Disneyland’s Autopia Will Use an Electrified Track

In 2025, we learned that Autopia, Disneyland’s OG racetrack, would be ditching gasoline. Reporting from the Los Angeles Times left open the possibility of EVs or hybrids, though Disney later clarified that the ride would go fully electric.

Now, a New York Times report offers a better idea of how that will work: an electrified track. The cars apparently won’t need batteries, which should save someone the trouble of plugging in an entire fleet of tiny Hondas.

Disney recently invited Bob Gurr, the Imagineer and Disney Legend who helped create Autopia in the 1950s, to see a model of the updated track. He’s excited about the possibilities. He’s also one of the current ride’s biggest critics. When he spoke to the Los Angeles Times in 2024, he said, “Get rid of those God-awful gasoline fumes.”

He reiterated those feelings in today’s report:

“For 26 years, I’ve been arguing, ‘When are you going to do anything to get rid of that gasoline? The dirtiest place on Earth is the Autopia attraction at Disneyland in the city of Anaheim.”

I love unfiltered Bob. Disney apparently prefers a filter. The company had asked Gurr to stop giving interviews about the ride. After this one, his representative asked the Times to retract the statement. The newspaper declined, noting that Gurr hadn’t asked to speak off the record.

Gurr also said Honda will remain the ride’s sponsor. As for the new system, he confirmed it will be electric, “but not the conventional idea of a battery in a car. It’s very different.”

To all of this, I say: be fair to Florida. Magic Kingdom’s Tomorrowland Speedway is working very hard for second place.