News Cars-Themed Attractions at Magic Kingdom

[disney fan 13]

I think it’s a bit of historical revisionism to say that the lands at the castle parks have ever been cohesive or follow a singular story/timeline.

For example:

There really wasn’t much cohesiveness in having an attraction that takes place in the Deep South and the Wild West right next to each other.

Nor much cohesiveness with Adventureland having a show take place in the South Pacific right next to a boat ride through the Caribbean.

Nor is there really any sort of cohesion for fantasyland besides “this is where we stick all our IP rides.”

IP-palooza has made the lack of cohesion much more apparent, but it’s hardly a new thing or even a 21st century Disney invention.

 

[doctornick]

I always felt the Cars franchise (with the exception of Cars 2) celebrated "Americana." I do think this has potential to be a decent fit in the area as opposed to many of the other rumored choices.

I definitely think you can lean into that and make it harmonize more with Frontierland. It's just that anthropomorphic cars takes away from the vibe.

 

[Disney Analyst]

The more I think about it, the more I’m okay with this, pending how it all transitions / flows. The American Frontier isn’t locked to a specific time, and continuously evolves through time.

My thinking is they’ll just shorten the river much like they did at Disneyland (probably much much shorter for MK), and keep a smaller waterway and island, just for the vibes.

 

[ConfettiCupcake]

I always felt the Cars franchise (with the exception of Cars 2) celebrated "Americana." I do think this has potential to be a decent fit in the area as opposed to many of the other rumored choices.

I agree.

If you are against Cars and reduce it to human cars or cars with googly eyes, but thought Encanto and its magical house, or Coco and its very overt non Frontier setting with strong cultural ties and a touch of magic were good fits for Frontierland, ya might just dislike Cars.

 

[rle4lunch]

Conflicting info but I'm bracing myself for a significant alteration at best.

Thinking they they'll use RoA as part of the boggy mud waters that the cars run thru somehow.

 

[Disney Analyst]

I definitely think you can lean into that and make it harmonize more with Frontierland. It's just that anthropomorphic cars takes away from the vibe.

Fair enough.

But I mean, did singing and dancing animals take away from the Frontierland vibes? There has always been a level of fantasy and whimsy in MK’s Frontierland, first with Country Bears, and then when they built Splash.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

I'd basically put money on Tom Sawyer Island going. It has that rustic, "frontier" feeling that they are desperately trying to get rid of.

The riverboat is super iconic, and does soak up a lot of people, but I don't think Disney cares. They'll fill in the river to build Cars land and sell more merch.

The loss of Rivers of America, plus 20k lagoon awhile back, plus parts of the moat, are all going to/ are already contribute to MK becoming a concrete wasteland. It needs water and trees; the hub has almost no trees compared to before. These things make me sad.

They can permanently park the Riverboat and transform it into a DVC kiosk!

 

[Chef idea Mickey`=]

Adding more to Frontierland just makes Tiana’s ride not fit thematically that much more.

It makes it stand out worse actually.

 

[Winter]

The responses to this is making me feel like I switched universes somehow like the weird mandela effect theories. Does Cars not take place mostly in the desert??? It fits perfectly lol

 

[Disney Analyst]

This is my thinking of what they do in terms of what is Cars / Villains expansion space, while keeping some water for vibes.

 

[OSUPhantom]

The reason I’m bullish on ROA staying is this; Disney has primed prepared and mostly unhindered land ready behind BTM, way would they choose the more expensive route of having to altered existing infrastructure (draining the rivers, filling, demolition) when they just build where there is less cost to prep the land?

 

[erasure fan1]

I was told it's a different ride system. And the concept art is very notable that it's not showing any signs of track or guide rail, and a very off-road surface. May just be artistic license, or not.

I would think it would have to be. The test track ride system for an attraction outside in central Florida is a recipe for major downtime. That's been my issue with this whole D23. A bunch of announcements, with very little information on any of the projects.

 

[Chef idea Mickey`=]

This is probably going Beyond Big Thunder but will be classed as Frontierland rather than a Cars Land. Then again, they can always change their mind like they did with Critter Country becoming Bayou Country

This begs me the question: have they ever announced a new land with just attraction detail pictures, I only can recall the original Cars Land them showing the route 66 logo... ? Usually any further attraction detail concept art appears later thus unless because this time this isn't a land but just an expansion of frontier..

 

[Sir_Cliff]

I agree.

If you are against Cars and reduce it to human cars or cars with googly eyes, but thought Encanto and its magical house, or Coco and its very overt non Frontier setting with strong cultural ties and a touch of magic were good fits for Frontierland, ya might just dislike Cars.

I will admit that disliking Cars is part of it for me!

I just find that franchise so unappealing that to lose Rivers of America and have a rethinking of Frontierland take place so we can fit in a weird cartoon celebration of cars and wander through geographical features moulded to resemble car parts while watching anthropomorphised cars with big eyes and smiles zoom past seems like a big downgrade to the park.

 

[OSUPhantom]

This to me is how I see it working out.

 

[Disney Analyst]

The reason I’m bullish on ROA staying is this; Disney has primed prepared and mostly unhindered land ready behind BTM, way would they choose the more expensive route of having to altered existing infrastructure (draining the rivers, filling, demolition) when they just build where there is less cost to prep the land?

If they hadn’t said something about this being part of a reimagined section of Frontierland I’d agree.

And my feeling is they may need that added land some of the river occupies to fit it all?

 

[Ice Gator]

While I’m not a fan of this being part of Frontierland, I like how they seem to be going with a northwest mountain range style for it. Also I’m not concerned for ROA- there is plenty of space back there for this and Villains land- I feel like it’ll take up some of the back portion of the river but won’t do away with it entirely.

 

[PizzaPlanet]

Is the main attraction believed to be an E-ticket? The outdoor portions look impressive but I hope it also has a sizable dark ride element like RSR

 

[Horizonsfan]

It's amusing how this project still plausibly could be a fantastic home run or a big unforced error.

IMO, the plausible options shake out as:

1) Shorten ROA, preserve Liberty Belle & TSI as attractions, Add Cars & villains = A/A+ alteration
2) Shorten ROA, perma-dock LB, remove TSI rafts, retain island experiences but accessible via bridge, Add Cars & villains = B/B-
3) Infill ROA, eliminate LB & TSI, add cars & villains = D
4) Infill ROA, eliminated LB & TSI, add only cars = F

It was mentioned somewhere here the Moana boat ride budget was potentially reallocated to the retention of the ROA as a (shortened) kinetic element. I hope that's the case. I'd gladly make that trade...Hot take, I'd make that trade even if it means Moana in the Tiki Room.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

Fair enough.

But I mean, did singing and dancing animals take away from the Frontierland vibes? There has always been a level of fantasy and whimsy in MK’s Frontierland, first with Country Bears, and then when they built Splash.

Whimsy and fantasy isn't the sole issue, not the most glaring one at least. Thus far until very recently, Frontierland was pretty consistent at not incorporating obvious modern machinery in the themed elements. 1920s automobiles started creeping in with Tiana, and now they've gone completely nuts with modern looking vehicles. The giant googly eyes on the hoods however also feels very offputting and inappropriate. There's something about that which feels a step further into the realm of gross absurdity than the Country Bears or Splash characters. I say this as someone who actually really enjoyed the first Cars film and also RSR over in California, but the character designs are sort of generally weird to look at.