Fans Call for Opening Day Disneyland Attraction to be Replaced

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Walt Disney with characters at Disneyland in the 1960s

Credit: Disney

Disneyland is one of the most popular places in the world, bringing in thousands of families each day. It features a variety of attractions for people of all ages, from a few months old to a hundred years. One such attraction is Autopia, found over in Tomorrowland.

autopia
Credit: Disney

Walt Disney World has a similar ride in their Tomorrowland area, called Tomorrowland Speedway. The ride features go-kart-style vehicles that cruise along at a speed of 6.5 miles per hour along a set track and is one of the few opening day attractions still operating at Disneyland. The ride was modeled on the Magic Motorways exhibit from General Motors at the 1939 World’s Fair, which also predicted multilane freeways and ease of transportation for the future. Walt Disney wanted riders of all ages to feel as though they were driving along one of California’s highways, and in 1955, the massive freeway system was still months from being realized.

Tomorrowland Speedway
Credit: Disney

While a marvel of technology when it was first unveiled, the ride style and gas-operated vehicles haven’t aged well in the last several decades. The cars are loud and slow, emitting heavy exhaust fumes while they operate. These issues have led several Disney fans to not only skip the ride in recent years, but suggest that Disney replace the ride entirely. In a recent Reddit thread asking Disneyland Guests what rides they skip when they go, Autopia was one of the most mentioned.

Goofy, Pluto, and Mickey at Disneyland Autopia

As u/First_Revenge describes it, “nothing says tomorrow like gas powered go carts. If I wanted to spend a day stuck in traffic and choking on fumes, I’d go to work.” While the attraction has a lot of sentimentality for fans such as u/lbbg83, who says they “still ride it for the nostalgia sometimes,” it just hasn’t been able to keep up with modern technology and popular attraction styles.

disneyland-autopia
Credit: Disney

With electric vehicles becoming more popular, many people don’t understand why Autopia hasn’t undergone extensive renovations in order to outfit the vehicles for electricity rather than gas. “I seriously cannot believe that Disney hasn’t moved to battery. Why would they keep a gas powered utopia?!” asks u/Soderholmsvag. “Ugh autopia is a blight on the whole park. You can’t say that the higher ups at Disney don’t see or hear the moans and groans about it,”says u/ranggull.

autopia at disneyland on opening day
Credit: Loomis Dean/The Life Pictures Collection/Getty Images

With the amount of complaints that the attraction receives online and within the Park, it’s possible that it’s only a matter of time before Autopia, Tomorrowland Speedway, and it’s international versions are replaced to become a thing of the past.

What do you think about Autopia: ride or skip? Share your thoughts with Inside the Magic in the comments below!

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