Welcome to Extinct Attractions. This week, I’ll be taking a look back at an attraction that just closed this past Monday. Ka-chow!
Yesterday, Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida, leading to the closure of nearly every theme park in Florida. It’s the second closure in the past month from a hurricane, so our thoughts go out to all of those affected. Luckily, it seems like the damage was not too bad for most people.
It feels like we have seen a lot more hurricane closures in the past few years in Florida, with what used to be an occasional occurrence evolving into an annual or even bi-annual event. Luckily, the parks were open just long enough for today’s featured attraction to have its final show.
The Cars franchise may not look like the successful Pixar franchise based on its worldwide box office of $1.8 billion across three Cars films and two Planes movies, but that is discounting the incredible amount of merchandise that the franchise sells. Since its inception, it has made $21.5 billion, more than $7 billion higher than the next most successful Pixar brand, Toy Story. In fact, it’s enough to make it the 16th highest-grossing media franchise of all-time, ahead of brands like Looney Tunes and Peanuts.
While many would think that Cars Land was the first Cars representation in the Disney Parks, that honor actually goes to Cars Quatre Roues Rallye at Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris, which opened just a year after the first film (almost to the day). Cars Land didn’t open until 2012 at Disney California Adventure, leaving Walt Disney World behind the 8-ball.
For Disney’s Hollywood Studios’ 30th anniversary, they decided to add a new addition to the park in the Lightning McQueen Racing Academy. Situated in the former home of Club Villain right next to Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith, the attraction took place after the events of Cars 3. Opening on March 31, 2019, they managed to get nearly the entire cast of the Cars film to return with the notable exception of Michael Keaton as Chick Hicks.
The show began with Mater introducing everyone and singing a song with a montage that he put together, primarily about his best friend Lightning McQueen. It seemed silly, but it was actually a pretty fun song because Mater just has that lovable way about him.
With that introduction out of the way, Lightning McQueen appeared as a gigantic animatronic, so it was pretty cool to see him rolling around and stuff on the stage. Lightning let us know that we are rookie racers and he is going to bring us into the racing fold with his lap simulator, though Mater reminds us that he did not do so hot on it in the third movie.
In a fun moment, the entire screen in the background then expanded to showcase the simulator and really helps us guests become a part of the magic. It felt pretty immersive and was a very nice touch to add to the entire experience.
It was all fun and games until Chick Hicks hacked the screen and challenged Lightning to a race to try and prove who the better racer was. Chick was still salty about his loss to Lightning in the Piston Cup final all those years ago, so he wanted revenge and to prove he was the best of the best.
But Chick Hicks is a cheater, of course, so Lightning got his friends to fight fire with fire and almost all of his buddies from Radiator Springs popped in to help him with his busted tire, diminishing gas and other issues. The power of teamwork came in handy with Lightning and the team pulling out the win in the end.
I think I was in the minority on this one, but I actually really enjoyed Lightning Mcqueen’s Racing Academy. It felt so different from so many other shows that I’ve seen at the Disney Parks over the years, especially blending the animatronics with a larger screen. The story was simple, but easy to understand, so guests of all ages could find some entertainment from it.
But as I said, a lot of people were not as keen on the show as I was, so the show closed this past Monday, October 7th. I think its location, all tucked away in the corner, didn’t help either, but Disney is going to try it again with a villain show planned for next summer. I’m pretty excited to see what they come up with for that show, but the racing academy will be missed, by me at least.
Via Orlando Weekly
As always, don’t forget to check out my interactive maps of the Disney Parks throughout the years where you can watch or learn more about all the attractions from every Disney park around the world.
Thanks for reading and have a magical day!