From Kathy Mangum on the Disney Parks Blog:
When I talk about Cars Land, people often ask me which of our three new attractions is my favorite. That is an impossible question to answer! I love them all and for different reasons. Recently we began ride testing Luigi’s Flying Tires and it is promising to be a fantastic experience. There’s nothing like it anywhere in the world.
The vehicles have been made to look like oversized Fettuccini brand tires – the same tires Luigi proudly displays in his shop, Luigi’s Casa della Tires. Once guests are seated inside their tires, Luigi will direct Guido to turn on the air compressor. With that command, air will be pumped up through openings in the floor of the tire yard and the vehicles will begin to float and fly. With Luigi’s Flying Tires, the guest is really in control of the vehicle. By shifting your weight around, you can control the direction of your travel. And if that’s not enough fun, you can always turn a lever and make your tire spin!
John Lasseter recently stopped by to visit with the team and to take a tire for a flight and, as you can see in our video, he has quickly become one of our best flyers. The Imagineer is who is riding with John and giving flying directions is Mike Kilbert, our lead ride engineer and designer for the attraction. Also, John’s son Bennet and Ben’s girlfriend Holly were there and got a chance to try their hand at it – they’re pretty good for a couple of novices! I think you can tell by John’s reaction that he thinks we’ve got a winner on our hands. I couldn’t agree more!