Lights Motors Action! Secrets and Fun Facts
As Disney makes way for the largest park expansion in history, will it be good-bye or good riddance to Lights Motors Action?
With the park scheduled to close permanently on April 2 we thought it might be fun to review a few Disney secrets about Lights Motors. Plus, check below for a special surprise.
Lights Motors Actions Secrets and Fun Facts
Featuring high-flying, gravity-defying automobile, motorcycle and watercraft stunts, the turbo-powered stage show immerses park guests in the thrill-a-minute world of big-budget movie action.
“Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show” is inspired by a similar edge-of-your-seat show at Disneyland Resort Paris. (There, it thrills guests under the name “Moteurs… Action! Stunt Show Spectacular.”)
A cast of more than 30 stunt drivers, technicians, actors and stunt managers thrills audiences with pulse-pounding chases featuring automobiles, motorcycles and high-powered watercraft. Customized and modified, these vehicles utilize almost every corner of the outdoor theater during the 30-minute show.
The arena for “Lights, Motors, Action!” — a huge, 6.5-acre “stage” featuring a Mediterranean village set — allows stunt drivers to perform high-speed spins, two-wheeled driving, jumps, pyrotechnic explosions, high falls and plenty of surprises created just as they are performed for the silver screen. The premise of the show is the filming of a European spy thriller, and after each scene unfolds live, the director combines shots into the completed scene that is played on a mammoth LCD video display for the audience of 5,000.
Other highlights of “Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show”:
Guests enter the arena through the garage — or atelier — as mechanics and technicians tune the show vehicles. Large windows offer guests behind-the-scenes views.
The show features more than 30 vehicles on stage and inside the garage area.
- Each vehicle is highly modified to perform the many extreme stunts. For example, each car is equipped with four forward gears and four reverse gears, enabling them to travel as fast in reverse gears as they do in forward gears.
- Vehicles include high-performance automobiles, motorcycles and watercraft as well as surprise vehicles, including one designed to drive backwards and another designed to split in half. “Herbie,” the loveable “car star” from several Disney films, makes a special cameo appearance.
- Vehicles are designated by color so the audience will always know which is the hero vehicle (the red one) and which is the chase vehicle (the one painted black).
- Meticulous planning, practice and timing are dedicated to each stunt. Because of the choreography involved, crew members liken the synchronized driving to a “ballet on wheels.”
Remember When? Before Lights Motors Action this space was home to the Backlot Tour. In this image we see the facade of the home used on the hit show, Golden Girls.
