Imagineers Reveal Inspiration for Cars Area of Frontierland in Magic Kingdom

Imagineering has pulled back the curtain on the Cars miniland in Magic Kingdom, revealing the natural environments, animated stories, U.S. National Parks and other Disney Parks lands & areas that are serving as the inspiration. This covers how all of that will influence the themed design, architecture, scenic beauty–and even one of the original characters–in the Piston Peak subsection of Frontierland at Walt Disney World.

These newly-revealed details about the Cars land coming to Walt Disney World come via a presentation we attended led by key Imagineers working on the Magic Kingdom project. During this, they discussed what they’re using for inspiration on the Cars area, while also revealing new concept art, sketches, photos from research trips, and a treasure trove of other visuals.

Most significantly, they shared video of the Cars miniland model and a fly-through around the perimeter of the land. All together, this painted a picture of how the Tom Sawyer Island and Rivers of America replacement will take shape, bringing the land into sharper focus than previously-released details at D23 and concept art released shortly thereafter.

Before we get off to the races, let’s quickly bring you up to speed on these Magic Kingdom additions. According to Disney, these Cars attractions will be set outside of Radiator Springs, as the franchise heads west into exciting new frontiers. On this adventure, guests will be able to experience not one but two exciting new Cars-themed attractions.

The marquee attraction is not a clone of Radiator Springs from Disney California Adventure. It’s a new story and setting that goes beyond what was established in the Cars film franchise. Same goes for the secondary ride–it’s not Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree or Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters, but it is expected to be a small flat ride (so similar idea).

One of the two all-new Cars attractions will invite you on a rally race through the mountains that offers family fun and thrills, excitement and humor. Take on wild terrain as you race across the landscape climbing mountain trails, dodging geysers and — Mater’s favorite — splashing through mud holes.

Imagineers explained that Frontierland at Magic Kingdom is unlike some other incarnations of the land, such as the version at Disneyland Paris. France’s Frontierland is also known as the fictional town of Thunder Mesa, and is set in a distinct time and place; it also has an elaborate backstory (one of my personal favorites) that weaves together all of the attractions and restaurants in the land, and executes fantastic world-building.

By contrast, the version of Frontierland at Magic Kingdom has always been more of a hodgepodge (my word, not WDI’s). As the Imagineers explained, it features a variety of settings and time periods, and mirroring America’s westward expansion as you venture deeper into the land from the colonial America setting of Liberty Square.

This includes the Midwest via the St. Louis-inspired Diamond Horseshoe, the ‘Northern Woods’ of Country Bear Musical Jamboree, Southwest States via Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn & Cafe, New Orleans-inspired Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, and the American Southwest of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Even before the reimaginings of the Country Bear Jamboree and Splash Mountain, the Magic Kingdom would’ve had the most ‘malleable’ Frontierland of any version to exist.

From all of this, Disney determined that the thesis, of sorts, for Frontierland at Magic Kingdom is ‘chasing your dreams in the American Wilderness and writing your own folktale.’ The marquee attraction coming to the new area (which we’ll refer to as Cars Rally Race, even though that’s not its official name) is the ‘fastest lap in the West.’ That’s the framework for this new Cars area of Frontierland and the attraction.

With its centralized location in Frontierland, Imagineering has chosen to orient the natural environment of the Cars area around the Rocky Mountains. This area of the Western United States spans the Continental Divide and encompasses protected mountains, forests and alpine tundra, all of which we’ve already seen from the concept art for the Cars land.

To prepare for the project, the Imagineering team visited Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado for a research trip. There, they got acquainted with the natural beauty and diversity of those landscapes, as well as the architecture of that and other National Parks in the American West.

This was excellent to hear. Rocky Mountain National Park ranks #9 on my highly-scientific power rankings of U.S. National Parks, and is one of the few that checks all of the right boxes for this particular project. I might’ve personally preferred Glacier as the inspiration, but Rocky Mountain is a fantastic alternative. It’s also a National Park that Imagineering hasn’t really drawn inspiration from in the past, so something fresh is nice to see.

Imagineers shared that the natural environment of the Cars area of Frontierland will draw inspiration from Rocky Mountain National Park, and so too will the architecture. In this case, it’s more the U.S. National Parks of the American West as a whole, and not RMNP, specifically.

The architecture is directly inspired by the classic style of ‘Parkitecture’ or National Park Service rustic. This design combines natural materials, such as whole logs and rocks, and appears as if it’s built by hand. The goal was design to blend into landscapes instead of imposing upon them.

You’ll see exemplars of Parkitecture throughout the Western National Parks, in entrance gateways, visitor centers, in-park hotels, and other infrastructure. There’s also a distinct graphic style of the U.S. National Parks, and that will also be drawn on for signage and visuals within the Cars area of Frontierland.

Imagineers shared that ‘Parkitecture’ will be the primary style of the Cars area, with various buildings featuring this rustic look that blends materials from the natural wood with whimsical items found in the ‘Cars’ world. In their words, it’ll be ‘Parkitecture’ meets ‘Car-itecture.’

This means lower windows on buildings so they’re at car-level, porte-cocheres that can accommodate cars, and other whimsical car-forward characteristics. There might be a window in the shape of a wheel well as the defining characteristic of a gift shop or other building. (This should not require much imagination to envision given that ‘Wheel Well Motel’ is a place in the Cars universe. The feature is like that, but smaller and primarily in the Parkitecture style.)

Then there’s the the entrance and queue to the Cars Rally Race attraction, which is inspired by the iconic steeply-sloped roofs of U.S. National Park Lodges or Welcome Centers (think Old Faithful Inn or the Lodge at Bryce Canyon). Based on what we saw, this should be the piece of architecture that punctuates the landscape of the Cars area.

If you’ve seen Planes: Fire & Rescue, this might all sound familiar as a setting that already exists in the expanded Cars cinematic universe: Piston Peak National Park, a setting that was inspired by Yosemite and Yellowstone National Parks according to Pixar’s animators.

We’ve discussed Piston Peak National Park here before, saying it would be the perfect backdrop for the Cars area at Magic Kingdom. Well, we’re getting our wish! Imagineers confirmed that this land will pull from Piston Peak National Park, quite liberally and perhaps literally in some ways.

While Imagineers were careful to point out that they’re not building directly upon Planes: Fire & Rescue, it sounds as if that’s from the perspective of canon and storytelling. Because they mentioned specific buildings in the land that are pulled from Piston Peak, and even signage revealed at entry points shows guests entering Piston Peak National Park.

This should mesh well with Frontierland. Piston Peak National Park can easily pass for what the Western National Parks looked like prior to the Mission 66 project, a post-war proposal to spend $1 billion over 10 years to modernize the U.S. National Parks post-World War II amidst the automobile boom in the United States.

In watching the fly-through video of the Cars area and model, it was clear that the land is leaning heavily into Parkitecture and the rugged and varied landscape of the American West. But one thing also stuck out that was mercifully not present–the added layer of RSN broadcast stuff, which was in the concept art presented at D23 (see above).

Now, it’s possible that this is just missing from what we saw and Imagineering still intends upon adding the Racing Sports Network overlay, but I sure hope not. In previous commentary, this was one of our biggest complaints–that it looked like Imagineering is repeating a mistake made with the original circa-2001 Grizzly Peak Recreation Area at DCA. In a nutshell, the bones of that were an 1800s mine, repurposed into an extreme sports facility. It looked tacky, with late 1990s X-Games sensibility that aged poorly.

Hopefully, Imagineering has realized the RSN layer is visually incongruous with the timeless natural and manmade beauty of the U.S. National Parks-inspired setting. While Frontierland is malleable, adding that broadcast stuff just makes the setting too modern.

Thankfully, a middling spin-off sequel is not the only work of Disney animation serving as inspiration for the Cars area. Imagineers indicated they’re digging deep into the back catalogue, including some Walt Disney-era animated shorts and films.

It was difficult to clock all of these, but examples of possible inspiration include “Hold That Pose” (1950), “Rugged Bear” (1953), “Grin and Bear It” (1954), “Bearly Asleep” (1955), “Beezy Bear” (1955), as well as shorts and comics featuring the Junior Woodchucks (Huey, Dewey, and Louie).

While these characters will be not featured in the Cars area, that classic animation is serving as inspiration. Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised to see nods to the Junior Woodchucks and Humphrey the Bear, among others, via Easter Eggs. Imagineering usually makes this type of land fairly detail-dense, with roadside diners and bric-a-brac shops that are jam-packed with hidden details.

One specific animated short that’s serving as more meaningful inspiration is “Grand Canyonscope,” a Donald Duck animated short released in 1954. In this, Donald Duck is taking a tour of Grand Canyon National Park. Although he just wants to enjoy the beautiful space, this is made all but impossible by the constant admonishment from the rulebook-wielding tour guide: none other than Ranger J. Audubon Woodlore.

Imagineering revealed that Ranger J. Audubon Woodlore is inspiring an original new theme park character in the Cars land: Ranger J. Autobahn Woodlore.

This new character will appear as an Audio Animatronics figure in the queue for the Cars Rally Race attraction, and will look strikingly similar to the classic character, reimagined in Cars form.

We had the chance to see early concept art and footage of Ranger J. Autobahn Woodlore, which looks and sounds fantastic. (Think Mr. Potato Head in the Toy Story Mania queue.) The audio for the character was pulled directly from “Grand Canyonscope,” and worked perfectly as an amusing pre-show and safety spiel hybrid. (Think the new Muppets pre-show to World of Color: Happiness.)

Ranger J. Autobahn Woodlore alone has me more excited for and optimistic about Cars Rally Race.

Both as a fan of Audio Animatronics (the more, the better) and for what it represents. Pulling from “Grand Canyonscope” means digging deep into the archives, and demonstrates that the team handling this project knows their stuff and is handling it lovingly.

This is also evident from the other past Disney Parks projects mentioned as inspiration for the Cars miniland in Magic Kingdom.

The obvious one here is Grizzly Peak at Disney California Adventure, which is inspired by California’s beautiful National Parks. Equally important is the adjacent Grizzly Peak Airfield, which is a reimagining of Condor Flats that occurred after DCA’s big overhaul to improve the park and make it more timeless.

The team that worked on Grizzly Peak Airfield did a fantastic job, and it’s a lovely little miniland. Smokejumpers Grill is a good template for the type of Easter Eggs we might see in the Cars area at Magic Kingdom, especially if this project includes a restaurant reimagining. Although I don’t know one way or the other, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the Imagineers who worked on Grizzly Peak Airfield are now on this Cars project. I hope so!

Another more recent project that’s near and dear to my heart is Camp Woodchuck at Tokyo Disneyland. The Imagineers working on the Cars miniland also mentioned this project by name.

For those who aren’t familiar with it, Camp Woodchuck actually has some parallels to what’s about to happen at Magic Kingdom. This is located in a corner of Westernland along the Rivers of America, replacing the old Lucky Nugget Cafe walk-up window and its primitive seating area with a multi-story indoor restaurant and character encounter complex. The big difference is that it carved an area out along the waterfront, rather than replacing the Rivers of America wholesale. Minor detail. 

Point being, Camp Woodchuck is an incredible enhancement and not just because it made something out of nothing. It’s also lovingly done, with a deep respect and understanding to Disney history. Beyond that, it just has a spectacular sense of place. Sarah and I have spent many a chilly evening in that second level, soaking up the atmosphere and eating whatever weird sandwich is being served. It’s not a marquee Tokyo Disneyland location, but it’s something special. If the Imagineers working on the Cars miniland in Magic Kingdom are able to craft a similar atmosphere, they might just pull this project off.

Based on the model, fly-through video and the rest of the presentation, I came away feeling reassured about the Cars miniland in Magic Kingdom. Not to the point that I’m actively in favor or this plan to replace the Rivers of America with talking Cars; I still have serious misgivings about how this will irrevocably alter the character and charm of Magic Kingdom.

Rather, this reassured me that Imagineering understands the assignment, and that this Cars miniland is in capable hands. The project team clearly loves Disney history, classic animation, and Walt Disney World as a whole. They “get it” and will do everything in their power to lovingly create a land worthy of the American West and spirit of Frontierland.

It also helps that a couple of key Imagineers on the Cars miniland themselves have a track record of making lemonade out of lemons, and turning questionable decisions from management into the best-case scenario. The Imagineers leading the Cars miniland have worked on several fan-favorite projects in the last 15 years. This includes two attractions that garnered backlash from diehard Walt Disney World fans upon announcement (including us!), but have since become beloved (including with us!).

There has already been much debate over whether Cars can work in Frontierland. Actually, it’s been less ‘debate’ and more ‘complaints,’ with most fans expressing skepticism, to put it charitably. I’ve already added my own entry into this genre: Can the Cars Franchise Fit Frontierland?

When it comes to matters of timeline, lore, setting or story, my perspective is more ‘relaxed’ than many fans. My view is that the American frontier is as much a spirit as it is an era. That sense of rugged individualism, manifest destiny, big folklore, and western exploration–all of it is as much an ethos as it is an era.

As America gets older and the 1800s are further in the rearview mirror, the case could be made that the bygone era of the U.S. National Parks and the Mission 66 boom are all part of that spirit. It was a different time in America, but one that embodied a similar sentiment as the “go west, young man” age.

The America of today is further removed from that automotive boom and heyday of the western ‘Great American Road Trip’ than Walt Disney was from the Old West when he dreamt up the concept of Frontierland. At least as far as the passage of time is concerned, the middle of the last century is already older than the Old West was in the 1950s.

Thematic purists will likely be far less forgiving, arguing that any cars (lowercase or uppercase) do not belong in a land with “frontier” in the name. As a threshold matter, they’ll contend that talking cars with eyes are wholly inappropriate for this portion of the park, making this a non-starter no matter how well executed.

For me, the U.S. National Parks are a quintessential element of the Western United States and the American spirit that could fit fine in Frontierland. Talking cars with eyes don’t bother me in the least, especially since this is Magic Kingdom, which always has lands imbued with a sense of fantasy. If we can have singing bears that tell jokes, we can have cars with eyes that tell jokes.

Then again, I’m also a realist about it, and also know there’s no way on earth Walt Disney World is adding more stuff themed to cowboys and indians. If it’s going to exist into the future, Frontierland is always going to be about the frontier spirit of America rather than that particular era. That’s just the truth of the matter. It’s always going to be a compromise, and classic cars (and Cars) in a 1950s National Park setting is one that I can completely get on board with.

Ultimately, I’m accepting of a Piston Peak National Park area in Frontierland with the breathtaking landscapes of Rocky Mountain National Park, Cars-itecture meets Parkitecture, kinetic energy via water and other placemaking. Again, thematic purists may still scoff at this, but I think this could work if lovingly done with respect to the Magic Kingdom and Frontierland. Imagineers really could pull it off.

An area and attractions themed to Piston Peak National Park evokes the era and atmosphere they’d expect to see in a rustic land themed to the frontier, even if it’s no longer set in the precise era as it was in 1971. Things change over the course of 50+ years, and a shifting of that setting makes sense. For me, this still has the potential to be quintessential Americana–the kind that belongs in a Disney theme park–as the U.S. National Parks are America’s Best Idea. They deserve to be celebrated, even if in fantasy-form, at Walt Disney World.

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YOUR THOUGHTS

What do you think of this Rocky Mountain National Park inspiration for the Cars miniland in Magic Kingdom? Looking forward to seeing Ranger J. Autobahn Woodlore? Cautiously optimistic that Imagineers can make lemonade out of lemons with a new land similar to Grizzly Peak mixed with Cars Land, with Parkitecture meets Cars-itecture? Do you think the Cars franchise is capable of fitting thematically into Frontierland? Otherwise, what’s your reaction to Cars rides coming to Magic Kingdom? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!