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We all know how I feel about “Cars.” So I will force myself not to spend this article grinding my teeth over how, despite lackluster reviews, merchandising sales for “Cars 2” were so phenomenal, even before the film came out, that it was considered a success.
Such a success (again, even before its release) that Disneyland’s California Adventure Park is adding a new attraction: Cars Land. The official Disney Parks blog has posted a series of articles lately on it, exploring what it will entail and highlighting its 2009 groundbreaking. “Cars” fans start your engines: the attraction dedicated to the fast-paced flicks will open in 2012.
If the groundbreaking occurred in 2009, why did Disneyland wait so long to make any major announcements about it? That’s because there’s not a lot to say at the start of construction.
We saw this with the Disney World Fantasyland expansion: preliminary details were released before any real work started, and now before construction is even complete many of those major details changed. It makes more sense to wait to really announce Cars Land until closer to its opening, especially when that coincides with the release of a sequel to the franchise.
Just what will comprise Cars Land? The parks blog has a short video that’s a virtual drive through of the park. However, it’s just a chunky rendering of Radiator Springs, the main setting for the first “Cars” film. The video highlights certain aspects of the town, such as Mater’s Junkyard and Luigi’s Tire Shop, so we can assume there will be attractions based on these locations. However, it’s not clear what, exactly, will await guests at each spot.
Another post on the blog at least contains a clearer hint as to one of the attractions in Cars Land. In it we see close-ups of Radiator Springs Racers, based on the racetrack out of the first “Cars” movie. I’m going out on a limb here, albeit a tiny one, to posit that this will be a racing ride.
I’m curious as to how Disneyland will create the denizens of Radiator Springs. Will we see poor souls dressed up in giant (and surely sweltering) car outfits? Or will Lightning McQueen and his friends be of the more animatronic variety?
To an extent I’m looking at this too much like an adult. I hear the name of an attraction and I immediately want to know exactly what it will entail. I should remember what contemplation on Disneyland was like for me as a kid. When I was young I didn’t care exactly what the rides were; in fact, the rides themselves didn’t attract me much to the park at all.
No, what I really wanted was to step inside each of my favorite films. For fans of “Cars,” that’s exactly what “Cars Land” will do. It doesn’t matter to them what they’ll get to do at Mater’s Junk Yard, just that they’ll get to visit it.
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*(This image by tyger_lyllie is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.)
