At February’s Toy Fair, Disney Online previewed their fabulous World of Cars Online website — free-to-play browser-based, virtual world based on Disney/Pixar’s “Cars”. Since that is my four year old’s favorite movie, he is going to love the features — which are designing your own car, making new friends and playing mini-games. The premise is that Lightning McQueen and his friends are helping new race cars train in Radiator Springs, which is growing due to new businesses opening.

Kids Can:
• Create Their Own Race Car – Pick the body style, color, name and more to make it totally their own. This was cool and kids are going to really enjoy being creative.
• Explore the Road – Drive beyond Radiator Springs to explore Carburetor County. Enjoy backroads racing and adventures with Mater and others!
• Community –  Kids can see when their friends are online and interact with them to create a Cars Community.
• Race and Play –Cars can warm up the road on a variety of tracks to win badges and trophies. They can also play mini-games like Lightning Storm and Ramone’s Paint Blast to earn coins and more!

If you want to upgrade from Free-to-Play to Subscription, you’ll get access to:

o Paint jobs, gear and accessory purchases to customize your Car and home
o A Pro Racing Career and access to exclusive Piston Cup race tracks
o Special Events and Adventures

Bottom Line: Kids are going to really like the World of Cars Online. It offers children a chance to be creative with making their own cars and have adventures driving around Radiator Springs. Best of all, it’s mostly free (if you want to change your car more than once, you’ll have to get a subscription). Parents create an account, and then create sub-accounts for their children. They can monitor their child’s progress on the site.

The site will officially launch later this year – but it’s in Beta now, so take a look!