Out and About: Cars Masters Weekend 2014 at Downtown Disney

- Michelle Snow

Cars Masters Weekend 2014

It was about noon on Saturday, June 14, when we started wandering around Downtown Disney’s West Side to check out this year’s Cars Masters Weekend, and for classic car fans like ourselves, it was a great day.

We started over by the theaters, because we had just seen a morning movie, and right outside the theater exit was the Griswold family truckster (from the National Lampoon’s Vacation movie). It was pretty authentic, right down to the dog leash and collar hanging off the back bumper.

Cars Masters Weekend 2014

Up by DisneyQuest, we ran into our second celebrity car, Herbie the Lovebug. Ol’ number 53 was in a happy mood and honked at us taking photos. Nearby was a very cool vintage VW bus, complete with dual flip-up front windshields. Reminded me a lot of my mom’s VW bus in the 70s.

Cars Masters Weekend 2014

I thought that was going to be my pick for favorite vehicle – guests were allowed to vote for their favorite, with the winner to be announced later on Sunday afternoon. Voters also got a 20% off certificate to use at several of the West Side restaurants for lunch.

Cars Masters Weekend 2014

It was sunny out, but you could see storm clouds heading our way when we hit the courtyard between Cirque du Soleil and House of Blues. There, I met my true love…a purple 1970 Plymouth Fury GT convertible with a white interior and purple rimmed tires. My friend had to tear me away from that car, so we could see the rest of the cars on display before the rain hit.

There were so many cool cars, ranging from rebuilds of 1920s & 30s cars to custom builds and paint jobs on 60s and 70s cars.

Cars Masters Weekend 2014

Cars Masters Weekend 2014

As we got to the back parking lot, which served as the Expo Center, we encountered a huge line that went from the center of the parking lot, up a hill and doubling back down the hill. That was the line to have your photo taken with the cars from Cars – Lightning McQueen, Mater, and Finn McMissle.

Cars Masters Weekend 2014

We decided to take a tour around the Expo Center area, and came across Drag-U-La, the gold car used in the Munsters TV series. It was constructed using an actual casket with a Ford Mustang engine. Next to it was Chip Foose’s P-32 V12 roadster made to resemble a WW2 plane.

We also got to see several Disney-themed cars, including the new Cars themed racers from the Richard Petty Junior Ride-Along, Aiken Axler and Sage VanDerSpin.

Cars Masters Weekend 2014

There were talks on the Expo stage from several of the folks who worked on the Disney-Pixar films Cars, and the upcoming Planes: Fire & Rescue (in theaters July 18), but due to the rain, we didn’t get to see any of them.

We hope you enjoyed our photos from Cars Masters Weekend. If you went, let us know what you thought of it.

Let’s make plans to do this again next year, ok?

About Michelle Snow

Michelle is the owner and editor of CitySurfing Orlando. She also owns Zengrrl.com, is a freelance writer specializing in travel and entertainment, has authored/co-authored four guidebooks on Orlando and Florida, and was head editor/writer at TheDisneyBlog.com for 10 years. She's lived in Orlando near Walt Disney World since 1995, and still finds there's so much fun to be had in Central Florida.
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