns that don’t mesh with any other elements in the area. And why is a Hudson River Valley mansion now overlooking a Pacific Northwest national park?

People have been mentioning Grizzly Peak as a point of comparison, and that seems very apt but foreboding. That land, while featuring beautiful scenery, feels narrow and often unpleasantly hemmed in, with a very uninteresting centerpiece ride based on a vehicle traveling through an unvaried external landscape with few AAs. I really like DCA but Grizzly Peaks struck me as the least interesting land each time I visited, an area to walk through to get to other places. Whatever one can say about the Pixar overlay, the openness of the Pier area came as a palpable relief after passing through Peaks.

 

[Casper Gutman]

It’s interesting to consider the properties which, simply from the basest business perspective, deserved an attraction before cars. Coco, Stitch, Moana, Lion King, Inside Out, and Incredibles all spring to mind. I genuinely think Disney is badly misreading the reasons behind RSR’s popularity.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

I expect the exterior to be attractive, because the exterior is more or less all there is to the attraction and Disney can do rockwork. Unfortunately, the well-done exterior will be full of very basic cars-base visual puns that don’t mesh with any other elements in the area. And why is a Hudson River Valley mansion now overlooking a Pacific Northwest national park?

People have been mentioning Grizzly Peak as a point of comparison, and that seems very apt but foreboding. That land, while featuring beautiful scenery, feels narrow and often unpleasantly hemmed in, with a very uninteresting centerpiece ride based on a vehicle traveling through an unvaried external landscape with few AAs. I really like DCA but Grizzly Peaks struck me as the least interesting land each time I visited, an area to walk through to get to other places. Whatever one can say about the Pixar overlay, the openness of the Pier area came as a palpable relief after passing through Peaks.

Can't the same be true with Piston Peak though? The charm and beauty of a national Park, the ranger station, the walking paths the rainbow springs the geysers etc ?

Not saying it will but why is it impossible that the area will have a quality experience that happens to have a Cars attraction in it as well?

I suspect the ride and area will be less than the sum of its parts

It's not as substantive experience as Cars Land as a whole because the area has fewer things to do

It's design means you may not be able to see it well without going on the ride, unlike the canyon of RSR

The proposed ride appears to lack the dark ride and thrill aspects of RSR

But on the contrary, the ride system and speed may make it difficult to view the scenery from it

Imagineers want to minimize the noise it makes for the rest of Frontierland. That was an odd thing to highlight IMO

I'm getting Seven Dwarfs Mine Train vibes from the whole thing, and while that ride is OK, it's not worth the wait.

 

[EagleScout610]

It's funny, thinking back to Frontierland of 2020. Yes, even though the attractions and characters were a mix of IPs/Originals (Song of the South, Mark Twain stories, legends, ect...) they all blended so seamlessly if you told me they were all from the same movie and I knew nothing I wouldn't bat an eye.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Possibly controversial take: If they wanted to shoehorn Cars into something, Test Track was right there.

 

[EagleScout610]

Possibly controversial take: If they wanted to shoehorn Cars into something, Test Track was right there.

Would've worked too.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Can't the same be true with Piston Peak though? The charm and beauty of a national Park, the ranger station, the walking paths the rainbow springs the geysers etc ?

Not saying it will but why is it impossible that the area will have a quality experience that happens to have a Cars attraction in it as well?

For one, Tom Morris isn’t in the building every day to help get things right.

The big reason is that they’re ripping out the very thing that would allow that, space. They’re taking something that more reflected the idea behind the national parks, preserving large swaths of wilderness (something Magic Kingdom was uniquely sited to offer but has now been squandered), and replacing it with a small footprint focused on a few token bits of iconography.

 

[James Alucobond]

I expect the exterior to be attractive, because the exterior is more or less all there is to the attraction and Disney can do rockwork. Unfortunately, the well-done exterior will be full of very basic cars-base visual puns that don’t mesh with any other elements in the area. And why is a Hudson River Valley mansion now overlooking a Pacific Northwest national park?

People have been mentioning Grizzly Peak as a point of comparison, and that seems very apt but foreboding. That land, while featuring beautiful scenery, feels narrow and often unpleasantly hemmed in, with a very uninteresting centerpiece ride based on a vehicle traveling through an unvaried external landscape with few AAs. I really like DCA but Grizzly Peaks struck me as the least interesting land each time I visited, an area to walk through to get to other places. Whatever one can say about the Pixar overlay, the openness of the Pier area came as a palpable relief after passing through Peaks.

I agree with you about it likely feeling way more hemmed in, but they seem to be indicating that the overt rockwork visual puns will face into the area and be more disguised from the outside. Also, it always overlooked something geographically distinct (Missouri), and the fact that it overlooks anything at all will now be way more obstructed by the tall rockwork and the queue, which will likely be sequestered by trees. I’m not saying this is good, by the way. Its siting will make less sense, but I don’t think exactly what you’re talking about will be the issue because the sightlines will change drastically.

 

[Mr. Sullivan]

Really, then why did ROE last for 20 years while it's god-awful replacement lasted barely two? The Fountain did not need to be removed and the music from ToN still played every night for 20 years, long after the parade itself had been cancelled. If you create something truly timeless people will remember it forever. Today's EPCOT is a sad shadow of what it used to be and even the things about it that are impressive don't work right.

But this is kinda the point the person you were responding to was getting at: a majority of the people in the parks today have never had an EPCOT other than this one. Doesn't mean they wouldn't have liked an older version, but they also like the one they have now.

They just don't have a nostalgia for it that you do. Generally speaking there's nothing wrong with that. Everyone has their versions of things they love that new generations or previous generations don't. It's the circle of life.

Where this starts to become an issue is when pockets of the Disney fan community start to get angry when Disney doesn't preserve or cater to their nostalgia versus someone else's, or don't cater to nostalgia at all and move forward with something totally new.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

they all blended so seamlessly

I thought of that when I saw the new New Orleans jazz band. They are quite good. But the previous band - banjo brothers and Bob - blended in anywhere in Frontierland. This band is clearly New Orleans - so to see them marching in front of the horseshoe, country bears, and big thunder is completely out of place.

I’ll also mention the banjo brothers didn’t need a manager marching ahead of them yelling “step to the right” in an annoyed tone to all guests. If that’s the current managers heaven help us!

 

[Casper Gutman]

Would've worked too.

It would have given an identity and interest to a ride that has always struggled to find those things.