Disney Pixar Cars at Walt Disney World- Cars Themed Hotels, Attractions, Rides

You’re going to want to race to Walt Disney World to experience all of the Cars offerings that are available. From an immersive Cars-themed hotel to an up close experience with Lightning McQueen, fans of the Disney Pixar Cars franchise are sure to get their kicks (on Route 66) during their Disney World vacation.

In this article, I’m going to give you an inside look at everything that’s related to Cars at Walt Disney World. As a frequent visitor of the parks and the mother of a 5 year old boy who is OBSESSED with Cars, I’ve personally experienced it all. Make a pit stop and follow along with me as I fill you in on everything you need to know for the perfect Cars experience. When you’re finished reading, you’ll be ready for the races!

Cars at Disney World

When you’re at Disney World, there are two main locations that you’re going to want to visit in order to get your Cars fix – Art of Animation and Hollywood Studios.

Art of Animation

Art of Animation is one Walt Disney World's Value Resorts. The theming of the resort is split between four movies – The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Finding Nemo, and Cars. My family and I stay at Art of Animation frequently. We all (especially my children) enjoy the detailed and immersive decor and theming. It’s full of larger than life statues of characters, bright colors, and popular landmarks from these Disney movies.

This Walt Disney World Resort hotel is also one of our favorites because of the family suites. My travel party of 6 comfortably stays in these suites. We have plenty of sleeping space, two bathrooms, a kitchenette, and a living area that’s big enough for us to spread out in during the day. You can bet that on one of our trips to Disney World, we stayed at the Cars Family Suites.

Cars Family Suites

The family suites in the Cars section of Art of Animation are fully decorated with nods and inspiration from the film. Before you even step foot into your room, you’ll see large portraits of characters and locations from the movie in the halls. These portraits continue into the suites, hanging right above all of the sleeping areas. The suite has multiple areas including a bedroom, living room, kitchenette, dining area, and bathrooms.

As I mentioned earlier, there are two bathrooms. One is located in the bedroom and the other is in the living room area. Both bathrooms include a mirror, sink, and shower. This makes it EXTREMELY nice when everyone is trying to get ready at the same time. Above the bathroom mirrors are signs that reads “Carwash” in a retro font. Around the mirrors is an arrow marquee, with the lightbulbs serving as your vanity lights.

The shower curtain features a picture of Red, the firetruck, spraying Lightning off with a large gush of water,  just as he does in the movie.

In addition to a bathroom, the bedroom also includes a queen bed, television, dresser, and two night stands (one of which has a telephone). On the nightstands are images of postcards that would be purchased and sent from Radiator Springs. Our postcards highlighted locations such as the Cozy Cone Motel, Radiator Springs Courthouse, Flo’s V8 Cafe, and the town of Radiator Springs. Each nightstand also has a lamp. Both of these lamps have orange traffic cones that serve as the lamp shade. The curtains are also orange with a traffic cone pattern on them.

The dresser is located right below the television. The dresser is designed  to look like a toolbox and has metal features that include a diamond plate-style pattern on them. This toolbox design can also be found on the dresser and storage area that are located in the living room as well as on the kitchenette.

In the living room, there is another television, the dresser and storage area, a sleeper sofa, table, side table, telephone, lamp, and an additional chair. The decor in the living room is very similar to the bedroom. Along with the toolbox style dresser, you’ll find the same orange traffic cone curtains and  traffic cone shades on the lamp. When the sleeper sofa is in its couch form, it looks like car bench seats. The table that sits in front of the couch has a map of Route 66 on it. (Take a close look and you’ll be able to spot Radiator Springs!)

The kitchenette is the standard setup that can be found throughout the Walt Disney World Resort hotels. It includes a microwave, toaster, sink, coffee maker, teas, coffees, sugar, sweeteners, cups, paper towels, and an ice bucket.

The dining area is a simple table with four chairs pulled up to it. On the table and connecting wall, there are a variety of images that are meant to look like bumper stickers from Radiator Springs. Our table had bumper stickers from Fillmore’s Organic Fuel, Sarge’s Surplus Hut, Tow Mater Towing and Salvage, Luigi’s Casa Della Tires, Cozy Cone Motel, Radiator Springs Curios, Doc Hudson – Dr. of Internal Combustion, Flo’s V8 Cafe, and Ramone’s House of Body Art. The reason there is a connecting wall is because this table is actually a murphy bed!

You simply pull the chairs to the side and pull the bed down. On each side of the bed is a nightstand. These nightstands resemble tool carts and even have wheels on them! (However, these wheels are just for show and don’t actually move.)

Cars Courtyard

If you don’t stay at the Cars family suites, you can still visit Art of Animation to enjoy aspects of the movie! In between the Cars buildings at Art of Animation, there is a large courtyard area. In this area, you’ll find a pool as well as walkways from the buildings to Animation Hall.

This large courtyard is decorated to look just like Radiator Springs. It even has the giant welcome billboard at the entrance that reads “Radiator Springs – A Happy Place”. The walking paths are exceptionally cute, as they are designed to look like roads. Along these “roads”, there are life-size statues of all the cars from Radiator Springs. As you walk through the courtyard, you’ll be able to see Sheriff, Doc Hudson, Ramone, Flo, Mater, Luigi, Guido, Sarge, Fillmore, Sally, and of course – Lightning McQueen!

On the outside, the Cars buildings are painted with a mountain landscape view of Ornament Valley. The entrances to the three buildings are designed to look like popular Radiator Springs businesses, including Tow Mater Towing and Salvage, Luigi’s Casa Della Tires, and Wheel Well Hotel. Another business, Cozy Cone Motel, can be found in the middle of the courtyard and actually doubles as the Cars pool!

Cozy Cone Pool

The Cozy Cone Pool takes on the full ambiance of the Cozy Cone Motel. In front of the pool area, you’ll see the neon sign for Cozy Cone Motel as well as the office building. A walkway allows you to walk through the Cozy Cone office building to get to the pool. Large traffic cones (that serve as rooms in the movie) surround the pool. At the pool, instead of being used as rooms, they’re used as cabanas! These cabanas are not available for rent. Rather, they are available to Guests on a first come, first serve basis.

More Cars Fun

Have you ever seen Water Art around Walt Disney World? Water Art is when a Cast Member takes a brush and water and “paints” a character on a walkway. Normally you’ll see classic characters such as Mickey, Donald, or Goofy, but sometimes you’ll stumble on a more rare character. At Art of Animation, you may happen to see Water Art of a character from Cars!

During one of our stays, we saw a Cast Member painting Lightning McQueen. She was even kind enough to let my son help her!

Discount Disney World Tickets

Our favorite Disney-approved re-seller, Get Away Today, offers the best Walt Disney World discount tickets around. In addition to great discount prices, their customer service and easy support is absolutely fantastic. They have an entire department dedicated to making sure every order has a wonderful experience and they are on-call to help you during your vacation if you need them.

And at no additional charge, you get FREE concierge Walt Disney World services! These services include having Get Away Today's Walt Disney World expert Brooklyn take care of all your dining reservations, Genie+ reservations, and more! This really takes all the stress out of planning a Walt Disney World vacation. Rather than waking up at odd hours of the night to book all your reservations, why not let their travel agents take care of it for you- for free!

Get a Free Walt Disney World Vacation Quote Here!

Buying tickets from Get Away Today is easy and convenient since all their tickets are sent electronically. You can take their vouchers and head straight to the gate without needing to wait in any ticket booth lines. They also offer low deposit fees and layaway plans so you can pay off your vacation over time.

Cars at Hollywood Studios

For those looking for Cars-themed activities in the theme parks, there is currently one attraction at Walt Disney World. This attraction is called Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy. Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy is located in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. To get to the Racing Academy, you’ll go to the end of Sunset Boulevard and veer to the left as though you’re going to Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. Once you’ve reached Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, continue to walk past the entrance and you’ll then be at Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy.

In front of the attraction, there is an opportunity to “meet” two more Cars characters – Cruz Ramirez and DJ! In regard to size, these two cars are just like the ones at Art of Animation. However, these two are made differently and have some functionality. You may find that their eyes (windshields) are generally always fogged up due to sitting in the Florida weather. They are also in a roped off area. While you can pose in front of them for pictures, you cannot get up close and touch them like you can at Art of Animation.

In the past, DJ took part in DJ’s Ready! Set! Party Time!, which was a dance party that took place in front of Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy. While this dance party no longer exists, you can still catch DJ spinning some sweet tunes for Guests to enjoy.

Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy

Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy is a high-energy show that features favorite (and least favorite) characters from the Cars movies. When you enter the showroom, the first thing you’ll see is a giant statue of Lightning McQueen’s number – 95. For seating, there are a number of benches available where you’ll want to go and park yourself for the show. Similar to the walkways at Art of Animation, the walkway in between the benches also looks like a road!

Most of the show takes place on screens that wrap around the room. During the show, you’ll see Mater, Sally, Doc Hudson, Flo, Luigi, Mack, Fillmore, Cruz, Miss Fritter, and unfortunately Chick Hicks. But what about Lightning McQueeen? Lightning McQueen is the only character who won’t be seen on the screen and is actually in the room with us! Lightning is a full-size car animatronic and is EXTREMELY impressive.

During the show, Lightning sets off to show us the skills that he’s learned with his racing simulator. (We all know things didn’t work out too well for him when he first tried out the simulator.) However, things are going much better for him now! That is, until Chick Hicks shows up. Chick stirs up trouble and it’s up to Lightning to outsmart him if he wants to come out victorious.

Cars Merchandise

Cars merchandise can be found in a variety of locations around Walt Disney World. However, there isn’t one specific shop that is dedicated to the franchise. It helps if you know where to go though! There are a couple shops in particular that tend to always have Cars merchandise available.

In Hollywood Studios, on Sunset Boulevard, there is a store called Beverly Sunset Shop. This store is a great location to find Pixar products. On many occasions, we have been able to find Cars merchandise here. Another store that commonly carries Cars items is located in EPCOT. The Test Track SIMporium has regularly kept a variety of Cars merchandise in stock. However, this location is currently closed due to the reimagining of Test Track. The Ink & Paint Shop at Art of Animation is another good location to go to for Cars merchandise. Since the Cars franchise is one of the hotel’s main themes, it usually has a wide variety of merchandise from the films in the shop.

Cars Land at Disneyland

While Walt Disney World has a variety of offerings for Cars fans to enjoy, for the ultimate Cars experience, you’ll want to head to Disneyland Resort! At Disney California Adventure, there is a whole land dedicated to Cars. This land is appropriately called Cars Land.

Cars Land puts you directly in the middle of Radiator Springs. However, this isn’t like the Radiator Springs at Art of Animation. At Cars Land, you feel like you’ve entered the movie. The main road, the traffic light, neon signs, businesses, traffic signs.. It’s all there.

Of course at Cars Land, things are slightly different. Flo’s V8 Cafe isn’t a gas station, Luigi’s Casa Della Tires isn’t a tire shop, and the Cozy Cone Motel isn’t a motel. Instead, these businesses double as shopping locations, dining locations, and attractions. Let’s take a look at everything that Cars Land has to offer!

Attractions at Cars Land

• Radiator Springs Racers
• Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters
• Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree

Dining at Cars Land

• Cozy Cone Motel
• Fillmore’s Taste-In
• Flo’s V8 Cafe

Shopping at Cars Land

• Ramone’s House of Body Art
• Sarge’s Surplus Hut

Meet the Characters

Cars Land is the one place where you can actually MEET characters from the movies. These aren’t stationary cars that you simply pose next to. At Cars Land, the cars drive through Radiator Springs, pull up in front of the Cozy Cone Motel, and take pictures with Guests. They also talk! Meet and greets regularly take place with Lightning McQueen and Mater. However, sometimes other cars, such as Cruz or DJ, come out too.

During Halloween at Disneyland Resort, you can even catch these characters dressed in their costumes!

Add More Cars to Your Disneyland Vacation

If you’d like to add an additional touch of Cars to your Disneyland vacation, consider booking Lightning McQueen to drive you from the airport and your hotel! This service is provided by Caren Wolf.

Caren drives a customized car that looks EXACTLY like Lightning McQueen. She offers shuttle services from California airports to Disneyland hotels. Not only does Caren provide you with a drive in Lightning McQueen, she also provides car seats if needed, will assist in grocery pickups, and provides riders with helpful information.

When I contacted Caren a couple months ago, she provided me with these prices.

One way from:

• SNA – $65
• LAX – $85
• LGB – $75

Rountrip from:

• SNA to Disneyland – $125
• LGB to Disneyland – $150
• LAX to Disneyland – $175

Rides can be booked for $20 down. Prices may vary depending on gas prices. Venmo, Zelle, or PayPal can be used for the deposit. Venmo, Zelle, PayPal, or Cash can be used to pay off the balance.

My family and I will be getting a ride from Lightning McQueen next month for our Disneyland vacation and we are so excited!

SPEED to Your Next Disney Vacation!

Between Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort, there is so much for Cars fans to enjoy. For the best resource and helpful information for planning your Disney trip, make sure to subscribe to our FREE Deals newsletter​. We’ll provide you with helpful planning information, exclusive Disney deals, and access to the lowest-priced Disney tickets anywhere.

Frequently Asked Questions