(Photo © Joel Maus/Studio EMP)
I forgot to mention one of the most memorable experiences from my recent California Adventure: Autopia.
On Monday, my family and I ventured to Disneyland. My mom worked at the “Happiest Place on Earth” for five years back in the ’70s, so it was neat to go back there with her and the rest of my family.
We had a great time, but the one downer of the day was the Autopia ride. And, before you think this is just about me not liking cars (which is not true, but I’m accused of that whenever we write anything less than flattering of cars), I’ll have you know that my entire family agreed.
passing these out.
Autopia is a Disneyland classic that hasn’t really changed for years. You drive a little car around a track and you have control of the steering wheel and the accelerator (you’re on a metal track that prevents you from steering off course). You sputter around an uneventful loop and then idle in traffic as you come back to the end.
As you enter the ride, an attendant passes out an Autopia driver’s license. The kids all got one. They were excited.
The amazing thing about this ride is that the cars are still powered by gasoline. When we got in line, the first thing we all noticed was the exhaust fumes. Families, kids, and employees stood just feet from idling gas engines spewing toxic air.
In line we overheard two women talking: “Are those cars running on gasoline?” one of them asked, to which the other said, “No, they wouldn’t do that. That would be too dangerous.”
Why haven’t these cars been converted to electric power? They’re tiny and only run at a few miles per hour. Surely the technology exists and I don’t think Disneyland is hurting for enough cash to make the switch. Then I noticed a sign for the ride: It read, “brought to you by Chevron”.
Maybe it’s just me (and I admit I’m hyper-sensitive to car culture propaganda and the massive impact the oil/gas and auto industries have on American society), but this entire ride felt like some sort of youth marketing ploy.
For several hours afterward, I was racking my brain trying to think of how Disneyland could replace Autopia with Biketopia. Maybe they could get Lance Armstrong and his Livestrong organization to sponsor it?
Has anyone else been to Autopia lately? I’d love to know if folks agree or disagree with my perspective on this.
Thanks for reading.
BikePortland has served this community with independent community journalism since 2005. We rely on subscriptions from readers like you to survive. Your financial support is vital in keeping this valuable resource alive and well.
Please subscribe today to strengthen and expand our work.
I agree that’s kind of bizarre. Kids are usually in a hurry to grow up so I guess driving seems cool to them. They should have a DEQ “ride” at the end where they all get tagged with a $75 emissions check fee.
Why would someone pay to sit in fake traffic? Heck, maybe Bike Portland can start its own Autopia on the I-5 bridge. Instead of “tolls”, it will be “admission”…see how the PR doctors can spin.
I would say I’m also pretty sensitive to propaganda in general, but that pretty much says to me “Chevron paid of Disneyland to have a ride that advertises their company, uses their product, and teaches people a behavior which perpetuates the use of their product.”
I don’t care what they’re selling, that’s a little shady.
Maybe they should also have a gas pump at the beginning of the ride, which sells gas at the going price for L.A., and you have to pay to fill up your car first, before going on the ride 🙂
I went to Disneyland this spring with my family and I think I did every single ride in that part of the park except Autopia. Because it looked weak. I’d much prefer the gas-powered go-carts at Oaks Park where you can drive anywhere on the track you want, staying between the bumpers of tires laid flat in a wall. Autopia is very weak – we can only hope that when Disneyland upgrades it, they do an electric version and ditch Chevron.
It’s not just you. It’s almost quaint how even with all we know about the car culture, car addiction, and America’s reliance on oil that attractions like Autopia still pimp the moldy old “cars are freedom, cars are perfect” fantasy – all bankrolled by an oil company, naturally. The kids can get all excited now and keep the same cars-at-all-cost mindset, and then look forward to the same (or worse) reality of traffic jams, pollution, sprawl, health problems, etc.
They’re still pushing the ’50s/’60s ideal, even as it collides head-first with the reality of the modern age. Things like this are one (admittedly small) part of why there’s still a huge fight to come in this country as the American Way meets the realities of the 21st century.
Oh, come on folks. Don’t any of you remember being a kid? I remember going to the local community college with my brother, my next-door neighbors, and their dad with their go kart. What a blast! We’d blast around the parking lot on the go kart. What freedom!
Disneyland is an opportunity to do things out of the ordinary. Do you really think kids would want to ride on “biketopia”?
This has nothing to do with car culture or evil gas companies. Even Chevron is smart enough to know they’re not in the gasoline business — they’re in the energy business. Whatever form of transportation we’ll have in 50 years will take energy. Chevron plans to be one of the companies providing that energy.
Maybe Chevron just needs a little prodding to throw in some more sponsorship dollars to convert the cars to electric power. Imagine the PR boost!
All I can remember from Disneyland as a kid is space mountain and its a small world. We went to San Diego last summer and went to Lego Land. They also had a car ride, but they were electric and I think the licence my daughter received was sponsored by Volvo.
I think Lego Land would be a better target for your biketopia idea. After all they’re a Danish company.
Went to Disneyland last summer, and boy did I HATE this ride! The cars are impossible to “steer” and on top of that, it’s just plain BORING.
They are probably the original cars form whenever the park was built. That’s why they are fairly stinky too, they’re old, less efficient engines, with tons of wear on them. They still run though, don’t they? 40 years later they still work, unlike the majority of the janky crap made today that will be trash in 10 years. There’s more than one way to make a carbon footprint.
I have to wonder if any of you who completely poo-poo cars has ever went on a cross-country road trip. Believe it or not, it is fun, and it is freedom. A long-distance bike trip is fun too, and freedom, but it’s different. Both trips have their compromises.
Yes, yes, yes, Jonathan! I completely agree. I think a bike village imitating one the wonderful european bike-cities would be in line! And I think it belongs at Disney. Hey, why not make Disney itself into a little bikeable city, that would be cool, set up bikeshare stations! I would have loved that! I would recommend having it go into California Adventure park also.
Ugh, your description brought back that nasty gasoline smell, it is worse than traffic is now b/c they do not have any emmission standards.
My car kept shutting off and I needed help and it still kept shutting off.
Weird. I rode the thing myself…so many years ago, with my dad. I can understand why kids would be excited to get an official ‘Autopia’ drivers license. Given that many kids are driven around in a car very soon after they’re born and regularly thereafter, driving is a big deal to many of them. They see their parents have that control, why wouldn’t they want it for themselves as well?
I remember the ride as not being very exciting. Adding to that, to me, the cars styling was ugly. Looking at the picture above, they’re still ugly. Classic bumper car styling is much more with it…Seaside has them…, and they’re electric powered too…and more fun.
Too bad Disneyland can’t put a deal together with an auto manufacturer to get some cars on its little road that have great styling and also would introduce the kids to some of the gas alternatives that are being developed for cars on roads in the real world. GM? Ford? Toyota? Lexus?
Oh, one last thing… . I don’t remember…is there somewhere in Disneyland that a visitor to the park can actually ride a bike? With so many fun powered rides in the park, why would anyone want to do that(now…now…I’m just joking here)?
Maybe rather than completely trashing the cars they could be converted to run on CNG or Propane.
oh man that place gave me a head ache, smells bad!
skidmark (#9) wrote:
I agree skidmark! I love cars for taking family road trips (we took several this summer)… but cars for driving in cities and for short trips and for speeding through neighborhoods, etc., etc., I do not love.
If they were just building Disneyland right now I’d be surprised to see an Autopia, but since it was one of the original attractions from way back in 1955 I’m not to surprised.
Cut/Paste from Wikipedia:
“The Disneyland Autopia, in one form or another, is one of the few current attractions that opened with the park on July 17, 1955. When it opened, it represented the future of what would become America’s multilane limited-access highways, which were still being developed. President Eisenhower had yet to sign the Interstate Highway legislation at the time Disneyland opened.”
“… to some of the gas alternatives that are being developed for cars on roads in the real world.” wsbob #11
I actually had in mind, not just gas alternatives, but the whole range of power alternatives for cars. That could include electricity from batteries (like golf carts…Disneyland…that’s easy to do), solar arrays, hydrogen power. There’s even been experimentation with compressed air powered cars.
Disneyland’s Autopia could be a educational, informational consumer showplace for all the latest automobile power technologies that the world’s automotive engineers and designers are working on.
On the other hand, maybe Disneyland should consider making some days in Autopia, car-free…load up its roadway with side by side recumbent bikes set up so the kids can pedal with their parents next to them. On second thought, leave the cars on Autopia’s road with the bents…seems like those cars go so slow, the people pedaling would easily keep up.
Once on the radio I heard a long discussion of the “rites of passage in to adulthood” of various cultures across the world. When the topic came back to the Good ol` USA people were stunned when they realized that we too have a rite of passage: the driver’s license.
In all these other cultures an adult who somehow failed to succeed at a rite of passage was regarded as lesser: not as smart, capable or even not an adult. As primitive as it may seem the right to drive a car in the US is regarded as a sign of adulthood even in the absence of owning an expensive car as a symbol of wealth and status.
My opinion of this ride Autopia ranges from “it’s a poorly executed attempt to let little kids feel as if they can drive too like mommy and daddy” to “it’s a conspiracy to brainwash our kids into the autocentric lifestyle that the oil companies require”
With as little respect intellectual achievement gets in America is it any wonder that we cling to the artificial indicator of maturity that is a driver’s license?
#9 & #14
Cross-country road trips ROCK!!
Driving 2900 miles in 52 hours can be a relay marathon but even that can be enjoyable.
I can only hope that I’d have the attention span for a coast to coast bike tour. Oh, and money. Some of the prettiest places I’ve seen have been places dozens of miles from civilization, if you don’t count the interstate. Places you wouldn’t want to be caught dead on a bike tour on the off chance you where caught dead.
I just did a small amount of research on Wikipedia. It would appear that Hong Kong Disneyland’s Autopia, which opened in 2006, features electric cars and is sponsored by Honda. Kudos to Disney and Honda.
Now to get the other parks updated.
Good news, although not yet for Portland. Electric karts are very much available. We’re building a LEED-certified indoor electric go-kart track in Denver, with organic food and a bunch of other healthy and cool stuff.
Better yet (although not relevant to the Disney platform), electric karts go 45mph, instantly, whereas the typical gas go-kart goes 12mph, and only after it builds up rpms, since its low displacement has no torque. Electric motors, by contrast, have instant, full torque.
I know some young kids that just got back from disneyland and autotopia was one of their favorites. Kids dig cars, kids also love digging holes – literally… something inate about cars and digging holes.
biketopia portland would be super dangerous, everybody blowing through all traffic control devices with an entitled and smug air to their actions, no helmets, brakes, chatting on the phone and no lights(it is getting dark early, get your lights on!!)…
just my observations from the corner near my house where bikes don’t understand the stop sign and have almost hit my dog and I while out walking…
My family and I were at Disneyland this month as well, and I thought the exact things that your article brings up. Although I was not racking my brain trying to find an electric alternative I was very aware of the propaganda.
I spent most of my time thinking the irony of how this ride exists in Tomorrowland, and how this “autopia” seems to have come and will eventually in some form or another be gone as it was initially intended.
“…electric karts go 45mph, instantly…” Mike Ohoro
YEE-HAW…! I’m there! That sounds like a bit of fun to be had.
Thanks Brent Logan for the wikipedia link. The various Disneyland cars go from 6.5 to 7.5 miles an hour. I also enjoyed the comment in the wiki article that Autopia cars were initially tested without bumpers “…and were almost completely destroyed by the test drivers.”.
I have to admit, these sorts of posts are the kind that make me not want to read the site. Why feel the need to reinforce the idea that yes, an overwhelming majority of the U.S. fantasizes/romanticizes the concept of driving and that once we step out of the little progressive bubble we live in here that it’s just part of life?
I grew up in Southern California and I remember that getting a car and license was “instant freedom”. No more begging parents or friends to go out to the beach or whatever, it was just like “hey, now I can go wherever I want whenever I want (provided I pay for the gas)”, unlike with a bike where I felt restricted to my very hilly and spread out suburb. And I was a heck of a good cyclist back then, too (I haven’t come anywhere near that since, not even here in Portland, but I digress).
Biketopia would be a blast!
You begin by choosing a bike: road racing frame, Dutch cruiser, or fixie. Your choice of bike then determines which of three paths you will embark on:
Roadie – you get to go fast! The lovable characters from the movie, “Cars” pass too closely causing you to narrowly avoid culverts. Kids will be thrilled as Lightning McQueen tells them to, “Get your damned toys off my road!” and Mater calls them “Spandex wearing fa**ots!!!”. At the end of the ride, your nerves and your $5000 carbon frame are worse for wear.
Dutch – Tamer for the little ones. Do a hell raising 8-10 MPH on a vintage 50 pound cruiser or bakfiets while traversing a simulated Amsterdam. The pancake flat seperated bike paths roll right past Disney’s latest animatronic junkies, prostitutes, drunk American college students, and dour looking fellow bike commuters attired in all the shades of black, gray, and charcoal. Five minutes of fun delivers you to an overcrowded bike parking facility located next to the Disneyland Railway station.
Fixie – an urban adventure! Anything goes on this ride where traffic laws are merely suggestions and smugness is a way of life. Begin by drinking multiple shots of espresso until your Nextel phone rings. Then hike up those ill fitting skinny jeans because Mickey needs a package delivered across the park to Fantasyland. Along the way, flip off anyone that crosses your path, run red lights, and avoid being tasered by park security. Not in messenger shape? The hipster option allows you remain at the coffee house all day blogging next to your appropriately curated Pista.
I remember when I was 9 I really enjoyed Autopia and looked forward to it when I went to Disneyland. The attraction was (and maybe still is?) that these are REAL vehicles. The sputtering smokey engines make them feel like you’re really driving something. Disney obviously had the technology to run them on electricity, which would’ve been cheaper, simpler, and lower maintenance. But not as real. What’s the most boring ride in Disneyland? Peoplemover (if they still have that.)
We have an alternative to making drastic changes that they could use. We have a 7-year old vehicle producing no HCs or CO and extremely low NOx per a California smog test here:
http://engineecology.com/smogtest.html
Can I ask you Jonathan how did you travel to Disneyland?
Did you rent an hybrid car or did your drive a terrible hydrocarbon burning vehicle?
Did you ride your bikes or did you fly in a horrible hydrocarbon burning vehicle?
When I was a kid, probably 6 years old went to disney world in Florida, which also has an Autopia. I was pretty excited about it, and a bout a minute into the ride I somehow managed to drive the the go kart over the guide rail and got it stuck. Had to wait 15 minutes in the go kart for a guy to come out with a jack and lift it back on to the track. Everyone behind me on the ride had to wait too.
I think this may have had some influence on my outlook on cars for a long time.
Hi Anonymous,
My family and I flew in a jet-fuel burning plane to Orange County and then drove in a gasoline guzzling car to Disneyland.
Thanks for the comment.
Anonymous: Are you…wearing underwear that was knit on a machine requiring liquified and petrified dinosaurs to lubricate it’s parts? Was it transported on a gas guzzling 18-wheeler also burning said liquid dinosauers?
Let’s talk about this computer rife with toxic chemicals and rare elements used to make your comments here…
I thought the same upon my visit to DL last year.
I also thought the animated movie “Cars” was a ploy to attract young ones to the joy of Autopia.
Admittedly I enjoy Disneyland to a degree (wife is obsessed with it:)…at least the shuttle service from the airport makes travel to the theme park and walkable hotels a car free weekend experience.
As Steph mentioned…they are boring to drive and stinky.
#24: THAT is funny stuff. Thanks for the giggle!
As far as Disneyland goes– well, it was fun when I was a kid, but even then it seemed dated and, well, kind of hokey. I honestly don’t think it’s changed much since then, and certainly hasn’t kept up with the times. It doesn’t surprise me that this relic from the 50’s is still chugging away, spewing toxic fumes.
Don’t get me wrong: cars are great, too. For instance, when I have to take the dog to the vet or the kennel, or when I have to go to Costco and buy large quantities of important items, or when I have to go camping to far-distant locales, or when I have to deliver a large quantity of bulky items to my parents’ house on the other side of all the freeways, or when I’m on a road trip over a 4-day weekend to a far-distant locale and back. Or when I don’t want to ride to work because I’m lazy/tired/sick/have meetings to go to after work/whatever.
But cars aren’t the be-all and end-all.
Remember when The Simpsons went to Epcot and rode the Autopia there? “If you drive an electric car, people will think you’re gay”
“replace Autopia with Biketopia”
Yes, good idea!
I’m from southern California too, and I’m starting to wonder if those of us who grew up with Disneyland in our backyard are starting to become immune from the fantasy. I want reality.
I find it really weird when seemingly progressive folks express their “love” for the mini van. Loving inanimate objects is odd, I find. Bicycles perhaps. But motor vehicles ? That seems so wrong. You can barely get people to love each other.
The Simpsons episode nailed it when the electric car said “I’m an electric car, I can’t go fast and I can’t go far.” That is (still) the public perception of electric cars.
RE: Electric cars’ capabilities. For those interested, I suggest you read AutoBlogGreen. You’ll see that the state of the art in EVs, hydrogen fuels cells and other alternative fuel strategies is far beyond what is covered in the mainstream press. Here are a few basic meta-level facts that should provide some perspective:
1) Euro brands are way out in front with ultra-efficient diesel cars as an interim step.
2) Every European and Asian car manufacturer will be distributing stylish, high-performing EVs in the U.S. by 2012 at the latest; some will arrive next year. This includes super-performance brands like Porsche, the Audi R8, Lamborghini, etc.
3) EV battery technology and charging infrastructure development is progressing at a Silicon Valley pace.
4) The mayors of Seattle, Portland and San Francisco are engaging in a spate of public trash-talking as part of a race to become the acknowledged leader of urban EV infrastructure. Capital investment and technology-company recruitment are matching their bravado.
5) Even the ultra-premium supercars, i.e., limited-production @ $1million plus, are going electric. The reason: electric motors outperform internal combustion engines (ICE) all day long.
6) Sadly, the only U.S. marque joining the fray is Chevy, with its Volt EV, which, unfortunately, is not receiving high marks in early evaluations.
EVs are not some future fantasy, but imminent additions to the auto mix. It will take time for them to displace ICE incumbency, but it’s inevitable.
To those who dismiss EVs as just another tree-hugger fantasy, I’ll remind you of Gandhi’s quote about new ideas: “First, they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. Then they attack you. Then you win.”
My grandfather was one of the creators of the original engines of the autopia ride in Disneyland. When the park was being built they would drive Walt around the grounds in them. Can’t help but feel sentimental about it even though the ride is supposed to be futuristic. My grandpa also made his own chunk tandum bike for my twin aunts. It still was rideable when I would visit as a kid.
I road it last summer and had the same thoughts.
I think if they do go electric they need to be made to feel like they are still gas, with the rumble and noise. That’s what the kids really want – they want that VROOOM! That’s what’s really fun. So convert to electric to safe the energy and air, but make them still sound and vibrate like gas.
I bet that’s why they haven’t switched. It’s not the money, but the changing of the feel of a disneyland classic.
Oh Word!’s #33 Simpson’s quote was excellent! SkidMark’s #37 Simpson’s quote…good, but only half true. EV’s have a range issue to deal with, but they actually can be very, very fast. Fast enough to beat Corvettes with performance engines.
I’ve seen EV’s, using old Nissans, Porches, Toyota cars that local guys have put together in their garages. As the kinks are worked out, I think lots more people are going to want to follow their example see what they can do with their own projects.
I think if…as the battery/range issue is successfully resolved EV’s will be readily embraced.
Jen #39…would your grandfather be Bob Gurr? He wrote a column for laughingplace.com …great stuff!
I don’t deny using fossil fuels through my daily life, but then again I don’t write trite little articles about amusement park rides being environmental demons, while adding to the environmental problem to travel to said amusement park.
I guess irony isn’t appreciated here.
I am a skeptic when it comes to the excitement of EV and alternative technology.
Unless we concentrate on mass means of transit and smaller forms (light rail, busses, bikes, high speed train) … there will still be gridlock.
More populous. More people with access to cars that do not require fossil fuel. Still need parking, parking, parking…and will not help with our bicycle needs.
Also how can we “hear” a electric car coming? I always wonder if there will be more collisions with electric cars because they are so quiet. Even though I am excited to not have to hear cars zoom by on their commute where I live in the Woodstock area off 52nd.
If commerce was the main area that this technology would be used and the cities were designed to send people where they need to be without the personal automobile…we would be in better shape.
I saw the mini diesel cars, electric, etc in Paris, Italy, Copenhagen, etc last July. I suppose we cannot receive such admittedly practical and efficient options due to the USA’s over zealous safety regulations.
To expand on what Kenny said, I think a big issue here is our obsession with speed. Even with current combustion engine technology, we could make more efficient engines that offered less energy output, but we are so obsessed with being able to go 100mph that nobody will do it. I don’t think this will change as we move forward, and it will cause us to continue to consume way more energy than we need, even if we are consuming it from a different source.
From my perspective this is an extremely humorous statement:
“Maybe it’s just me (and I admit I’m hyper-sensitive to car culture propaganda and the massive impact the oil/gas and auto industries have on American society), but this entire ride felt like some sort of youth marketing ploy.”
It was my impression that everything in the Disney empire was a youth marketing ploy.
Here’s this, from the Governor who drives his Hummer to Earth Day speeches:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_shriver_cell_phone
I’m going to go out on a huge limb here but…maybe Disneyland is just an entertainment venue? A fun distraction for kids and their families?
Unless you think that my four year old daughter’s fixation with Disney Princesses is the result of propoganda scretly proffered by the fashion, diet products, and plastic surgery industries?
She also loves horses and unicorns. You don’t suppose the equine products lobby is trying to brainwash her too?
It would be easy to convert those cars to propane. maybe make a couple of them into either flinstone cars or peddle cars
I hear ya Dave. If we could live with slower speeds. imagine that? people might even mellow out a bit as a result. I know the insanity of CA freeways….the biggest mistake ever was increasing the speed limit from 55 to 65mph. Seldom do I see people going under 75, often over 80.
My little 87 Chevy Sprint with a Turbo has only 999 CC’s, and is not only a rocket, but also achieves over 40 mpg.
But now people need to get an overly complicated Prius to achieve such MPG’s. Granted my car is 1670 lbs and safety is not it’s main mission.
My point being, even with less resources consumed we can live smaller and be fine.
I saw families travelling in Naples, Fiats no bigger than the Sprint.
Oh Pete…that was frightening. Not only was his wife driving an Escalade (I guess that it dwarfs his Hummer though) but I love how he warned his daughter that if she was caught driving with a cell phone…she would be degraded to taking a (the humility) “BUS”.
He is the Reagan of Mayors. I hope CA get’s it together.