A recently published patent could offer some insight as to how the upcoming Cars-themed off-road rally race attraction coming to Magic Kingdom could work. The patent was filed in 2024 and published late last month. Let’s take a closer look!
New Patent Reveals Cars Rally Race Ride Tech
First announced back in August 2024, Magic Kingdom is getting a brand new Cars-themed area as part of the largest-ever expansion of the theme park. The new land, called Piston Peak National Park, will feature an off-road rally race attraction and a yet-to-be-revealed family attraction. It’s the rally race ride that we’re focused on today.
One attraction will invite you on a thrilling rally race through the mountains. Take on wild terrain as you race across the landscape climbing mountain trails, dodging geysers and — Mater’s favorite — splashing through mudholes.Â
In a newly published patent, originally filed just a month before the attraction was announced, Disney describes a ride system that allows “the ride vehicle to follow the ride’s terrain”. This is accomplished by having an articulating arm that supports the ride vehicle’s motion through the attraction footprint.
In reading through the document, this looks like it could absolutely be utilized for the upcoming Cars rally race attraction, but Disney doesn’t stop there. In fact, the patent really goes well beyond the Cars attraction and presents an implementation for all sorts of rides, including water rides. Let’s take a closer look.
In the patent screenshot below, you can see an arm attached to the ride vehicle on the right, and a chassis that runs along a track on the left. The image shows that the arm can extend and retract, in addition to moving up and down based on the terrain that the vehicle crosses.
In another screenshot, we see that the central chassis has been fitted with two arms, allowing ride vehicles on either side of the central track to travel together through an attraction footprint. This could be key in creating the racing element expected to be a part of the new Cars-themed ride.
Another section of the patent very clearly shows an ATV-style ride vehicle, consistent with what has been presented by Walt Disney Imagineering for the Cars-themed ride so far. The arm would attach to the back of the ride vehicle. I’d like to think of it like a parent holding onto the seat of your bike (articulating, stabilizing arm) as you learn to balance, pushing you down the sidewalk across various terrain elements.
In the screenshot below, we can see an example of a ride path for this system. The chassis would move along the middle track, while ride vehicles on either side of the chassis interact with the ride terrain. The vehicles could move side to side as the arm extends or retracts, or they could move higher or lower across terrain elements should the arm move up or down.
This would allow for a rather dynamic ride experience.
While this article has been focused on the Cars off-road rally race attraction so far, it’s also possible that this ride system could be implemented for a Dumbo-like spinner attraction. The patent describes a second implementation where the chassis doesn’t move along a track, but rather it rotates in a stationary position.
As we hinted at earlier, the implementation of this patent doesn’t stop with the rally race-style ride described above. Other images from the patent show implementations that could put a guest on a motorcycle-style ride vehicle, or even in a boat!
While this patent is certainly exciting to see in terms of how it could be implemented for the Cars-themed ride coming to Magic Kingdom, it’s even more exciting to see how it could be implemented for a number of other attractions to create a dynamic ride experience.
One really interesting implementation involves a flying vehicle that can dynamically move through a ride path, even spinning around the axis of where the arm attaches to the vehicle. Disney really has something interesting in play here. The question, as with all patents, is: will this ride tech ever see the light of day?
For everything we know about the Cars-themed expansion to Magic Kingdom’s Frontierland, check out our dedicated project page below!
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!