Thursday, January 22, 2009

Disneyland - Autopia, The End of An Era

Ah, the Autopia. A Tomorrowland classic.

With sincere thanks to long-time Disneylander Sandi Miller, I share with you today the above photograph, which offers a fleeting last glimpse of the old Autopia car bodies as they appeared "backstage" before heading to their final resting places.

The cars were revamped in 2000 (has it really been 9 years?) for the "new" Autopia and were replaced with these thingies as part of the uglification of the "new" Tomorrowland:My thanks to Ellen Levy Finch for the photograph below showing how the attraction looked in 1996. Note the lack of the monstrous "queue building" that completely interrupted the once spectacular view of the Matterhorn and the Tomorrowland skyline. Many Disneylanders lament the passing of the old Tomorrowland, with its crisp design elements and open airiness. The primary colors and Corvette-esque body style of the old Autopia fit so well in Tomorrowland.
That was before they moved the Rocket Jets and painted everything rusty.
Retttcccch.
Ack.
Oh, to roll slowly above the Autopia in the Peoplemover again; to look down at those happy cars from one of Tomorrowland's "highways in the sky" (take your pick: Monorail, Skyway or Peoplemover) while enjoying a leisurely ride; t'would be heavenly.
Few things sparkled so as the Submarine lagoon on a warm summer day.

Thankfully, Disneyland still shines. We bring to it our memories and it gives us back more.

Have a great day and remember: "To make your car go, press your foot down on the pedal..."


10 comments:

mydisneycollection said...

Any truth to the rumor that once Chevron's sponsorship ends, Disneyland will be installing electric cars?

Yellows said...

Glad you're back! Sure wish the old Autopia and the rest of our Tomorrowland was, too!

Does your new post mean Jungle has gone 101 again?

Vintage Disneyland Tickets said...

I MISS THOSE LITTE CARS!!! Don't even get me started on those ugly-topia color shifting toddler toys they have for cars now! Hey, where did those "Bodies" end up?

Glad to see you back!

Anonymous said...

I'v ever went to disneyland, Hope can have a chance to go there in the future.

Anonymous said...

dear electric bicycle ,

don't bother going.

disneyland is over.

Unknown said...

... well written people, I enjoy a good, interesting blog!

Rafael Sabatini said...

Always great to be reminded of the magical place Disneyland was for me in my youth. Keep up the great blog! I'm a huge fan of the Disneyland that today only exists in my fondest memories.

Caspian said...

Disneyland is still full of magic. Great live entertainment, classic attractions. Where else can you ride Alice in Wonderland? They are doing excellent maintenance these days, too.

I miss PeopleMover, Skyway, etc as much as anyone, but it is still my favorite place. Tomorrowland is the area needing the most attention. Just yesterday I was wishing for a $1 billion budget to fix it up. Hey, even $200 million would probably fix a lot of the problems left over from the last redo.

LD

PTA Transit Authority said...

Fits right in with my favorite subject... Transportation.

Unknown said...

Great blog - right down to the paragraph above in the comment form - you crack me up!

I'm devoting Wednesdays on my blog to WDW Tips & Tricks, I hope you'll stop by! :)

Tracy
http://www.HappyDaisyAZ.com