Disneyland’s Autopia will run on an electrified track instead of battery-powered cars once its gas engines retire in early 2027, according to Disney Legend Bob Gurr, who designed the original Autopia cars for Walt Disney ahead of the park’s 1955 opening. We asked back in April whatever happened to Disney’s promise to electrify Autopia by fall 2026, and this is the clearest picture yet of how the new ride will work. Gurr shared the details with The New York Times in a story published November 2.
Gurr told the Times that Disney executives invited him to a facility earlier this year and showed him a model of the new Autopia. He said the power will come through the track itself, so each car will not need its own battery. He called the setup electric but very different from the usual idea of a car that runs on a battery. Disney has not confirmed any of this publicly and declined multiple requests for comment from the Times.
Gurr turned 95 on October 25, and he has been waiting a long time for this. He told the Times he has spent 26 years asking Disney when it would finally get rid of the gasoline, and he called the Autopia attraction at Disneyland “the dirtiest place on Earth.”
After the interview, Gurr’s representative asked the Times to retract it, saying Disney had asked Gurr to stop giving interviews about the ride he designed. The Times published anyway, noting that Gurr never asked for the conversation to be off the record. Disney also turned down the paper’s request to take photos or video inside Disneyland.
Honda’s future with the ride is also an open question. Gurr said he was told Honda would stay on as sponsor, but Honda would not confirm it. A Honda spokesperson told the Times that the company’s current sponsorship deal with Disneyland Resort runs through early 2027 and that talks about the future of the partnership are ongoing. Honda took over as the Autopia sponsor in 2016.
The deadline driving all of this is already on the books. The California Air Resources Board issued Disney a notice of violation in 2024 because the Autopia engines did not have the proper emissions certification. Disney settled that August, paying $56,250 and agreeing to retire the gas fleet by early 2027, with state records pointing to a February 1, 2027 cutoff. The current cars still run on 8.5-horsepower Honda four-stroke engines for up to 16 hours a day, according to the Times. Disneyland has not announced when Autopia will close for the switch or when it will reopen.
We have ridden both versions of this ride, and Tomorrowland Speedway at Magic Kingdom is our favorite, especially at night when the holiday overlay lights up the track. For Florida fans, nothing is changing yet. The Times reports the Speedway still runs on gas with no known plans to go electric. If Gurr’s description holds up, Disneyland guests will lose the engine noise and the fumes in the queue while keeping the best part, which is a kid behind a real steering wheel for the first time. Gurr has been the most honest voice on this project from the start, and fans would rather hear about the new Autopia from the man who built the first one.
Fantasy Land News will keep following the Autopia conversion as Disneyland shares closing dates and more details. For more Disneyland news, stay with Fantasy Land News.
