Autopia, time to stir the pot. Opinions......

[Tres Vegas]

So I just wanted to see what the "practical" feedback would be. No negative banter please just imaginations for the ride.
I was thinking and hope this has not already been discussed, I like tomorrow land but if it is to reflect the possible "tomorrow" wouldn't it be nice to see Autopia cars being electric like the queue in line?Imagine a new future looking bubble top and driving silent with an audio playing of the future life. I think that would be great for the park and also freshen up the ride. Sponsorship could possibly be Tesla or any other new company branching out to cover some or all costs to the new cars. I think this would be a win win for Disney.

I thought of this because of thinking of this ride and realizing that you still hear the old gas engines of the past when electric seems to be the future.

Now I am not preaching anything other than this ride, not what we drive everyday and some of the recreations we enjoy personally.

 

[ShoalFox]

It would be a good idea to switch to electric. Not just because it's the future, but because it would get rid of the noise, smell, and carbon emissions that the current engines emit. I'm not sure if the Speedway in MK would ever get another sponsor, although the Autopias in Anaheim and Tokyo (closing next year) do.

One theory I've read as to why Autopia exists in Tomorrowland at all is that it's supposed to represent the future of children driving when they grow up. I kind of agree with this as I pretty much lost all interest in the ride once I started driving in real life.

 

[thomas998]

It would be a good idea to switch to electric. Not just because it's the future, but because it would get rid of the noise, smell, and carbon emissions that the current engines emit. I'm not sure if the Speedway in MK would ever get another sponsor, although the Autopias in Anaheim and Tokyo (closing next year) do.

One theory I've read as to why Autopia exists in Tomorrowland at all is that it's supposed to represent the future of children driving when they grow up. I kind of agree with this as I pretty much lost all interest in the ride once I started driving in real life.

Not to burst your bubble, but while electric would eliminate the smell, it probably wouldn't remove the noise because for the kids that's the fun of the cars so I would expect them to make them noisy even if they were electric... Now the carbon would actually be higher with electric, not higher in the park but higher at the smoke stack of the power plant providing the electricity (it is the dirty secret of electric cars in general they don't actually result in less carbon emission just a redistribution of where it enters the atmosphere. But don't get me wrong I would love it if they got rid of the gas motors simply for the reasons related to smell

 

[righttrack]

To be frank, and I know I'm going to get a lot of people who disagree and that's ok, in the 70s I thought the cars were neat. Today, not so much. What made the speedway so special was that there weren't many opportunities to do something like that for a child. Today exists many sorts of experiences just like this in your hometown. I'm all for classics in the park, but this isn't sacred ground. It's not characters, or movies or books with a WDW vaulted deity. Just my opinion. I think it's time to do something else. Save Carousel, of course, hang onto the characters and stories that moved us. This isn't the same. In today's world, it's filler.

 

[JoeCamel]

Trash it and move on....

 

[Bacon]

Autopia? well ok jump through the hoops all the way to California

 

[raven]

The way I see it: It's a lot of prime property for future expansion.

 

[Brad Bishop]

To be frank, and I know I'm going to get a lot of people who disagree and that's ok, in the 70s I thought the cars were neat. Today, not so much. What made the speedway so special was that there weren't many opportunities to do something like that for a child. Today exists many sorts of experiences just like this in your hometown. I'm all for classics in the park, but this isn't sacred ground. It's not characters, or movies or books with a WDW vaulted deity. Just my opinion. I think it's time to do something else. Save Carousel, of course, hang onto the characters and stories that moved us. This isn't the same. In today's world, it's filler.

I'm sort of the same way. I remember being a kid and being amazed by freeways. I still am, in one sense. We all get frustrated on them but if you think about the number of man-miles that they move each day, it's pretty incredible (though it doesn't help if you're stuck in it). That said, it's a lot less sexy than it was before. Before highways were the future with people racing around skipping downtown traffic to get to their destination at a quick pace. The reality is you're sitting in traffic.

For the MK the idea was more of a "Speedway" which, really, they could rip out at this point and I don't think it'd matter. It's not really "classic" to me and while I'm sure you can get those who'll post "My kid LOVES the Speedway!" or "I've ALWAYS loved the Speedway!" your average person doesn't care and probably wonders why it's even there.

For DL, though, that whole area is this neat, inter-tangled, woodsy area. You have the subs, Monorail, Autopia, and, at one time, PeopleMover. It was, and still is to some degree, just a fantastic area and I think that the cars work really well there. I'd switch them to electric, though. I'd also rebuild the PeopleMover track and make it LIMs instead of motors/tires. I think that it'd be really popular because it's a unique ride. It's a relaxing ride. It's a "take a break" ride that people actually want to ride (not like UoE at Epcot where it's more of a napping ride).

 

[networkpro]

I'm sort of the same way. I remember being a kid and being amazed by freeways. I still am, in one sense. We all get frustrated on them but if you think about the number of man-miles that they move each day, it's pretty incredible (though it doesn't help if you're stuck in it). That said, it's a lot less sexy than it was before. Before highways were the future with people racing around skipping downtown traffic to get to their destination at a quick pace. The reality is you're sitting in traffic.
.

I would intercede and say that this is referentially incorrect for those of us outside the urban conglomerations that some of y'all choose to inhabit. Tomorrowland Speedway isnt current, we all can agree upon that. Modernize it with another form of propulsion maybe (insert advocate of the day method) Reclaim the land and repupose it for something else ? Likely.

 

[BigRedDad]

The speedway was great in the 70s and 80s. Now, not so much. Kids like it, but there is so much more that could go there. It is a yesteryear ride in Tomorrowland. It simply doesn't fit and it takes up a ton of valuable space. The space is the same size of SM and RnRC. There is a ton of things that could easily go into that space. A Tomorrowland themed hypercoaster would be perfect. MK lacks thrill rides. SM was a thrill ride in the 70s. BTMRR was a thrill ride in the 80s. 7DMT is FAR from a thrill ride.

 

[marni1971]

The WDW Speedway is the only version left using gasoline engines as opposed to hybrids or electric.

 

[P_Radden]

The WDW Speedway is the only version left using gasoline engines as opposed to hybrids or electric.

Have you ever even heard of plans to switch the MK TL go-carts to hybrid or electric? I'm really surprised this has not been done years ago.

 

[Ted Daggett]

The one issue that I can think of related to "electric" cars is that there is significant down time for charging of the batteries. I am not sure how long they would last, but I doubt the batteries would last from 8 am EMH to 12 midnight. My kids have battery powered ride in vehicles that last 30 minutes (obviously Disney would have better technology than my $200 ride on vehicles). The batteries would also be very heavy...

Perhaps they could use some sort of Hydrogen Fuel Cell to power the cars, which would be advertised as the fuel of tomorrow...

Last December my 6 year old son and I went on this ride, and he said it was boring because you "didn't even have to steer" because of the track on the ground.

It definitely needs some sort of upgrade, as it takes up so much space in tomorrowland.

 

[Mickey5150]

I think Disney should team up with Elon Musk and change a lot of things in the parks. Switch to Tesla electric vehicles for Autotpia and then have a Tesla store in DS. Over at Epcot switch from HP to SpaceX for Mission Space and update the ride with the Dragon spacecraft. If they want to get rid of Ellen, replace it with a Hyperloop thrill ride. Finally turn one side of Innoventions into an infomercial for everything Elon Musk has worked on, from electric cars, spaceships, batteries, solar panels, plenty of futuristic ideas for Future World.

 

[Bairstow]

Not to burst your bubble, but while electric would eliminate the smell, it probably wouldn't remove the noise because for the kids that's the fun of the cars so I would expect them to make them noisy even if they were electric... Now the carbon would actually be higher with electric, not higher in the park but higher at the smoke stack of the power plant providing the electricity (it is the dirty secret of electric cars in general they don't actually result in less carbon emission just a redistribution of where it enters the atmosphere. But don't get me wrong I would love it if they got rid of the gas motors simply for the reasons related to smell

If the cars were electric with onboard "engine" audio, it would cut down on ambient noise pollution while still being fun for the rider. Maybe more fun, depending how much work went into the audio and the software controlling it. If the kart had analog input from the gas pedal and some way to know the kart's speed, you could have the engine noise change timbre like it was running through the gears, depending on how long the pedal is depressed.

 

[Brad Bishop]

The one issue that I can think of related to "electric" cars is that there is significant down time for charging of the batteries. I am not sure how long they would last, but I doubt the batteries would last from 8 am EMH to 12 midnight. My kids have battery powered ride in vehicles that last 30 minutes (obviously Disney would have better technology than my $200 ride on vehicles). The batteries would also be very heavy...

Perhaps they could use some sort of Hydrogen Fuel Cell to power the cars, which would be advertised as the fuel of tomorrow...

Last December my 6 year old son and I went on this ride, and he said it was boring because you "didn't even have to steer" because of the track on the ground.

It definitely needs some sort of upgrade, as it takes up so much space in tomorrowland.

You don't charge the cars but, instead, just have a track down the center with power on each side which has shoes which ride along it.

 

[Raineman]

The way I see it: It's a lot of prime property for future expansion.

You could fit a couple of good sized E-ticket dark rides in there, or a big outdoor attraction. That plot of land could fit two show buildings the size of HM & IASW with some space left in between.

 

[thomas998]

The one issue that I can think of related to "electric" cars is that there is significant down time for charging of the batteries. I am not sure how long they would last, but I doubt the batteries would last from 8 am EMH to 12 midnight. My kids have battery powered ride in vehicles that last 30 minutes (obviously Disney would have better technology than my $200 ride on vehicles). The batteries would also be very heavy...

Perhaps they could use some sort of Hydrogen Fuel Cell to power the cars, which would be advertised as the fuel of tomorrow...

Last December my 6 year old son and I went on this ride, and he said it was boring because you "didn't even have to steer" because of the track on the ground.

It definitely needs some sort of upgrade, as it takes up so much space in tomorrowland.

I don't think charging the batteries would be that big a deal, there are several electric go kart tracks where I live and their solution is having the cars charging all the time that they are in the exit and entry area for drivers, a positive and negative plate runs under the cars so when they are on that section of track where you get on or off the cars are being charged. The bigger problem with that setup would be the lifespan of the batteries. Given the best existing technology for batteries they might only last a few years before having to be replaced which might make them cost prohibitive.

 

[Tres Vegas]

Being from So. Cal. was my thinking of Autopia when I started this thread. I enjoyed the replies which were valid and I can see how some lost interest for the speedway ride. As stated above the look of the cars are not pleasing as you would imagine for a Disney ride these days. If they do keep this ride I would like to see a fresh "tomorrow" look and feel to it. As for the motor...George Jetson's car had a cool sound.

 

[WhatJaneSays]

I have a mass of great memories from driving those cars ... it needs to go ... it needed to go 10 years ago.