New Autopia Ideas

[dogtherock]

It is very clear that Autopia (and the rest of Tomorrowland for that matter) is in need of major renovations! My question is what are YOUR ideas to make Autopia represent the future? The cars, the track, the scenery! I think we would all love to here!

[ryanvalle]

I would love to see electric vehicles.

I think with the way cars are going, having gas powered vehicles are contradictory for "tomorrowland."

It would also be cool to remove the guide rail and have a guidance system to keep the cars from bumping each other such as automatic breaks or automated steering when coming too close to other vehicles.

Of course, the ultimate change would have flying cars

[Dlandclub33]

To have hover cars! I've already explain my idea in another thread explaining my ideas for tomorrowland

[Renovatio430]

As much as I would love to see Autopia disappear since that space could be put to better use, hybrid cars would be really nice to have.
The current loading and unloading area smells too much like a Chevron garage.

[Belle Zen Whistles]

Digging the hybrid cars idea...can we still have the put put sound?

[yoda91]

I have heard new cars are comeing soon, the cheveron contract expires next year and Honda is takeing over. They are hybirds and will be electric in the station and switch to gas on the highways. They have one for testing backstage now, but no word on when the will be makeing their way onstage.

[Tomorrowland_1967]

Well .. Disney's latest public campaign .. is to go GREEN. Hybrid, is only "half green". So, if Autopia stays - they need to be all-electric.

Personally .. I want the Autopia to go! The name of the land is TOMORROWland ..........

Autopia .. is about as "Tomorrow" as the mid 20th Century.

The automobile was invented about 1888. The 19th Century folks!
The freeway was invented in 1940 - The "Pasadena 110" freeway - Worlds first freeway. First freeway into Orange County - The Santa Ana I-5. Opened in 1954. One year before "Walt's mini freeway" opened. It was doomed into a "yesterland" attraction from the start!

Now .... cars are in the millions just outside Disneyland, as well are hundreds of miles worth of California freeways - I don't see the point in keeping it .. other than to play up to some people's nostalgia .. and don't want to see the land continue to be updated - as it is the "land of the future" and needs updating all the time. The automobile is common place today .. and since when should Disneyland be about "common place" experiences?

Holding on to Autopia ... is not "good business" for a land struggling to be about the future.

This whole quadrant of Disneyland is more "aquatic" than anything else .. with the Submarine Voyage, the nearby waters of the former "Motor Boat Cruise" - I would like to see the area totally re-christianed into a separate "Aquatic"-land ... the lanes of the Autopia converted into variation of the DisneySea "Aquatopia". Essentially ... piloting your own "Aquatopia" vehicle through a series of narrow streams .. and drive through some "water" type gags to make it interesting.

[TimmyTimmyTimmy]

electric cars on a new track with spacy futuristic stracks and views

[Datameister]

In my opinion, the best way to make the attraction more thematically appropriate and more enjoyable would be to construct a large show building and make it a mostly indoor attraction...kind of like a dark ride, except you're pushing the gas pedal and doing limited steering. Make it take place on another planet or something.

There are several problems with this, though:

* The show building would be huge. In terms of footprint, it'd be the biggest on the property. That means $$$.
* The FNSV show building is beneath Autopia. It's sturdy, I'm sure, but I don't know if it could support a whole 'nother building on top of it.
* The monorail and PeopleMover/Rocket Rods tracks run all over that area. They'd need to either go above it (necessitating a themed roof) or inside it (necessitating a taller building).

As for electric stuff...sure, do whatever's possible and financially reasonable to make the attraction more environmentally friendly. But don't make a big fuss about it. That's going to be very early-21st-century before too long. The better route is to just do it without worry about letting everyone know that you're doing it.

[Lukey114]

I like the electric idea, and maybe a little more themeing. Like maybe just little tunnels to drive through with a little theme to it.

Also, if they keep the guardrails in, speed up the cars a little more. They are just too slow as it is, which makes it much less fun in my opinion. And if they just had a couple of CM's watching to make sure people dont bump each other too hard, even taking out the guard rails so you can race the cars.

[Coheteboy]

I'm with you, Data... but my concept is for there to only have a partial show building. I like having outdoor aspects and if themed right, it could be really cool.


I'm all for electric cars first of all. Hover cars would be rad, but we're just not there yet practically.

Those who have experienced the Rocket Rods may have recalled seeing the funny transportation videos from the Disney archives... i think it would be great for that to be playing SOMEwhere in the new autopia queue. Meanwhile also make new footage documenting the history of the automobile. I always think that people should learn as much as they can while waiting to have fun.



SO... now that we have electric cars and redesigned cars, what do we do on the track?

I think it would be neat to have drivers full aware that they're going to be doing some time traveling. It would be kinda funny if hte show building made it look like you drove out of Disneyland onto the main road and then zapped into the future... and with awesome WDI animatronic technology and what else, they can create an environment with flying cars, rocket packs, aliens, etc etc. Drive through that environment for awhile and then zap back.

Then drive the rest of the course outdoors in all types of terrain. the off road bit needs to go a lot longer.

I dunno... my mind is a mess of random ideas right now and I'd be happy with just a handful of them.

[WJNM]

Originally Posted by Tomorrowland_1967

Well .. Disney's latest public campaign .. is to go GREEN. Hybrid, is only "half green". So, if Autopia stays - they need to be all-electric.

Personally .. I want the Autopia to go! The name of the land is TOMORROWland ..........

Autopia .. is about as "Tomorrow" as the mid 20th Century.

The automobile was invented about 1888. The 19th Century folks!
The freeway was invented in 1940 - The "Pasadena 110" freeway - Worlds first freeway. First freeway into Orange County - The Santa Ana I-5. Opened in 1954. One year before "Walt's mini freeway" opened. It was doomed into a "yesterland" attraction from the start!

Now .... cars are in the millions just outside Disneyland, as well are hundreds of miles worth of California freeways - I don't see the point in keeping it .. other than to play up to some people's nostalgia .. and don't want to see the land continue to be updated - as it is the "land of the future" and needs updating all the time. The automobile is common place today .. and since when should Disneyland be about "common place" experiences?

Holding on to Autopia ... is not "good business" for a land struggling to be about the future.

This whole quadrant of Disneyland is more "aquatic" than anything else .. with the Submarine Voyage, the nearby waters of the former "Motor Boat Cruise" - I would like to see the area totally re-christianed into a separate "Aquatic"-land ... the lanes of the Autopia converted into variation of the DisneySea "Aquatopia". Essentially ... piloting your own "Aquatopia" vehicle through a series of narrow streams .. and drive through some "water" type gags to make it interesting.

Agreed. Even though that particular portion of the I-5 opened in '54, the whole idea of a nationwide interstate system really wasn't prevalent in America back in those days ... it was still "futuristic." The first interstate system of that nature was Hitler's Autobahn in Germany ... one of many concepts the Americans capitalized on from that chapter in German history. Of course, it wasn't long before American interstates WERE common place. I was always puzzled at them closing the Fantasyland Autopia when they redid that attraction. It's a MUCH better thematic fit as it stands now in Fantasyland rather Tomorrowland.

And while I would love to see the Aquatopia at DL, I would prefer to see it in the Motor Boat Cruise area (dig those waterways back up!). You seemed to complain about the thematic inconsistancies of the Autopia with TL, but how would the Aquatopia, really, be any different? It wouldn't.

In short, Autopia needs to go, or at least be made into a Mars rover kind of adventure and somewhat enclosed and/or highly themed. I could even see a Wall-E attraction in there, though I wouldn't want that (I fully pre-agree with you, Data, that this would go against the idea of an optimistic TL!).

[mkeeler]

Were we talking about the Magic Kingdom at WDW, I would say that it's time for Autopia to go to Yesterland.
Autopia at Disneyland creates an interesting challenge because of the reasons mentioned above: the people mover track, the monorail track, etc.
I think the solution (aside from going all electric - this just makes too much sense) is to follow the path of the Matterhorn.
I would love to see a new subland created by combining It's A Small World, the Matterhorn, FNSV and an Autopia themed either to the Autobahn or a world driving tour. A new subland with the theme of world travel or exploration of the world as it is. You could even bring back the motor boat cruise in some form.
Expansion of Tomorrowland should then occur in the space between Main Street and Tomorrowland (the International Street, Chinatown, Hollywoodland area).

[ScottG]

For adults, Autopia may seem a bit boring but remember, millions of kids (including me) got they're first driving experience on this ride and for them its exciting. The lines are normally quite long too so it must still be popular and I wouldn't want to see it go.
It could use some plussing though... perhaps a loop?

[sediment]

Originally Posted by Belle Zen Whistles

Digging the hybrid cars idea...can we still have the put put sound?

Sure. You should be able to choose your car sound. Ferrari, Yugo, and everything inbetween.