Unveiling of the New Autopia Cars
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Glenn Weckerlin, Mickey Mouse and Tony Baxter

LaughingPlace.com: Why the decision to make such a drastic change to the Autopia after 45 years?

Glenn Weckerlin: You know, I think from everybody's perspective it's not as much a drastic change as it is an evolution. They just figured, hey, at this point in time why not get away from the highway experience and make it more about the personality and make it a world according to cars. The other thing is that being able to update the attraction, there's going to be a lot more going on out on the track that'll be entertaining for not just the person driving, but also the passenger. Part of that has to do with the fact that we at Chevron came to the table with our world of cars in a fun kind of a way and it always helps when you've got a partner to do that sort of a revamp. It's a combination of things.

LP: Can you talk about the changes to the track?

GW: It's going to be a combination, There's a part that might look like a freeway, there's an off-road experience part of it that as you're driving along, it's gonna feel like you just went off into a muddy area or a bumpy area. There's a portion that's going to be as if you're driving through a park. You know if you saw monuments to people in Central Park, for example, you'll see monuments of cars. Fountains with two cars coming together. Famous cars on monuments. So there's a park scene, there's a little bit of a country scene, a little bit of a city scene and a little bit of a raceway scene. So a lot of different experiences.

LP: Talk a bit about the queue area

GW: The queue area is completely revamped. It's moved from the outside to the inside of the track. It's been dropped down below ground level so as you're waiting you'll be able to see the cars down below. You'll queue into what looks like a grandstand area and you'll look back on the equivalent of a Jumbotron so instead of just standing looking at the person's head behind you, you're going to look at the Jumbotron that's going to have some interactive things on it. The last thing you do before you get to the car is you're going to go around a cylinder that's going to have window boxes in it. They're going to have animated cars that are similar to the Chevron car commercials that we've got with the cars talking to each other about the experiences of going out on an the Autopia attraction, so it kind of sets up the guests for that kind of a fun experience.

LP: Have Chevron and Disney partnered before?

GW: No. A long time ago back in 1930s and 40s we did some advertising with some Disney characters, but not recently.

LP: Will the classic Autopia cars be in the new attraction?

GW: We're going back and forth on the classic cars. I don't know how we're going to come down on that. There's room to put a few classic cars on there. It's one of the things that there are pros and cons to. There's kind of "lets do an all new thing" but yet there're a lot of people that want the classic so I think it'll end up being a wait and see approach to see what people want to do

LP: See how many complaints you get?

GW: Well you don't have to say don't get rid of them because they exist today. It's not like you have to go out and make them. It's a question of whether you put them on the track or not.