March 1991 – November 1991
LOCATION
Fantasyland – The Rescue Rangers Raceway was a specially revamped version of Fantasyland Autopia. The track wove through the northeastern corner of Fantasyland, a space which is now partly used as the It’s A Small World plaza and partly used for the current Autopia track.
BACKGROUND
Despite its initial popularity with park visitors, Fantasyland Autopia crowds were gradually shrinking. To generate new interest in the attraction, Disney incorporated the track into its “Disney Afternoon” promotion, a summer-long celebration of the Disney Channel’s afternoon cartoon programming. Fantasyland Autopia became the Rescue Rangers Raceway, a track based on the Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers cartoon. The ride was largely the same, but with added cutouts of the show’s characters scattered throughout the track. On busier park days, guests could even meet some of the characters from the show next to the starting line.
EXPERIENCE
Guests boarded into 2-passenger racing cars and lined up at the starting line. Chip, Dale, and their forest friends egged on the racers as they drove around the track, winding through the Fantasyland trees, over small hills, and rounding the edge of the lagoon. At the end of the race, riders returned to the starting gate, and could explore the rest of the Disney Afternoon activities in Fantasyland and Mickey’s Toontown.
CLOSURE
Disney Afternoon was never intended to be a long-term fixture in the park. The Raceway’s character cutouts weren’t quite enough to generate new interest in the attraction, so the track transformed back into Fantasyland Autopia in November 1991. Fantasyland Autopia remained open sporadically for another 8 years, before finally closing for good in 1999.
TRIVIA
Each car had the Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers logo painted on the side, so that each rider was part of Chip and Dale’s crew while visiting the attraction.
Now that I’m commenting here, I had to double back and tell you that this article is how I found your blog. I knew I had experienced this ride as a kid, but there is so little information out there about it and it doesn’t help that I would have been 4 at the time, so I had nearly written this attraction off as a dream. So thank you for documenting Disney history in a way that wiki’s just don’t capture. I’m glad I was able to find this blog in my fervor for Disney knowledge while waiting for my family’s trip.
Thank you so much! I hate the feeling of vaguely remembering something but not being 100% sure. I’m so glad I could help 🙂