News Cars-Themed Attractions at Magic Kingdom

[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.

 

[lazyboy97o]

There is some water still over by BTM... It's techically possible for them to dock it by Tiana's and make a new Riverboat restaraunt of some sort right outside of Tiana's if they don't want to go with Peco's?

Turning the Liberty Belle into a restaurant isn’t some simple undertaking. At a minimum you need a kitchen facility somewhere and a way to quickly move food over and keep it hot and protected. Even then, you’d only be able to have service on decks that can be directly accessed by ramp. If you have dining on the upper level then it needs to be accessible, so you have to add an elevator which is a significant change.

 

[Lou Filerman]

People clutching their pearls over something that no one gave a crap about until yesterday is comical. Tom Sawyer island is a ghost town. The riverboat is only used by people killing time until their actual fun ride is available.

Disney does not and should not make rides for a few hundred people on wdwmagic. They make rides based on what the general public wants. And the general public wants rides like this. Virtual queue will be sold out in seconds and the ILL will sell out just as fast for these new rides. This is how companies should be run, appealing to the masses vs the small fandom of wdwmagic.

 

[psherman42]

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

Which is part of the problem. They’re fuzzy because they probably know when budget cuts hit they’ll be the first to go. Just like the fountain in World Celebration (which for what it’s worth, I actually think overall is an improvement over what was there before. Which should tell people something about how willing I am to defend Disney) This just feels like a massive miss. RoA is a feature of every castle park around the world, it is part of what makes the parks special. And they’re just going to pave over it. And for Cars. I’ll admit the area looks nice, if it actually ends up looking like the concept art (which it won’t because it never does). But put it literally *anywhere else.

People can do whatever mental gymnastics they want to justify putting cars in between Liberty square, Frontierland, and HM but to me it makes no sense.

And what hurts the most is they knew this would be unpopular. They knew it’d be controversial which is why they didn’t announce it at d23. They knew it’d be unpopular and they don’t care. They’re going to plow ahead anyway.

I have no actual hope of this happening but it’s the first time I’ve actually wished for a project to get scaled back from the concept art. Scale it back to keep the front of the river and LB and build behind.

 

[WDWFREAK53]

Master Gracey built that beautiful mansion along the riverfront...and then the riff-raff moved in and started rally racing out front.

 

[Incomudro]

People clutching their pearls over something that no one gave a crap about until yesterday is comical. Tom Sawyer island is a ghost town. The riverboat is only used by people killing time until their actual fun ride is available.

Disney does not and should not make rides for a few hundred people on wdwmagic. They make rides based on what the general public wants. And the general public wants rides like this. Virtual queue will be sold out in seconds and the ILL will sell out just as fast for these new rides. This is how companies should be run, appealing to the masses vs the small fandom of wdwmagic.

You're the kind of person who doesn't mind a woods being replaced by a strip mall because "no one" went in the woods.

 

[Incomudro]

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?

Because it hurts to see beauty destroyed.

 

[DisAl]

I have no desire to take my family back to what WDW has become.

 

[Bocabear]

beyond all the million and two reasons there are for not making this irreversible misstep with the park, they also said they are leaving Radiator Springs behind and heading west to new locations... Sounds a lot like the Star Wars Land... A new unrecognizable location that was never in a film and a place no one cares about... This really is a terrible idea... So the internal waterway of the park will be gone forever... This really is the worst idea ever....Cars doesn't even belong in the Magic Kingdom....It should be built in DHS where it would fit nicely...

 

[Streetway]

I don’t like it either, but everyone’s acting like Josh damark killed a man on stage! It sucks, it takes away something from mk for sure, but good GOD let them start to BUILD it at least.

 

[Lou Filerman]

This is an area of the park that no one cares about except a few online die hards. Disneys job is to make money. That’s it. Nothing else. This will make them more money than the existing, dead land that no one cares about. Again, no one cared about this part of the park until yesterday, now all of the sudden it’s the greatest thing in world history and should always be saved regardless of the fact that that the real customers dont care about it.