In March 2019, Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy opened at Disney’s Hollywood Studios at the far end of Sunset Boulevard—about as far from Galaxy’s Edge as it could get, which was probably part of the point, to spread crowds (if they ever do show up) a bit.
Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy is in what had been the rarely-interesting Sunset Showcase building, set in a courtyard accessed through a gate just to the right of the entrance to Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster.
You wait for it outside, with umbrellas providing some relief from the elements. Since shows are continuous, you likely will need to wait at most 12-15 minutes, just until the next performance.
Frankly, I had low expectations for this ride, but it is a winner. Yes, you need to enjoy Cars to get much out of it.
But if you do—or someone in your family does, perhaps younger than you—then it is a solid attraction, with a great audio-animatronic of Lightning McQueen, fun racing scenes, more appearances by other good guys, a bad guy, and virtue triumphant.
The bench seats are about as uncomfortable as you’ll find at Disney World, but the duration of the show is not long enough for this to much matter.
Outside the building, Cruz Ramirez from the Cars franchise takes pictures with guests, and a DJ-led dance party is also intermittently scheduled outside in the courtyard.
Here’s the review from our fancy book.
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