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Autopia

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Autopia
Ride statistics
Must transfer from wheelchair
Tomorrowland Speedway
Ride statistics
ThemeIndianapolis Motor Speedway
Must transfer from wheelchair
Grand Circuit Raceway
Autopia
Ride statistics
Theme1950's highway
Must transfer from wheelchair
Autopia

Autopia is a Disneyland attraction, in which patrons steer specially designed cars through an enclosed track. Versions of Autopia exist at Anaheim, California, Disneyland Paris in Marne-la-Vallée, France, and at Hong Kong Disneyland on Lantau Island, Hong Kong. Other versions of the attraction can be found at the Magic Kingdom as the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway and at Tokyo Disneyland as the Grand Circuit Raceway.

The name Autopia is a portmanteau of the words "automobile utopia," which was popularized in academic circles by British architecture critic Reyner Banham to describe Los Angeles in his 1971 book "Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies."

Disneyland Autopia History

An overhead view, looking down at an autopia car in 2003.

The Disneyland Autopia, in one form or another, is one of the few current attractions that opened with the park on July 17, 1955. When it opened, it represented the future of what would become America's multilane limited-access highways, which were still being developed. President Eisenhower had yet to sign the Interstate Highway legislation at the time Disneyland opened.

Before the park opened, the cars were tested without the bumpers, and were almost completely destroyed by the test drivers. Bumpers were fitted around the vehicle, but there were still problems with collisions, as a guide rail had yet to be implemented on the ride. Eventually the vehicles were fitted with spring-loaded bumpers to discourage collisions. The Tomorrowland version received makeovers in 1967 and 1999.

The Tomorrowland version was not the only form of Autopia to exist at Disneyland. Other versions, separate from the Tomorrowland version, included the Midget Autopia, Fantasyland Autopia (Rescue Rangers Raceway), and Junior Autopia. Of these, the Tomorrowland Autopia existed the longest.

The Midget Autopia opened in 1957. It was the smallest and was the third Autopia track, after the Tomorrowland Autopia (1955) and the Junior Autopia in Fantasyland (1956). It was located next to the Storybook Land Canal Boats and the Motor Boat Cruise at the very edge of Fantasyland. It was closed in 1966 and dismantled to make way for 'it's a small world'. The ride was donated to the city of Marceline, Missouri, where it operated for a few years.

Autopia in 1996, before its complete remodel in 2000. The Autopia cars at this time closely resembled the Corvette Stingray.

The Fantasyland Autopia began originally as the Junior Autopia in 1956. It closed in 1958, and reopened in 1959 as the expanded Fantasyland Autopia. It was a duplicate version of the Tomorrowland Autopia and featured the same theme of the original until 1991, when part of the Disney's Afternoon Avenue makeover of Fantasyland, the ride was transformed into the Rescue Rangers Raceway. The theming was kept until 1992, when the promotion ended. The ride remained open on an interim basis until 1999, when both the Tomorrowland and Fantasyland Autopias were closed.

A 1967-era Corvette Stingray-style Autopia car on display in the Disneyland Hotel.

In 2000, Disneyland replaced both existing Autopia tracks with a new, much larger Autopia sponsored by Chevron. The colorful Chevrolet Corvette Stingray-style cars were replaced by three different kinds of cars: Dusty, an off-road style car; Sparky, a sports car; and Suzy, a Volkswagen Beetle-style car. Each was designed to be tied into the Chevron line of animated 'Chevron Cars', and 4 versions of the Autopia cars were sold as toys during the 2000 summer season at Chevron stations nationwide. The voice of Dusty the Autopia car is voiced by Matthew Howard. He is said to be the youngest Disney ride announcer as of 2004. The ride safety speil was rerecorded in 2004 to remind parents to watch their children due to several minor incidents.[1]

In 2005, rumors circulated that Disney was planning on developing an overlay that would tie in with the Pixar film, Cars, which would have required the ride going down sometime in 2006. However, this did not happen. Instead, a Cars attraction based on Epcot's Test Track attraction, Radiator Springs Racers, is being planned for Disney's California Adventure Park. It had also been rumored that in 2006 the Autopia cars will be replaced with ones powered by fuel cells. However, this replacement did not happen. Now the future prospect for the current Autopia cars is to be eventually replaced with electric cars if that system is able to prove itself in the Hong Kong version of the attraction.[citation needed] The agreement with Chevron ends in 2010, currently the Hong Kong attraction is sponsored by Honda and is likely to replace Chevron should Disneyland go with the electric cars.[citation needed]

Other versions

Walt Disney World

The second Disney theme park to open was the Magic Kingdom. An opening day attraction, the Grand Prix Raceway was based on an international car race rather than the futuristic roadways of Autopia. The original sponsor was Goodyear, as it supplied all of the tires on the Mark VII vehicles.

The ride was expanded in 1973 and remained unchanged until the 1994 remodel of Tomorrowland. Part of the track was also shortened to make room for Mickey's Birthdayland sometime between late 1987 to early 1988. The Grand Prix theme and name was dropped in favor of Tomorrowland Indy Speedway, but the track and vehicles remained the same, as new theming to coincide with the "New Tomorrowland" overlay was installed.

On December 20, 1999, Walt Disney Company and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway partnered to change the theme of the track. The ride was changed to add items from the famous Speedway, such as the famous Yard of Bricks, the Scoring Pylon, Gasoline Alley and the wheel and wing logo. The loading area featured panels with the three Indy events: the Indianapolis 500, the Brickyard 400 and the United States Grand Prix.

The name was changed in 2008 to Tomorrowland Speedway, resulting in the drop of the Indy portion of the title.

Tokyo Disneyland

At Tokyo Disneyland, the ride exists as Grand Circuit Raceway. This version of the ride has remained open since the park's opening in 1983 and has remained largely unchanged. The ride is sponsored by Bridgestone and features a grandstand for visitors to watch the "races" between drivers. The track is described as a "figure eight" shape, but is actually quite longer. A new ride, Aquatopia, opened at neighboring park Tokyo DisneySea in 2001, but other than the name similarity to the Disneyland car ride (it's an homage) Aquatopia is closer (as an attraction) to Disneyland's former Motor Boat Cruise.

Disneyland Paris

In Disneyland Park in Paris, the attraction, which opened with Euro Disneyland on April 12, 1992, uses the original Disneyland name of Autopia, but has a unique sense of style and theming. The cars are more rounded and feature a toy-like quality to go with a 1950s retro theme, which differs from the Discoveryland theme. The park has multiple cars that go around for approximately 7–9 minutes.

Hong Kong Disneyland

Hong Kong Disneyland is the first Disneyland-type park to not open with a form of the Autopia. Opened in Summer 2006 as part of its Phase I Expansion, the Hong Kong version is different from all the other versions, as it features electric cars, with lighting effects on the cars, and a unique on-board audio-system. Theming includes a lush jungle and alien landscape. Honda Motors is the sponsor of the attraction.

See also

References

  1. ^ Fun Facts of Disneyland's Autopia

Multimedia

Video footage from the rider/driver point of view.

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