Armchair Imagineering: Autopian Visions of the Future

The Autopia is currently undergoing an extensive refurbishment, prompted by the end of Chevron's sponsorship and the beginning of Honda's. The known changes are primarily superficial—fresh coats of paint to bring the cars and queue structures away from the ridiculous color schemes engendered by the 1998 remodel of Tomorrowland and get them more in line with Honda's own contemporary aesthetic. We're seeing a lot of blue and white:

Nice, isn't it? More than nice, it's classic Tomorrowland coloring: a return to form in at least that superficial sense. And naturally, with a change in sponsors and paint jobs comes the inevitable question: Is anything else about this Opening Day ride changing?

Autopia discussions on Disneyland message boards tend to generate two factions, one espousing the philosophy of “The Autopia is an outdated, polluting waste of space and it needs to go,” and the other taking the positions of “The Autopia is one of Walt's classic Opening Day rides and the last piece of the original Tomorrowland and it should never be touched, ever.” I think both groups have a point, but I tend to agree more with the first one, because honestly? If you're out to preserve the few remaining Opening Day attractions, the Autopia is not the hill to die on. It's already vastly different than it was in 1955.

On the other hand, while it's true that the Autopia generates a lot of pollution and is not remotely futuristic nowadays,* these are not inescapable facets of its concept. The core of the ride's appeal is quite simple: Even if you're just a kid, you get to drive a car. It's not required that the car be a contemporary, gasoline-powered model. Even the people who want to keep the ride around usually agree that it would be best for Disneyland to adopt a cleaner-running fleet, not just for the direct effects on the air quality of Tomorrowland and the environment at large, but to set a good example. This was never going to happen as long as the sponsor was a gasoline company, but now that an actual car company has the reins, it seems like a reasonable possibility.

The biggest challenge with an hypothetical all-electric fleet of Autopia cars would be keeping them charged. With enough of them, some could be charging while others were running, but either way the charging station would have to be huge. Figuring out where to put it would be a challenge all on its own—part of the attraction footprint? Would that take too much space away from the ride itself? Backstage? What would have to be moved/removed to make that work?

Hybrid Autopia cars would be a workable compromise, just as the full-sized versions are for consumers...but the operative word there is are. Hybrids are commonplace in the modern day, therefore not exactly futuristic. (The comparative rarity of all-electric cars is what would make an all-electric Autopia futuristic...at least for now.) The most talked-about automotive innovation at the moment is self-driving cars, but that would be too much of a betrayal of the ride's basic “kid drives car” premise.

So it's going to take more than new engines to make the Autopia properly “Tomorrowland-ish” again. What it really needs is another wholesale revamp of its landscaping. “Kid drives car” speaks for itself and is a feature of every mini-golf “family fun center” across the nation; it's in where the kid purportedly drives the car that there is an opportunity for Disneyland to strut its themed stuff and inspire flights of imagination. The variety of potential futuristic settings for the Autopia is enormous. The purpose of this post is to describe a few I wouldn't mind seeing, but first, a caveat:

Any speculation about remodeling the Autopia track must take into account that the Monorail winds through the area and the Submarine Voyage passes under part of it. All three attractions stand to lose their “grandfathered” status with CAL-OSHA and the Americans With Disabilities Act if they are tampered with too much, which could require yet more (costly) revamping, or even force them to close permanently. So any changes in the area must be gentle on the underlying ground.

The City of Tomorrow

This classic concept would probably be the easiest to implement, by building a bunch of dummy structures** resembling “futuristic” buildings and other features. Design-wise, they could be as realistic (think Dubai and Hong Kong) or as fanciful (Googie, Raygun Gothic, etc.) as the Imagineers wanted, and they could incorporate things like functional solar panel arrays and other “green” infrastructure.

The biggest issue with this plan is keeping the area cool enough for comfort. Shiny white “city of the future” buildings tend to act as solar reflectors, with much the same effect as a foil-lined camp oven. This can be mitigated quite a bit by maintaining shade trees, which is what the current version of the Autopia does to beat the heat along its track, but any trees large enough to provide adequate shade would tend to dwarf the model buildings, to potentially comical effect. Maybe that wouldn't be a problem. The Autopia doesn't have to be a serious ride. But “city of the future” settings are not normally supposed to be humorous, and when they are, it's generally not because they look like they were built by hobbits.

Sugar Rush Scenic Drive

I first came up with this idea in the wake of the 2012 release of Wreck-It Ralph, and back then I was really gung-ho about it. I loved the movie (still do) and really wanted it to have a permanent attraction, and reskinning the Autopia to resemble the Candyland-inspired setting of the Sugar Rush Racers game seemed like the most natural thing to do. Video games = computers = Tomorrowland, right?

I have since come to my senses and realized that this idea is the kind of “two steps removed” thing that gets my dander up otherwise. Tomorrowland is the most appropriate land for a Wreck-It Ralph attraction, but it would be wiser to make it an indoor one, with an enclosed queue that can create a transition from the general futurey-high-techy aesthetic of the area to a more specific video game/virtual reality concept. Furthermore, the Sugar Rush setting would be even harder to keep shaded than a futuristic city, because it has no naturalistic trees, only peppermint and lollipop approximations without bushy foliage.

Still, there are at least two points in its favor. The geekier one is that it would be a perfect opportunity to finally realize the never-built “Big Rock Candy Mountain” initially planned for Storybook Land. The other, which should be of interest to more people than just Disneyland nerds, is the possibility of modifying the Autopia fleet to run on corn oil, the exhaust of which supposedly smells like baked goods. The resort already uses its leftover cooking oil for fuel in various contexts; this would allow them to simultaneously use it for special effects.

Interplanetary Rovers

Of the ideas presented here, I think this one has the most promise. The notion of cars or carlike vehicles exploring the surface of an exotic planet is both legitimately futuristic and allows for elements of whimsy.

My ideal “interplanetary Autopia” would have garden beds filled with some of the weirdest, most “alien” plants our own planet has to offer, such as desert succulents:

...oddities like Welwitschia mirabilis:

...and the travelers' palm:

As a bonus, many of Earth's bizarre-looking plants are desert-dwellers, making them drought-resistant by nature—an important consideration in Southern California! Juniper trees are also found in deserts, and work well as shade trees, privacy hedges, and topiaries (indeed, they are already used extensively in Disneyland for these purposes):

Real, live, honest-to-goodness weird plants would be the backbone of the ride's theming, but they would not be the sole denizens. I would leave it to the Imagineers to design artificial plants, animals, and landforms in order to create the impression of a genuinely extraterrestrial setting. They could try for serious attempts at exobiology, or go for more of a silly pulp adventure vibe. Possible sources of inspiration for designs include Rolly Crump's “Museum of the Weird” sketches, the fascinating critters from Tokyo DisneySea's Journey to the Center of the Earth ride, and any of the plethora of sci-fi movies that feature alien life forms.***

Given the current state of animatronic technology, these creatures could be amazingly lifelike, with context-sensitive reactions to their environment and even the approaching cars. With embedded LEDs, they could provide a completely different experience at night—another important consideration for a theme park that relies so much on repeat guests. (Plus, bioluminescence is just plain cool.)

If I got my wish with extra birthday sprinkles, this remodel would be accompanied by a similar one for the Subs: one ride exploring the surface of the alien world, the other exploring its ocean. I like Finding Nemo as much as the next animation enthusiast, but not only is it at least a few steps removed from the Tomorrowland theme, but the ride provides very little that isn't already in the movie. Disneyland only has one underwater ride setup; it shouldn't be wasted on a summary of a film that the guests riding are overwhelmingly likely to own at home. I also think an original concept wouldn't need to rely so completely on the admittedly impressive LCD screens to depict creatures, since there would be fewer expectations for how things “should” look and move.

It's easy for us Armchair Imagineers to scoff at our less-preferred attractions and call for their removal. It's harder—but also more constructive—to examine what exactly it is about them we don't like, and think of ways to possibly reduce those aspects without changing the heart of the attractions. If you are indifferent to “kid drives car” like me, it's easy to focus on the negatives about the Autopia and wish it gone...but that would be a loss for all those who do appreciate “kid drives car.” With a little creativity—and willingess to invest—we can all have our way.

We won't know what all Honda plans to do with the Autopia until the ride re-opens, and even that will only represent what they plan to do for now. There are still plenty of opportunities for this ride to show us a bright and imaginative future.

* I say “nowadays” because on July 17, 1955, the Autopia genuinely represented a “city of the future” with convenient highways for fast driving. The Interstate Highway Act passed in 1956. The Autopia was the first casualty of the Tomorrowland Problem.

** Which could nonetheless serve other purposes, such as Cast Member break rooms or storage sheds.

*** The 2001 David Duchovny vehicle Evolution has some great critter concepts. Too bad that's really all it has to recommend it.