Walt Disney World Announces New Cars-Themed Expansion at Magic Kingdom

Aug 11, 2024 in "Cars Land Magic Kingdom"

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Cars Concept Art

Posted: Sunday August 11, 2024 12:01am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater are coming to Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort with work on a new area of Frontierland starting in 2025.

Cars Concept Art

At Horizons: Disney Experiences Showcase at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D'Amaro, with the help of Tow Mater via video call, announced that a new area inspired by the Pixar Animation Studios film "Cars" will be coming to a reimagined section of Frontierland at Magic Kingdom. "The American West has always been about keeping your eyes on the horizon … believing in yourself, carving your own path, and striving toward success. That goes for miners in the mountains, bears from the country, a princess from the bayou … or a racecar from the big city," Josh told the crowd.

The new Cars area will be built behind Big Thunder Mountain, which you can see in the concept art background below.

Cars Concept Art

The yellow area indicates the approximate area of the land use for Beyond Big Thunder Mountain project which is expected to include Cars and the new Villains Land

In this Cars adventure, guests will be able to experience two new "Cars"-themed attractions. One attraction will invite you on a thrilling rally race through the mountains. Take on wild terrain as you race across the landscape climbing mountain trails, dodging geysers and — Mater's favorite — splashing through mudholes.

Cars Concept Art

The second attraction will be geared towards smaller guests and will be fun for the whole family. Work on this new space in Frontierland will begin in early 2025.

"As we develop the next generation of Disney Experiences, we're always looking for new ways to tell the stories people love," D'Amaro said. "We're thrilling Cars fans by building on this incredibly successful franchise and creating the next chapter in this story."

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celluloid39 minutes ago

Ha. It has come back a few odd times...now we just call it America's Got Talent(insert other geographical nation name if you want) of course. But Imagineers definitely called what Eisner did the gong show. They would go in and they would act out their ideas of the attraction, bring cardboard sets. props etc to get the point across. What a time. Eisner found the parks new, interesting and worth perusing. Its polar opposite.

Disstevefan145 minutes ago

I remember the gong show. it was very funny my favorite was the unknown comic with the bag over his head 🤣

celluloid48 minutes ago

This is a good point. It is just silly to post quotes like he is a monolith when counter ones can easily be pulled. The guy was ocmplex like al of us, I had my dislikes of Eisner, but particularly they are similar to the reasons many did not like him near the end of his time there post Frank. Reading Eisner's book it is quite clear the guy did have a creative side of its own and liked the gong show, even when it was not always perfect, its beneficial. Iger as you point out, does not have this.

Disstevefan11 hour ago

In my opinion, When Walt died, TWDC stopped being Walt’s company. In the Early 70’s and through to when EPCOT opened and maybe some time after that, I think there was the attitude, “What would Walt Do” I think even Eisner considered this. With Iger, that’s gone. To be fair to Iger, he is neither creative nor a leader.

celluloid2 hours ago

I know you will rip this apart somehow anyway because of hubris, but if you are going to make such extremes... Do your homework my man. “I love the nostalgic myself. I hope we never lose some of the things of the past.” ― Walt Disney

Disstevefan12 hours ago

I sure don't. Every time I visit WDW I go in with the lowest of expectations so if anything remotely good happens I win :)

Casper Gutman2 hours ago

Is that what guests want? Is that why Disney parks failed so miserably before Universal’s Potter land definitively shifted the industry to single-IP lands and Iger killed all original ideas? Is that why Pirates, HM, BTM, Space, etc. were famously so unpopular?

Casper Gutman2 hours ago

We’re holding Disney to the standard DISNEY set. I’m sorry, I’m not going to get starry-eyed about a brand label or be placated by the most ham-handed fan service imaginable. On a related topic, let’s talk about IPs for a moment. They drive the entertainment industry right now, and Disney is following along. Fine. The problem is that Disney’s vision of IPs and how they can be utilized is so narrow, so completely blind to the past, that it hinders profit maximization and forces one to question the basic intelligence of decision-makers. The goal of any media company should be to develop and build audience for as many IPs as possible to fill the corporate silo. That means using EVERY media outlet, including THEME PARKS, to create new franchise that can be exploited through other pipelines. The studio that made hit films based on Pirates of the Carribean and Jungle Cruise should know this better than anyone. Yet what we get is a single-minded devotion to a very, very limited range of film-originated IPs, which severely limits Disney’s ability to realize its OWN corporate goals, let alone live up to the legacy that SHOULd define the overarching “Disney” IP itself.

MisterPenguin2 hours ago

And I'm saying that if you believe the hype for a theme park ride, then you better be ready to believe you'll actually be in space on Space Mountain.

Disstevefan13 hours ago

But Space Mountain is a fun roller coaster. ;)

Disstevefan13 hours ago

Fixed it. I apologize. By the way you spelled believe wrong. I fixed that too. Don't worry, I have problems with that word too.

lazyboy97o3 hours ago

The title of the video is “Jurassic Park-Like Jeep Ride w/ NO Track! Drive Yourself Attraction | PANGEA at Movieland” You can hear the engines humming. Nobody calls to go karts trackless rides because it is well understood that trackless rides describes a completely different type of technology.

Disstevefan14 hours ago

You said not everyone loves coasters or intense rides, I agreed and said the riverboat is a nice non intense ride. But maybe you are right the Cars attraction will be a less intense ride for those who like a less intense ride AND they can SELL LLs to it!

TomboyJanet4 hours ago

THIS! It's true. We wish they'd learn something. For me I know in my heart that if they did something totally cool like bring back the original feeling of the imagination ride or add Facilier to the Tiana ride, or say, make their lightning lane less complicated and cheaper, they would get sooo much more attendence, and I wouldn't be looking into travelling to Silver Dollar City to save money this time around.