Walt Disney World Announces New Cars-Themed Expansion at Magic Kingdom

Aug 11, 2024 in "Cars Land Magic Kingdom"

Gallery / 3 Photos
Cars Concept Art

Posted: Sunday August 11, 2024 12:01am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater are coming to Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort with work on a new area of Frontierland starting in 2025.

Cars Concept Art

At Horizons: Disney Experiences Showcase at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D'Amaro, with the help of Tow Mater via video call, announced that a new area inspired by the Pixar Animation Studios film "Cars" will be coming to a reimagined section of Frontierland at Magic Kingdom. "The American West has always been about keeping your eyes on the horizon … believing in yourself, carving your own path, and striving toward success. That goes for miners in the mountains, bears from the country, a princess from the bayou … or a racecar from the big city," Josh told the crowd.

The new Cars area will be built behind Big Thunder Mountain, which you can see in the concept art background below.

Cars Concept Art

The yellow area indicates the approximate area of the land use for Beyond Big Thunder Mountain project which is expected to include Cars and the new Villains Land

In this Cars adventure, guests will be able to experience two new "Cars"-themed attractions. One attraction will invite you on a thrilling rally race through the mountains. Take on wild terrain as you race across the landscape climbing mountain trails, dodging geysers and — Mater's favorite — splashing through mudholes.

Cars Concept Art

The second attraction will be geared towards smaller guests and will be fun for the whole family. Work on this new space in Frontierland will begin in early 2025.

"As we develop the next generation of Disney Experiences, we're always looking for new ways to tell the stories people love," D'Amaro said. "We're thrilling Cars fans by building on this incredibly successful franchise and creating the next chapter in this story."

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Animaniac93-9853 minutes ago

Yes. It's never really gone away.

Brer Panther1 hour ago

Isn't this the same mindset that nearly got the Tiki Room and Swiss Family Treehouse shut down (the latter only being saved when somebody thought of the Tarzan retheme idea) in Disneyland back in the 1990s?

TrainsOfDisney1 hour ago

When I was researching it after making that post - apparently the ears for the hat were supposed to be Ferris wheels and the interior of the hat was going to house one man’s dream - it was going to sit at the site cleared for the Copperfield magic restaurant. That could have been cool!

danlb_20001 hour ago

That never made any sense. I can't imagine the owners of the theater saying "you can use the image of the theater in your merchandise, and you can have it in the park, you just can't let people see it when looking down the main street."

Disgruntled Walt2 hours ago

I think it's a good sign that we haven't heard very much about this Cars thing recently. The most recent reference to any of the Magic Kingdom redo is the call for bids on the "Villains Land" project. Cars wasn't mentioned at all...so, the faintest glimmer of hope in a WDWorld of darkness?

Chef idea Mickey`=3 hours ago

I find it funny in terms of clones people complain for Disneyland and Disney World however Universal makes sure each resort each coast has a form of the same land and nobody is complaining with them!

Incomudro5 hours ago

100 percent.

TrainsOfDisney5 hours ago

El Capitoon Theatre would have been the perfect anchor for Animation Courtyard.

Animaniac93-985 hours ago

Before someone says no, Disneyland moved backstage buildings to accommodate the construction of their version, which resulted in a net gain of rides to the park. Disney chose not to do this in Florida to save on construction costs in the short term and the ongoing costs associated with running the two attractions at the same time (despite GMR having a sponsor). And now they're spending money to build another ride in DHS anyway...

lazyboy97o5 hours ago

It wasn’t. At a minimum it would have meant that Disney built the center of a park based on a licensing agreement with a 12 year term. More importantly though, the Chinese Theater predated the relevant legislation and copyright protections by decades. If the problem was real it would have impacted most of Hollywood Blvd and Sunset Blvd not to mention a sizable chunk of Universal Studios Florida.

AidenRodriguez7316 hours ago

Theme of animal kingdom: Humans interactions with animals, real and mythical. All attractions including the new ones still fit. Hollywood studios I’ll give you that the theme has changed but it’s simply a “riding the movies” theme now. Epcot is still overall about the connection of people and our world. All of the new stuff can fit into that minus cosmic but that’s a fictional idea of how we could have connected with aliens if that happened.

TrainsOfDisney6 hours ago

I believe that was partially true…. The hat didn’t come down until the Chinese Theater had a new owner.

Chef idea Mickey`=6 hours ago

Oh right how could I forget Animal Kingdom as one theme and MGM Studios as Hollywood!

Jrb19796 hours ago

Theu did have a general theme to each park. Epcot was built around a World Expo theme. Hollywood Studios was a movie studios and you have Animal Kingdom. The main thing is they are one time all have a unique feel each park. They have slowly gone away from that to the point where the new attractions coming don't fit the theme at all.