While out in LA last month, I visited Disney California Adventure Park and I hung out in Cars Land for a bit. After spending some time walking around and experiencing a few of the rides with some other bloggers, we had the chance to sit down to talk with Kathy Mangum, Executive Producer and Vice President of Walt Disney Imagineering.
During the interview with Magnum, she shared how Cars Land was thought up in 2004, and the road trip she along with other Imagineers took down Route 66 to truly understand the essence of what they were trying to recreate. She shared how the 300,000 square foot of plaster was hand carved by the “United Nations” of artist was a wonderful thing to see and hear as they spoke their naive tongue. She pointed out the homage to Monument Valley in Cars Land Ornament Valley with the Cadillac Fins carved into the red rock.
After listening to her experiences on the road and the process of getting Cars Land to what it is today, my curiosity was peaked to check out the Blue Sky Cellar and see the Road to Cars Land exhibit. Inside, there is a short movie with ‘Mater doing a little time traveling and he shares the back story of how Cars Land came to be. Then there are photos of the ground breaking, along with drawing and trinkets. There is also an interactive trivia game that quizzes you on the back story.
Magnum shared that their goal was to stay as true to the story as possible as well as keeping the Route 66 feel as true to life too. On opening day when they invited some of the folks they met on their travels down that famous road, the smiles on their face and the feeling of familiarity was very satisfying to Magnum and the rest of the crew that worked on this awesome attraction area.
I was invited by Disney to experience Cars Land. All of my opinions are my own.
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