Originally Posted By EmmaJayne 'I realize the Autopia exists so that young kids can "drive". Personally I find it to be a very boring attraction.' Exactly, surely at a theme park there are more exciting things they can do than drive.. when I was a child I never got to ride a flying elephant, take a river cruise through the jungle, fly over London with Peter Pan, spin around in a giant tea cup, tag along with Indiana Jones, take a tour through space and so on, get up close to Pirates of the Caribbean or travel through a haunted mansion.. as an adult I don't get to do these things either, unless I am at Disneyland. These kids will grow up and get their licence and drive real cars one day. I'm sure it is exciting for them to be able to experience it while they are young but surely the other attractions are just as exciting. I have only ever been on it once and have no intention of ever going back. In my mind it's just such a waste of space. Not to mention when I did ride it, it was early morning so they only had one track running and the line took quite a while, long enough to notice a lot of paint chipped off the metal bars we were standing behind...
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>It's also kind of pointless since there's a guide rail.<< Seeing how some people drive in the real world, more guide rails are needed more places!
Originally Posted By crapshoot << In my mind it's just such a waste of space.>> Unfortunately, that space can not support any weight since much of it is supported by the roof of the submarine bunker. So no show building structures can be placed up there. There is one massive concrete load beam that runs the width of the submarine bunker which supports the roof. The beam is easily 6 feet tall by 3 feet thick and 100 feet or so long. The subs just barely pass under it. But that is all that supports the trackway for much of Autopia. And on a side note; I sure miss the Bob Gurr design styling of Autopia cars.
Originally Posted By crapshoot <<Seeing how some people drive in the real world, more guide rails are needed more places!>> Stellar!
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan I like that when they redid Autopia, they combined the TL and FL versions into one, making for longer drive times for the kiddos. But during the "World of Motion" era, it was a very unique experience to drive your little car past the futuristic People Mover overhead, Monorail, alongside the Motor Boat Cruise, seeing the Skyway buckets, etc. It felt more "tomorrow" for sure.
Originally Posted By crapshoot << making for longer drive times for the kiddos.>> Like kids have some inate sense of time. For me, the downside of combining the two, it just made the queue wait times even longer. I don't know if they even put as many cars on the track than originally?
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "Unfortunately, that space can not support any weight since much of it is supported by the roof of the submarine bunker." So do away with the Subs.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "I like that when they redid Autopia, they combined the TL and FL versions into one, making for longer drive times for the kiddos." The fact that there was an Autopia in Fantasyland was always a head scratcher.
Originally Posted By tashajilek "So do away with the Subs." So your saying get ride of the subs for Autopia???
Originally Posted By crapshoot <<So do away with the Subs.>> The only real fix for that plat of land is to 86 the monorail spaghetti bowl section, dump the PM/RR track and rip out autopia and subs and Motor Boat waterway. But all five would have to happen in order to free up space. Can you imagine?
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>The only real fix for that plat of land is to 86 the monorail spaghetti bowl section, dump the PM/RR track and rip out autopia and subs and Motor Boat waterway. << It would be worth it for my long-dreamed-of "The Cat from Outer Space" E-ticket.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "So your saying get ride of the subs for Autopia???" No, I'm saying get rid of it so that they can build something better where the Autopia is.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "But all five would have to happen in order to free up space. Can you imagine?" It would be awesome.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <I'm sure it is exciting for them to be able to experience it while they are young but surely the other attractions are just as exciting. > I'm telling you - if you're a kid of a certain age, it's a highlight of your day. In fact, my first trip to DL, it was what I wanted to do MOST (despite not being big enough to reach the pedal). <The fact that there was an Autopia in Fantasyland was always a head scratcher.> It was built specifically because the Autopia was such a huge hit with the public. So much so that they needed a second one. For a while, there was even a third (midget autopia) for really little kids that ran on its own (no pushing the pedal).
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance ">>It's also kind of pointless since there's a guide rail.<< Well, originally it did not have a guardrail. But after several incidents (probably less to do with little kids and bad driving and more to do with idiots being idiots) they had to install the guardrail. I also may think that is why they put in midget autopia, for the little kids who were too little to drive without a guardrail. Could be wrong about that though.
Originally Posted By crapshoot <<I also may think that is why they put in midget autopia, for the little kids who were too little to drive without a guardrail.>> <a href="http://www.yesterland.com/midgetautopia.html" target="_blank">http://www.yesterland.com/midg...pia.html</a> Great pics of it on Yesterland.com I don't remember it, although I would have been pretty young by the time it was taken out in 1966. See, I lived throught the '60's, I just don't remember much of it.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt <The fact that there was an Autopia in Fantasyland was always a head scratcher.> "It was built specifically because the Autopia was such a huge hit with the public." Oh I know, I was just thinking that it made no sense thematically, especially with the entrance literally right across from the boarding shed for the Matterhorn Bobsleds. I prefer the new arrangement.
Originally Posted By crapshoot <<especially with the entrance literally right across from the boarding shed for the Matterhorn Bobsleds.>> Yeah but, was that the FL Matterhorn or TL Matterhorn? I get so confused.
