{"id":516532,"date":"2026-11-03T00:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T00:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/516532\/"},"modified":"2026-11-03T00:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T00:26:11","slug":"disneyland-to-electrify-autopia-track-on-classic-1955-ride-report-says-press-telegram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/516532\/","title":{"rendered":"Disneyland to electrify Autopia track on classic 1955 ride, report says \u2013 Press Telegram"},"content":{"rendered":"

Disneyland will electrify the Autopia track when the gas-powered engines are retired on the 1955 opening day attraction, according to a new report.<\/p>\n

Disney Legend Bob Gurr, who designed the classic motorway attraction, saw a model of the new Autopia during a tour of Walt Disney Imagineering, according to the New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be electric, but not the conventional idea of a battery in a car,\u201d Disney Legend Bob Gurr told the Times. \u201cIt\u2019s very different.\u201d<\/p>\n

ALSO SEE: Disneyland closes 8 attractions as Christmas holidays kick off<\/a><\/p>\n

Disneyland plans to update Autopia with fully electric vehicles and retire the gas engines that have powered the Tomorrowland race track attraction since the 1955 debut of the Anaheim theme park.<\/p>\n

Disneyland is working on the design, engineering and testing of a fully electric Autopia ride vehicle prototype<\/a>, according to Disneyland officials.<\/p>\n

\"AutopiaAutopia in Tomorrowland at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, on Wednesday, August 10, 2022. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register\/SCNG)<\/p>\n

Disneyland faces a state-mandated deadline to retire the gas-powered cars on Autopia by Feb. 1 or shut down the attraction under a settlement agreement with the California Air Resources Board that regulates air pollution in California.<\/p>\n

Disneyland paid a $56,000 settlement<\/a> to the California Air Resources Board in 2024 after disclosing the 8.5 horsepower Honda gas-powered engines on Autopia ride vehicles were operating without certified emission controls.<\/p>\n

The California Air Resources Board fine was the result of an administrative oversight that was promptly corrected with no impact to the environment, according to Disneyland officials.<\/p>\n

\"DisneyDisney Imagineer Bob Gurr interacts with an animatronics display inside the Garner Holt AniMakerspace at Franklin Elementary School in Redlands on Monday, October 22, 2018. (Photo by Stan Lim, The Press-Enterprise\/SCNG)<\/p>\n

Gurr, 94, has been lobbying Imagineering to convert Autopia from gas to electric since 2000.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor 26 years, I\u2019ve been arguing, \u2018When are you going to do anything to get rid of that gasoline?\u2019\u201d Gurr told the Times. \u201cThe dirtiest place on Earth is the Autopia attraction at Disneyland in the city of Anaheim.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"InternalInternal combustion car at Autopia in Tomorrowland at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register\/SCNG)<\/p>\n

Honda will continue as the Autopia sponsor after Disneyland remodels the car-driving attraction, Gurr told the Times.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur current sponsorship agreement with Disneyland Resort runs through early 2027,\u201d a Honda spokesperson told the Times. \u201cDiscussions regarding the future of the partnership and sponsorship of the Autopia attraction are currently ongoing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Honda Prologue, the carmaker\u2019s only all-electric model, will be discontinued in December.<\/p>\n

\"DriversDrivers on Autopia during the 70th anniversary Disneyland on July 17, 2025, \ufffc in Anaheim, CA. \ufffc (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register\/SCNG)<\/p>\n

Disneyland will share more details soon on the updates planned for the Autopia attraction in Tomorrowland. Closing and reopening dates have not yet been set for the Autopia update.<\/p>\n

Disneyland originally announced plans in 2024 to convert Autopia from gas to electric power by fall 2026.<\/p>\n

ALSO SEE: Disneyland brings back \u2018Mickey\u2019s Mix Magic\u2019 between Halloween and Christmas<\/a><\/p>\n

The last major Autopia refurbishment took place in 2016 when Honda became the ride\u2019s sponsor. Previous ride sponsors were Chevron (2000-2012) and Richfield Oil (1955-1970), according to D23.<\/p>\n

The 1955 opening day attraction was redesigned in 1959, 1964 and 1968, according to D23. An extensive remodeling related to the Chevron sponsorship closed Autopia from September 1999 through June 2000, according to D23.<\/p>\n

More than 210 million people have taken a spin on the Autopia track during the 71-year history of the attraction, according to NYT.<\/p>\n

\"DisneyDisney employees operate Autopia at Tomorrowland inside Disneyland at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, in 2024. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register\/SCNG)<\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s Magic Kingdom and Disneyland Paris also have versions of the Autopia attraction. Tokyo Disneyland closed its Grand Circuit Raceway ride in 2017. The Hong Kong Disneyland Autopia \u2014 which closed in 2016 \u2014 featured electric cars with lighting effects and onboard audio, according to WDW News Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Electrifying Autopia is part of Disney\u2019s goal of incorporating a net zero emissions future into every aspect of the Disneyland resort and reducing its overall carbon footprint, according to Disneyland officials.<\/p>\n

ALSO SEE: This Anaheim lumberyard helped build Disneyland for the past 60 years<\/a><\/p>\n

The Disneyland resort has made a sustainability commitment of reaching net zero emissions by 2030 by increasingly relying on cleaner renewable energy sources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Disneyland will electrify the Autopia track when the gas-powered engines are retired on the 1955 opening day attraction,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":516533,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[2223,163,165,164,7,2222,1341,611,420],"class_list":["post-516532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-amusement-parks","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-california","tag-disney-california-adventure","tag-disneyland","tag-orange-county","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=516532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/516533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}