Tomorrowland has always been one of the fascinating areas of a Disney park to armchair Imagineer. With so many different distinct iterations to draw inspiration from and a fairly loose theme the possibilities are infinite. So as a creative exercise I began Reimagining some of the Tomorrowlands I’m most familiar with, Starting with Disneyland.
The Objectives
The land is strongly rooted in the style of 1960’s futurism with some more modern touches like vibrant colored lighting.
What is Unchanged
To Begin with I want to mention what I didn’t drastically alter.
The Objectives
- Add a New Headliner to the West side of the park
- Downsize the land to enable a Fantasyland expansion
- Add Modern and Relevant Disney Sci-Fi franchises
- Declutter the land (Remove no longer relevant pieces of theming and structures)
- Remain family oriented
The land is strongly rooted in the style of 1960’s futurism with some more modern touches like vibrant colored lighting.
What is Unchanged
To Begin with I want to mention what I didn’t drastically alter.
- Star Tours
Star Tours while not a groundbreaking attraction anymore is still a fun crowd pleasing part of the Disneyland lineup. It helps that it also has received and will continue to receive updates to tie into modern media which makes it a dynamic attraction that could be seasonally altered to draw in locals Like Haunted Mansion Holiday and Soarin’.
- Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
Buzz is also a crowd pleasing ride that also has the benefit of being a high capacity attraction with no height requirement. With the removal of other attractions in the land without a height requirement I found it important to keep at least Buzz up and running. Alas, there aren’t really any family franchises that could fit the mold of a Buzz Lightyear replacement. I could see a Fantastic Four attraction being added here depending on the success of the new film but for now Buzz stays.
- Space Mountain
Space Mountain is a classic Disneyland attraction and my only updates to the attraction are to help with the circulation of the land. Firstly The entrance is relocated to the former Starcade where the majority of the queue will now take place indoors. The current queue for Space Mountain reminds me of a dead mall and I don’t care for the way the entrance is tucked way in the back behind the Pizza Joint. This solution alleviates all those concern.
What’s New
- Avatar: Flight of Passage
It makes sense to me to bring the insanely popular attraction from Animal Kingdom to Disneyland Avatar is one of the companies biggest franchises and Flight of Passage is already a proven success. While the main show would be the same there would be some changes made to make the experience fit better in Tomorrowland. The queue takes place in the Tomorrowland Botanical Gardens which is hosting an exhibit on the flora of Pandora. The structure that encloses this queue is a glass prism structure inspired by the ones that Tony Baxter had been trying to bring to Disneyland since the mid 70’s. This allows for all the fun glowing plants to be brought to Disneyalnd without the need to commit to a whole Pandora land. After completing the exhibit guests are invited by the Alpha Centuri Expeditions company to link with an avatar already on the moon of Pandora and ride a banshee without having to take the 9 year journey to the moon (this is all explained in a new pre-show). The ride then exits into a gift shop/ counter service dining location that would be the hub of Avatar merchandise at the resort.
- TRON Lightcycle Circuit
TRON Lightcycle Circuit is a modern interpretation of the classic derby racers flat ride. Underneath a glowing canopy guests of all ages are invited to board a Lightcycle and race one another In this faster paced carousel attraction while music from the TRON Legacy soundtrack plays.
- Tomorrowland Theater
A large up air theater venue replaces the barely used MagicEye theater. This would allow for flexible entertainment offerings that could draw in the local crowd much like the shows held at the American Gardens Theater at EPCOT.
- Astro Orbiter
Astro Orbitor is relocated to the back of the land rather than contesting up the entryway to the land. The bronze and gold color scheme is replaced by the more modern look of the jet pack spinner from Shanghai Disneyland. The Rockets return to their White and red retro glory in order to match the model rocket next door.
- Disneyland Monorail
The Disneyland Monorail is drastically altered. Firstly it is rerouted through the center of the land before proceeding around the Buzz Lightyear building and then into the new station. Sending the Monorail through the main artery of the land restores some of the kinetics lost by the removal of the People-Mover. The new Monorail station is built out on a pier over the submarine lagoon. Secondly the track is shortened to no longer proceed around the Matterhorn or the area that was formerly home to the Autopia.
- Moonliner Lounge
The Moonliner Lounge is the new quick service location for the land replacing the former Alien Pizza Planet. Outside the entrance is a restored full scale Moonliner Rocket like the one that was in Tomorrowland on opening day in 1955.
