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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erasure fan13 days ago

Exactly. That's something I've been harping on for years. Especially against the "if it's a half day park, you're doing it wrong!" Crowed. There should be enough for a full day in every park, even if you skip the things you aren't a fan of. Everyone benefits with more attractions.

UNCgolf3 days ago

Plus, most people aren't interested in doing every single attraction in a park for different reasons. Saying there are x number of attractions and that's more than anyone can do in a single day (whether true or not) isn't really useful; there needs to be a variety of attraction types that cater to all guests and their interests. If a park has 12 intense coasters with height requirements that all have 60+ minute waits, then sure, there's technically enough to keep people occupied for the entire day -- but in practice, a number of potential guests (like small kids, e.g.) are going to have absolutely nothing to do. That isn't necessarily an issue depending on the kind of park and its intended audience, but Disney's audience is pretty broad.

Disone3 days ago

Ok.. thank you.

Disstevefan13 days ago

I agree with most here. I really miss the Osborne lights 😭😭and you are technically correct about the new monsters land but we all know the real problem is the deletion of Muppets 3D when they could have used the abandoned animation courtyard for monsters but they did want not to lose the office space. Space 220 is very cool and EPCOTy, technically not an attraction, but it’s so cool I will give you that one 😉 As I have always said, Disney’s gonna do what Disney’s gonna do and we just discuss it.

JD803 days ago

Animal Kingdom as a whole wasn't an expansion of WDW it was just a reuse of land. All they did was put in some fencing and a fancy tree. You could already go there and see wildlife. Sure they shipped in some different animals but there were still animals there.

peter114353 days ago

Yep, and one of those CMM food stands was rarely open, the MG was relocated, and Pandora also includes 1 merch cart.

danlb_20003 days ago

Rides: CMM = 0, Pandora = 2 Shops: CMM = 0 (maybe merch cart?), Pandora = 1 Dining: CMM = 2 food stands, Pandora = 1 food stand, one large quick server with indoor/outdoor seating M&G: CMM = 1, Pandora = 0 Camp Minnie Mickey vs Pandora, clear expansion of used space. By every measure Pandora was an expansion.

danlb_20003 days ago

Yeah, Avatar was a significant expansion beyond what was there both is space used and attractions.

Disone3 days ago

For me.... I don't think it's hard to say that it was not an expansion. It was a replacement of camp Minnie Mickey. Camp Minnie Mickey was there before and now Pandora is there. That's not an expansion. That's a replacement. I don't have the stats on how much bigger Pandora was or is compared to camp Minnie Mickey. So here I will contradict myself just slightly and say it does feel bigger.... I'm totally assuming that flight of passage takes up more real estate than the original festival Lion King theater did.... So I guess in that context you could say it was an expansion.... ? Harambe was expanded when they moved festival The Lion King to harambe, because where it is now was not previously a guest area. So that was n't an expansion... of sorts.

Disone3 days ago

Centauri Space Station4 days ago

As said above Pandora's replaced a temporary land that had 1 attraction that was moved elsewhere. Streets of America was 90% useless space of just empty facades and a small playground for ten months of the year. Monsters coaster is going in a vacant lot not replacing anything. Ratatouille, Space 220, and TRON were all additions not replacing anything.

Disstevefan14 days ago

Pandora was an excellent REUSE of space in my opinion, even if we did lose camp Mickey Minnie. Galaxy's Edge was a poor REUSE of space in my opinion, because we LOST the Osborne Lights :cry: :cry: :cry: Monsters will be a poor REUSE of space in my opinion because we lost Muppets. The Cars area will be the WORST REUSE of space in my opinion because we lost RoA, TSI and the riverboat. If Monsters (ever happens) THIS WILL BE AN EXPANSION but I cant get excited because its SO FAR AWAY from happening. Tropical Americas will be a OK REUSE of space in my opinion, it's its too bad Disney erased dinosaurs from AK, kids love dinosaurs. For all against fossil fuels, the wonderful, beautiful oil and plastic we enjoy today was NOT from dinosaurs, it was from the prehistoric plant life. RnRC (I hope) will be just a retheme and no matter the theme will still be a fun coaster.