Charles’ 
Slide of the Week: March 16th, 2006
Autopia, Tomorrowland, Disneyland, USA, 1956
In the background, telephone poles and electric lines service a fresh tract of modern ranch homes. Between them, on the other side of the green burm, a newly completed stretch of the Santa Ana Freeway makes a beeline from the Disneyland exit to the famous “stack” just forty or so miles northwest. Inside the burm is the most popular original attraction in Tomorrowland.
Autopia is an idyllic, child-proof, junior scale freeway where sometimes reckless and inexperienced underage drivers thrill to the delight of driving a gasoline powered car, many for the very first time. Many treat the pint-sized, European style sports cars like glorified bumper cars.
At night the mini highway is illuminated with two-tone yellow and navy blue dinosaur neck streetlamps; some with two heads! Oil-soaked asphalt contrasts the bright white cement posts and borders. A billboard representing Richfield, Autopia’s original sponsor, stands on the far right. Lush green grass and tiny shrubs add Mother Nature’s touch. An employee costumed to resemble a traffic cop directs traffic from the center divider of the overpass defines the scale.
According to the legend, in 1955, when Disneyland first opened, Walt Disney and his Imagineers had no idea that people driving on the junior freeway would get a thrill by putting the petal to the metal then smashing into the car in front of them. So just a couple of weeks after the grand opening the entire fleet of those delicate fiberglass-bodied cars were either damaged or destroyed. So they had to be re-bodied and fitted with bumpers designed to withstand crash impacts every few minutes.
Among my earliest childhood memories is standing up to the sign posted in front of Autopia clearly stating: “YOU MUST BE THIS TALL TO DRIVE.” The disappointment of just not quite being tall was almost just too much to bear. Driving those little cars were way better than driving a go-cart and the next best thing to driving a real car that you had to wait until you were a whopping sixteen to drive.
Over the years Autopia has evolved at Disneyland. The latest incarnation is just as fun as it ever was and even includes an unexpected bit of “off-roading.”
Here’s to the Real Autopia and you!
Charles Phoenix
Los Angeles
March 2006
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Sets this Slide belongs to:
Theme Parks & Transportation
13 Comments on “Autopia, Tomorrowland, Disneyland, USA, 1956”
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March 17th, 2006 at 8:03 am
Love the landscaping and the streetlamps/toothpicks. & telephone poles. Why is that adult man standing on the overpass? What Sigalert of the future has stopped traffic just out of frame? Will there be a chain reaction crash?
March 17th, 2006 at 8:29 am
This was the autopia I remember as a young child…before Disneyland
put in that annoying rail in the center of the road to prevent you from
bouncing the cars off the curbs as you happily sped your way down
the Magic Kingdom highway!
March 17th, 2006 at 9:49 am
I tried telling everyone that the track was different. The difference is there is no center track to keep the cars in a straight line. This has taken away the real feel of driving it your self.
But its stlll fun to stop short in front of your buddy to have them slam into you…
mark the safe driver out there on the roads
March 17th, 2006 at 10:29 am
The man standing on the bridge was a ride attendant, dressed like some sort of highway patrolman. They would keep young scofflaws in line if they got too aggressive on the track. Also, if cars became tangled up, the attendants would jump into Autopia cars painted black and white with stars on the sides, and go out to render aid. This was of course before the center rail was added to keep the cars from trying to pass each other! (I learned all this from viewing some great early footage of the ride that Disneyland found in time for their 50th anniversary last year.)
March 17th, 2006 at 11:17 am
Yes, fond memories of my brother not letting ME drive. A very pouty, po’d little girl was I…
March 17th, 2006 at 2:09 pm
Mr. Charles!
This slide proved to be a toughie for me today because I already spent my “auto etiquette” coin last week. Therefore, I decided to get inventive and turn to my favorite “health and personal development” textbook for seventh graders, _You’re Growing Up_ (1950). Such a helpful tome! You can learn everything from how your body changes to what to do when polio strikes to how milk is made safe for consumption.
I thought that I would project myself into the minds of the young boys driving those snappy little cars in Autopia. What would they be thinking? I mean, when they let down their guards and really dug deep into their psyches? Perhaps they would be wondering if good grooming would help get that cute girl a few cars ahead to notice them. Hence, advice from the chapter entitled, “Some helpful hints for boys”:
“Boys your age are not very much interested in keeping neat and clean […] However, by the time you boys are in high school you will probably be as much interested in your appearance as the girls are.
But right now, your main problem is usually not concern with improving your looks. More often it is a question of how to settle some of the arugments that go on at home about being neat and clean.
If this is your problem, here are a few suggestions that may help you. First of all, remember that your parents have a good reason for wanting you to look your best. What do you think their reason is?
Second, being neat and well groomed doesn’t mean a fellow is a sissy. If this were true, some of your favorite athletes could be called sissies!
Remember, too, that no one expects you to be spotlessly neat and clean all the time. What are some of the situations in which wearing old bue jeans and a rumpled sports shirt might be alright?”
Hmmm. Well, that last one is a trick question, of course. Because it’s never appropriate to be rumpled! Not even at Disneyland! It’s always good to be neat and clean and that way your parents will love you and will buy you a hot dog and a new transistor radio and the girls will adore you and do your homework for you and someone will mistake you for a famous sports star because you’re so dressed so clean and tidy.
Who knew Autopia could tap into the subconscious? Wow! It’s more than just attendants and turquoise cars. It’s like visiting Freud, but with wheels!
xoxo!
Miss Sharon
March 17th, 2006 at 9:14 pm
Thanks for the memory. I remember climbing into one those fast blue cars and thinking I owned the road. I have a picture of myself and my grandma Reba driving down the “Disney Coast” as she used to call it bumping at every curve…and if I remember right, we shared a coke afterwards.
:)
March 18th, 2006 at 4:11 pm
A small “fiddly” thing, Charles. The word to describe the mound of earth that generally surrounds many of the Disney parks, and serves to isolate them from the “real world” is spelled berm, not burm.
And did you know that Autopia opens this summer in Hong Kong Disneyland? With electric vehicles, to boot! And there is a point in the middle of the ride for an Operator to stand and watch out for traffic problems. (Don’t know what the costume will be, but I doubt that it will look the same as in your picture.) Operations in the Hong Kong park wanted the “Observation Point” because much of the “ride path” is not in view of the Station Area, and lots of the Chinese guests may never have driven a car. Even the adults!
April 27th, 2006 at 11:31 pm
During Burbank Night my brother stopped dead, and his buddy behind him plowed into his car (of course). My brother then ran back, pulled the spark plug wire, and had friend get into his car. At the end of the ride, they told the attendant about the dead car and fled the scene. They probably arrest for an offense like that nowdays!
…Lorenzo
July 16th, 2006 at 6:49 pm
I worked at Disneyland in 1955 at Autopia. Yes! There were police cars which patrolled the ‘route’. The cars had ‘govenors’ on them to keep the speed ‘reasonable’, but the cop cars didn’t have the speed controllers on them. Kids used to be able to pass each other because the road was wide enough and didn’t have guardrails. While driving the police cars, chasing the little ‘devils’ I had “spun out” more than once…cut both legs when I crashed into the curb and my body slid forward. Working Disneyland was the best job I ever had. Everyone in those days would have killed to work there and most would have done it without pay. The summer of 1955, when the park first opened was unique. Management hadn’t changed the rules yet prohibiting employees taking their breaks within the park. We used to be able to go to the dance pavillions and dance with the patrons while on break. We took our jobs seriously and were always making an effort to entertain the folks while we operated their rides. I was 18 yrs old then. I worked all the rides in all the areas…Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, Adventureland etc. Ahhhh, the memories.
August 2nd, 2007 at 9:22 pm
What a great memory. This really brought back a special time of my childhood. I love this site and I am so happy I found it. Sweet sweet memories.
March 13th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
Yes, what a great memory. My sister and I rode in one of these blue cars and it broker down and some kids in another car behind us kept smashing into our car and yelling, it was road rage in the 60’s at Disneyland. We finally got help and then went to ride the “Dumbo” ride and it got stuck also. We still had a good time. I love this site !! Thank you !
April 4th, 2008 at 11:44 am
Nobody has mentioned about the sweet smell of gas fumes from the car ahead of you, not to mention your own car’s exhaust which was visible. So, no smog controls or seatbelts…
My strongest memory is the absolute sense of ache, aching to be on the ride, begging my dad or mom to ride it. People say that the wait for the Autopia was the longest at the time, but that part didn’t bother me. What is “Tomorrow” about the Autopia? Its was engines and gasoline of the current time, but yes…the absolute desire to ride it was my strongest memory.