The Disneyland Book of Secrets 2014: One Local's Unauthorized, Rapturous and Indispensable Guide to the Happiest Places on Earth (152 page)

John Lasseter
and the
Imagineers
promised that
Radiator Springs Racers
would be a new
E-ticket
attraction guaranteed take Guests’ breath away.  Literally.  Based on the technology of
Epcot
’s popular
Test Track
attraction,
Radiator Springs Racers
whip Guests along a pre-set route at varying speeds, over varying terrains, through a range of environments and past a
smorgasbord
of interesting features, culminating in an exhilarating finale.

Test Track
and
Radiator Springs Racers
share technology, but they have incredibly different stories, and with
Disney
attractions, story is everything. 
Test Track
, which launched in 1998, is set at a car testing facility and the different experiences that Guests have–ascending hills, navigating super-hot and cold environments, traversing varied surfaces, etc.–are all themed to trial runs. 
Test Track
, sponsored by General Motors, is set in and around a car factory/ test facility and has an industrial feel.

By contrast,
Radiator Springs Racers
navigate an outdoor environment painstakingly carved and colored to look and feel like
Ornament Valley
, the wild landscape surrounding
Cars
’ fictional Route 66 town of
Radiator Springs
.

The
Imagineers
had a clear vision for this project from the start.  Those following the
Racers
’
development with eager anticipation knew that anything could change at any step of the construction process as dictated by shifts in budget, materials, and operational and Guest needs, but
Imagineers
hewed very closely to original renderings showing Guests boarding racing cars with two rows seating two Guests each.  Ultimately, the cars would be higher-capacity, seating two rows of three Guests each.  But the big picture was the same.  The vehicles follow an imaginately mapped route through six acres of gorgeous southwestern desert based on
Radiator Springs
and the land surrounding it, including buttes, spires, rock outcroppings, caverns, snaking switchbacks, and sudden curves.  Guests essentially experience the ride that
Lightning
and
Sally
took in
Cars
–including that beautiful waterfall.

Think of it as an
indoor
and
outdoor dark ride, not unlike
Big Thunder Mountain
in concept:  Guests don’t merely zip around a generic landscape; they interact with features, events, and characters from the film.  The exciting ride of varying speeds, scenes, and terrains concludes with a high-speed race!

Given that
Epcot
’s
Test Track
vehicles can reach speeds of almost 65 miles per hour on curves banked at 50 degrees, there was excited speculation about how fast
Imagineers
would make
Radiator Springs Racers
.  Because
Cars
has many pint-sized–and elderly–fans, the
Racers
, while exciting, top out at a family-friendly 40 miles per hour.  So it’s not the fastest or wildest attraction at the
Disneyland Resort
–but it’s one of the best.

Even
before
it officially opened,
Radiator Springs Racers
was the hottest attraction at
DCA
.  Cast Member sneak previews were jam-packed, with two-hour queues for the
Racers
.  CMs I spoke with during those heady days raved about the
Racers
, but one and all advised “Use the
Single Rider
line”.  They were right; when attending
Annual Passholder
previews of
Cars Land
, we used the
Racers
’ standard and
Single Rider
lines–
Single Rider
won hands down.  You aren’t guaranteed a seat in the same vehicle as your companions, but you board, literally, hours faster.

Because
Imagineers
knew this headliner would be wildly popular, they had the foresight to link it to the
DCA
FastPass
system, as well as including a
Single Rider
line.  They might have had in mind the lines of two-to-three hours that plagued
Disneyland
’s
Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage
for more than a year when it opened in 2007 without a
FastPass
option. 
Nemo
’s design and loading don’t make it a
FastPass
candidate.  Fortunately, the
Radiator Springs Racers
attraction, with its small, fast-loading vehicles, was a prime
FastPass
candidate.

Walt
demanded efficiency and speed when it came to construction–witness his hiring of super-efficient
Admiral Joe Fowler
to oversee the construction of
Disneyland
, which was built in less than a year.  On the other hand, as he demonstrated when the New York World’s Fair
Lincoln AA
figure wasn’t ready for a planned pre-show,
Walt
was willing to delay a performance or a launch if the product would benefit from more time and tinkering.  It was worth waiting, in other words, if the product’s quality demanded it.  Guests deserved the best, however long it took.

It
was a good sign, therefore, that
Cars Land
, and in particular
Radiator Springs Racers
, took years to build. 
Lasseter
and the
Imagineering
team pledged to produce a fully immersive land and attraction that would be visually beautiful, kinetically and environmentally engaging, and that would essentially blow our minds.  In a touching segment during one of the
Walt Disney Blue Sky Cellar
films,
Imagineer Kevin Rafferty
choked up recollecting a night-time drive with his dad, many years ago, along Route 66.  Young
Rafferty
looked out of the car windows, up at the stars … Helping to bring
Radiator Springs Racers
to life was a journey back to a beautiful childhood memory for
Rafferty
, and that’s the level of emotion and
magic
Imagineers
want all of us to experience when we ride the new attraction.

The materials displayed at the
D23 Expo
, in the
DCA
Walt Disney Imagineering Blue Sky Cellar
, and online at
www.disneyscaliforniaadventure.com
all supported the premise that
Imagineers
put a great deal of thought and care into
every
aspect of
Radiator Springs Racers
, and that it was built with a depth of detail and scope of artistry to thrill and enchant all Guests.

Visitors to
DCA
in 2010 saw the great iron skeleton of the
Cadillac Mountain Range
,
Radiator Springs
’ peaks, rise rapidly behind the “
Pardon Our Pixie Dust
” construction fences.  On October 29, 2010, the iron frame topped out at 125 feet, a milestone celebrated by
Disney
Cast Members and executives.  The placement of the highest steel beam is a milestone event in any
Disney
construction project.  The beam, painted white, is signed by the workers, engineers and management prior to its installation.

Imagineers Jim Kearns
and
Kathy Mangum
and
DCA
VP
Mary Niven
were among those on hand for the
Cadillac Mountain Range
topping out ceremony.  The
Cadillac Mountains
have multiple pinnacles shaped like fins from a classic 1959 Cadillac.  The
Cadillac Mountain Range
soars 125 feet tall. (
Disneyland
’s original mountain, the
Matterhorn
, is 147 feet tall;
Grizzly Peak
is only 100 feet tall).

Construction continued at a fast pace in 2011; as early as February 2011 on-track testing of the ride vehicles was under way
.  By early 2012 the mountain range was long completed; visitors driving along
Katella
toward
Disneyland Drive
passed the massive supports for the
Cadillac Mountains
just before seeing the brontosaurian curve of
California Screamin’
.  After years of anticipation, Guests were ready to race, not walk, to the
Radiator Springs Racers
!

At an
Annual Passholder
sneak preview in June 2012, my sister and I waited more than an hour to ride the
Racers
.  We were so happy to finally experience the attraction that the long wait seemed to pass rapidly.  Cast Members roamed the long queue, selling popcorn and water to hungry and thirsty Guests.  While waiting in line I emailed my brother, who had already attended a Cast Member preview with his wife, who works for
Disney
.  I can’t recall the exact message, but it was something simple and ecstatic.
We’re here in the
Radiator Springs Racers
’ line!

The queue was punctuated by interesting signs and décor, all deepening or advancing the story of
Radiator Springs
and its resident characters.  Particularly pretty were the colorful glass facsimiles of vintage oil bottles.  The
Imagineers
who designed
Cars Land
really did their homework when it comes to automotive history.

The boarding area is set in the
Comfy Caverns Motor Court
, where
Stanley
(founder of
Radiator Springs
and
Stanley’s Oasis
) rents out rooms and suites.  Boarding-area Cast Members will ask how many Guests are in your party, and direct you where to wait for your car.  Each car has two rows of seats, with three seats per row, for a maximum occupancy of six Guests.  Because of the immense popularity of the
Racers
, small parties are grouped together in the same car.  Get ready to make new friends.

Please watch your children around the loading gates.  In late 2013 the author saw a little boy squeeze around a safety gate as it was closing.  For a heart-stopping few seconds he stood right on the edge of the boarding platform, with nothing protecting him from stepping or toppling into the path of incoming cars.  Luckily the
child instantly squeezed back behind the gate on his own.  His parents, chatting with each other, and the Cast Members, chatting with each other, never noticed.

Once it’s time to enter your vehicle, you’ll want to t
ake your seat quickly but carefully.  Each seat has its own seat belt; locate yours and fasten it, then help anyone in your party, such as children, who might need help.  Cast Members will check your restraints before your journey begins.  Stow any loose items–you’ll be hitting speeds of 40 miles per hour, so you’re well-advised to put away hats you don’t want flying off, or objects you don’t want flying back to strike the Guests behind you!

Engines
rev as the queue of cars, of which you are now a part, inches forward, out of the caverns.  When you emerge, a Cast Member does a final check and then–you’re off!

I will never forget that first ride, when the low, sporty race car
glided smoothly through
Ornament Valley
.  The landscape is beautiful, and techniques like forced perspective create the impression that you are motoring through the southwest, grand mesas and spires rising above you.  There is the enchanting waterfall that
Lightning
and
Sally
drove past.  Your ride is enriched by the
Radiator Springs Racers
ride-through soundtrack, based on the themes composed for the film by
Randy Newman
, as arranged by
Jonathan Sacks
.  Bonus:  the voices you hear on the ride-through soundtrack are the voices of the original actors–
Owen Wilson
for
Lightning
,
Bonnie Hunt
for
Sally
, and so on, with the exception of
Doc Hudson
.  Because
Paul Newman
passed away in 2008, on the
Racers
soundtrack
Doc
is voiced by prolific
Disney
voice actor
Corey Burton
.