Disneyland's New Autopia
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On June 29th Disneyland's new Autopia officially opens to the public. In preparation for that opening Disneyland recently held two events. The first was held on Sunday, June 25th, and was tied into the upcoming release of Disney's The Kid. The second was a re-grand opening held on Wednesday, June 28th. On the following pages you'll find complete coverage of the re-grand opening followed by two short interviews - the first with Disneyland Resort President Cynthia Harriss and the second with Autopia car designer Jason Hulst. Following that is a pictorial ride-through of the new Autopia along with a RealVideo ride-through. Lastly are pictures from Sunday's The Kid event.

The Re-Grand Opening

Announcer: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, please welcome Disneyland's Ambassador to the world, Jennifer Simis

Jennifer Simis final presentation as active Ambassador    (her term ends June 30th)

Jennifer Simis: Well thank you and good afternoon to all of our friends from Chevron. We hope that you're all having a great day here at Disneyland. This has certainly been a very exciting year to represent the Disneyland resort. We began our 45th anniversary celebration with the 45 Years of Magic Parade of Stars and our new Fireworks spectacular "Believe ... There's Magic in the Stars" and now here we are for the grand reopening of the all new Autopia attraction. Today we celebrate our partnership with Chevron and to tell you more about this exciting partnership. Please welcome the president of the Disneyland Resort, Cynthia Harriss and her good friend Mickey Mouse.

Disneyland Resort President Cynthia Harriss and Mickey Mouse

Cynthia Harriss: Well thank you Jennifer. Well hello everybody, how's everybody today? [crowd cheers.] Well Mickey and I are so pleased to be with you today as we celebrate our alliance with Chevron and the grand reopening of Autopia. Since Disneyland opened in 1955 more than 200 million guests have motored along Autopia's highways. And while the car's styles and the route have been modified over the years, the spirit of this attraction has remained the same - a fun and exciting chance for kids of all ages to get behind the wheel of their very own car right here at Disneyland.

In order to remake Autopia while still maintaining it's timeless sense of wonder, we've developed a brand new story that successfully blends both the classic Disneyland Autopia experience and the Chevron world of cars. In essence it's still the same great attraction that we all know and love, but this time the story is now told from the car's point of view.

The new vehicles each have their own distinctive personality - there's a rugged SUV named Dusty, that cute little coop named Suzy and a freewheeling sports car named Sparky. And you'll soon see that for yourself that there are many other surprises all along the way.

I'd like to congratulate our team at Walt Disney Imagineering especially our executive director of Autopia Tony Baxter [applause], and our project producer of Autopia Bruce Gordon [applause] for once again creating a wonderful attraction for our guests, so thank you Tony and Bruce.

  
left: Jason Hulst (car designer) and Bruce Gordon (project producer). right: Tony Baxter (executive director for the new Autopia)

"Oh, ok Mickey, if we're going to celebrate this partnership, I think we need our partner, don't you think? All right, ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm Disneyland  welcome to the president of Chevron products, our good friend Pat Woertz." The refrains of Born to Be Wild thunder through the Autopia area as Pat Woertz drives Sparky up a ramp onto the stage alongside Harriss and Mickey.