One of the interesting quirks about Hong Kong Disneyland is that Autopia is one of the busiest rides in the park. I assume it’s because Hong Kong is so congested it makes no sense for most people to drive on a daily basis. That makes Autopia the closest many people can come to joy riding down a relatively open road.
The Autopia in Hong Kong is also unique in that it is fully electric with motor sounds played through an in-car sound system and connected to the gas pedal. The lack of exhaust has resulted in a surprisingly clean track. The ride has a futuristic theme with exotic alien-like topiaries. Billboards and signs encourage guests to “Journey into the Future” and “do not bump car ahead”. I guess that last one will still be a problem in the future. As Autopia is a Tomorrowland ride the theme makes sense.
Many people still wonder why Autopia is in the Anaheim Tomorrowland since they obviously had cars in 1955. I was recently told that Autopia represented the to be finalized interstate highway system which was not put into place until 1956 [wikipedia.org]. So technically, yes it was from the near future.
At one point Hong Kong Disneyland was the only Disney park in the world without an Autopia as it wasn’t opened until 2006, a year after the main park.
The theme for Disney Wordless Wednesday this week is Transportation. Check out Focused on the Magic for more Disney Transportation pictures and Friday Daydreamin’ hosted by RWeThereYetMom for more great travel pics.
We thought that the electric, fume-free cars in Autopia HK truly made it seem like a futuristic experience.
The Tomorrowland Speedway at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World is absolutely one of the rides at WDW that needs to be updated. It is still gas powered (or something equivalent) and the smell of the fumes is insane. Despite that, it is still one of the more popular attractions, although the line may be partly because of the time it takes to load and unload drivers into the cars. I would love to see it updated to electric cars. Great post, thanks for sharing!
Love it! Thank you for a glimpse into Hong Kong Disneyland.
Thanks! I’ve realized that not many people on Deb’s Wordless Wednesday have been to the Asian parks. Since I’ll be going back to both this year I’ll try to take lots of pictures to share with everyone.
Looks like a fun attraction, much more landscaped than the tomorrowland speedway 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
We loved going on this when the boys were little and letting them “drive”.
These are great pics- thanks for sharing!
What a great look at HK-Autotopia! The fabulous landscaping and theme are so unique! Thanks for sharing and for linking up to the Disney Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop today!
great pics of DL – Hong Kong. This attraction looks so fun, love the look of this park. Thanks for sharing
Wow, that area is absolutely gorgeous! Love how they made it very unique and futuristic. Thanks for sharing 🙂
I love their version of Autopia, the topiaries are so cool!
It might be my fave Autopia. Up until recently it was a pretty small park so they can still pay attention to a lot of the details.
Wow really interesting, thanks for sharing! I loved reading your perspective on it and why it might be so popular over there.
I don’t have the numbers to back it up but all I know is that the lineup for Autopia is always longer than the lineup for Space Mountain.
Looks like so much fun! Very futuristic :]
I’ve never been a fan of the Autopia in Disneyland because of all that noise and smell but I can get behind this HK version with no problems. Those topiaries are cool and what a great scenic background of the mountains. You’re going back to Tokyo Disney Resort? Lucky! I’m jealous too since we loved DisneySea so much.
We’ve got a day planned at Tokyo Disneyland and a day at DisneySea. With a shorter stop in HK we’ll likely spend a single day mostly exploring the new Grizzly Gulch at Hong Kong Disneyland. I wonder if I can justify a trip to Paris via Orlando to see if I can get all 5 in a year?
I just found out that Mystic Manor in HK will run on a trackless system like some of the rides in Tokyo. I wonder when the new Mystic Point land opens….
These are great! Looking forward to more.
It is great that the cars are pollution free, and so popular!
Love reading about Hong Kong Disneyland because as someone who has only visited Walt Disney World, it is so great to see the differences in parks! Great pictures, thank you for sharing!
Someday I will have my whole yard done with topiaries; who wants to come and install my own Autopia once it’s complete? I’m also surprised just how close the mountains are in the background.
Yes the mountains are close. The view from Autopia was a bit scraggly back when we took those shots in 2009 but the mountains behind the castle looked a bit nicer. http://www.flickr.com/photos/averagetraveller/8392193141/ I’ll have to check my photos from 2012 to see if the trees have grown out any more.
This looks like a lot of fun!
I love to see articles about Hong Kong Disneyland! So far we have been to Disney World, Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris – my 9 year old has a goal of visiting all of the Disney parks so we need to start planning some trips to Asia!
So fun to see Disney on another continent – love that Autopia is so popular over there too. My kids love driving the cars!
Thanks for linking up this week!