Disneyland in Southern California has launched its long-anticipated voyage into imagination and beyond, with the recent announcement of its total renovation of Tomorrowland, one of the Park's eight themed lands.
Featured in the extensive project, due for completion in Spring 1998, is an exciting new-generation 3-D experience, a high-speed journey throughout the land upon rocket cars of the future, an interactive pavilion of technology and imagination, and a striking new landmark orbitor attraction at the land's entrance. In addition, Tomorrowland's building facades, guest areas and landscaping will be completely redesighed to resenble a classic future environment inspired by the vision of futurists like Jules Verne.
"Keeping Tomorrowland fresh and forward-looking represented a great challenge for Disneyland," explained Tony Baxter, senior vice president, creative development, for Walt Disney Imagineering. "We have met that challenge with a balanced desgn which takes advantage of classic Tomorrowland experiences, while introducing some new and innovative attractions and theming to the entire area. The result will be a themed land filled with excitement and kinetic energy."
In addition to the new attractions, Baxter noted, Tomorrowland guest favorites "Space Mountain" and "Star Tours" will be incorporated into the new project and will benefit from updated architectural designs and new guest experiences.
Upon entering Tomorrowland from the Disneyland Central Plaza, guests will be greeted by the land's new signature attraction: the "Astro Orbitor". With its colorful rockets circling a series of moving planets, the attraction sets the stage for the exploration of Tomorrowland. aoard the "Astro Orbitor," guests will pilot their own spaceships as they soar through a fantastic, animated "astronomical model" of planets and constellations.
Just behind the "Astro Orbitor," high-speed rocket vehicles will be roaring with tremendous speed down a ramp just above guests' heads. The rocket rods will follow the path of Tomorrowland's former "Peoplemover" attraction, but there the similarities between the two attractions end. Seating five passengers per vehicle and utilizing advanced motion actuating devices, the vehicles will reach speeds exceeding that of most roller coasters, and will provide a brathtaking journey over, around and through all to Tomorrowland.
"Star Tours," the popular journey through space to the planet of Endor, will remain a part of the new Tomorrowland, but its queue area will be redesigned and brought "indoors" to provide a fuller show experience for guests waiting to board their flights.
LIkewise, "Space Mountain," the turbulent roller-coaster experience through deep space, will also remain as one of Tomorrowland's main attractions. However, the recent addition of an on-board, computer-controlled audio track at each seat, now takes "Space Mountain" guests into an entirely new dimension in space travel. Also, as part of the re-desigon of Tomorrowland, "Space Mountain's" familiar white spires will be given an entirely new, futuristic color scheme of metallic greens and copper.
A spectacular new addition to Tomorrowland will be found in the former Magic Eye Theatre, which currently presents the 3-D film techniques with other state-of-the-art threatrical effects. The show includes such surprises as a floor whcich actually moves in coordinatio with the film. A first generation of the show is currently found at Epcot in Walt Disney World, and has proven extraordinarily popular among guests. During the show, Wayne Szalinski is presented an "Inventor of the Year" award from the Imagination Institute. But like in the movies, things go a bit awry during this hilarious show and the audience is ultimately "shrunk" by one of Szalinski's inventions.
Tomorrowland's landmark Carousel Theatre, which previously housed the former "Carousel Of Progress" and "America Sings" shows, will now be home to "Innoventions" a two-level interactive pavilion of near-future technology. Based on the popular new area at Epcot in Walt Disney World, the new Disneyland "Innoventions" takes advantage of the former Carousel Theatre's unique rotating theater base, as guests will board the slowly rotating building at various locations to receive introductions to a variety of show spaces. Once inside, guests will participate in many interactive presentations and enjoy a series of hands-on displays, shwcasing creative uses of tomorrow's technology. "Innoventions" will feature products and concepts from the world's leading industries, and will be divided into five main technology sections: Home, Entertainment, Workplace/Education, Recreation/Health, and Transportation. After enjoying the first interactive section of the attraction, guests will flow to a center atrium where they will ascend to the upper level concept presentations. The exit from "Innovations" will take guests down a sweeping ramp alongside the rotating building and through its marquee.
Near "Innoventions" is another new feature to Tomorrowland, a spectacular interactive fountain. Here, guests will interact with "waves" and "mazes" of water, shooting up from the ground in synchronized patterns. Children and teenagers will especially enjoy walking through, and playing in the cascading bursts of water.
Towering above the interactive fountain, and indeed, above all of Tomorrowland, will be a colorful, highly kinetic sculpture representing the imaginative world of tomorrow. Creative landscaping, including futuristic rock-work, will also be included in the new design and will add to the unique facades of the new land.
Go back to the top of this page
 HOME |
 | Please sign my guestbook |
Get your own Free Home Page
Send me some E-mail