As Florida braces itself for (currently) Category 4 Hurricane Milton’s landfall, the Walt Disney World Resort has permanently closed a five-year-old attraction at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy played its final show on Monday, October 7, 2024, in the Sunset Boulevard area of Hollywood Studios.
Nestled next to Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith in the Disney World park, Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy offered guests time to sit down while enjoying a show featuring a life-sized Lightning McQueen, the heroic car and main character of the Cars franchise, voiced by Owen Wilson.
The Cars-themed experience opened in March 2019 but is now permanently closed at the Walt Disney World Resort as of October 8, with new permits revealed. The announcement of the permanent closure came as Disney Experiences confirmed a new Villains stage show would be taking over the area.
Disney announced the Villains show in early September, shortly after the House of Mouse’s divisive Experiences panel at the D23 Expo in Anaheim in August.
“The creative minds at Disney Live Entertainment will transform Sunset Showcase into the mysterious, reflective realm of the Magic Mirror,” Disney Parks Blog wrote in the September announcement. “The show will feature appearances by dozens of the most infamous evildoers, with fiendish foes Cruella de Vil, Captain Hook, and Maleficent each breaking through the glass to take the stage in live production numbers.”
The show will debut in the summer of 2025, meaning the location at Hollywood Studios will be vacant for almost a year.
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The news of this addition to Hollywood Studios came after Josh D’Amaro, Disney Experiences chairman, revealed that the Disney Villains would officially be joining the Magic Kingdom in a brand-new land. Two years ago, at the D23 Expo 2022, the inclusion of the Villains at Disney World was teased. However, nothing concrete was confirmed.
In 2024, that was not the case. The Villains will officially be arriving as part of the so-called “Beyond Big Thunder” project, which is the biggest expansion in Magic Kingdom Park history per the compiled permits.
While the Cars franchise may be exiting Hollywood Studios, it will gain an even bigger footprint at Magic Kingdom Park along with the Villains. In a more divisive announcement, D’Amaro told Disney fans that Magic Kingdom’s Frontierland would be getting its version of Disneyland Resort’s Cars Land—although the scale and attractions will be different.
The contention about the update grew after Disney Experiences dropped the concept art for the area, which confirmed that Tom Sawyer Island and the Rivers of America would be eradicated from the Disney park. This huge landscape change called into question Disney’s apparent desire to remove themed areas in favor of their many Intellectual Properties (IP).
Also announced across the East and West Coast parks were Avatar and Coco franchise attractions, a Monsters, Inc. land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and the confirmation that the Tropical Americas DinoLand, U.S.A. takeover would be named the Pueblo Esperanza and feature the Madrigal house from Encanto (2021) and elements from the Indiana Jones series.
Related: NEW: Disney World Vacation Cancellations Advised Ahead of Hurricane Milton
Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy’s permanent closure happened amid chaotic preparations to secure guests and the parks against the arriving Hurricane Milton. Milton gained to a Category 5 strength yesterday, October 7, but eventually fell back to a Category 4.
Like most of Florida, Disney World guests were sent a notification on the same day, which advised, in part, to “urgently complete efforts to protect life and property.”
Hurricane Milton comes just weeks after Hurricane Helene, also a Category 4 storm, devastated the Sunshine State, attributing to approximately 200 deaths across Florida.
How do you feel about this Hollywood Studios closure?
I hope they move the Lighting McQueen show somewhere else. Kids love this show.