News Cars-Themed Expansion at Magic Kingdom

[Big_Shakalaka]

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I’m looking at photos I’ve taken of BTM and it definitely looks like they’re taking out the RoA. This isn’t a shortening, this is a complete replacement.View attachment 808259View attachment 808260

This is a good catch. Perfect picture to show perspective

 

[Chef idea Mickey`=]

If you’re at liberty to say, what was the alternative? Coco and Villains sounded amazing to me.

Coco and Encanto for that location.

 

[The Chatbox Ghost]

Hope that is the case but they did say Cars will be in a “reimagined” part of Frontierland which based on many responses here implies they’re removing something, and that might be the river and island connecting the dots. We shall see though..

Especially since the only parts of current Frontierland they mentioned were Big Thunder, Country Bears, and Tiana’s- TSI is the only attraction left out of that list.

 

[ToTBellHop]

The water functionally needs to remain as it connects to other waterways. But it doesn’t need to form a loop around an island.

 

[erasure fan1]

Whether you want Magic Kingdom to stay the same, Disneyland has Star Wars Galaxy's Edge and Hong Kong has Frozen and Toy Story, Shanghai has Zootpoia. Paris seems the only other one that will stay the same for now. IP is going to be everywhere unfortunately.

WDW is blessed with the gift of size. Most aren't advocating that things never change or that IP will be used. WDW has the space, they just don't need to shoehorn things in all the time. People want changes, they want new experiences but they also want them to fit whatever theme they're going into. That's not really an unreasonable ask in my opinion.

 

[Captain Barbossa]

I was hoping they never would because it is such an amazing experience. Hopefully they preserve it in some way. I’m very sad right now but I’m getting over it.

Not to mention it’s only 5 years post its major mechanical overhaul. And the track replacement. So all pretty recent stuff that’s fixing to be axed.

 

[solidyne]

Sorry kiddos….we’re not riding this new technologically cutting edge ride, grandma and grandpa can’t get past the thematic inconsistencies from the park in 1975. I know you’re only 8 but go read your Mark Twain.

Cars ride looks very cool. I'm even fine with attractions (even favorites) being replaced. I just don't like trees, rivers, and ambiance being replaced by concrete and cartoons.

 

[Chef idea Mickey`=]

Harry Potter land changed Disney’s philosophy on the parks and it’s never looked back..

They want to be Universal just as much as Universal showed Disney how IP makes revenue vs creating new fictional stories.

Exactly, and nothing wrong with focusing on immersive lands that are phenomenal like Avatar and Cars Land for example. If you can throw in two Galaxy's Edge then why not two Cars Lands. Just because Cars Land is a unique staple to DCA doesn't mean it will be over because now a Coco attraction is going there. Two World of Arrendales would been been beautiful and atmospheric pleasing and Frozen is so popular but no. Universal has Harry Potter and Nintendo in both coasts and are possibly bringing Dark Universe west as well so if Disney wants to Universal succeed with IP then why not do it sucessfully and do a respective Star Wars Land, Cars Land, Frozen Land on both coasts it's not difficult.

 

[Magicart87]

Cars ride looks very cool. I'm even fine with attractions (even favorites) being replaced. I just don't like trees, rivers, and ambiance being replaced by concrete and cartoons.

The good news is it looks like they'll still incorporate that ambiance, only it'll be man-made. I'm not too worried about cartoon cars... like RSR, the bulk of the cartoon stylization will likely take place out of view either being indoors or obscured from the Big Thunder RR vantage point.

 

[Chef idea Mickey`=]

I'm so happy about the villain land announcement that I have decided to retract my previous anger towards this cars ride. Go ahead Lightning McQueen, you can take over Frontierland.

You should of known any of the biggest announcements would be at the end in advance lol

 

[ConfettiCupcake]

The first pitch for Beyond Big Thunder in D23 2022, which I don’t think got much hate, was Encanto and Coco. I hated that idea because the American frontier is not South America and Mexico.

The story of these Cars attractions are clearly taking place in the American frontier and it is a natural fit to expand the borders of Frontierland as we are essentially walking from the frontier of the past to the frontier of the present where we use cars instead of horses to get around.

It’s still the frontier. Just a different era. That’s how I see it. And I can’t think of a better, popular IP, to choose instead.

I’m also so glad we didn’t just get a RSR copy!

Just catching up this morning, I’m in complete agreement with this. Aside from the very real concerns over the fate of RoA and to a lesser extent TSI, the negative reactions seem to be based in dislike of Cars as an IP hiding behind concerns of the thematic fit in Frontierland and to a lesser extent MK.

As far as I’m concerned, the proper thematic fit ship has long sailed away once they started IPifying everything. I truly can’t see how Coco or Encanto are better IP fits for the area or park. Visually, their proposed concepts for the Cars area and attractions are great fits for the area. Coco and Encanto felt like they would need to be shoe horned into the area in my opinion, or have been a completely separate concept from Frontierland.

I would love them to go back to the days of attractions being built without the crutch of a popular IP, but they aren’t. So through the lens of what Disney does today, in 2024, this one looks promising.

 

[Chef idea Mickey`=]

WDW is blessed with the gift of size. Most aren't advocating that things never change or that IP will be used. WDW has the space, they just don't need to shoehorn things in all the time. People want changes, they want new experiences but they also want them to fit whatever theme they're going into. That's not really an unreasonable ask in my opinion.

I know that but look at today's management, sightlines doesn't matter that an eyesoar of a showbuilding Cosmic Rewind is taller than Spaceship Earth, Tron would fit Future World and Cosmic Rewind would fit better at Disney's Hollywood Studios. The international parks some with just with one park have an excuse for that.

 

[J4546]

I dont hate this. Having an off road cars/trucks land is kinda cool and if its as good as carsland in CA, then it will be amazing imo. I know people dont like the IP, Ive never even seen cars movies, but im not against this

 

[Haymarket2008]

I will accept this if they go FULL "Mine Train Thru Nature's Wonderland" and give us the Rainbow Caverns back lol.

 

[Rteetz]

The way they described the second cars attraction makes me think Tomorrowland Speedway isn't long for this world. There is also Twitter talk/speculation of Laugh Floor moving to DHS which would then leave a lot of holes in Tomorrowland. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

 

[brb1006]

You guys know how there's always one thing that puts you over the edge? The straw that broke the camel's back.

This one is mine. This is unforgivable. The justification of it fitting into the existing land is somehow worse than Chapek's of Cosmic Rewind ("Peter Quill visited EPCOT as a kid"). This is the greatest desecration of Magic Kingdom in its history, and keep in mind Cinderella Castle was once turned into a giant Pepto Bismol cake, and later covered in toilet paper.

The company that announced this is simply not the same company as the one that invented the theme park, and is not deserving of the legacy that got it to this place.

What about Villains Land?

 

[Brian]

What about Villains Land?

That's its own land so there's no concerns about ruining the thematic integrity of a land. Imho, it fits in the park using the same logic as Fantasyland.

I'm also very glad that it's not a single-IP land, as those can easily clash with a park's overall theme.

 

[Mike S]

I will accept this if they go FULL "Mine Train Thru Nature's Wonderland" and give us the Rainbow Caverns back lol.

I will accept this if they take this golden opportunity to route the railroad through the mountain and give us a Grand Canyon/Primeval World like Disneyland and give us back our Dinosaurs from Universe of Energy.

 

[erasure fan1]

I know that but look at today's management, sightlines doesn't matter that an eyesoar of a showbuilding Cosmic Rewind is taller than Spaceship Earth, Tron would fit Future World and Cosmic Rewind would fit better at Disney's Hollywood Studios. The international parks some with just with one park have an excuse for that.

Yup. And unfortunately the fans are inadvertently the catalyst of it. Disney has starved it's audience for so long, they go bananas for something like frozen shoved in Norway or cosmic rewind replacing energy. Then Disney says look how great we are!

 

[Chef idea Mickey`=]

WDW is blessed with the gift of size. Most aren't advocating that things never change or that IP will be used. WDW has the space, they just don't need to shoehorn things in all the time. People want changes, they want new experiences but they also want them to fit whatever theme they're going into. That's not really an unreasonable ask in my opinion.

The least thing Walt Disney World needs is a replacement, retheme and part of some of what they've done already goes by laziness to build upon on new open space aside Ratatouille. It's actually up side down while I get Disneyland is rooted strongly to preserve with limited space they are building new spaces especially Galaxy's Edge meanwhile WDW's Galaxy's Edge is replacing land to build and isn't even building it's own Runaway Railway in an area called Animation Courtyard.