News Cars-Themed Attractions at Magic Kingdom

[psherman42]

The only real problematic thing about TSI is how inaccessible it was and how far behind modern safety standards it was

Honestly I think the Island has been doomed for a while purely because of how inaccessible the paths are. I don't think there's a single square foot of sidewalk on that island that is up to ADA standards or capable if handling more than the couple dozen guests the island gets in a day. And generally if one part of something gets updates beyond basic maintenence, then the whole thing needs to be re-inspected and brought up to modern codes for accessibility and for safety.

If I'm right (which admittedly I could be off) then Disney was likely faced with the choice of either entirely redo the island, let it rot taking up half that side of the park and remaining a lawsuit waiting to happen (I've literally found a rusty hatchet in the fort before sitting on a bench), or tear it out and give us an entire new land plus easy access to 2-3 HUGE land sized expansion pads. Tom Sawyer was never long for the world in its current form

I'm just happy the Cars area, despite being Cars, seems focused on exploring a peaceful natural environment full of rock work and water features.

What water features? Please point them out because I see one waterfall on the concept art and that’s it.

I normally defend Disney when they make changes to the parks. I try to see the good even if I’m sad to see a favorite attraction go. But I can’t ger behind this change. They are ripping out a part of the soul of the park and I’m not okay with that. Especially when the speedway is still there and an empty Stitch’s great escape.

 

[DisneyCane]

I’m very pleased they went this route over the alternative for phase 1.

This is going to be a hit, trust me!

It is not mutually exclusive for it to be a hit and a great attraction(s) but also make no sense thematically in the land they are putting it in.

Also, I won't pretend that the Splash Mountain theme fit with Frontierland either.

 

[KDM31091]

I also wonder how much of this is the seeming need to monetize every inch of the park. TSI and Riverboat dont require LL. Cars almost certainly will require you to pay up (probably $50 by the time it opens) or wait for 2 hours in the hot sun while cars zoom by. It’s so unfortunate that they want every inch of the park producing revenue or away it goes.

 

[Tha Realest]

Cars almost certainly will require you to pay up (probably $50 by the time it opens) or wait for 2 hours in the hot sun while cars zoom by.

Oh it’ll be on VQ and paid LL for two years or so.

At least while you’re “waiting” in your virtual line, you can take in the resplendent tranquility of the riverfront in Liberty Square…

 

[the_rich]

@Henry Mystic can u share anything about the other option?

 

[Robbiem]

didn’t disney try to sell something like this to OLC before fantasy springs?

IMO This is an odd choice. I would have thought this would work better at DHS where a nice rural land would bring a different vibe to a very urban design.

it looks like a big engineering challenge doing this

If the RoA is drained does anyone know how that affects the water system in Magic Kingdom? Would it mean the canal linking to seven seas lagoon could be filled in to make expansion easier?

 

[doctornick]

I prefer to replace Liberty Square with Cars and leave the area north of Big Thunder for another future expansion.

Those moves give us 3 new things (Cars, Villains, and the future land).

The other option seemed to be keeping LS and putting Cars in the area north of Big Thunder. That would give us 2 new things (Cars and Villains).

Well then they made the wrong choice. And it’s not even close.

 

[V_L_Raptor]

Walt Disney once said, "Here in Florida, we have something special we never enjoyed at Disneyland... the blessing of size. There's enough land here to hold all the ideas and plans we can possibly imagine"

Doesn’t sound like he would be a fan of ripping out iconic lands and attractions, when there was enough land to build them elsewhere.

That was YesterWalt. We’re in D’Amaro’s Tomorrow. The parks aren’t for us anymore.

 

[Tha Realest]

I prefer to replace Liberty Square with Cars and leave the area north of Big Thunder for another future expansion.

Those moves give us 3 new things (Cars, Villains, and the future land).

The other option seemed to be keeping LS and putting Cars in the area north of Big Thunder. That would give us 2 new things (Cars and Villains).

I think those are really the only two choices we get right now. I mean, sure, we could add more land for more things, but given what we know right now, those are the two choices.

So I value the future of that undeveloped land higher than I value what's in Liberty Square right now. Keeping in mind that the originals of these attractions still exist in Disneyland, I'm super comfortable saying that.

I appreciate the post and the logic behind the rationale here, but I am skeptical we’ll get a “future land to be named later.” I get the desire to keep options open for down the road, but presumably Autopia and (if I had to guess) a remodel or reimagining of Space Mountain is in the cards in the not so distant future.

 

[GenChi]

Threadly reminder that Pecos Bill is going to manage to outlive Splash Mountain, Country Bear Jamboree, Shooting Arcade, Tom Sawyer Island, the entire Rivers of America...

 

[Sir_Cliff]

I’m not a car enthusiast, and I’m very much opposed to the loss of the river, but the theme itself doesn’t seem ill-fitting to me. The National Park roadtrip aesthetic (which is what the concept art is giving me) is sufficiently nostalgic and redolent of the “American Spirit” to work in my opinion. I just wish they’d put it further back, behind Thunder Mountain.

I think the celebration of cars in particular goes beyond that, though. For example, there is a big mountain in the shape of a piston which looks like it will be the first thing you see as you walk into the land from the hub. So, at least to me, it seems that cars are going to dominate this new vision for the land. I'm sure the shops and everything around the new attractions will also be very car-centric. I mean, they kind of have to be if the theme is a world of just cars. For example, they couldn't have something like that bear carving outside Grizzly River Rapids as in this world bears don't exist.

That's part of what hits me about this: the whole centre of the land and what dominates the view when you walk into the land will be an homage to cars dressed up in a rustic setting.

 

[CoasterCowboy67]

What water features? Please point them out because I see one waterfall on the concept art and that’s it.

I normally defend Disney when they make changes to the parks. I try to see the good even if I’m sad to see a favorite attraction go. But I can’t ger behind this change. They are ripping out a part of the soul of the park and I’m not okay with that. Especially when the speedway is still there and an empty Stitch’s great escape.

I see a few waterfalls. It’s a bit fuzzy on purpose, and don’t think this art commits them to specifics of that nature. I bet they’d make a waterfall ala Grizzly Peak at DCA

I don’t think they’re ripping the soul of the park per se, but I do think it’s a signature design feature of the park, especially the ability to see Splash Mountain TBA and Big Thunder from a distance. DHS and DAK have plenty of unused spaces, not even for aesthetic purposes, that address much bigger capacity and attraction count issues. ROA was one of the only ones in a park that is already pretty efficient about using all available space for small attractions. I wouldn’t mind if ROA had been removed if other way-more-obvious spaces at other parks had been efficiently used first.

And I think they could've easily cut ROA in half to maintain its purpose in FL & LS while using the back for more practical access to Villains

 

[Brer Panther]

I wrote for Splash Mountain. The response I received made me want to vomit…

I wrote for Splash Mountain too.

 

[Tha Realest]

Many years ago I was watching my NFL team in a playoff game and getting increasingly agitated. As the game played out, I was really upset at the increasingly likely prospect they would lose (they did). Towards the end I was pretty upset, and then, as I watched the players on my team look pretty chill and ambivalent about how they were playing, it dawned on me: why do I seem to care more about this than they do, who have a lot more riding on it than me?

At the end of the day, this is here for our amusement. If it no longer amuses us, we have other options. But, if the people whose jobs it is to do these things do not care about thematic integrity, sight lines, and placemaking, why should I?

 

[splah]

From what I’ve heard, it’s supposed to be these driverless off-roading cars. No idea how Disney would’ve gotten the patents for this since Dynamic Attractions is now dead, but it looks cool.

Maybe some of the size issue is solved by this ride system. It passes through some narrow areas. It might be able to pack more in where the slot car system feels like it needs more space. If it’s truly a reliable system you could have some real “trails” the vehicles go over that are tight.

You could still fit two pirates or mansions in this plot.

 

[bwr827]

We will be losing attraction capacity too. People eaters like Liberty Belle and TSI are what I look forward to when everything else is so jam packed.

For an attraction to eat people, they have to actually go to it. Something with middling participation, not LB/TSI where even hardcore fans on this forum are saying, “I haven’t done them in years, but I like how they look.”

 

[lazyboy97o]

I just find it so weird that this is what they think the Magic Kingdom is.

It’s DisneyPark Florida 1.

 

[jason976]

Many years ago I was watching my NFL team in a playoff game and getting increasingly agitated. As the game played out, I was really upset at the increasingly likely prospect they would lose (they did). Towards the end I was pretty upset, and then, as I watched the players on my team look pretty chill and ambivalent about how they were playing, it dawned on me: why do I seem to care more about this than they do, who have a lot more riding on it than me?

At the end of the day, this is here for our amusement. If it no longer amuses us, we have other options. But, if the people whose jobs it is to do these things do not care about thematic integrity, sight lines, and placemaking, why should I?

Not being combative here so I don’t want it to come off that way because I really do have empathy for folks who are saddened by this news. But just a real question.

For folks who are excited with this announcement, and there are a lot of us, what does this mean for us. That we are like the people in charge and we just don’t care or worse, that we just “don’t get it”?

Because I get it- I just happen to disagree. I believe this is what the park needs and I think, based on the concept art, that it’s going to look amazing. I obviously could end up being wrong and we all know how reliable concept art is.

I guess my point is that for us, the people in charge made the right decision….for now.

 

[lazyboy97o]

From what I’ve heard, it’s supposed to be these driverless off-roading cars. No idea how Disney would’ve gotten the patents for this since Dynamic Attractions is now dead, but it looks cool.

Dynamic Attractions is still in business. They even just opened a new office about two months ago.

Patents do not protect general ideas. They protects specific processes. Come up with a different process and you’re good to go. You can even patent your new process. Patents are also an asset that can be liquidated when a company is being dissolved.

 

[KDM31091]

My problem is the super generic terms like “frontier” and “exploration” don’t IMO justify fitting this stuff in. Inserting the word frontier into a glamorized marketing statement doesn’t mean Cars is appropriate for Frontierland.

I know the average guest doesn’t really care. But at this point why even bother having themed areas? Just call it all MK and move on. It’s just like Epcot’s front half. What is even the difference between World Celebration vs Nature vs Discovery? Little to nothing.