Disney just announced more details about the Cars area coming to Magic Kingdom!
Magic Kingdom
We just learned more about the ride vehicles that will be coming to this new area and got a look at concept art for them!
The new Cars area will be coming to Frontierland in Magic Kingdom. The Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island will be transformed into this new area. Construction is expected to begin in early 2025. While Disney has previously announced that this new Cars area will feature TWO new attractions, we now have even more details about the ride vehicles that will be used!
©Disney
The Disney Imagineering team took a trip out to Arizona to take a ride in some real off-road vehicles to provide some inspiration. Afterwards, they worked with a motocross company to build a dirt track and work on creating the new ride vehicles.
©Disney
To make sure the attraction is as realistic as possible, they are using a customized production vehicle with sensors all over to gather data on how it feels to drive on varying terrain. We are in for a bumpy and realistic ride it sounds like!
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We also got a first look at some of the concept art for the ride vehicles. They will each have their own personality with their own name and number. It will feel like you are really racing through this new attraction! Each car looks so different and fun, and we hope we get a chance to ride them all.
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Disney even created their own outdoor track so they can understand off-roading better! We just know this new attraction is going to feel amazing.
Real-world engineering meets Disney magic. ?✨ Walt Disney Imagineering shares a behind-the-scenes look at off-road testing for the new Cars attraction coming to the Magic Kingdom at @WaltDisneyWorld. https://t.co/oBkKleOwz8 #SXSW pic.twitter.com/jfpSYdsz59
— Disney Parks (@DisneyParks) March 8, 2025
Here’s a closer look at a test model! Disney Imagineers called this a “3D sketch,” so the design is still a work in progress.
©SXSW
Imagineer Michael Hundgen explained, “Our primary goal is creating an emotional experience for our guests. For this Cars attraction, we need to invent a new type of ride vehicle. No one builds these in a factory because it has to do so much more than just carrying you from one place to another. We have to create a car that conveys a feeling when you ride in it.”
©Disney
We are excited to find out even more about this new area and we can’t wait to experience these new attractions. Stay tuned to DFB for all your Disney World news!
Read even more about the new Cars area in Magic Kingdom here!
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I had the pleasure of riding Cars for the 1st time in California this past December. If it’s anything like the one there it’s going to be one Awesome attraction, and a Very nice addition to Disney World. I’m Excited for this new attraction after going last year to Disneyland and California Adventures. Honestly the rides there are Better!!
There isn’t anything they can do to this ride that will justify destroying the Rivers of America and the beautiful ambience of The Magic Kingdom. My dream trip (which I’ve been saving up for) was to spend a month at WDW, doing everything and eating everywhere and finally getting to do things I’ve never had time to do before (i.e. miniature golf, Hot air balloon.) But the moment they lay a shovel to destroy the Rivers of America – that’s the moment my dream trip becomes anything else and I will no longer step foot on Disney property. How a company can destroy such a valuable asset (the entire WD company) and treat it so carelessly is beyond my comprehension. Florida is hot enough. Taking out beautiful cooling water and adding more concrete…who thought that was a good idea?! They are taking a beautiful theme park and turning it into just another amusement park and I can go and spend less somewhere else. And I won’t have to worry about raw sewage spilling out.
There isn’t anything they can do to this ride that will justify destroying the Rivers of America and the beautiful ambience of The Magic Kingdom. How a company can destroy such a valuable asset (the entire WD company) and treat it so carelessly is beyond my comprehension. Florida is hot enough. Taking out beautiful cooling water and adding more concrete…who thought that was a good idea?! They are taking a beautiful theme park and turning it into just another amusement park and I can go and spend less somewhere else. And I won’t have to worry about raw sewage spilling out.
So, basically, it’s like a bumpy ATV ride people can do pretty much anywhere, in vehicles that will in no way fit the theme of Frontierland?
Am I missing something?
Cars is cute, but in so way would I ever associate it with Frontierland.
O Laurel, you’re so right ! We have just come back from WDW , my wife and i purposely took the boat to Tom sawyers island, sat on the small pier looking at liberty bell coming round the corner, stunning ! It really was, this lot of CEO’s haven’t a clue , they’re panicking over USEU opening this summer , this is there answer ! Absolutely ridiculous decision , build a 5th gate for goodness sake , Micheal Eisner would never allow universal to go one behind, and there do pleased with themselves at D23, shovels in the ground !! Makes me mad, rivers of America should Stay . And I’m from the UK , but it should stay !!! Madness on so many levels .
The Disney joke is alive and well destroy Magic Kingdom destroy Hollywood Studios, destroy Animal Kingdom while Universal builds a whole new park. No wonder Disney stock isn’t worth anything. But once it’s gone ghere us no bringing back the magic
IMO the introduction of Cars Land (with two rides targeted at different age groups) suggests WDW will finally shutter the Tomorrowland Speedway. Tomorrowland is ready for innovation, imagination. The ExtraTerrorrestrial ride space? The rarely used Tomorrowland Terrace space? Will the Laugh Floor move to Hollywood Studios?
Sounds like they are trying to recreate the Dinosaur ride that they should have left alone too! Such a travesty to the beauty of the Magic Kingdom.
What I wish is that they had created an entire Cars World land. They have all that space, why not use some of it?
Please don’t destroy Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island for a stupid Cars ride. Put it in some empty land, there is a lot of that available. I will re-think going to Disney World in the future once these changes take place.
I am excited about the Cars ride but please consider putting it beyond Big Thunder and Tiana’s ride. You can build out that way and not invade the space for Villains’ land. You are making a BIG mistake. I’m dumbfounded how you all cannot see the importance of leaving the Rivers of America! It is beyond belief!
Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone. They paved paradise, put up a parking lot.
People just don’t like change. Nothing will make everyone happy.
It seems like people just love to complain. When is the last time you ever saw more than a few people on Tom Sawyer island. My family visits every year and we haven’t been on Tom Sawyer island in at least 15 years.
I agree with others, please keep Rivers of America. But I can see that the time for Tom Sawyer’s Island is in the past and something could be done there, but not ruin all the beauty of Rivers of America that Walt worked so hard to create. There’s a reason why lots of the big rides, shops, and atmosphere are around this body of water. To ruin it would be a travesty. Because so much is closed, going to closed I don’t think I can afford going back to visit from MN before all this change happens so it will have to forever remain in my memory.