Professortango1
Well-Known Member
I have always heard they went the easier route of piling dirt and building upon the earth.
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Cars Land After a Decade: How Are We Feeling?
- Thread starter Californian Elitist
- Start date
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
Yeah it’s easier, but even in a much more expensive park I would not have expected them to build the area out of a structure. It’s not very practical. In order to get the dense landscaping that surrounds the peak you’d have to have a pretty intense roof structure which would require a lot of support eating into the space. Then you have to deal with all of the water not just from the ride but also the landscaping.
Animaniac93-98
Well-Known Member
I'd rank it #2 behind RSR and the best of the opening day attractions (despite the hype Soarin' and California Screamin' got).
mickEblu
Well-Known Member
Did Screamin have any hype? I think Soarin Over California deserved the hype it got back then in 2001. I think being compared to the rest of the crappy park gave it some bonus points too. GRR I think is an attraction that has gotten better with age as the trees matured and they got rid of that extreme sports theme.
UpAllNight
Well-Known Member
RSR is a great ride but I recently compiled my top 20 rides and completely forgot about it, which was strange, as I feel if I had remembered, it should have been on there. Maybe it is for me, as an area, one that feels like I should love it for the detail, but actually have a bit of a disconnect with due to the source material.
I feel the same way, despite thinking Cars Land is one of the best areas of the park and RSR being the best ride in the park. Despite Disney doing a great job with Cars Land, it’s still an IP-based land. Personally, I’m not a fan of Cars, and because of this, I don’t find myself spending a bunch of time in Cars Land at once. I leave and come back, leave and come back. I really enjoy Cars Land, but there’s only so much Cars I can take.
On the other hand, I could spend hours in New Orleans Square and the back corner of DL in general.
Animaniac93-98
Well-Known Member
To me, "favorites" is not the same as "biggest", "best", "technically impressive" or "headliner".
It's about the emotional response you get out of the experience, and sometimes the simpler things can make us feel happier.
I appreciate and have fun on RSR, but I would be lying if I said it was more enjoyable to me than a night time ride on Casey Jr or sitting on the front deck of the Mark Twain with a mint julep.
UpAllNight
Well-Known Member
I actually think a few Disney areas suffer this. They're fantastic and the theming is unreal, but there's somehow a strange lack of depth. Pandora being an example. Flight of Passage is easily top 10, and despite its critics, I love the boat ride too. I look at the mountains and think wow that is incredible -the fact that people had the vision to think of, design, fund and construct that. I take some pictures, and take a moment to take it in. Then I leave.
These areas lack the depth of Potter, where there's just more to it. More shops to explore, more photo ops, more shows, more cultural references - and more rides.
UpAllNight
Well-Known Member
I agree. When we were compiling our top 20 rides we agreed it was how a ride makes you FEEL when you come off it. And one of the reasons Tower of Terror all these years later is still top tier. You don't come off it doing anything other that laugh along with the crowd you were with. It's thrilling, and your experience is different every time depending on your riding partners.
I appreciate the detail of RSR - it's incredible.
I agree. And it’s weird, I can’t actually put into words why this is. All I can say is something is missing; I have trouble going into detail and being very specific as to why. Probably because it’s mostly feeling and emotion. I also agree with you about Potter. It doesn’t feel hollow to me and I can spend a lot of time there.
Vegas Disney Fan
Well-Known Member
Disney has kind of fallen into a formula of 2-3 rides, a gift shop (or 2), and a restaurant (or 2) for their new lands.
We find Carsland, Pandora, and Galaxies Edge all incredibly well done and stunning but we don’t spend a ton of time in any of them because there just isn’t a lot to do. They are more like mini-lands that just happen to be huge.
HP reminds me more of New Orleans at DL, not a ton of rides but there’s so many twists and turns and little shops it’s not uncommon for us to spend a couple hours wandering around it .
UpAllNight
Well-Known Member
I feel Disney improved this several notches with GE, with the lightsaber & droid creation - but also think that if it were Universal, the lightsabers would have unlocked interactive elements throughout the land. I'm kind of amazed this isn't part of the land, it's almost as if Disney said, pay for your expensive lightsaber and wait for it to get dark and look cool. Whereas the wands in potter unlock consistent interactivity - which increases time spent in the land. I'm not one to buy such things, but it's still fun to watch people attempt the spells.
Don't mean for this to be Disney vs Universal, but it's just something Universal are doing better right now. Haven't been to Japan, but I expect Mario to be similar.
Vegas Disney Fan
Well-Known Member
This is a great point, my gf has a wand and every time we go we end up doing the windows.
Hawkeye_2018
Well-Known Member
I really didn't spend much time in Cars land. The Luigi ride was lame. RSR was a great ride, but it's only brief speed/thrill part made it a one and done for me. Overall Cars land doesn't do much for me, but I'm also not a huge fan of the IP in general.
by any chance did you check out cars land at night, all the neon makes the land really colorful and vibrant when its dark out and the lighting on the massive rock wall behind RSR it all looks very pretty
D.Silentu
Well-Known Member
I almost forget about these activities, because their expense has kept me from experiencing them. It sort of disabuses the common notion that Galaxy's Edge has little to do. The downside is that over half the marquee activities in the land are reservation locked and costly.
Me too, I thought that the Force would be included that way. Surprisingly not very present in the land for its importance in the stories.
bryanfze55
Well-Known Member
Cars Land has really grown on me over the years. I’m not necessarily a fan of the IP, but I do love the desert Southwest setting as well as the whole 50s schtick they have going on.
But Cars Land has a lot of kinetic energy, which distinguishes it from Galaxy’s Edge (and Pandora in WDW). The cars move up and down the street, there are two outdoor rides with the third ride having a large outdoor section, there is music… it honestly is a nice place to “hangout”, which like I said is a contrast to the other two aforementioned lands. It has more in common with New Orleans Square in that regard.
But Cars Land has a lot of kinetic energy, which distinguishes it from Galaxy’s Edge (and Pandora in WDW). The cars move up and down the street, there are two outdoor rides with the third ride having a large outdoor section, there is music… it honestly is a nice place to “hangout”, which like I said is a contrast to the other two aforementioned lands. It has more in common with New Orleans Square in that regard.
mickEblu
Well-Known Member
Same here. If you look at my posts from even just a few years ago I’ve really changed my tune in regards to Cars Land. Part of it is comparing it to the boneheaded lackluster things they ve done to the park since, part of it is the time it takes for appreciation/ nostalgia to set in sometimes and part of it was just coming to the realization that Cars Land is just good ole fashioned fun/ Americana which is a breath of “fresh” air in the wake of the more recent politically motivated changes.
Americana is what Disneyland Is and part of the reason it’s so great. Cars Land and Grizzly Peak are the best lands at DCA not only for their quality design/ atmosphere and rides but because of the underlying Americana theme.
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