Mater's Junkyard Jamboree
| Mater's Junkyard Jamboree | |
|---|---|
| Park | Disney California Adventure |
| Land / area | Cars Land |
| Type | Whip ride |
| Opened | June 15, 2012 |
| Designer | Walt Disney Imagineering |
| Height req. | 32 in (81 cm) |
| Status | Operating |
Mater's Junkyard Jamboree is a whip ride in Cars Land at Disney California Adventure in the Disneyland Resort, California. Opened with the land on June 15, 2012, it seats riders in trailers towed by baby tractors, which swing outward as the tractors follow interlocking figure-eight paths around Mater's junkyard. Despite its modest scale it is known for a more vigorous motion than its appearance suggests.
History
The attraction was developed as one of Cars Land's two smaller rides, balancing the large Radiator Springs Racers. Its characters come from a sequence in Pixar's Cars (2006) in which Mater and Lightning McQueen go tractor tipping in the fields outside Radiator Springs, disturbing the baby tractors and their keeper, Frank the combine harvester. The junkyard setting draws on Mater's own salvage business as established in the films and in the Mater's Tall Tales shorts.
The ride has operated essentially unchanged since 2012. During Cars Land's Haul-O-Ween celebrations it has been dressed and rescored as Mater's Graveyard JamBOOree, with Halloween songs replacing the usual set, and a Christmas version, Mater's Jingle Jamboree, has run during the holiday season.
Experience
Riders enter the junkyard past Mater's shed, where a jukebox assembled from car parts — oil drums, hubcaps and licence plates — supplies the music. Each of the 22 tractors tows a trailer seating two or three riders behind a shared lap belt. Mater, voiced by Larry the Cable Guy, sings and calls the dance over the loudspeakers, performing a set of original songs written for the ride in a country style.
The tractors run on two interlocking turntables and trace figure-eight paths. As each tractor rounds a curve, its trailer, which is free to pivot, swings outward and then whips back as the direction changes, sliding riders along the bench seat. A cycle lasts about ninety seconds. The 32-inch (81 cm) height requirement is the lowest tier used in the park, but the lateral forces are strong enough that the ride is frequently singled out in guides as more intense than the park's other small children's rides.
Design
The ride adapts the principle of the classic Whip, a flat ride dating to the early 20th century in which cars travelling an oval track swing out at the ends. Here the motion is doubled by the figure-eight layout and softened in appearance, though not much in effect, by the tractor-and-trailer theming: the trailer's pivot is the mechanism, and the theming makes it legible.