Autopia
Autopia is a race car track Disneyland attraction, in which patrons steer specially designed cars through an enclosed track. Versions of Autopia exist at Anaheim, California and Disneyland Paris in Marne-la-Vallée, France. There was also an Autopia at Hong Kong Disneyland on Lantau Island, Hong Kong before it closed on June 11, 2016. Other versions of the attraction can be found at the Magic Kingdom as the Tomorrowland Speedway and formerly at Tokyo Disneyland as the Grand Circuit Raceway. A previous generation of Disneyland's Autopia operated for over a decade at the Walt Disney Hometown Museum in Marceline, Missouri; one of the retired cars is now on display.
Autopia | |
---|---|
Disneyland's Autopia | |
Disneyland | |
Area | Tomorrowland |
Coordinates | 33.8125°N 117.9164°W |
Status | Operating |
Opening date | July 17, 1955 |
Disney Genie+ Lightning Lane available | |
Magic Kingdom | |
Name | Tomorrowland Speedway |
Area | Tomorrowland |
Coordinates | 28.4194°N 81.5792°W |
Status | Operating |
Opening date | October 1, 1971 |
Disney Genie+ Lightning Lane available | |
Tokyo Disneyland | |
Name | Grand Circuit Raceway |
Area | Tomorrowland |
Coordinates | 35.6314°N 139.8788°E |
Status | Removed |
Opening date | April 15, 1983 |
Closing date | January 11, 2017 |
Replaced by | Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast (Fantasyland) |
Disneyland Park (Paris) | |
Area | Discoveryland |
Coordinates | 48.8729°N 2.7794°E |
Status | Operating |
Opening date | April 12, 1992 |
Disney Premier Access available | |
Hong Kong Disneyland | |
Area | Tomorrowland |
Coordinates | 22.3147°N 114.0419°E |
Status | Removed |
Opening date | July 13, 2006 |
Closing date | June 11, 2016 |
Ride statistics | |
Attraction type | Race track |
Manufacturer | Arrow Development |
Designer | Walt Disney Imagineering |
Length | 782 m (2,566 ft) |
Vehicle type | Race cars |
Riders per vehicle | 2 |
Duration | 5:10 minutes |
Height restriction | 32 in (81 cm) |
Must transfer from wheelchair |
The name Autopia is a portmanteau of the words "automobile utopia." The term was later popularized in academic circles by British architecture critic Reyner Banham to describe Los Angeles in his 1971 book Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies.