MK Cars-Themed Attractions at Magic Kingdom

[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.

 

[Figments Friend]

Ok, good on them getting everything already up, etc , but this doorway does look a little funny on its own

View attachment 869351

Looking at this picture, all I can think of is the movie ‘2001 : A Space Odyssey’.
The Monolith….

Step through that strange gateway, and step into another dimension.

-

 

[Animaniac93-98]

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

I think if GM were to ever drop their sponsorship, that's what would happen

 

[Casper Gutman]

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.

The Hudson River Valley mansion didn’t overlook Missouri, it used to overlook the Hudson River and sometimes a steamship, a mode of transportation invented at a Hudson River Valley mansion and used extensively on the Hudson River. The entire structure is very open and oriented to take advantage of that vista.

And I’m not sure how they’re going to hide the heights of Piston Peak from the walkways of the land, let alone from the heights of Splash or Thunder.

 

[Charlie The Chatbox Ghost]

An Eisner or Wells is the best case scenario. There will never be another Walt. Todays business world wouldn't allow it.

I assume you mean they wouldn't allow it in the sense that a pure creative person would be too restrained by corporate? Walt was a unique case where he got almost everything he wanted in the parks (that was achievable at the time), pretty much everything he wanted to add would never get added now because they'd be seen as too risky.

I know every fan probably thinks this at some point, but I swear I could genuinely do a better job at coming up with creative ideas than Iger and D'Amaro combined. Like, I know that sounds pretty elitist or whatever, but I bet you I could come up with attractions that fans and casual visitors alike would enjoy and that fit in the parks, rather than feeling shoehorned in.