Disney Showed a Full-Size Piston Peak Ride Vehicle Model at D23, and the Vehicle Will Have Six Seats, No Doors, and 32-Inch Wheels

Piston Peak National Park has been concept art, early sketches and models. On Friday, Disney put a full-size version on the screen at D23, in shop photos, one of them with an Imagineer sitting inside it.

During a Walt Disney Imagineering presentation on the D23 show floor, Disney unveiled a full-scale foam model of the off-road rally race ride vehicle headed to Magic Kingdom, and put hard numbers on it. Blog Mickey reported that "Imagineer Jason Grandt could be seen sitting within the vehicle."

The ride vehicle, by the numbers

Blog Mickey, reporting from the expo floor, listed the stats as the panelists gave them:

• 82 inch maximum height
• 74 inches wide
• 96 inch wheelbase
• 32 inch wheels
• Six seats
• No windows and no doors

Blog Mickey framed the model as the last stop before manufacturing: "This is the final step of the process before the vehicles go into production."

How it is supposed to move

WDW News Today reports that the new vehicle type runs on a single-rail track, rolling over raised obstacles as it goes, and that its range of motion resembles what the vehicles on Indiana Jones Adventure or the now-extinct DINOSAUR could do. Each vehicle will also have its own unique personality.

Walt Disney Imagineering posted its own look at the vehicle to Instagram from D23, captioned "Check the brakes! A detailed look at the new Cars ride vehicles coming to Piston Peak!"

Miss Fritter’s ride finally has a shape

The land’s second attraction, the one starring Miss Fritter from Cars 3, turned up in a new overhead view of the land model. A wide circular arena ringed by rustic buildings and landscaping holds a scatter of ride vehicles around a structure at its center.

WDW News Today’s read on it: "The layout suggests a chaotic, demolition-derby-inspired experience fitting Miss Fritter’s personality, though Disney has not yet fully explained its ride system."

Meet the Goat-Carts

Imagineers introduced an original creature vehicle called a Goat-Cart: a small gray tractor of a thing, with drooping ears, a set of horns, big front teeth and oversized tires. Disney expects them to appear trackside on the land’s main off-road racing attraction, one piece of a plan to stock Piston Peak with wildlife rebuilt as vehicles.

A park ranger borrowed from a classic Disney short

The presentation also unveiled what looks like the finished 3D model of Ranger J. Autobahn Woodlore, an original vehicle character designed just for the land. He is a park ranger vehicle in green and burgundy, topped by a wide-brimmed ranger hat, his gear stowed under a canvas cover.

The name is not an accident. According to the development art, part of the inspiration was J. Audubon Woodlore, the ranger who turned up opposite Humphrey the Bear in Disney’s classic shorts, and the annotations show his glasses, his hat, those heavy eyebrows and his short stature all being worked into a car design.

The rules Imagineering set for itself

Four guiding principles shaped the project, per the presentation: add attractions to Frontierland, build a brand new adventure inside the world of Cars, serve up thrills and gentler fun for families alike, and keep the humor in step with the excitement.

To build a fictional wilderness, the team studied a real one. Photos from a scouting trip to Rocky Mountain National Park show Imagineers taking in the peaks, the red rock, the trails, the plant life and the park’s own architecture. One elevation drawing measures a proposed attraction building against Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, with an arrow pointing off toward The Haunted Mansion.

Piston Peak National Park is a two-attraction, Cars-themed expansion of Frontierland, rising on the ground that used to hold Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island.

Sources

• Blog Mickey, "FIRST LOOK: Full-Scale Piston Peak Rally Race Ride Vehicle, All-New Concept Art"
• WDW News Today, "Demolition Derby Layout, Goat-Carts, and More Revealed for Piston Peak During Imagineering Presentation at D23"
• WDW News Today, "Closer Look at Off-Road Rally Race Ride Vehicles for Piston Peak at Magic Kingdom"

Image credits: Featured image and full-scale model photo by Blog Mickey. Land model and Goat-Cart slide photos by WDW News Today. Concept art and character designs by Walt Disney Imagineering.