Tomorrowland in Walt Disney World was Disney’s original home of the future, and it’s eventual
ode to what we thought the future would hold.
It included attractions that highlighted space travel, time travel, teleportation, and…
cars?
So yeah, why is the Tomorrowland Speedway in Tomorrowland?
They’re just cars.
There’s nothing remotely futuristic about them.
Well the answer to that question requires us to head on over to Disneyland for a history lesson.
What’s worth noting first is that there is no Tomorrowland Speedway in Disneyland,
however there is is a similar attraction called Autopia, which came first and similar to the
Speedway, Autopia is an attraction in Tomorrowland.
So why was Autopia in Tomorrowland?
Well, while cars themselves weren’t anything new or special in 1955, the roads that the
guests drove on in 1955 were special and in a certain way, still futuristic.
You see, at the time of the ride’s opening, the United States didn’t have an
Interstate Highway system.
I-80? I-95? None of that existed in 1955.
Yet at the same time, the decade following the end of World War 2 was one that saw tremendous
growth for the automobile industry.
Soldiers coming home from the war were looking to start families and move out of the city,
and so those years saw what was called suburbanization.
The rise of the suburbs.
Remember the part of the Carousel of Progress where the father talks about the rat race
in the 1950’s scene?
Well as the scene implies, that was fairly new and popular.
Masses of people commuting in their car every morning from the suburbs to the city and then
back again.
People were adopting a more automotive lifestyle, but the infrastructure to support it hadn’t
fully caught up yet.
So while cars themselves weren’t particularly futuristic when Autopia opened, the concept
of this leisurely drive on a super wide flowing highway system was.
That’s why the name was named Autopia.
They really were looking forward to an automotive utopia.
The concept grew outdated fairly quickly though.
The very next summer in 1956 the US would see the passing of the Federal Aid Highway
Act which would approve the construction of the interstate highway system.
That said, construction of the system itself look quite a while.
It would be years, and sometimes decades until tracks of the interstate system would be completed.
I-80 for example wouldn’t be completely finished until 30 years later in 1986.
So while the concept became a reality, it still didn’t lose it’s futuristic edge.
Alright, so that explains Autopia, but why is the Speedway in Disney World in Tomorrowland?
That opened over 15 years after Autopia.
Well the probable answer is that it was just too popular of an attraction to pass up for
Disney World.
In the years following Autopia’s opening, three more versions of the ride would be built
in Disneyland.
That’s how popular it was.
Putting a version in Disney World was a no-brainer.
That said, by 1971 Disney clearly realized that the concept wasn’t futuristic anymore,
as evidenced by the fact that the Disney World attraction was named the Grand Prix Raceway
instead of Autopia.
The reality is they had an extremely popular ride premise that was too good to pass up,
and wouldn’t fit anywhere else.
Main Street?
Adventureland?
Frontierland?
Liberty Square?
None of those would work for an automobile racing ride.
Maybe you could get away with a Fantasyland version, similar to the Fantasyland Autopia
in Disneyland, however it’s important to remember that when Disney World opened in
October of 1971 Fantasyland had six attractions while Tomorrowland had, ready for this?
One: The Grand Prix Raceway.
So while today the Tomorrowland Speedway seems hardly fitting of the land it’s in, it’s
anchored in a history in which driving around that curvy highway was actually a dream of the future.