Disney Reveals Trackless All-Terrain Ride System for New Magic Kingdom Cars Attraction at D23 Brazil

28 days ago in "Cars Land Magic Kingdom"

Gallery / 3 Photos
Frontierland Concept Art Aerial View

Posted: Saturday November 9, 2024 11:10am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

At D23 Brazil, Disney offered a glimpse into the new Cars-themed attraction planned for Magic Kingdom's Frontierland by showing a test video of the ride system.

The video (see below) appears to confirm our previous report that the attraction will use a trackless, all-terrain ride system. This marks a significant departure from the traditional slot-car approach seen in other Disney car attractions like Test Track at EPCOT and Radiator Springs Racers in California.

The concept art released earlier raised questions about how this new ride would function, as the images showed cars navigating rugged outdoor terrain with no visible track or guide slots. This led to speculation that Disney Imagineering might be using a different, possibly more advanced, ride system to deliver the promised experience of "climbing mountain trails, dodging geysers, and splashing through mudholes."

Cars Concept Art

The test video presented at D23 Brazil seems to confirm these speculations, showing an all-terrain ride system that bears similarities to Dynamic Attractions' "Automatic Guided All-Terrain Vehicle." This ride technology allows vehicles to handle steep inclines, declines, rapid acceleration, and navigate challenging terrain—all without the use of fixed tracks. The test footage demonstrates cars crossing paths and maneuvering independently across rugged terrain, providing a glimpse of the immersive and unpredictable ride experience Imagineers are aiming for. Here is a look at a demonstration of the ride system from Dynamic Attractions.

Dynamic Attractions, a long-time collaborator with Disney, has previously worked on high-profile rides like Test Track, Radiator Springs Racers, and Flight of Passage. Their "all-terrain" technology, with its ability to operate indoors and outdoors seamlessly while supporting near-miss elements, seems well suited for the kind of experience hinted at in the concept art and Disney's description.

Cars Concept Art

The new Cars attraction, set against the backdrop of Frontierland, aims to deliver a ride experience where guests feel as if they're truly racing across rugged landscapes. The trackless ride system, with its adaptability to various terrains and dynamic ride paths, looks set to give guests an unpredictable and exciting adventure, unlike anything currently at Disney World.

Stay tuned for more updates as Disney continues to refine and reveal details about this upcoming addition to Magic Kingdom.

Cars Concept Art

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WorldExplorer4 hours ago

Isn't Dinoland USA already Route66land, just with a fake Route 498 instead?

celluloid8 hours ago

And Is what it was designed to be originally!

splah10 hours ago

I go back to the dedication of DL Frontierland “Frontierland. It is here that we experience the story of our country's past. The color, romance and drama of frontier America as it developed from wilderness trails to roads, riverboats, railroads and civilization. A tribute to the faith, courage and ingenuity of our hearty pioneers who blaze the trails and made this progress possible.” With the hodgepodge we are getting it certainly doesn’t fit the above description. They should rip the bandaid and rename it.

DisneyHead12310 hours ago

From Rohdes X account in 2019: All of Disney’s Animal Kingdom is based on three themes. The intrinsic value of nature. Psychological transformation through adventure. And a personal call to action. I actually think the last two could apply pretty well to Frontierland, Adventureland and Tomorrowland. (I do not think it applies to humanoid cars with fixed smiles and frozen eyes.) I guess we’re all kind of guessing what the secret ingredient in Disney’s magic has been so far. Nostalgia? Psychological themes? Pretty scenery? Luck? IP? Architecture? And on and on. My feeling is that some important but ethereal element will be lost with Cars over Rivers - but maybe the next generation will love it, who knows?

JackCH11 hours ago

Gotta be honest, the more I look at the concept art... I kind of like it.

Sir_Cliff11 hours ago

I see your point, however this is again somewhere I see Disneyland and the way it is managed suggests an understanding that nostalgia that goes beyond what people remember from their youth still has an appeal. In particular, Disneyland really leans into mid-twentieth century nostalgia. Precisely that kind of nostalgia around mid-twentieth century westerns also features pretty heavily in the Toy Story franchise and I think it very much adds to the charm and depth of those films rather than being alienating for younger viewers. Beyond that, there is now also significant nostalgia around Frontierland itself. As for the Cars area, this seems more to me little like the Mr Toad's Wild Ride situation writ large in that it's a pretty cold decision to rip out a cultural touchstone in favour of a more marketable IP. From what I can tell, the decision was mostly about the most logistically easy and cost effective way of adding new attractions to that side of the park and sticking in a property that has the best chance of selling more merchandise. Where considerations of nostalgia come into play at all, it's more about placating the fans by trying to convince them the decision is all about expanding the definition of Frontierland. I've said this before and I think I'm in the minority, but I think the charm of that area is largely in spite of the Cars IP. A straight Route 66 area with the same care and attention to detail without trying to make everything look like it was from the world of Cars would, at least for me, be even more charming.

Mike S13 hours ago

“Grand Theft Auto with Cowboys” certainly plays a part in its popularity but I don’t think it’s the only thing it has. Another studio could definitely make a good western that’s successful in its own right but the video game industry is in a creative rut where most studios are chasing the same trends.

Brer Panther16 hours ago

Buzz and Monsters Inc. in Tomorrowland already makes that ship sailed (though I find Buzz in Tomorrowland more fitting than Cars in Frontierland).

FiestaFunKid17 hours ago

I must have missed all those cars when the west was considered a frontier - it's a joke

celluloid17 hours ago

While all of the original kingdom theme park lands from Walt are are staples of the American cultural mythos, for me, Frontnierland and Tomorrowland were the hallmark players of MK after you go thorugh Main Street so I agree with most culturally Signiant. The same way The Wild West was never a place as I pointed out even historically earlier, but a movement and subject matter.

Casper Gutman17 hours ago

The “western” is both aesthetic and thematic, a collection of tropes and conventions and ways of thinking about things. Yellowstone is aesthetically a western but thematically it’s more a mafia or prestige-TV-antihero program with some western elements. Mandalorian is thematically a western and also shares a lot of aesthetic similarities, despite being ostensibly sci-fi. In fact, science fiction is where a lot of “western” elements thrive - Avatar, Aliens, Firefly, Rebel Moon, etc. Gene Roddenberry pitched Star Trek as, “Wagon Train to the stars.” This is all a gross oversimplification, of course. The fact is that aspects of the “western” archetype finds their way into a huge range of American pop culture, even when they aren’t the dominant element. Of the themes in Magic Kingdom, it’s probably the most profoundly culturally significant, the one that has most directly affected how Americans think about themselves and their world. Arguably, Tomorrowland and Adventureland are just variations on the theme of Frontierland played in a slightly different key.

celluloid18 hours ago

We also notice there are not a lot of films/tv/video games like Buck Rogers or African Queen romance adventures either. Yellowstone is a show that harkens back to outlaws and western atmosphere although set more recent(but has spin offs) and is one of the most popular shows in the world.

DarkMetroid56718 hours ago

But you’ll notice that there hasn’t been a rush of western games or new copycat IPs. RDR and RDR2 are the very blunt exceptions to the norm, and I think you can convincingly make the argument that RDR2 was so popular because of the Rockstar brand.

celluloid18 hours ago

Indy, Cars, Monsters Inc and Villians ala Kingdom Keepers/Kingdom Hearts. What is coming instead of timeless is very squarely 2008. And all about at once.