Automobile Month: Car Based Attractions at The Disney Parks Pt. 2

Welcome to Pt. 2 of my look at car based attractions at the Disney Parks.  Join me as I take a look at three more car based attractions and one land that is being worked as we speak based around Cars.


Lights, Motor, Action! Extreme Stunt Show  - Disney's Hollywood Studios

Now I don't even know how I could have left this one out last time.  This show was brought over to Disney World during Disneyland's 50th Anniversary. As you see each park at Disney World received something from each of the other parks save for Animal Kingdom because at that time, Expedition Everest was opening. Anyways, this is located in Hollywood Studios but it is based on show from Disneyland Paris.  The show is pretty simple in that this goes along with the idea of Hollywood Studios and showing how things work.  By that I mean with this show, there are many different stuntmen and they show the audience how to pull of a car stunt safely.  The whole idea is that they are trying to shoot a car stunt but in between shooting it, they'll stop and talk about how they did it.  Now one thing I really liked when I  went, Herbie The Love Bug made an appearance. That was part of the show. They would have a Herbie come out and do some tricks after showing clips from the Herbie films on the screen where they would also show the stunts to get a better view. This video give you an idea of that it was like.

 

Now sadly, Herbie is no longer a part of the show as around the time of the release of Cars 2, he was replaced with Lighting McQueen.  This does make me a bit sad to see Herbie go as personally I prefer Herbie to McQueen and having Herbie was a nice way of including classic Disney. Now don't get me wrong I like McQueen but c'mon it's Herbie.  You don't mess with Herbie. Anyways here is a video of McQueen in the show

Now I have nothing against McQueen as I like Cars but I like Herbie more than I like Cars.

RC Racer  - Disneyland Paris/Coming to Hong Kong Disney

Now we come to another ride that I have been on.  Though that is due in part that I have never been to Disneyland Paris. Now if you'll recall my Top 6 Toy Story Characters That aren't Buzz or Woody,  I said that RC was my favorite Toy Story character.   I first learned about this ride when I was checking out the Bonus Features on my Toy Story 3 DVD and needless to say I was ecstatic to see that my favorite Toy Story character had been given his own ride. Now this ride is part of the Toy Story Playland that can be found in Disneyland Paris and at Hong Kong Disney.  Now I don't know if it has opened in Hong Kong Disney but the lands will basically be the same and Hong Kong Disney will also have this ride.  Now the ride is pretty basic as it is just your launch or shuttle ride as it shoots you up really fast and then you come back down backwards.  Now as you can clearly see, you get to ride on RC and from what I saw on the video for this ride, they included the dialogue of Buzz and Woody from the first film when they used RC to catch up to the moving truck.  Now you may have noticed the track is the Hot Wheels orange that most of their tracks and that was intentional as they wanted you to feel as though you were on a Hot Wheels track. Even though RC isn't an Hot Wheels car, at least  I don't think so.  Anyways, this ride may be simple but it looks like a lot of fun and I wouldn't mind seeing it come stateside. I mean Hollywood Studios can house it at Pixar Place where they are putting Pixar based attractions and I might add the entrance is a nice touch as they made it look like the entrance to Pixar Studios but I'm getting off track.

Test Track - Epcot 

Now if you recall my Top 6 Frightful Moments of Disney Rides, I placed the wall on Test Track at # 6 on that list. Believe me though there are quite a few fright worthy moments on this ride such as when your car comes into contact with a Semi.   Though I still say that the wall on this ride is the scariest aspect of this ride.  The ride is a lot of fun though as it takes you through the process of how a car is tested before it allowed to go on the road. A book that I'm not currently reading The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World states that as you go through the queue for this ride, you may find some Disney toys around the repair shop. Now I don't know how true that is because each time I have been on this ride I have never seen that.  If you want read this book,  read it with caution as not all the secrets are true but that is what you get when you purchase a book about Disney not published by the company, sometimes.  Speaking of the queue, let's take a look at it, shall we.

Now this once again shows something admire form the Imagineers in that they start the theming even before you get on the ride. As you can see, they made it look like a car repair shop and I think that really helps immerses the guests into the experience of the ride.  The cars that you ride use an on-board computer system to keep them going.  Now there is even screen on-board and at points the the test people come up on screen and say what is going to happen next. Now this doesn't happen to often but it was still pretty cool. Now let's take a look at the cars.

These cars probably have the simplest design but this is the most realistic out of all the rides that I have looked at while most of the other rides have had some sort of cartoony element to them but this doesn't and it shouldn't because this ride is meant to be taken seriously. Well, more seriously than the other rides that I have talken about. 

Now the final thing I wish to talk about isn't one single attraction but rather a land that is being built as I type this. Coming soon to Disney's California Adventure will be

Cars Land

Cars Land is a new upcoming land that is based on the Pixar film, Cars and it is made to look like Radiator Springs.  The three big attractions will be Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, this will be a ride in the same vein as the Mad Tea Party but themed to Mater's Junkyard.  

The next ride is Luigi's Flying Tires.  This ride will be an updated version of the classic Disneyland Flying Saucers but instead themed to Luigi's Casa Della Tires  Shop, which will serve as the waiting area for this ride.  This ride is also reported to be safer than the Flying Saucers ever were.

Finally, the main attraction will be Radiator Springs Racers. This ride will use the same system as Test Track but it will be toned down a little bit to be more family friendly and it will actually take you through areas in Radiator Springs and I think you'll go around Ornament Valley.  I wouldn't be too surprised if they included Doc and McQueen's racing scene on this ride.

Now some of the shops and eateries from the film will also be brought to life as Flo's V8 Cafe will be an actual restaurant here as will Fillmore's Taste-In along with the Cozy Cone Motel serving as an eatery.  Ramone's  House of Body Art, Sarge's Surplus Hut and the Radiator Spring Curios will serve as gift shops here as well.  I also believe that guests will be able to visit the courthouse here as well but I don't if it is a shop or not.  Either I'm a bit excited about this as it seems like a neat idea.

I hope you have enjoyed these past two articles looking at all the different automobile themed attractions at the Disney Parks. Join me next time for the final review of Automobile Month when I take on The Love Bug.