News Cars-Themed Attractions at Magic Kingdom

[KDM31091]

This might be an unpopular opinion, but kids today don't know who Tom Sawyer is, nor do they care about a steam-powered riverboat. Besides, maintaining an island with a steam-powered riverboat circling it every 20 minutes or so gets expensive in the long run, and the infrastructure they had to maintain to keep this obsolete (by today's standards) bit of fantasy going just isn't justified by today's MBA standards.

And the kids of today are the ticket buyers of tomorrow. Better to put something in that THEY can relate to. Boomer G'paw gonna be gone soon anyway...

Think upon this... now that there's another Car ride coming into MK, expect pressure to mount on repurposing the land eaten up by Tomorrowland Speedway...

The problem I think is that old school Disney didn’t care and wouldn’t spend the money anyway to operate the boat. Now it’s deemed expendable.

 

[ToTBellHop]

You mean the Liberty Belle? It can be repurposed into transport on the Seven Seas Lagoon. Seems like an asset they'd want to show off rather than just leave in dry dock somewhere or sell.

This seems most likely to me. Put the HEA cruises on the Belle.

 

[zann285]

Couldn’t they pave over the tangled bathrooms and build a path there? I’m quite sure the bathrooms could be relocated and then at least we aren’t losing an actual attraction.

From past threads where people have mentioned similar, restrooms are actually anchor points in the fabric of the universe, moving the plumbing involved requires a literal act of God.

 

[the_rich]

The problem I think is that old school Disney didn’t care and wouldn’t spend the money anyway to operate the boat. Now it’s deemed expendable.

I think old school Disney(aka Walt) would've redone almost all of the park by now.

 

[Wall-e]

40 something lifetime park goer here. Sad to see it go and as a Cars fan I’m not sure I like the fit. My number one concern was the look and feel of walking from the hub to Liberty Square and while I’m a huge fan of being along the water I think the sight lines will be very different but ultimately fitting for a Disney park.

Also been following this thread closely and I don’t see anyone post this observation yet. The arrow is pointing to a water feature that seems to be a waterfall that is featured in one of the initial concept drawings.

 

[monothingie]

With this concept art it makes the area seem seem very vast and expansive, but just being here in person looking at it, the cars area, with 2 attractions, seems kind of small.

Add the “mountains” and it’s really going to mess with the scale of the entire area.

I’m not against expansion, but it seems like compared to the blue sky concept, they must have run the numbers and found this to be the cheaper path forward to develop.

 

[Coaster Lover]

My assumption is that is the hard border. I think with this announcement, I am more convinced that Villains will be almost entirely within the railroad as well (though not 100%). Perhaps the coaster will go under of over it since that needs a lot of space

Maybe something like this...?

 

[JustInTime]

Ha! Not my intent. But what's left in Liberty Square after Cars and Haunted Mansion becoming the entrance to Villains? Just HOP.

That’s my fear. I love Liberty Square. But it’s pretty much gone in the concept art.

 

[PREMiERdrum]

This seems most likely to me. Put the HEA cruises on the Belle.

I'm asking because I literally don't know - but is the Belle suitable for open water? Its hull is so shallow....

 

[Tha Realest]

Well, if these trends continue there won’t be the cash to see these changes through, and perhaps sanity will prevail once third parties start reacquiring a stake in the company.

 

[Jrb1979]

Imho, this is the worst of all possible options. If they were to have some kind of perfect fitting IP, such as a modern day western character (not Woody, we have enough of him), I'd begrudgingly let go of the river and the riverboat for the sake of capacity, because to your point, these two attractions are not popular in the slightest. But paving over the most 'naturally' beautiful section of the park to shove this completely out of place IP is a double punch to the gut.

Your point is why there will always be a disagreement with things like this. I feel a lot of the newer Disney fans don't care so much about the theme of a park. It's more about new capacity, new IP and new additions.

At least for my family, what drew us to Disney in the first place was how unique each parks theme was and how the attractions fit the park. Now all the parks feel the same with a mish mash of IP.

 

[Big_Shakalaka]

For me it's not TSI, it's the river, the views, the pacing of it all. Gone.

Agreed. TSI doest really mean much to a modern audience. The attraction itself was "meh", in my opinion. If I am spending $120+/day to visit a park, it's not to wander around an island with nothing interesting on it. I want attractions.
But the views around ROA.... it's just pleasant and comforting.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Ha! Not my intent. But what's left in Liberty Square after Cars and Haunted Mansion becoming the entrance to Villains? Just HOP.

Well I hope they don't bulldoze the theater.

We need places that are cool, dark, seated........ Zzzzzzzzz What? Where am I?

 

[monothingie]

Yeah if you look at a map, it will be smaller than just RSR alone, however, every time I look at the concept art, the main attraction really does go through almost the entirety of the expansion. I think this will have more wrapping around and elevation changes to compensate.

I just don’t want to see another 57 second ride. This screams 7DMT to me all over again.

 

[ctrlaltdel]

I don't really have any doubt the new area will look great. As a big national parks fan (where we go on the majority of our vacations) I really am partial to the look they are going for. Don't think Disney is cheapening out on it, they knew from holding back this announcement at D23 that it would be unpopular so they have to knock it out of the park. My biggest worry is that the ride will be unreliable. It's gonna be at least moderately high-speed outdoors in Florida so it likely will have significant downtime no matter the ride system

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

You mean the Liberty Belle? It can be repurposed into transport on the Seven Seas Lagoon. Seems like an asset they'd want to show off rather than just leave in dry dock somewhere or sell.

Whoops! Fixed it..

 

[Brian]

I'm asking because I literally don't know - but is the Belle suitable for open water? Its hull is so shallow....

I know it's been sailed many times across SSL during transit to/from dry dock, but whether it is suitable for that with guests on board is a different question.

It would definitely require some investment to make it work, but nothing out of control for preserving a piece of the park's history and gaining an extra boat for transit purposes too.

 

[Surferboy567]

I still think this could be fun. I supported the clone idea of RSR and I think I support this.

I never really developed a connection to TSL and the LB. Yes, they have historical significance but I’m excited for Cars.

 

[larryz]

Get ready for another 5 years of closure

They've tunneled under the tracks to get to new territory -- they don't have to re-route the tracks.

 

[KDM31091]

They've tunneled under the tracks to get to new territory -- they don't have to re-route the tracks.

So the railroad will remain open?