Tomorrowland Speedway | 4K HD Full Ride Attraction | Tomorrowland Magic Kingdom | Walt Disney World
YouTube: Watch on YouTube
Published: 2021-10-19T14:00:11Z
Show Type: Disney Shows
Show Name: Disney Theme Park Live Streams
Tomorrowland Speedway | 4K HD Full Ride Attraction | Tomorrowland Magic Kingdom | Walt Disney World
#TomorrowlandSpeedway #MagicKingdom #Disneyrides #Tomorrowland #WaltDisneyResorts #Disneyland
An opening day attraction, the Grand Prix Raceway was based on an international car race rather than the futuristic roadways of Autopia. The original sponsor was Goodyear, as it supplied all of the tires on the Mark VII vehicles.
The track length has been the subject of incorrect discussion over the years. Through aerial photography and research it has been determined that the attraction was never lengthened, but shortened 3 times.
On opening day the track was approximately 3,118 feet. The attraction saw its length greatly reduced for the first time in 1974 for the construction of Space Mountain, with the two southern curves being shortened and the entire north portion of the track being reduced, thus shortening the ride to ~2,760 feet.
An even larger section was removed to make room for Mickey’s Toontown Fair sometime between late 1987 and early 1988, this time the track was reduced to ~2,191 feet. In 2012 the final curve was again shortened to make way for Dumbo the Flying Elephant diminishing the ride to ~2,119 feet. In the end, the current attraction has lost over 32% of its original length.
In 1994, the Grand Prix theme and name was dropped in favor of Tomorrowland Indy Speedway, but the track and vehicles remained the same, as new theming to coincide with the “New Tomorrowland” overlay was installed. However, The Walt Disney World Explorer application—both the original edition released in 1996 and the Second Edition released in 1998—used the original name for the attraction’s slideshow topic in the application.
On December 20, 1999, Walt Disney Company and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway partnered to change the theme of the track. The ride was changed to add items from the famous Speedway, such as the famous Yard of Bricks, the Scoring Pylon, Gasoline Alley and the wheel and wing logo. The loading area featured panels with the three Indy events: the Indianapolis 500, the Brickyard 400 and the United States Grand Prix.
The name was changed in 2008 to Tomorrowland Speedway, resulting in the drop of the Indy portion of the title.
In 2019, the ride underwent more track adjustments to accommodate the addition of Tron Lightcycle Power Run.
The attraction reopened on May 18, 2019.
Filmed October 2021
Data courtesy of WIKIPEDIA
Thumbnail assistance from DadBuildz on YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/c/DadBuildz
Video courtesy of and provided to our channel with permission from Casey from Casey’s Corner on YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/c/CaseysCornerOfTheWorld/featured