Disney Imagineering has hired Michael Wallis as a consultant for the Cars Land amusement park, based on the “Cars” animated movie, that will be built at Disneyland Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, Calif.
Wallis has written the best-selling “Route 66: The Mother Road,” served as a consultant to the “Cars” movie and was the voice of the Sheriff of Radiator Springs in the film.
Disney Imagineering decided to enlist Wallis in the Cars Land project after talking to “Cars” director John Lasseter.
“We discussed the idea of creating a life-size Radiator Springs, and that’s what they have in mind,” Wallis said from his Tulsa home on Tuesday.
In March, Wallis says will guide Disney Imagineering’s creative team in a trip down Route 66 from the Texas-Oklahoma border area and west to the Arizona-California border. The team will research the terrain and architecture of the Mother Road. The trip will be reminiscent of when he guided Pixar’s creative team down Route 66 in 2001 and 2002.
Disney Imagineering’s team also recently went to Germany to see state-of-the-art amusement park rides there, Wallis said. The Los Angeles Times has reported that the Cars Land is part of a $1 billion renovation of Disneyland, to be completed in 2012.
“This is obviously good for Route 66,” Wallis said of Cars Land. “It’s another way to communicate the Route 66 story.”
(Artist’s concept of Cars Land, courtesy of Disney.)
It should be noted that Cars Land is going into Disney’s California Adventure, not Disneyland itself. Both parks make up what is branded as the Disneyland Resort.
If they need a driver….call me….I’m in!!!!….LOL….Now that would be the trip of a lifetime
I really like this information. I’m a psychologist just starting a blog on what we can learn about people and relationships through the movies. I spend a lot of time in Albuquerque.
I’m very new. How would I get your blog to feed to mine? Or, does it even work that way?
Thanks.
Dr. BD
Mysteryshrink, you can uses RSS feeds to send posts directly to your e-mail account. It’s a bit complicated to explain, but most Web browsers have that capability. Please note the “Feeds” buttons on the bottom of the page.
Good for Michael! Another point of success well deserved!
Friends, Harley and Annabelle
I want to believe this is going to be good for the road, but I have some misgivings. I’m concerned that most parents, given the choice between planning a 2,400-mile road trip with Junior to hunt for the “real” Radiator Springs or simply flying into a Disney resort and tromping through a shiny new replica of Route 66, are going to take the McDonald’s way out.
This attraction could really whet people’s appetites for the real thing, but only if Disney does it right. They’re going to have to make it clear to visitors that this is just a replica of Route 66, which lies well beyond the gates of the theme park. If they fail to communicate that message, I’m afraid this will become just another slick, corporatized attraction sucking tourist dollars away from the road.
Michael’s involvement in this project gives me reason to think it’s going to be good for the road. I trust him to promote 66 and give the Disney people plenty of food for thought. I just hope they’re listening to him, because this project could be either really good or really bad for the road, and which way the pendulum swings will depend entirely on how effective Disney is at referencing 66 in a way that piques visitors’ curiosity.
I’d like to see Disney and 66 do a little cross-promotion. Back in the day, Route 66 was the way you got to Disneyland; the two entities had an almost symbiotic relationship. Hopefully this project will revive that relationship, to mutual benefit.
We could have a long discussion about my second passion, and that is the Disney theme parks.
Walt Disney Imagineering is the group of people responsible for ride design and park themes. Disney Imagineering is now headed up by John Lasseter from Pixar and the spearhead of the movie “Cars”. Many people who follow the Disney parks, see Lasseter as the greatest thing to happen to the parks since Walt himself. I won’t bore you with what he has already accomplished in the last 2 years since he took over WDI, but suffice it to say that anything he and WDI have touched has turned out fantastically.
I predict with John Lasseter in control and Michael Wallis consulting, this project will be the greatest thing we could ever hope for about Route 66. The movie gave a lot of publicity to the road and this attraction or set of attractions will continue to bring even more 66 fans. I already look so forward to the trip I am planning for a few years down the road when I follow the tradition of hopping on the Mother Road and take it out to that wonderful little piece of land in Anaheim called Disneyland. With this attraction in place, I bet you will see many people doing that same thing.
I’m sure it will be a fun attraction. I just think it’s important that Disney design it in a way that clearly identifies — and promotes — 66.
The film did a great job of explaining the story of the road. Lasseter gets it. Michael obviously gets it. I trust them. But I’m not sure I trust Disney’s marketing people.
I had occasion to shop for Cars merchandise recently, and I was disappointed to discover that most of the product on the shelves now looks like NASCAR merchandise, with no reference to 66 at all.
The fact that Disney is taking another Route 66 trip with Michael tells me that Lasseter intends to make the road the focal point of this project — but again, he will need to be very clear in helping people understand that when they visit this attraction, they are just looking at a miniature replica of something much bigger. If he can get that message across, 66 will benefit greatly, and he very well might renew the old, traditional link between Disneyland and the Mother Road.
I think we all saw this happing…I want to Mike so BADDD!
I am his biggest fan…no lie……this is amazing i cant wait i am so going there!!!!
congrats!
Shelby
I want to met him..fixing may mistake.
WOW, how might someone reach Mickael Wallis??? ANY IDEALS if so Brianwallacebar@aol.com