ShoalFox
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- Yes
At least it's not Disneyland Paris where one can smoke anywhere!
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Tomorrowland's Future
- Thread starter jt04
- Start date
George Lucas on a Bench
Well-Known Member
And drink booze in the Magic Kingdom! Awesome! There needs to be a trip in my future where I get drunk and do Phantom Manor over and over.
Phantom Mickey
Active Member
I have to agree about the then " EPCOT Center" parks early years. The park had been running a few years before I actually did get to go to the park and it was still fresh and new. Though EPCOT Center failed at anything that Walt had dreamed of his Progress City, it attempted to bring light entertainment along with an educational value in a safe park.
... EPCOT Center was a fresh Original design and the music was fabulous. I still remember the music/sound you would hear in the afternoon as you walked from one pavillion to the next. and wouldn't you know you can't find that type of Disney ambient music/sound.... The attractions had an "EduTainment" feel and the park had a different design to anything I'd seen before. Most of it has changed today and even though I know that the EduTainment format did not go over all that well with the guests, I enjoyed it and I really miss seeing those original attractions. If you remember the original music score to Journey to Imagination, not the one they played in the 1st and 2nd redo of Journey, the feeling is so much different. It was true of all the early attractions and Universe of Energy's sound sticks in my mind. I also remember and miss the pavillion ICONS that were used throughout EPCOT Center. The signs pointing you to various attractions had that ICON and the name of the pavillion. There were so many little touches then that seemed to have gone away. I wonder if they still have the talking water fountain.....
... They must have thought Florida would be warm all the time because the buildings had a more open build to them, the entrances were more of a wide open space, no wall, and you would just walk right on in. Today walls have been built and doors added but again, the memory is fond, lol. I still remember WORLD KEY, an ATT sponsored Video Phone system that connected you to a cast member for assistance with anything at the resort.
... Yes, I think the magic has cooled down as EPCOT Center has had a change to thrill rides through theming. Truthfully, I don't think the new changes give that warm and friendly feeling as much as the old EduTainment style attractions had a more personal feeling where the new attractions offer a fast thrill adventure. They did try to capture your imagination and attempted to keep updating to what they thought the guest would be attracted to.
Phantom Mickey
Active Member
It seems that Walts TOMORROWLAND has faded. It sort of went away when they stopped upgrading and enhancing Tomorrowland. Walt said that Tomorrowland would never stop changing and would continue to change and offer a glimpse at the future. Well, Without Walt, it did stop. Now it is going to represent attractions that represent futuristic venues, cartoons and shows. Thus the random mix of architechure and themes.
... I always thought Walts ideas and plans worked but Walt would always tweek them to keep them interesting for the Guest. These days, once an idea is taken from paper and built, that is what you get unless it really does not work, then they may tweek it a bit otherwise, you get what was built. The one ride that Seemed to fit with Tomorrowland was the people mover. The version at WDW is a very different powered mode compared to what was used at DL. Why the ppl mover at DL ended can most likely be traced to its high maintenance motorsystem that was built into the tracks. Yet it seems the existing track is still usable? Ah, just thinking out loud. It could be structurally compromised after the ROCKET RODS raced around on them.
We do seem to miss the older things, but they seemed so much better, didn't they?
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George Lucas on a Bench
Well-Known Member
The status of Tomorrowland is why I kind of hate current Disney management. So many people defend the company and point out that "Walt would've been okay with this" and that Disney is keeping the park relevant and remaining true to Walt's vision. But Tomorrowland is a disaster and is completely opposite what it was intended to be. Why even keep the name? It's a bunch of cartoons and space wars and remains of defunct attractions. It has nothing to do with what the plaque says.
D
Deleted member 107043
I agree with you, but this is hardly reason to hate current Disney management. The people running the place today inherited a concept that was flawed from its inception, and from what I can tell there's never been anyone at WDI with the talent to deliver on Walt's promise or commit to keeping TL's content more than a step ahead of current technology. Of course management should be doing more, a lot more, to tell a cohesive story, but let's not pretend that TL has ever fully lived up to what it was intended to be.
Curious Constance
Well-Known Member
Plus for the past 15 years there has been tremendous growth and updates to the DLR. They can't do everything at once. And every dime they put into the park you can bet will be passed on to the ticket/AP buyers, so I'm okay with updates made slowly over time.
Sure they could have updated it at some point, but what is there motivation for doing it right away? The place is always hopping and over crowded as it is. I'm sure they don't have a lot of motivation to do anything when it's one of the most popular places in the park.
I have no real numbers to back this up, but I'm guessing that the Tomorrowland Terrace (forget what it's called now, the Galactic Grill?) is probably one of the biggest revenue drivers of the resort in terms of food. And the Star Wars store (forget what that's called too) I bet is one of the biggest money makers in terms of merchandise sales. That plus Star Tours, Space Mountain, Buzz, Nemo, Autopia all very popular attractions. I'm glad they're expanding (DTD, hotels, Carsland, Star Wars Land) before focusing on Tomorrowland.
Sure they could have updated it at some point, but what is there motivation for doing it right away? The place is always hopping and over crowded as it is. I'm sure they don't have a lot of motivation to do anything when it's one of the most popular places in the park.
I have no real numbers to back this up, but I'm guessing that the Tomorrowland Terrace (forget what it's called now, the Galactic Grill?) is probably one of the biggest revenue drivers of the resort in terms of food. And the Star Wars store (forget what that's called too) I bet is one of the biggest money makers in terms of merchandise sales. That plus Star Tours, Space Mountain, Buzz, Nemo, Autopia all very popular attractions. I'm glad they're expanding (DTD, hotels, Carsland, Star Wars Land) before focusing on Tomorrowland.
Phantom Mickey
Active Member
I try to not place blame on the top tier management, but they are not keeping up with the parks, uh, Resorts, whatever they are calling them today. It is visible to all of us.
At one point, DLR TOMORROWLAND was effectively closed. They may as well have put up the shutters and ask Guests to enjoy the other Lands. There were strings in the forums that were just one bad news story after the other. Wasnt' this Pre MK VII Monorail? The MK V's were breaking down a lot. I don't have a lot of info on that, I just read a blurb about it.
AND, with Disney being so secretive about EVERYTHING, you never know the real reason why things are closed or removed from the attraction ring. I had questioned why Horizons building was not kept for the new attraction Mission Space. They standard answer is that Mission space was too big for the original Horizons building. Satelite images show this is not the case as the MS building is considerably smaller. Many rumours had gone around as to why and one had to do with the ride stressing the building framework. Maybe. Another stated they were having a problem with the roof support system and yet another saying the building had structural problems. All rumour. Horizons allegedly cost 60 million bucks to build so you can bet Dis was going to do anything possible to restore the building stability, right? So the final rumor, and this was backed up by satelite photo, was after Horizons was totally dismantled, there was a sinkhole under the building. Consider this rumour as well.
There are probably a lot of reasons why Dis does not say anything, probably more legal reasons than not. But it would be great to be able to get some info from the horses mouth.
I guess you can rationalize it by saying the place is always hopping and is absolutely over crowded. But it would be interesting to see how they figure they need to raise the ticket prices for a day in the park. Especially when so many attractions are shut down permanently, on top of the ones shut down for "refreshing"..... As for over crowded, I'd bet in the past most of the people were guests that returned yearly or more. TODAY, you are going to see a lot more foreign visitors with states guests visiting much less than they used to.
The motivation is supposed to be the guests experience and I am sure raising ticket prices yearly if not twice a year, really helps the guests experience with attractions closed.
The hot new attractions seems to be what is being banked on with the popular attractions following in second place.
dweezil78
Well-Known Member
Totally true. Even looking at WDW's Tomorrowland, which many would say was pretty solid -- one of the oldest extinct rides many of us fanboys (and fangirls) point to as missing the most is literally a moving commercial for EASTERN AIRLINES in which you move around in an omnimover from screen to screen (yes, screens!!) and see clips of various tropical destinations. How futuristic!!!
TP2000
Well-Known Member
You do have wings, let Eastern be your wings.
Phroobar
Well-Known Member
My guess is Tron will be coming to Disneyland soon no matter how poorly the movie did. I believe they need to open SWL to add capacity before closing Tomorrowland reducing capacity. Then some new things can be added to that area. How much of a pain will it be to close everything but Star Tours and Space Mountain? There would be a thin corridor of walls to Space Mountain that would be packed with people. It would be a mess.
Curious Constance
Well-Known Member
I know I saw a picture recently of Bob Iger riding Shanghai's Tron ride and appeared to be having lots of fun.. Maybe it's a good sign that we can possibly get a Tron ride over here in our Tomorrowland?
George Lucas on a Bench
Well-Known Member
You mean Delta Dreamflight? That was awesome!
SeaCastle
Well-Known Member
What really strikes me about Tomorrowland is just how much wasted space there is. The southern section of the land is dominated by Space Mountain and is surrounded by empty corridors and showspaces. Innoventions is a huge showbuilding for what it is (a convention hall) on fairly prime real estate. In terms of revenue per square foot of park, I really can't imagine Tomorrowland limping along much longer in its current state.
dweezil78
Well-Known Member
Nope, I mean it's precursor, Easter Airline's "If You Had Wings!' Dreamflight was awesome too though!!
D
Deleted member 107043
Curious Constance
Well-Known Member
He has an Iger Pass which states explicitly on the front of the ticket that you have to be the head honcho of Disney AND handsome as a to use.