Cars Land faithfully recreates the town of Radiator Springs, the setting for much of the first Cars film, where Lightning McQueen gets stranded on his way to the Piston Cup final, only to learn some lessons about friendship while he's there.
You'll see Lightning, along with other Cars characters, driving the streets, greeting guests throughout the day. But let's not dawdle too long out on Route 66. Let's take a look at each of the rides and restaurants in the new land. I'll have more details and full reviews, plus additional photos and video, after Cars Land's media preview day this Thursday. In the meantime, you can follow the links below to submit your own ratings and reviews for these Cars Land attractions, if you were among the preview crowds this week.
Radiator Springs Racers is the centerpiece attraction in Cars Land, a high-speed race through the desert-scene Ornament Valley.
You'll want to pick up a Fastpass from the machine located next to A Bug's Land on your way into the park, to avoid what promises to be an hours-long wait when this ride opens to the public, starting Friday, June 15.
Inside the queue, you'll find Stanley's Oasis, home of the Original Radiator Spring (and the source of the town's name).
I was among the first to board the ride this morning, only to have the ride stop just as we entered the main show building. The work lights came up, and Disney cast members evacuated the car in front of us. But after working on the car ahead, the cast members retreated off stage, dimmed the lights and allowed us to continue.
Within moments, we were flying through Ornament Valley.
And crossing the finish line.
Lightning McQueen and Mater congratulate the racers at the end of the ride. (And the cast members at unload allowed us to ride again, since our first journey was interrupted.)
Luigi's Flying Tires is a unique attraction where riders float on air in giant tires around Luigi's back yard.
I don't want to get into too much opinion here, but I absolutely loved this ride. And I found making the tire move around the giant "air hockey"-like platform to be a snap. It's just basic geometry.
Did you ever stick your hand outside a car window, or in front of a fan? Do your remember how, if you tilt your hand in one direction, the rushing air pushed your hand in that direction? The same principle's at work here. Your tire is floating on a cushion of air. If you lean your body weight to one side, it will create an angle underneath your tire that the air coming up from the ground will push against, pushing you in that direction.
But if you lean too hard, the edge of the tire will hit the ground, and the friction between the tire and ground will stop you immediately. You've got to find the right balance to ride the air. I think this will be much easier for single riders, since you won't have to coordinate with anyone else. I got the hang of this almost instantly, and enjoyed making my tire spin, bump into and avoid other tires, and even race around the platform a bit.
Mater's Junkyard Jamboree is a classic "whip" ride.
You ride behind Mater's tow trucks, which will whip you around the junkyard, as Mater serenades you with several original songs, written and recorded for the ride.
The action on this ride surprised me. It's quick, you move from side to side quite a bit, and the songs are fun.
Now, on to the food. The Cozy Cone Motel serves snacks and light meals in five different giant roadside cones. Cone 1 serves churros bites. Cone 2 offers soft-serve ice cream and root beer floats. Cone 3 has bread cones with scramble eggs for breakfast, and chicken verde or chili con queso for lunch and dinner. Cone 4 serves pretzel bites and "Red's Apple Freeze," a frozen drink. Cone 5 offers two different flavored popcorns daily.
Since it was early, and I needed breakfast, I chose the bacon and scrambled egg cone, with cheddar cheese sauce ($6.49)
The bacon was pretty much just a garnish, a single thin and crispy slice. The scrambled eggs were covered in a thick, though not very sharp, cheddar sauce. The bread cones at the Cozy Cone tasted like a pretzel bread (without salt) - firm and not doughy. The people in front of me chose the salsa verde-sauced scrambled eggs, and I'd wished I'd gotten that instead.
For the grown-ups, Cone 3 also serves a pomegranate limeade with vodka. Yep, the booze flows in Cars Land, with speciality beers and hard liquor available in the land. Throw in the huge amount of neon that will illuminate Cars Land each night, and this place has the potential to seem more like a club than a kiddie land.
Cars Land's main restaurant is Flo's V8 Cafe.
Look up when you enter Flo's to see the light fixture mounted inside the "air filter" rotunda. The light display changes color every few moments.
I was amused by the inscription on the back of the many cans of "Quality Oil" stacked in front of Flo's, too.
Flo's is a counter-service restaurant, serving roasted meats with vegetable sides, salads and vegetarian casserole, in addition to those speciality beers and wines by the glass. For dessert, Flo's offers milkshakes, as well as individual pies, including apple/Cheddar, and chocolate Mud pies.
I opted for the citrus-marinated roast turkey breast, sliced thinly and served with turkey gravy, cranberry sauce and a roll. For my two sides, I picked the mashed potatoes and a roasted corn medley. ($11.49)
This is old-fashioned diner food, just like I've had in several family-run joints on the real Route 66 over the years. (But tastier!) Yet one family next to me in line just had to complain that they couldn't get hamburgers at Flo's.
Just kill me now. Let every other freakin' theme park on the planet have their cliche, 50's burger joints. Thank goodness Disney's trying for something better with Cars Land. I'll get into more detail later this week, but Cars Land abounds with such touches where Disney could easily have opted for the conventional, but instead chose to try something quite a bit more ambitious. To me, that's something to celebrate - and not to complain about.
Cars Land opens to the public on Friday, June 15. Tomorrow, I'll write about Disney California Adventure's new Buena Vista Street.
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Amen! Is it just me, or does Disney seem to be getting it right a whole lot more often these days?
I'm curious for your opinion. Now that Cars Land is open, along with the other additions and improvements over the last five years is DCA at the same level of quality as DisneySEA?
What do you think, having visited Tokyo recently?
However, I think if they brought Radiator Springs over they should alter it a little so that each coasts version differs slightly and still is unique to that park. But alter it in a way that just makes it different / unique to that park..... not give us half a version of it..... like the way Disney CA got the abbriviated version of Tower of Terror.
That egg cone looks a bit disappointing, but I would gladly pay $12 for that turkey meal at Disneyland. Disney CANNOT do burgers right, but if you must then Taste Pilot's is a short walk away. I'm thinking Flos could be a new favorite.
We didn't win the chance to preview Carsland and didn't feel like paying extra, so we're just going to get there very early on a Saturday (when all other APs are blocked out) and give it a shot with the masses. From what I see here, I'm sure it will be worth the hassle.
We decided to take in a bit of the cuisine and went over to the Cozy Cone Hotel (no lines at this point), tried the pretzel bites and had to buy one of those cone cups. Pretzel bites were tasty, not doughy, and the cone drink cup was a cute concept. Had breakfast at Flo's, it was okay. I think I'd rather have the lunch/dinner menu (will try next time). I didn't care for the eggs, kinda reminded me of mass produced camp eggs (half real/half powdered). The bacon was cooked just right and the fruit was fresh, biscuit was hard as was the waffles. The tamale was ok too, it was mostly masa.
Final ride; Radiator Springs. They have a single rider lane - YEA!! My grandson didn't meet the height requirement. That was the best line ever. No wait time, my daughter and I switched off, she had to wait less then two minutes and I got right on, so got to ride it a few times - this ride was fast and alot to look at; another great ride at DLR.
With the three rides rode; we strolled up and down Route 66 and browsed. Got pictures with some of the CMs in their new costumes. It was a great morning.
Headed over to Buena Vista Street and WOW, they really made over this area. Loved everything about it and how they captured the era.
I'm happy that Disney gave us the option of purchasing passes to preview before the general public. Well worth it.
Disney Animal Kingdom
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Magic Kingdom Park
Adventureland / Frontierland / Tomorrowland NextGen gags in public areas
Jungle Cruise Revamp
20K simulator to replace Tomorrowland Speedway.
Epcot
Brazil to World Showcase
Disney Hollywood Studios
Cars Land
I LOVED Luigi Flying tires. It's a ride that disappeared long before I could go to theme parks. As Robert has pointed out, understand physics and you can handle this ride. And the cast members at the attraction instruct you in efficient detail on how to move about.
Now if they would just do this for Agrabah, "a small provincial French town", and the Pridelands... I think I might be able to die happy! Just kidding, but I do love the concept of dropping guests completely into other lands and not so chopped up. Sure, it takes a lot of real estate, but totally worth it!
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