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Tomorrowland

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Disneyland's Tomorrowland logo as of 2005.
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Disneyland's Tomorrowland logo as of 2005.

Tomorrowland is one of the "themed lands" at the many Magic Kingdom-style parks run by The Walt Disney Company around the world. In the words of Walt Disney: "Tomorrow can be a wonderful age. Our scientists today are opening the doors of the Space Age to achievements that will benefit our children and generations to come. The Tomorrowland attractions have been designed to give you an opportunity to participate in adventures that are a living blueprint of our future." At Disneyland Paris, this area is named Discoveryland.

Contents

Disneyland

Disneyland Park Attractions
50th Anniversary
Main Street, U.S.A.
Main Street Vehicles
  • Fire Engine
  • Horse-Drawn Streetcars
  • Horseless Carriage
  • Omnibus
Fantasyland
Tomorrowland
Frontierland
Adventureland
New Orleans Square
Critter Country
Mickey's Toontown
Entertainment

The first Tomorrowland opened at Disneyland in 1955, with only a subset of its planned attractions due to budget cuts. Many of the buildings housed corporate demonstrations for future living. When Tomorrowland first opened, it was billed the "World in 1986", as it was the next year that Haley's Comet would reappear. For the first four years, most of Tomorrowland was generally open space and considered to be very corporate fueled.

Tomorrowland's showpiece was Disney's TWA Rocket to the Moon, derived from his historic "Man in Space" set of three television shows in the 1950s. It in turn was derived from the first spectacular ride from the 1901 Pan-American Exposition, the trip to the moon ride which eventually became the anchor ride and namesake for Coney Island's Luna Park. In the 1970s, the interior of the ride was updated, and its destination was changed to Mars, with a name change to Mission to Mars.

1957 brought Monsanto's "House of the Future," a plastic house with four wings cantilevered from a central plinth. This too had its precursors at World's Fairs, though in those cases they were simply homes with modern conveniences and aimed at housewives. Aside from displaying "modern" conveniences such as picture phones and television remote controls, this house introduced many people to their first microwave oven.

In 1959, three major attractions, the park's first billed E-ticket attractions opened. The addition of the ALWEG Monorail, Submarine Voyage, and Matterhorn (later changed to the Fantasyland realm), were so big it was televised as the second opening of Disneyland. New attractions came, as Walt Disney focused his efforts on the 1964-65 New York World's Fair. After the fair he turned his attention to a new Tomorrowland and his original Florida Project.

However, Disney died in 1966, a full year before a vast new Tomorrowland opened. In 1967 the area was completely rebuilt with new rides and scenery. The original layout was demolished, and a new set of buildings was erected. The addition of the Carousel theater, Flight to the Moon building, the Adventure Thru Inner Space building, a new Circle-Vision building, and the PeopleMover/Rocket Jets platform, gave Tomorrowland the "World on the Move" theme. In time, Walt Disney's idea of a Space Port, opened as Space Mountain; Star Tours; and Magic-Eye Theater opened in places of older attractions.

Walt Disney was allegedly never completely satisfied with Tomorrowland. [[Citing sources citation needed]]

Disneyland's Tomorrowland entrance in 1996, before the 1998 makeover
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Disneyland's Tomorrowland entrance in 1996, before the 1998 makeover

New Tomorrowland; future plans

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the planning phase of Michael Eisner's "Disney Decade" called for both American Tomorrowlands to receive makeovers. "Tomorrowland 2055" was slated to be completed by the late 1990s. The backstory of this renovation would be that with mysterious alien relics having been excavated in Disneyland, aliens were given the signal that Earth was now ready for intergalactic tourism and a century after Disneyland's opening, Disneyland would have become a popular destination for aliens visiting Earth. Within the new land were proposed attractions such as ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter; a copy of the original Magic Kingdom version, The Timekeeper; the American version from the Magic Kingdom, Plectu's Fantastic Intergalactic Revue; an audio-animatronic musical revue, and makeovers for classic attractions. However, due to financial difficulties surrounding the EuroDisney project, the plan was cut drastically and plans were shelved until 1997.

A new Tomorrowland opened in 1998, loosely based on Disneyland Paris' Discoveryland, and loosely based on a "retro futurist" concept. In place of the slow-moving PeopleMover was the ill-fated Rocket Rods. Most of the rides remained the same, except for the removal of Circle-Vision 360, Captain EO, and Mission to Mars attraction theaters. The Rocket Jets were replaced by a similar attraction called the Astro Orbitor, placed at the entrance of the land, at ground level. The original Rocket Jets ride mechanism remained intact atop the Rocket Jets queue, converted into an unmanned show element dubbed the "Observatron". Two EPCOT attractions found their place in Tomorrowland, "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience!" & "Innoventions". The whole land, including Space Mountain, was painted in bronzes, golds, and dark browns, with emerald green trims on some attractions. Landscaping, with apparent vegetable plots being planted in some locations, made reference to "neo-agrarian" concepts.

The overhaul was unpopular among many fans, and its flagship new attraction, Rocket Rods, closed in September 2000 for financial and mechanical reasons. Many shops and restaurants opened, but few new attractions were built, in accordance with policies set by Paul Pressler and Cynthia Harriss mandating the expansion of retail space. The Rocket Rods building was left empty, paint peeled around the land, Space Mountain was in danger of track failure, and one by one, sponsors left Innoventions. The placement of the Astro-Orbitor led to congestion problems around the entrance of the area. The negative look of the land was commented by many Disney fans on online chat rooms and articles.

In late 2003, Matt Ouimet became president of the Disneyland Resort, and sought to change the negative trends. Space Mountain was closed for two full years, as the entire ride was refurbished and a new track was built. The empty Rocket Rods queue, the old Circle-Vision theater, was converted into "Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters", a new version of the popular attraction at the Tokyo & Florida Disney Resorts.

In February 2005, Walt Disney Imagineering approved a repaint of Tomorrowland for the Happiest Homecoming on Earth fiftieth anniversary celebration. The new paint scheme incorporates a mix of blue, white and silver while keeping a little of 1998's gold and bronze colors.

Most of Tomorrowland has been repainted and new plans are being considered for the land. Rumors on some Disney-related internet forums have been abuzz over a new film for Star Tours and a retheming of Autopia to Pixar's film "Cars". In 2007, Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage will open along with a new monorail system. There are also plans for a return of the Rocket Jets to their original location, and a new Peoplemover.

Current attractions include the popular Space Mountain, which opened in 1977, closed in 2003 and reopened in 2005 with rebuilt track and new effects; and Star Tours, a futuristic Star Wars ride created as a collaboration between George Lucas and Disney Imagineers.

Attractions

The Magic Kingdom

The Magic Kingdom's Tomorrowland, as seen from the Swiss Family Treehouse.
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The Magic Kingdom's Tomorrowland, as seen from the Swiss Family Treehouse.

Planetary adornment atop the Astro Orbiter
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Planetary adornment atop the Astro Orbiter

See also: List of current Magic Kingdom attractions

The second Tomorrowland opened with a much larger budget in 1971 at The Magic Kingdom park in the Walt Disney World Resort, Florida. The new Tomorrowland was built much closer to Walt Disney's vision.

Some of the most popular Disney park attractions premiered here, such as Space Mountain which opened in 1975 and is now part of every Tomorrowland around the world. Some classic Tomorrowland attractions which have closed in Disneyland still live on at the Magic Kingdom: the PeopleMover is here under the name of the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, and the Carousel of Progress was moved here from California.

This Tomorrowland's color scheme is predominantly white with soft blues.

Attractions

Closed Attractions

Tokyo Disneyland

At Tokyo Disneyland, the Imagineers set out to create an urban Tomorrowland, much more like a working community than a showcase of future technology. The rides are much more technology-specific, and effects are much more expensive, due to a much larger budget from The Oriental Land Company. Many see the Tokyo Disneyland Tomorrowland as the definitive representation of Walt Disney's vision.

The paint scheme of the Tomorrowland at Tokyo Disneyland is also mostly white.

Attractions

Closed Attractions

Disneyland Park, Paris

Disneyland Resort Paris realizes Tomorrowland with an entirely new concept, Discoveryland. European culture was used distinctively in the park and Discoveryland uses the ideas of famed European thinkers and explorers, with Jules Verne featured most prominently.

Architecturally designed using Jules Verne's vision of the future as inspiration, the land is laid out very differently. The major Tomorrowland classics are there, such as Autopia and Star Tours, but Space Mountain is significantly changed. Originally conceived as "Discovery Mountain" it was to hold more than one attraction and a restaurant. But due to budget cuts, it was finished in 1995 as an improved version of the classic, but named Space Mountain: De la Terre à la Lune (From the earth to the moon).

Bordering the Space Mountain show building is Lake Nautilus, with a walk-through recreation of the Nautilus from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Also in Tomorrowland is Autopia and "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience". The showcase attraction on opening day was a Circle-Vision 360 film, titled Le Visionarium. The attraction featured two time-travelling robots that take Jules Verne into the world of the today, which was the future he dreamed and came true.

Parts of Discoveryland have been heavily inspired by the abandoned Disneyland expansion concept, Discovery Bay, which was to have sat on the north bay of the Rivers of America in the Californian park.

Space Mountain was completely refurbished in 2005 for the Happiest Celebration on Earth event, with a new soundtrack and special effects. Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast opened April 8, 2006, in the former building of the Le Visionarium attraction, which closed in September 2004.

Attractions

Hong Kong Disneyland

Concept artwork for Hong Kong Disneyland's Tomorrowland
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Concept artwork for Hong Kong Disneyland's Tomorrowland

Hong Kong Disneyland opened in 2005 with its own version of Tomorrowland. According to Bill Ernest, the executive vice president and managing director of Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, three new attractions will be built and opened at Tomorrowland in Summer 2006.

Attractions


The themed lands of a Magic Kingdom-style park:
Main Street, U.S.A. | Fantasyland | Tomorrowland | Frontierland | Adventureland
New Orleans Square | Liberty Square | Mickey's Toontown | Critter Country

 

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