How Route 66 inspired Disney's Cars and Cars Land and the ride that never came to be

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Route 66 has its tendrils throughout SoCal, and especially in the L.A.area, winding through Pasadena, West Hollywood and culminating in Santa Monica.

But the most loving ode to Route 66 may in fact be at the Disneyland Resort, specifically at Disney California Adventure.Stories, photos and travel recommendations from America’s Mother RoadCars Land opened in 2012 as part of a reworking of the theme park and at long last gave it a striking land that could rival — and in many cases surpass — those of its next-door neighbor, Disneyland.Flanked by sun-scarred, reddish rocks that look lifted from Arizona, Cars Land is a marvel of a theme park land, with its backdrop mountain range ever so slightly nodding to the fins of classic Cadillacs from 1957 to 1962.

That design element is a salute to the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas, where 10 vintage Cadillacs are buried nose-first in the ground that to many resembles a 20th century Stonehenge.Yet before the area was attached to the 2006 film, it was envisioned as a theme park destination dedicated to roadside attractions and trips along the so-called Mother Road.Cars Land is a make-believe area based on a fictional town from an animated film, but its roots are decidedly real.“We very much acknowledge that up front, that you’re walking down Route 66,” says Kathy Mangum, the retired Walt Disney Imagineer who served as the executive producer of Cars Land.

“But you’re also not walking down a part of Route 66 that exists anywhere,” Mangum continues.“There’s no part of Route 66 where you’re looking up at a Cadillac range surrounded by red rocks.

It’s the spirit of Route 66.I wouldn’t even call it a ‘best-of.’ It’s just a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and combined it feels real.” Before those at Walt Disney Imagineering, the secretive arm of the company devoted to theme park experiences, were ev...