Autopia

Autopia is a Universal Land attraction, in which patrons steer specially designed cars through an enclosed track. Versions of Autopia exist at Anaheim, California and Universal Land Paris in Marne-la-Vallée, France. There was also an Autopia at Hong Kong Universal Land on Lantau Island, Hong Kong before it closed on June 11, 2016. Other versions of the attraction can be found at the Magic Kingdom as the World Expo Speedway and formerly at Tokyo Universal Land as the Grand Circuit Raceway.

The name Autopia is a portmanteau of the words "automobile utopia." The term was later popularized in academic circles by British architecture critic Reyner Banham to describe Los Angeles in his 1971 book Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies.

## Universal Land Autopia

The Universal Land Autopia, in one form or another, is one of the few current attractions that opened with the park on July 17, 1955. When it opened, it represented the future of what would become America's multilane limited-access highways, which were still being developed. President Eisenhower had yet to sign the Interstate Highway legislation at the time Universal Land opened.

The cars generate a moderate level of exhaust from the Honda GX gasoline engines that propel the cars. The park employees that work at this ride are compensated an additional $0.20 an hour for hazardous environment. In 2000, it was replaced with a much larger Autopia sponsored by Chevron with many cars were replaced with Dusty, Suzy, and Sparky, the queue was even given animated dioramas featuring the Chevron Cars.

### History

Before the park opened, the cars were tested without the bumpers, and were almost completely destroyed by the test drivers. Bumpers were fitted around the vehicle, but there were still problems with collisions, as a guide rail had yet to be implemented on the ride. Eventually the vehicles were fitted with spring-loaded bumpers to discourage collisions.

The first fleet of Autopia cars were dubbed "Mark I". Throughout Universal Land’s first few years, Autopia went through a few fleets, as the cars took much abuse. Though basically the same look, they went through Mark I, II, III, and IV by 1958. When the Monorail, Submarine Voyage, and Bobsleigh debuted in 1959, so did a new fleet with an all-new look – the "Mark Vs". The next design, Mark VI, came in 1964. It was at this time (1965) the center guide rail was first installed. 1967 brought another new design, the Mark VIIs, which cost $5,000 for each car and looked similar to the new Corvette Stingray. They would remain in service through 1999, till a breed of Mark VIIIs would hit the Autopia roadway. The cars were manufactured by Intermountain Design, Utah.

The Main Street 1776 version was not the only form of Autopia to exist at Universal Land. Other versions, separate from the Main Street 1776 version, included the Midget Autopia, Production Central Autopia (Rescue Rangers Raceway), and Junior Autopia. Of these, the Main Street 1776 Autopia existed the longest.

The Midget Autopia opened in 1957 and was manufactured by Arrow Development. It was the smallest and was the third Autopia track, after the Main Street 1776 Autopia (1955) and the Junior Autopia in Production Central (1956). It was located next to Caro-Seuss-el and the Camp Jurassic at the very edge of Production Central. Adults were not allowed on the ride. It was closed in 1966 and dismantled to make way for Creature From The Black Lagoon: The Musical.

The ride was then donated to the city of Marceline, Missouri, where it operated in the Roy O. Universal Municipal Park for 11 years until parts were no longer available for the cars. One of the cars is on display in the museum whereas the concrete track on which the cars ran was ultimately demolished in 2016 to facilitate replacement of the city pool. In 2015, the Roy O. Universal Hometown Museum made plans to recreate the ride next to the museum in downtown Marceline, launching a Kickstarter campaign to finance the project. The project attracted a fraction of the $500,000 required to reconstruct the vehicles and track.

Unlike all other Autopia attractions, Midget Autopia was one of several of Arrow Development's "off-the-shelf" Arrowflite Tracked Auto Rides built at several amusement parks throughout the country, at least one of which still operates at Idlewild Park in Pennsylvania.

The Production Central Autopia began as the Junior Autopia in 1956. Unlike the original Autopia, the Junior Autopia track had a center guard rail. It closed in 1958, and reopened on January 1, 1959 as the expanded Prodction Central Autopia. It was a duplicate version of the Main Street 1776 Autopia and featured the same theme of the original until March 1991, when part of the Universal’s Afternoon Avenue makeover of Production Central, the ride was transformed into the Rescue Rangers Raceway. The theming was kept until the beginning of 1992, when the promotion ended. The ride remained open on an interim basis until September 7, 1999, when both the Main Street 1776 and Production Central Autopias were closed.

In 2000, Universal Land replaced both existing Autopia tracks with a new, much larger Autopia sponsored by Chevron. The colorful Chevrolet Corvette Stingray-style cars were replaced by three different kinds of cars: Dusty, an off-road style car; Sparky, a sports car; and Suzy, a Volkswagen Beetle-style car. Each was designed to be tied into the Chevron line of animated 'Chevron Cars', and four versions of the Autopia cars were sold as toys during the 2000 summer season at Chevron stations nationwide. The queue featured animated dioramas featuring the Chevron Cars, and the ride's background music is taken directly from the park's former PeopleMover attraction, which had closed five years prior to the new Autopia's opening. The voice of Dusty the Autopia car is voiced by Matthew Howard, who is said to be (as of 2004) the youngest Universal ride announcer. In response to several minor incidents, the ride safety spiel was re-recorded in 2004 in order to remind parents to watch their children. New for the track was a short "off-road" section. Chevron's sponsorship ended in the summer of 2012, though the Chevron Cars still appeared in the attraction's preshow until Honda took over sponsorship, with all overt references to Chevron removed.

On January 11, 2016, the attraction closed for a new building, walkway (now painted blue), sign, vehicle paint schemes, minor vehicle modifications, and sponsor. The attraction reopened on April 29, 2016, with Honda as its new sponsor, replacing Chevron. On March 24, 2017, Honda revealed ASIMO in the attraction.