Richard Petty Driving Experience and the Exotic Driving Experience to permanently close in the summer

Feb 11, 2015 in "Richard Petty Driving Experience"

Posted: Wednesday February 11, 2015 5:40pm EST by WDWMAGIC Staff

The Richard Petty Driving Experience and the Exotic Driving Experience will permanently close later this year.

The driving experience attraction that gives guests the chance to drive a race track either on their own, or with a race car driver, will close in late June 2015. Those guests who already have a reservation will be able to move their drive to another Richard Petty course, with the closest being the Daytona Beach location.

“Our main focus at this moment is taking care of our staff and preparing them for the upcoming transition,” said Petty Holdings Vice President Bill Scott. “Any reserved guests prior to July 1 will have the same fantastic experience that we have delivered since 1997 at Walt Disney World Speedway.”

The Richard Petty Driving Experience is located on the outskirts of the Ticket and Transportation Center parking lot. Disney has said that it expects to use the land for future transportation improvements, but has not elaborated on what those are.

With the addition of New Fantasyland, and the parks increased capacity, parking capacity at the TTC has become an issue, with that reaching capacity before the park itself reaches capacity. If Disney sees parking as a limiting factor to attendance at the Magic Kingdom, it may well be the case that more parking is being planned.

The Richard Petty Driving Experience expanded its offerings in 2012 with the addition of the Exotic Driving Experience where guests can drive super cars.

Petty Holdings currently has plans in process for exotics and stock car programs in Orlando.

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RhinocerousFeb 14, 2020

;)

Santa Raccoon 77Feb 14, 2020

ABQFeb 14, 2020

There is one breed of tree in the Germany area of Epcot which only blooms for a short period of time and appears dead most of the year. Not saying those are the ones you are speaking of, but they may be.

MagicHappens1971Feb 14, 2020

Does this no longer happen?

RhinocerousFeb 14, 2020

Little known fact: That's how we wound up with the Tree of Life. It stated out in 1971 as part of the Swiss Family Robinson attraction.

trainplane3Feb 13, 2020

Off topic for this work but on topic about trees. Is there some mass tree replacement working going on in WS? So many were cut down to nothing in Germany and the UK (not including France since you said that is replacements).

Josh HendyFeb 13, 2020

So glad my family doesn't read these forums ...

marni1971Feb 13, 2020

When the resort first opened each feature tree had a younger version growing in the tree farm. When a feature tree grew too big for its location it was removed and the smaller version put in its place.

punkabellaFeb 13, 2020

That's really impressive that they are preserving the trees and moving them elsewhere.

TrainsOfDisneyFeb 08, 2020

The original design of the property kept things so natural and interesting.

Monorail_Red_77Feb 08, 2020

it seems like it is taking forever to move these big oaks. They have been boxed up since at least last August roughly. Hey have temporary sprinklers running to each tree to keep them watered while they are being readied to move. The remainder of the Mickey lake will be dug our larger and no longer be Mickey shaped. The rest of the area will be deforested. This will be done to replace th wetlands area in the center of MK parking that is being cut down and paved over to enlarge the parking areas.

WDWtravelerFeb 08, 2020

Photo update as of Friday, February 7, 2020. Some large oak and crepe myrtle trees along the border of the former WDW Speedway are being dug out for re-positioning. The east, south, and west perimeter around the former WDW Speedway had an earthen berm with large oak trees. After existing for decades, some of the large trees are being "boxed" for moving to another location. Not sure why this is being done now. Will miss the tree line along the Magic Kingdom entrance and exit roads. While some of the trees have been cut down, it's good to know these large trees will be re-purposed and are being saved. See the overhead photos above on this page for the location on WDW property. As to why it is taking so long: probably better to keep them in place and only move once to the next location, rather than moving them into a tree yard then moving again. When driving on the Magic Kingdom entrance road towards the parking lot, as your car emerges from the World Drive overpass, this is the view of the first tree line. These large crepe myrtle trees have been dug out in preparation for moving. The road on the left is the "turn around" road to the Speedway car maintenance and gas station. Along the Magic Kingdom parking lot exit road, the tree line is on the left side, where the majority of the oak trees have been dug out. Many of the oak trees have support wires to keep from blowing over during high winds before moving.

Nick PappagiorgioApr 19, 2016

First couple minutes give you the gist.

Nick PappagiorgioApr 18, 2016

Yes it did. They had IndyCar races there from 1996-2000. The track was designed to work like a street circuit race where basically only the track was there and then bleachers, concessions, etc. were all brought in temporarily for the race. They thought it might be the new low cost model of how to build a track but I don't think it ever caught on.