Photos: Celebrate 70 Years of a Classic Disneyland Attraction with Commemorative Personalized Driver's License
A popular souvenir for Disneyland guests of all ages, is the fun Driver’s License commemorating a trip on the highways (and “off-road" sections!) of Tomorrowland’s Autopia. Now, as part of the 70th anniversary celebration at the Disneyland Resort, the Autopia licenses have been redesigned, and now include the celebration logo.
Located in a special photo booth near the attraction, guests can step inside and take their (hopefully far more flattering than a DMV) photo that gets printed on to the card. The whole experience costs $10.00 to participate, and your license is printed on the spot.
Autopia, while it looked quite different back then, was an opening day attraction at Disneyland on July 17th, 1955. Thus, making it a great way to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the park as well. With the home of Autopia, Tomorrowland, set in the year of 1986 back on opening day, the attraction represented the future of what would inevitably become America's multilane highways, still in development. In fact, Disneyland opened before President Eisenhower had signed the Interstate Highway legislation, making the idea of a highway system quite visionary and, dare we say, futuristic at the time. Something that is often looked at now, pointed to by parkgoers wondering how a simple driving experience fits in the current (and arguable) sci-fi world of Tomorrowland.
Over the past 70 years, there have been several incarnations of the Autopia, considering its early popularity. In regards to today’s story, the most important is the Fantasyland Autopia. Originally titled the Junior Autopia, this attraction opened in 1956, debuting with the center guard rail, unlike the original Autopia in Tomorrowland. It closed in 1958, later reopening in 1959, expanded, as the Fantasyland Autopia. The attraction, a duplicate version of Tomorrowland’s Autopia, remained that way until 1991, when it was rethemed as the Rescue Rangers Raceway as part of the popular Disney Afternoon Avenue until 1992.
But why are we bringing this one up? Because the Fantasyland Autopia existed (and operated as needed) until 1999, when both the Fantasyland and Tomorrowland Autopia attractions closed to make way for the substantially larger track we know today that opened in 2000. In 2016, the attraction was revisited once again, this time sponsored by Honda, and in 2017, would feature a story that guests would drive past featuring Honda’s then-popular ASIMO robot. The future's still bright for the Disneyland classic, with the announcement coming last year that Autopia would make the move to fully electric cars (finally!) in 2026. So get that 70th license now and prepare for the arrival of the new cars waiting in Disneyland’s future for Autopia. And before we get word from our lawyers, I should add that you do not NEED a license to actually experience the attraction.
To experience the fun of the 70th anniversary celebration of the Disneyland Resort, be sure to reach out to our friends at Mouse Fan Travel, who can help you Celebrate Happy at the Happiest Place on Earth.