Carsland is...just okay. I don't dislike it as much as I once did, but I also don't think it's worthy of all the praise it gets. In so many ways, it is the epitome of everything that is right and wrong with modern WDI: a bunch of really talented designers got together and created the absolute best product that could be expected from a concept that just isn't very compelling.
It faithfully recreates the town of Radiator Springs, but nobody was really asking for that. Although it fills in some more detail in our knowledge of the town, it really doesn't add anything of substance that isn't in the film. Instead of a romanticized version of a known location that captures the highlights in a new way, it's just a 1-for-1 copy of something I can experience just as well from the comfort of my couch at home. Conceptually, placing Galaxy's Edge in an all-new planet is far more compelling concept for a theme park environment; whether the specific location they created succeeds at that is still up for debate.
Additionally, a lot of the fun details are nothing more than silly puns and sight gags that don't add much depth or texture to the world; in that sense, the IP is a perfect match for DCA1.0. Sure, it's fun to see the taillight flowers or the countless cone-shaped things, but that's all superficial window dressing. In terms of meaningful story points or mood setting, there's really nothing we haven't already seen in the film, making it tough to convince me it's worth the hassle and cost of a theme park visit.
The attractions run the gamut from surprisingly fun (Mater's) to completely lackluster (trackless Luigi's). I enjoyed the previous iteration of Luigi's, but it was an odd fit that clearly never panned out like they had intended. Racers is fine, but doesn't live up to the hype, nor is there anything so special about it that makes it stand out in Disney's pantheon of headliner attractions. Although it's better than TestTrack (at least in it's current rendition), it's not so much better as to justify the 3x price tag. It's an enjoyable experience, but one that's easily forgotten when reminiscing about the highlights of a day at the parks.
I also can't help but note that the exact location of Radiator Springs isn't known in the film, but it's decidedly *not* in California. The southwest desert may be similar at first glance (though looks more like western New Mexico upon further reflection), but Lightning McQueen says several times that he's trying to get to California for the race and all the other characters implicitly acknowledge that's somewhere far away. Since the land opened in 2012 the park has drifted farther and farther from it's California roots, so it may not seem like as big a deal now, but it was a distinct departure at the time.
At least Carsland's marketing team didn't fall into the trap of pretending it would be the most immersive location ever; any sense of immersion in a world populated by automobiles is immediately lost with all the hordes of human tourists. All of the other lands that Disney has created have in-universe humans at the very least (if not exclusively human), which gives them additional leeway to interpret the practicalities of a theme park. So much of the world of Cars (especially in the park) falls apart when you start thinking about it too hard; just consider the human-world equivalent of those lovely holiday decorations made from engine parts and tools strung up throughout the land
Carsland isn't awful. They clearly had a talented team that put a lot of effort into it. However, every time I visit I can't help but think about what else could have been done with the same resources to create a more compelling theme park experience. In that sense, it's a really disappointing addition to the park.
