Cars Land in Magic Kingdom’s Frontierland
Updated: June 3rd, 2025
During the 2024 D23 Parks and Experience Panel, Disney announced the expansion of Frontierland in Magic Kingdom to include a new Cars-themed area. To make room for this new land, the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island will be transformed into “vast and rugged terrains for a rally race.”
Michael Hundgen, Walt Disney World Portfolio Executive Producer at Walt Disney Imagineering, shared, “We are thrilled to create this original Cars adventure and put our guests in the driver’s seat as we—quite literally—explore a new frontier in Frontierland.”
Overview | Attractions | Dining | Shopping |
Overview
The name of this new area will be Piston Peak, and it will be loosely based on Rocky Mountain National Park. But, that’s not all Disney shared — we’ve got details on both of the ride queues coming to this new spot!
The NEW Piston Peak area of Frontierland will be fully Cars themed, and Disney Imagineers recently shared some exciting details about the latest addition to Magic Kingdom.
Piston Peak is heavily based on the National Parks, as expected for Frontierland, which is described as a land to celebrate American wilderness. In particular, the Rocky Mountain National Park serves as the main inspiration for the team working on this at Disney.
Attractions
The first permit for the overhaul was filed in August 2024, shortly after the initial announcement at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event.
Unfortunately, after that permit was filed, the South Florida Water Management District requested further information from Disney about the work associated with the permit. The letter warned Disney that without a response, the application may be denied. In December 2024, Disney replied with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD) requesting a 60-day extension to get the required information.
On December 9th, the South Florida Water Management District responded and agreed to give Disney until January 9th, 2025, to reply with the additional information requested. Well, that date has gone and passed so what’s happening now? Disney had filed additional documents on December 19th, 2024 that extended the deadline to January 18th, 2025.
On their deadline, Disney finally filed those new documents. (This is a lot of paperwork!) These additional documents feature maps showing that Disney is going to direct surface water to a new inlet or pond which implies that was one of the concerns of the South Florida Water Management District.
Disney is also pulling inspiration from existing buildings and attractions, including Wilderness Lodge and Grizzly Peak at Disney California Adventure. The new area will be home to two rides: one will be a rally race-type attraction, while the other will be a family ride.
As far as the rally race ride goes, you can expect to race through mountains and dodge geysers and waterfalls — but Imagineers revealed that this queue will be located in the visitor lodge of Piston Peak National Park. This lodge will look like an A-frame mountain lodge.
The second ride — the family-friendly one — will have folks queuing up in the ranger lodge. But, that’s not the most exciting part. As you make your way through this ride’s queue, you’ll meet a new character! Ranger J. Autobahn Woodlore is in charge of Piston Peak, and he’s based on Ranger J. Audubon Woodlore from the Donald Duck and Humphrey the Bear cartoons.
An animatronic of Ranger J. Autobahn Woodlore will be featured in the pre-show, where he’ll tell you about Piston Peak’s history and folklore. We don’t have many details on that for now, but Disney promised we’d learn more soon.
The architecture in Piston Peak will include several “car-ified” elements. That includes lower windows so that cars can see out of them, entrances and buildings that are big enough for cars to fit, and using found materials like old wagon wheels in the buildings. After all, this is supposed to be where these characters live!
We can’t wait to learn more about the new Cars area coming to Frontierland at Magic Kingdom!
Dining
Coming soon!
Shopping
Coming soon!
We don’t have a confirmed opening timeline for this new area, but we will keep you updated on every detail as they come! Don’t forget to keep following AllEars for all of your Disney news and updates.
