Car Land Before Cars Land

The original Car Land at Disney's California Adventure. The gifted Imagineers were struggling to find concepts to make the park popular.   Look at this piece of concept art. This was never built, but it does look like a lot of fun. That is, of course, until you realize that in a park lacking lots of expansion space, the executed concept would be little more than the Autopia with more lavish settings.

Of course, large projects were proposed and eventually approved, but before all that, budgets weren't healthy, and Bargain Basement Imagineering was the order of the day. Looking at this piece of eye candy, differently now?

God bless John Lasseter, the Pixar genius for putting his career on the line and getting the suits to approve - and upgrade- to Cars Land and its super "E Ticket", Radiator Springs Racers. As the star centerpiece of a newly enhanced park, Disney had one chance to get it right and win back an audience. Mission accomplished, and Racers is still the new must-do on the Anaheim property. It will remain that way until Star Wars Land makes its debut in Walt's park in 2019. 

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)