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Midget Autopia
Are you too small to drive an Autopia car or even a Junior Autopia car?
If you’re around four years old, the answer is undoubtedly “yes.”
Don’t worry.
You’re not too small for a Midget Autopia car.
It’s the only Autopia where every car has two steering wheels. But Mom or Dad can’t sit next to you.
This Autopia is for kids only.
And while the other Autopias look like freeways, this one is more of
a country road.
Now it’s your turn.
Start by driving down a winding road.
Head up and down a hill, through a tunnel, and finally right through
a little yellow barn.
At Disneyland, the Midget Autopia made its debut in 1957.
It was the third (and smallest) Autopia track, following the
Tomorrowland Autopia (1955) and the Junior Autopia in Fantasyland (1956).
The Midget Autopia was located right next to the Storybook Land Canal Boats,
across from the Motor Boat Cruise.
The Midget Autopia was a favorite of Very Young guests.
But it fell victim to another favorite of the Very Young—It’s a Small
World.
The Midget Autopia closed in April 1966 to make way for a wide new path up
to It’s a Small World (June 1966).
The once-popular Midget Autopia was paved over.
But that wasn’t the end of the Midget Autopia.
Walt Disney donated the ride to his boyhood hometown of Marceline, Missouri, where it was installed in a park named in his honor.
For several years, the former Disneyland attraction operated as a ride for the children of Marceline.
Unfortunately, the cars were too difficult and expensive to maintain.
You can still see a Midget Autopia car in Marceline.
A lemon-yellow car is on display in the town’s Walt Disney Hometown Museum.
The museum is open from April through October in the town’s former Santa Fe railroad depot—an appropriate place to honor lifelong train buff Walt Disney.
What happened to the other two Autopias?
The Junior Autopia closed in 1958, and reopened in 1959 as the expanded
Fantasyland Autopia.
The Tomorrowland Autopia and the Fantasyland Autopia operated until 1999, when work began to combine the tracks into a single attraction.
In 2000, the redesigned attraction opened as the “Autopia, presented by Chevron,” with a new fleet of cleverly designed cars.
If you look carefully while you’re driving your Chevron Autopia car, you’ll see a bronzed Midget Autopia car on a pedestal at the side of the track.
This “statue” is a tribute to the Chevron Autopia’s long-gone relative.
It’s an actual car that once operated in Fantasyland and Marceline.
For almost five decades, the Autopias have given many future Southern California freeway drivers their first experience behind the steering wheel.
© 2007 Werner Weiss — Disclaimers, Copyright, and Trademarks
Updated July 13, 2007
Photograph of Midget Autopia, with future curator of Yesterland, by Helmut Weiss, 1958.
Photograph of Midget Autopia loading area by Frank T. Taylor, courtesy of Chris Taylor.
Photograph of Midget Autopia winding road by Charles R. Lympany, courtesy of Chris Taylor.
Photograph of Midget Autopia yellow barn by Charles R. Lympany, courtesy of Chris Taylor.
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