Earlier this month, it was announced that the gas-powered fun-sized cars at Disneyland’s Autopia were being phased out. However, it was not clear if the replacement engines were going to be hybrids, all-electrics, or something else.
They’re going to be nuclear! Clean and efficient nuclear-powered cars! Yay!
Just kidding. Come on. We all knew what Disney would do since the park was in California.
According to an update from the LA Times, Autopia’s tiny automobiles will be all-electric. Jessica Good, a Disneyland rep, clarified this directly to The Times, saying the redesign “means fully electric—it does not mean hybrid or any other version of a gasoline combustion engine.”
Good also laid out a timeline for the replacement parts, and it’s sooner than expected; Disneyland “will no longer be using the current engines within the next 30 months.”
We should expect Autopia to usher in a new generation of vehicles before the end of 2026, and that distinctive odor we’ve grown accustomed to at Disneyland will be gone. But what about the cars at The Magic Kingdom?
We don’t have as many climate activists in the Sunshine State as in California, so Tomorrowland Speedway will probably be safe from change for a while. This isn’t to say we’re against green energy, but battery-powered cars also have their ecological tolls.
Rather than bandaging the issue or kicking the can down the road, maybe it’s time to replace Autopia and the Speedway with something that doesn’t rely on resource-dependent batteries. Nuclear-powered cars!
Oh, wait … DeSantis kind of stopped Disney from having the ability to build a power plant in the Reedy Creek district, didn’t he? Well, a girl can dream.
Disney’s alleged push towards conservation isn’t limited to expelling gas-powered rides. A few years ago, the company built multiple solar farms in WDW. However, little information is available about where the power from the panels is being used. Never mind the wetland that was probably destroyed to make way for it.
[Source: LA Times]
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