HERSHEY, Pa. (WHTM) — Hersheypark will not follow Disney’s lead in converting a children’s racetrack ride from gas-powered to electric-powered vehicles — at least not for now.

A spokesperson for Disneyland in Anaheim, California, confirmed the “Autopia” ride there will ditch the gasoline-powered miniature cars — a mainstay since the park’s opening — in favor of small electric-powered cars.

“As the industry moves toward alternative fuel sources, we have developed a roadmap to electrify this attraction and are evaluating technology that will enable us to convert from gas engines in the next few years,” Disneyland Resort spokesperson Jessica Good said in statement.

The company didn’t say exactly when the change will take place, and it hasn’t announced similar changes for its children’s track rides in other locations, such as Disney World in Orlando.

So what about Hersheypark’s “Twin Turnpike” ride — which, like Autopia, features two-person, gas-powered car, which young drivers steer loosely along a thin center rail?

Changes coming to long-time Hersheypark attraction

The park has “no plans at this time” to change the ride, said Quinn Bryner, a spokesperson.

Twin Turnpike opened in 1975, according to several online resources.

And Autopia?

“Since opening with Disneyland park in 1955, Autopia has remained a guest-favorite most popular with young kids experiencing driving for the first time,” Disney’s Good wrote.

News of the Autopia conversion away from gas-powered cars first emerged in a Los Angeles Times column, which noted Disney hasn’t confirmed whether the new cars will by gas/electric hybrids or fully electric.

Some people will surely wax nostaglic when Disney retires its latest and last generation of gas-powered cars after about 70 years. But among those people will not be — of all people — Autopia’s original designer, 92-year-old Bob Gurr.

“Get rid of those God-awful gasoline fumes,” Gurr told the Times.

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Gurr said Tomorrowland — the area of Disneyland where the ride is — has always been about the future, and the future is now electric.

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