How Do You Solve A Problem Like Tomorrowland?

Ah, Tomorrowland. The fifth land of Disneyland. Designed to celebrate the future, or the endless potential of the future. A celebration of space travel, changing technology, and human ingenuity. The only problem is that “tomorrow” has a tendency to become “today”. Tomorrowland, in virtually all of the Disneyland parks, has been a bit of a problem child. Its theming always becomes outdated or stale in comparison to actual technology. Disney’s talented Imagineers were always playing catch up.

 

Nowadays, Disneyland’s Tomorrowland is a mismatch of weird theming and lost concepts, while the Magic Kingdom’s is a dumping ground for IPs and broken themes. Each Tomorrowland is different from the other, but mostly suffer from the same problems of what they are trying to represent. In the 1990s, the Imagineers had plans to stop trying to catch up with the times, and instead just planned to go with their guts and make a timeless Tomorrow for each resort. But, these plans didn’t exactly come to fruition as intended.

 

How do you solve a problem like Tomorrowland? Well, let’s take a look at the growth and changes at Disneyland’s Tomorrowland and see if we can find some answers to its troubles.

Disneyland’s Tomorrowland was nearly left on the cutting room floor during its construction. Walt Disney ordered the east side of the park to be left unmade, and Tomorrowland would be built in a second phase of construction. However, he changed his mind, and Tomorrowland opened with the rest of the park in 1955.

 

Back then, Tomorrowland was quite simple, and mostly served as a place for corporate sponsors to show off their products through attractions. Walt did turn to his business buddies to help finance and support the park, so it makes sense they got something out of it. Still, Tomorrowland also celebrated the future – The Monsanto House of the Future actually showed off technology of the future, and Rocket to the Moon celebrated the idea of space travel and flying to the Moon, which would actually happen nearly fifteen years later. An impressive exhibition showed off 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was also on display, reflecting Walt’s admiration for Jules Verne.

 

Many of the buildings in Tomorrowland were sleek, white, futuristic, and immortalised that style of architecture associated with the American futurism of the 1950s and 1960s. It was the time of the Space Age after all. Shortly into the future, America’s first monorail appeared in Disneyland. By 1967, Walt was gone, and the technology represented in Tomorrowland was outdated. New Tomorrowland was born, the land redesigned from the ground up. The white buildings and futuristic design would define this incarnation of the land. Shanghai Disneyland’s version looks a lot like New Tomorrowland.

 

Creating an idealistic optimism about what the future could hold, New Tomorrowland introduced the Rocket Jets, the iconic PeopleMover, Adventures Thru Inner Space, and the Carousel of Progress (which was introduced at the 1964 New York’s World Fair). Everything in the land was constantly in motion, and never before at Tomorrowland been so innovative. Or at least probably until Space Mountain showed up.

 

Over in Florida, Walt Disney World opened with its own Tomorrowland. While it had the same themes as Disneyland, it was its own creature. The entrance was marked by huge waterfalls. Several attractions like the Carousel of Progress and Flight to the Moon were brought over to the Magic Kingdom, though Flight to the Moon was reimagined as Mission to Mars, since trips to the Moon had now actually happened. And, then, Space Mountain opened in 1975 at the Magic Kingdom, remaining the most popular attraction at both American theme parks. Its Disneyland counterpart opened two years later.

 

Disney had surprisingly been able to predict the future quite well. They predicted a flight to the Moon, and Autopia could even be seen as the development of highways and the popularity of cars and driving. But, by the 1980s, Tomorrowland had been left behind again. Their tomorrow was now today and yesterday. The likes of Star Wars and Blade Runner had created a darker, grimy, industrial and gritty image of the future within the public mind. After Walt’s death, Disney fell into a creative pit and couldn’t quite capture their lost spark. They did not embrace the change in audiences, and made harmless family friendly films for a long time. They did eventually make experimental teen films like The Black Hole and TRON, but Star Wars had come and gone by then.

 

Disney faced a dilemma – either update Tomorrowland(s) again to keep up with the times, or do something different. By now, Tokyo Disneyland had arrived with a Tomorrowland similar to its American cousins. 

Then, Disneyland Paris opened in 1992. The European take on Tomorrowland was wonderfully different. Headed by Tony Baxter, Discoveryland honoured not the current idea of the future, but fictional, retro-futures imagined by the likes of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and Leonard da Vinci. It had a huge steampunk variation of Space Mountain based upon From the Earth to the Moon. The Nautilus submarine was parked in the lagoon. The spinning Astro Orbitor was more 18^th century than Space Age. Though, the theming was never 100%, due to the presence of Star Tours, and later Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters.

A lot of Discoveryland’s ideas came from Tony Baxter’s sadly unfulfilled creation of Discovery Bay, set in a turn-of-the-century San Francisco, which was imagined as the centrepoint for a technological revolution – a place of submarines, hot air balloons, airships, time machines, volcanoes, and impressive glass towers. Of course, the land once considered for Discovery Bay is now being used to create Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

 

What makes Discoveryland a success was its timelessness. It did not try to capture the modern day take on the future, but rather a historical interpretation of steam and iron. This inspired Imagineers to do the same to Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom – to create timeless versions of Tomorrowland that would never need to be changed to keep up with modernity. They designed Tomorrowland 2055.

 

In short, Tomorrowland 2055 was to be an intergalactic alien spaceport. Sure, it’s a more out-there, fictional concept, but still marks Tomorrowland with a timeless design. It was to be a living, breathing place where aliens and space travellers lived, worked, and played. Sounds kinda like what is planned for Galaxy’s Edge. A second floor was to have been built on Tomorrowland’s show buildings, marked with metallic bridges and transport. Space Mountain, Star Tours, and The Timekeeper (Discoveryland’s Le Visionarium) would be main attractions. The disused Carousel Theatre would host an intergalactic revue of performing aliens.

 

 

Over in the Magic Kingdom, the terrifying Alien Encounter opened, serving as an anchor point for the new Tomorrowland, and would also appear in Disneyland once its own transformation was complete. Alien Encounter’s story was based around scientists from an institute called X-S, who captured and imprisoned dangerous extraterrestrials. The ride involved one such alien being showed off to the guests. It breaks out of its teleportation tube, everything goes to hell, children scarred for life, etc. Even the new night-time parade, Lightkeepers, was going to be out of this world.

It sounded like quite the wonderful concept and another feat of Imagineering’s creative skills. Too bad it never saw the light of day. Why? Well, take three guesses. It’s starts with “Michael” and ends with “Eisner”. You know the drill by now. Michael Eisner was CEO of The Walt Disney Company, wanted to revive the theme parks, Disneyland Paris unexpectedly failed financially, and Eisner got cold feet and canned every major plan for every resort, including Tomorrowland 2055. He then became obsessed with cost cutting and saving every little penny, allowing the uncreative likes of Paul Pressler to practically suck Disneyland and Imagineering dry of any creativity. Disneyland is not a museum, and it is certainly not a shopping mall! This sort of braindead thinking led to the hollow creations of Disney’s California Adventure, and Walt Disney Studios Park.

 

Tomorrowland 2055, at both parks, were axed, whilst Eisner and Pressler made their pathetic excuse for a second gate at Disneyland. The Magic Kingdom’s new Tomorrowland was already halfway through construction, The Timekeeper and Alien Encounter making it to the finish line, along with a majority of the deco-tech, Buck Rogers-esque architecture. But, the intergalactic revue never appeared, so the 30-year old Carousel of Progress remained where it was, along with the original 1960s-inspired buildings from Tomorrowland’s opening day.

 

But, the storyline also remained in tact, with the PeopleMover serving as the fictional city’s transportation system. The X-S Tech institute was there too, showing off its teleportation tech and alien captives in the Tomorrowland Metropolitan Science Centre. Space Mountain’s canon name was the Intergalactic Space Port 77, accompanied by a video arcade posing as the city’s power plant. There was also Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café, and one restaurant has a large red rocket parked on the roof, actually a repurposed prop of the spaceship from Flight of the Navigator.

 

So, even though Eisner cancelled Tomorrowland 2055, at least Walt Disney World’s incarnation got some new changes. So, you have Discoveryland, reflecting a timeless imagining of the future from a past perspective, and the Magic Kingdom has an alien spaceport. Where did that leave Disneyland? It still needed a new Tomorrowland, but with zero budget, and Eisner stamping out Imagineering doing what they are paid to do, there was little options.

 

Disneyland’s Tomorrowland reopened in 1998, with inspiration taken from Discoveryland. But, without the money to actually redesign and rebuild the land, Imagineers were forced to paint everything in copper brown and bronze colours. Tomorrowland was going to take on a cheaper Discoveryland-like design, and the colours awkwardly clashed with the Space Age buildings. The Rocket Jets were gone, replaced with the Astro Orbitor, a direct copy of Discoveryland’s. Aside from that, little had changed. Alien Encounter never made it to Disneyland. Eisner deemed it too scary for Disney audiences, and the Magic Kingdom was eventually made extinct, replaced by the universally hated Stitch’s Great Escape.

 

The other new addition to Tomorrowland was a ride so infamous, it only lasted two years. The Rocket Rods replaced the closed PeopleMover, but its tech did not blend with the old of the PeopleMover. Its constant technical issues led to its quick, ungraceful closure. The Submarine Voyages also abruptly closed and were replaced with virtually nothing, until revived several years later with a Finding Nemo overlay.

 

So, the original Tomorrowland was painted an ugly brown, the closure of several iconic attractions, and the brief opening of a disastrous newcomer. The PeopleMover tracks still lie where they were abandoned, and no plans have been announced to either reopen the ride, or replace them. The land now had mismatched theming, one hell of a hideous paint job, and a lack of interesting attractions, and what remained were dated.

 

In 2003, Pressler was gone, replaced with Matt Ouimet. He strived to reverse the cost-cutting shenanigans that dominated the 1990s. Tomorrowland was amongst his goals to fix. The bronze colour scheme was gone, and Space Mountain closed for two years to give it an upgrade. A new paint job of blues, purples, and silvers dominated the land, and IP rides like Astro Blasters and the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage opened. Tomorrowland was back to life. But, now, as the years have gone by, Tomorrowland still has a bit of an identity problem.

The Magic Kingdom’s version has lost much of its alien spaceport theming. Alien Encounter closed, and more and more IP attractions have arrived. Now it plays host to Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., Lilo & Stitch, The Incredibles, Star Wars, and Marvel, and soon to be joined by the highly anticipated Tron Lightcycle Power Run from Shanghai Disneyland. Plus, there is the Carousel of Progress. So, what sort of theming is Tomorrowland supposed to convey?

Each Tomorrowland, including Discoveryland, has become a bit of a dumping ground for every Disney-related sci-fi property. And now that Star Wars is the big money bucket for Disney, it has practically dominated Tomorrowland, particularly with Season of the Force. But, when Galaxy’s Edge opens, what will happen to Tomorrowland? It may look suddenly empty. What becomes of Disneyland’s eastern land where science, technology, and the future are supposed to be celebrated. Maybe it is time to take it back to its roots.

 

It has been predicted that Star Tours may close in Disneyland’s Tomorrowland, and relocate to Galaxy’s Edge. The Season of the Force may move on too. It would make more sense to put all of the Star Wars related things into one location, instead of using Tomorrowland as a dumping ground.

 

Personally, if I were in charge of fixing Tomorrowland – or the original version anyway – I would do a bit of jiggery-pokery, and restore a modern but still universal theme of optimism and celebrating the potential of the future. Mostly around space travel, the growing evolution of robotics, and maybe even slip in a Big Hero 6 ride, since it celebrates the use of technology, and we may need a little presence of a familiar franchise to draw in the crowds.

However, I suspect that Disney will rely on their new trend of using IP to draw crowds, even if the characters don’t fit the surroundings or rest of the land. Tomorrowland will likely get new sci-fi based rides, likely based on the likes of The Incredibles, Wreck-It Ralph, Big Hero 6, and Marvel properties. 

But, there is always hope for the future.