A Detailed Look Inside Cars Land

During the D23 Expo I had the privilege of sitting in the Radiator Springs Reality: Imagineering Cars Land for Disney California Adventure panel. Out of all the panels during the 3 day expo, this was the one I was most excited about. 

As a mother of a boy who is just crazy about Cars (okay I am probably just slightly more obsessed), to say we are excited about Cars Land is a big understatement. 

From left to right we heard from Dave Fisher (the moderator), Kathy Mangum, John Lasseter, Jennifer Mok, Kevin Rafferty, and Roger Gould.

On July 8, 2009 construction on Cars Land began with John Lasseter being the first to break ground as seen in the picture below. 

A camera was set up on the 8th floor balcony of Tower of Terror to document the progress of the 12 acres below which we now know as Cars Land. 

Inside we will find three new attractions, the first being Mater's Junkyard Jamboree. 

In A Bug's Land, Ladybug Boogie moves around in a figure-8. With Mater's Junkyard Jamboree they have taken the same idea but doubled the size of it, and you will be whipped around in a trailer by a baby tractor feeling the sense of a crazy ride through Mater's  Junkyard. 

This is the turntable which will be covered, but at the end of each spoke is where a baby tractor will be.

Baby Tractor on display at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Carousel of Projects during D23 Expo

Here is a video of John Lasseter testing out the ride with a regular tractor.

This is an inside view of Cars Land Route 66, standing at the four corners of Radiator Springs. 

On the right is Ramone's House of Body Art (a merchandise location) , on the left with tire finials is Luigi's Flying Tires, and at the end with the white frame will be the courthouse.

Here we see a  giant wing-nut to go on top of the rotunda of Flo's V-8 Cafe.

A flagstone wall on the side of Flo's V-8 Cafe, which  will have a beautiful view of the mountain. Kathy Mangum joked that they will need a fastpass for the restaurant because no one will ever want to leave.

A view from the top of Luigi's Flying Tires floor.

This is the tire vehicle. If you are wondering what brand of tire they are, John Lasseter let us know they are Luigi's brand of tires... Fettuccine. Whitewalls are called Alfredo, the thinner white ones are Lattes, and Blackwalls are Espressos. "It's all Italian stuff, it's really fun", said Lasseter.

John Lasseter describes how the tires work saying,"So the way these work is, it’s such clever engineering that uses the air to inflate the tire. Around the edge it’s nylon, very good nylon, and it inflates and it’s a cushion. It’s like a bumper car thing but you know, that there is all sorts of rules for impacts, and stuff these days that we have to adhere to and so this became. It worked out fantastic, and they’re really fun. One thing we’ve added to it that the flying saucers didn’t have is the, see the little kind of gear shift, that looks like the nozzle where you’d put the air into the tire?

It’s a lever that you push one way or the other way, and it vents the air into this outlet that causes you to spin. So you can choose to go out there, and it’s like the teacups without turning. This will turn on its own, and it’s really fun to go either direction."

Luigi's Flying Tires is based off one of John Lasseter's favorite rides as a kid, the Disneyland Flying Saucers from the 1960s. 

Lasseter at the test facility giving the tire a "spin".  He describes it as a "gigantic air hockey table".

Luigi's Casa Della Tires will be the entrance that you queue through to go out back to the tire yard. 

Ramone's House of Body Art

Car hoods on display at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Carousel of Projects Pavilion at the  D23 Expo.

Cars Land is 12 acres and the E Ticket ride Radiator Springs Racers is 6 acres of that. This will be the biggest ride Disney has ever created.  John Lasseter explained how he wanted a dark storytelling ride that combined thrill with it. When he went to Florida during the beginning development of the Cars movie, he thought that Test Track was it. It was so exciting for him, but with all the mechanical errors the Imagineers kept telling him no, until one day they figured out a way to fix it. Lasseter felt this would be the greatest ride system because you would get both storytelling and thrill. 

Now this is where John Lasster really describes what riding the Radiator Springs Racers will be like. He tell us, "You start with that drive with Sally where you go up by a waterfall, and you drive through the trees and stuff and then it takes you into Radiator Springs. Now this is where all the cars are alive and you’ve seen downstairs in the Imagineering section, Red... a full-size Red with his eyes moving, and it’s just fantastic. So you come in and you’re coming into town and the sheriff slows you down, and then he tells Mater to escort you into town and everybody’s real friendly but Mater wants to take you tractor-tipping first, so you go tractor-tipping and he says, “Watch out for Frank.” But Frank comes and scares you, and you drive really fast to get away from Frank and it brings you to into town and all of the townspeople are there to welcome you. Sally and McQueen are there and the car in front of you will go into, one car goes into Ramone’s to get a new paint job, and there’s a really great effect for that, and your car will go into Luigi’s to get new tires. So it’s kind of fun because you know, in one ride you might go into Ramone’s and in one ride you might go into Luigi’s, but what that does is as you come out you’re side by side with the car ahead of you, and then Doc is giving you pointers and then Luigi and Guido say, “Go!” and you take off and we’re gonna go about 40 mph and you’ll see later in the photographs, these banks are really steep and there’s these great camel humps. The thrill of this thing is unbelievable. Test Track goes about 60, but we’ve got the real steep banks and camel humps and it’s side by side which is really, really, fun."

They took the basic Test Track vehicles and turned them into two different styles of cars, a Ferrari-like car and a convertible. Each style will be in four different colors, with some being female and some being male, each having individual personalities with smiles. 

They want it to be as varied as possible, so you're not all riding in the same car. 

View of Radiator Cap and Cadillac fins in the distance. Each scaffolding is 8 feet by 8 feet topping out at 125 feet to give you an idea of how big this mountain is.

This is a 1962 Cadillac fin. Each fin you see will represent a different year model starting with 1959. They are inspired by Cadillac Ranch outside of Amarillo, Texas.

This is the waterfall and bridge we will be driving by at the beginning of Radiator Spring Racers with Sally. 

Stanley's Oasis, a covered queue for Radiator Springs Racers.

This is a newer bridge that you will find on Route 66, where they leave the old bridge beside it instead of taking it down. Lasseter describes, "There’s two different bridges because you go under both parts of the track, and so we decided to do a sense of history because you find this out on Route 66 where there’s the older part, the alignment of the road, and then they’ve kind of fixed it up and built the newer bridge and right next to it you’ll see the old bridge.  So this is kind of the newer bridge, and next to it is gonna be an older wooden bridge, and that’s the other part of the track".

One of the banks with two slots in the road, where the vehicles will be racing. 

"The G-forces are really going to be fun", said Lasseter. 

This is in the last show scene called "Taillight Caverns", where all the taillights will be glowing from classic cars. 

We can look forward to seeing the entire town in Cars Land.

Here is a sneak peek of Red at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Pavilion during the D23 Expo.

Here is Lightning McQueen from the D23 Expo 2009, that at the time we didn't get to hear audio but now do. It shows the technology they are able to use to bring McQueen to life. 

Mack was the first figure installed in Radiator Springs. 

So as you can see, we have a whole lot to look forward to. 

Which part of Cars Land are you most excited to see now that you have a little more detail on what to expect?