|
Cars Land open as of Summer, 2012!Most anticipated new attraction in the history of Disney's California Adventure Park!In the video above, you may view a virtual Cars Land walk-thru which was posted to YouTube by DisneyParks. What's Cars Land? It's the highly-anticipated new themed area at Disney's California Adventure Park in Anaheim, California...that will begin thrilling guests during Summer 2012! List of Cars Land Rides & AttractionsCars Land Rides: Radiator Springs RacersOccupying 6 acres out of Radiator Spring's 12 acre plot is Cars Land's major "E Ticket" ride...the Radiator Springs Racers. 6-passenger movie-themed cars embark upon a leisurely, scenic Route 66 Road Trip...and end up in a neck-and-neck race! Enjoy zippy speeds & banking turns...in what's expected to be visitor's favorite ride in Cars Land. Although Disneyland in Anaheim, California is several thousand miles from Orlando, a number of SoCal residents & visitors have been to the Florida Disney Parks. Many who have enjoyed Disney's Epcot theme park in Florida are reminded of Epcot's "Test Track" ride by the Radiator Springs Racers description. After all, the Test Track cars seat six people, and also provide guests with one of the fastest & most thrilling rides at Epcot Park. Will the Radiator Springs Racers be similar? In contrast, the Radiator Springs Racers area will be mega-themed to the Disney/Pixar "Cars" movie both inside and out. You'll feel immersed in the feel of a nostalgic Route 66 town as you make your way through the ride queue. You'll enjoy scenery from the movie as you make your way around the track. And, you'll even encounter "Cars" movie characters as you complete the ride circuit. In other words, from the day this ride opens at Disney's California Adventure Park, it's destined to become an instant classic...and much beloved by a legion of fans. One thing the Radiator Springs Racers will have in common with Epcot's Test Track ride is a HUGE line. In Orlando, it's not uncommon for the Test Track to have a 1 to 2 hour waiting time...and that same situation will probably be true in Cars Land, as well. There will surely be a Fast Pass option for the Radiator Springs Racers. Hopefully, there would also be a "single riders" line, as there is for the Test Track ride, so that those who travel alone can get a shorter wait by slipping into seats which would otherwise go empty. Cars Land Rides: Luigi's Flying TiresLuigi's Casa Della Tires is another major attraction in Cars Land. You'll head out back of Luigi's shop to his "tire yard" where you'll sit in Luigi's Fettuccine-brand tires floating on jets of compressed air. Does this sound familiar? To Disneyphiles, this concept may sound startlingly similar to a different ride (which operated at Disneyland Park between 1961 and 1966.) It was the Flying Saucers in Tomorrowland! I was lucky enough to have ridden the original Flying Saucer ride...and think it will be fun to see just how similar (and how different) the new Luigi's Flying Tires will be! If you'd like to view a clip of the original Flying Saucers ride (posted to YouTube by DisneyParks,) you may watch it below: Although it's been decades since this ride was in operation, there are several things which still stand out in my mind about it. The Flying Saucers had a terrific "coolness factor" that seemed almost jaw-dropping (in a day & time when nobody had yet seen an air-hockey table.) The second thing is that the line was very slow-moving! I remember noting that the Flying Saucers line appeared to be relatively short...but that time seemed to drag on & on while waiting for my turn. There's going to be a definite similarity between the Flying Saucer ride of yore & Luigi's Casa Della Tires ride in this respect: there's no way around the fact that it's going to be one of the park's slower-loading rides. To help decrease the waiting time, the new Cars Land incarnation of this ride will feature multi-seating ride vehicles (instead of a one-rider-only space saucer.) Yes, this will help! Even so, the ride simply can't be continuously loading (like DCA's new "Little Mermaid" ride, which can entertain over 1800 riders per hour.) When a ride needs to completely stop in order to load its passengers...and when the cars each hold very few people...there's no way around the fact that it won't be a quick-loading ride. (Let's just hope that they don't cut back on the actual riding time; after the wait, it would be nice if guests actually get to enjoy their experience on these fun-looking vehicles for a reasonable length of time.) Cars Land Rides: Mater's Junk Yard JamboreeIf you ride Mater's Junkyard Jamboree; you can enjoy sitting in cute baby tractors that look as if they come right out of the "Cars" movie. To accompany the ride's visual movie-theming, your ears will be treated to an immersive experience as well: Mater sings songs throughout the length of the ride. Fans of the Tow Mater movie character aren't going to want to miss this attraction. Like Luigi's tire ride, Mater's Junkyard Jamboree will be fairly slow-loading...since it has to completely come to a halt to load & unload passengers. And, of the 3 rides coming to Cars Land, this one will be more like other rides you've ridden at other theme parks than the Radiator Springs Racers or Luigi's Flying Tires. Nevertheless, the impeccably-detailed theming of Mater's Junk Yard Jamboree will surely turn the time you spend here into an experience to remember. Other Cars Land AttractionsCars Land will reproduce the town of Radiator Springs...which all "Cars" movie fans know is the fictional Route 66 hamlet where most of the film's action takes place.Remember the Cozy Cone Motel? It will be here...but, it won't be open for overnight visitors! Instead, the various "cones" will be fast-food eateries, with cone-themed snacks for sale. (These treats will feature whimsical cone-themed names such as pop cone, chili cone carne, frozen cone-coctions.) Fillmore's Taste-In, based on the movie's colorful hippie character, Fillmore, will be a snack food location. Sarge's Surplus Hut will be a Quonset hut, just as in the movie...but for Cars Land, this store will be selling Cars-themed souvenirs. The Radiator Springs Curio Shop is another movie-themed store (selling pins and other merchandise.) Flo's V8 Cafe will be another feature of Radiator Springs, and will be serving foods typically found in Route 66-era diners, eg. mac 'n cheese, sandwiches...and plenty of pie. Ramon's House of Body Art will be another store, and will sell Cars-themed merchandise. Radiator Springs at night will be extra-special...thanks to vintage-style neon lights. By day or by night, Cars Land will truly be a dream come true for faithful fans of the Disney-Pixar animated movie, "Cars."
Custom Search |
