Autopia is the quintessential ride for the younger generation. This attraction is located in Tomorrowland near the Tomorrowland Train Station. Even being totally out of the normal pathway for those walking DisneylandPark, the lines here still grow very quickly.
Even with Fastpass your wait is rarely less than 20 minutes. Without Fastpass you can spend up to an hour or more in the miserably hot queue. The Autopia queue is outside, and you can’t see how long it is just by looking. There is one point in the line where you enter a building, but this building is not air conditioned. There are little shows in the windows here where the Autopia cars talk. A cute little show, but horribly hot if you are stuck in line watching these scenes for more than a few minutes.
Once you reach the front of the queue you are sent to a number on the ground. Children can’t drive the vehicle completely until they reach 52 inches. At that height they will be able to reach the foot pedal. For shorter children, seat them at the steering wheel and seat yourself so that you can reach the gas pedal. These cars go on a track, so you don’t have to worry about your child crashing, but if your child is anything like Alex, ‘crashing’ is a lot of fun as he turns the wheel this way and that. Can you say whiplash?
Alex absolutely loves Autopia. As an adult, I find it a totally miserable ride. The cars, while cute, are not made for comfort. The seats are very hard with no cushioning. The ride itself can take about 20 minutes to complete, and that can be very hard on both your legs and your back if your child constantly hits the center track. The jarring can be painful.
I highly recommend this ride for children. As a baby, Alex fell asleep on this ride – after all, it is a car. As a toddler he simply loves to drive, crash and otherwise have a blast on Autopia.
As an adult – if you don’t have children with you, skip this ride. The lines are painful and the ride vehicles are painful!