I'm thinking about all the rumors we're hearing about Tomorrowland at both WDW and DLR getting a big makeover. I'd like to know what "Tomorrowland" means to you and what it should mean, in terms of mission statement and guiding principles (two project management terms that are used in business to keep a project from going off the rails and losing its intended identity). I have a small business that I've run for over 30 years now and one year I worked with a brand manager to help me keep my focus and we create the whole mission statement/guiding principles and it was a fun process that really helped me. I think it could help TDO and TDA too.
For me, "Tomorrowland" currently has lost its way because it's a hodgepodge of things that don't really go well together. There's Star Wars, which I like at DLR with Star Tours...but then there's Buzz Lightyear and Stitch, which are also space characters but I just don't like them all that much. I don't think the architecture in Tomorrowland looks very "Tomorrow" at this point...and instead think it looks like old public transportation or airport buildings (reminds me a lot of LAX actually, which my niece and nephew always comment on when we fly to LA to go to DLR).
Adventureland is, to me, about going deep into jungles and exploring things that are exotic (and I think it does a good job of that). Frontierland is excellent of giving the feel of the old west. Fantasyland is very much fantastical and engages my family with enchanting fairy tales. But Tomorrowland as it exists right now is junky. I rarely, if ever, hear anyone say it is their favorite "Land".
How can TDO and TDA change that?
I think by starting with a new mission statement for Tomorrowland that would be something like:
Tomorrowland will be the part of the park that wows you with technology and robotic gizmos and gadgets that take into a world powered by electronic marvels that are an idealized version of an even more technologically advanced world than what we live in now.
I think some good guiding principles for Tomorrowland would be:
* Tomorrowland's buildings will look polished and sleek, cleaner and more elegant than buildings in the "real world".
* All of Tomorrowland's attractions will have at their core the idea that technology is like magic and can take people to places they never dreamed possible in the past
* Optimism should pervade Tomorrowland and it should feel like the most optimistic, cleanest, and most vibrant and pulsing area of the park
* Tomorrowland is the place where computers and technology make guests feel like anything is possible and inspire them to imagine what other new wonders the future will hold
* Tomorrowland's attraction will make real things we can only imagine today, like going to other planets, traveling through time, shrinking down to microscopic size, etc.
In my opinion, the Speedway and Autopia need to be eliminated because there is nothing less futuristic than fume-spewing gas powered Go-Karts. DHS and DCA could have new additions with Cars-themed Go-Karts for people who want their kids to feel like they are driving for the first time. The land reclaimed from the Go-Kart tracks would be used to create at least one new E-ticket ride in both MK and DL.
I'd love to see the following rides/attractions added to Tomorrowland, either in land reclaimed from the Go-Karts or from reconfiguring other spaces in both parks' Tomorrowlands:
* Alien Zoo Dark Ride -- using omnimovers, taking you through an alien zoo that shows you what life could look like on other planets
* Cruise Through the Solar System Restaurant -- a restaurant that is themed to be a starship that takes guests past the planets of our solar system and beyond. It would use the technology that Disney Cruise Ships use for the lounges that have views of other cities in the "windows"; guests would be able to look "outside" the ship and see the stars and planets as the "ship" cruises along during their meal. I envision this as a sit-down, table service restaurant that is nice but not terribly expensive though it could also be a counter service place
* Time Travel E-ticket -- rocket back through a few periods of Earth's history to see life at the beginning of time and through the dinosaur era, into Ice Age, and then into the distance future to show how Earth will look a million years from now
* Shrinking Ride -- an E-ticket that zaps you in size so that you buzz around like you are minuscule in size and takes you through insect life and then microscopic life
I know that Meet the Robinsons was not a big hit for Disney, but the characters from that movie are fun. I would not mind seeing them in Tomorrowland. Sitch could be a meet and greet character but I would like him to escape his Great Escape and have that ride repurposed. Buzz Lightyear should stick with Woody in a Pixar Land somewhere (though, I wouldn't really mind Buzz if he was a face character and not a furry...and would like Woody in Frontierland if he was a face character).
Currently, after we ride Space Mountain my family wants to get out of Tomorrowland as fast as possible because we think it looks junky and there's nothing we want to do besides Space Mountain (though I enjoy Carousel of Progress at MK, I think this attraction should somehow be part of Main Street for some reason as I think it fits better there).
I'd love a Tomorrowland that gets my family excited and has so many cool things that they don't want to leave Tomorrowland and go elsewhere. I'd also love it if going to Tomorrowland made my niece and nephew badger me with questions the rest of the day because they are so excited thinking about all the possibilities of tomorrow. Right now, they get deflated going to Tomorrowland in its current state and I'd like to see them pumped up with optimism and curiosity after leaving Tomorrowland instead.
What do YOU think Tomorrowland's mission should be and what guiding principles do you think Disney should adopt (think of them as "the rules that keep Tomorrowland on track") to make this a reality?
For me, "Tomorrowland" currently has lost its way because it's a hodgepodge of things that don't really go well together. There's Star Wars, which I like at DLR with Star Tours...but then there's Buzz Lightyear and Stitch, which are also space characters but I just don't like them all that much. I don't think the architecture in Tomorrowland looks very "Tomorrow" at this point...and instead think it looks like old public transportation or airport buildings (reminds me a lot of LAX actually, which my niece and nephew always comment on when we fly to LA to go to DLR).
Adventureland is, to me, about going deep into jungles and exploring things that are exotic (and I think it does a good job of that). Frontierland is excellent of giving the feel of the old west. Fantasyland is very much fantastical and engages my family with enchanting fairy tales. But Tomorrowland as it exists right now is junky. I rarely, if ever, hear anyone say it is their favorite "Land".
How can TDO and TDA change that?
I think by starting with a new mission statement for Tomorrowland that would be something like:
Tomorrowland will be the part of the park that wows you with technology and robotic gizmos and gadgets that take into a world powered by electronic marvels that are an idealized version of an even more technologically advanced world than what we live in now.
I think some good guiding principles for Tomorrowland would be:
* Tomorrowland's buildings will look polished and sleek, cleaner and more elegant than buildings in the "real world".
* All of Tomorrowland's attractions will have at their core the idea that technology is like magic and can take people to places they never dreamed possible in the past
* Optimism should pervade Tomorrowland and it should feel like the most optimistic, cleanest, and most vibrant and pulsing area of the park
* Tomorrowland is the place where computers and technology make guests feel like anything is possible and inspire them to imagine what other new wonders the future will hold
* Tomorrowland's attraction will make real things we can only imagine today, like going to other planets, traveling through time, shrinking down to microscopic size, etc.
In my opinion, the Speedway and Autopia need to be eliminated because there is nothing less futuristic than fume-spewing gas powered Go-Karts. DHS and DCA could have new additions with Cars-themed Go-Karts for people who want their kids to feel like they are driving for the first time. The land reclaimed from the Go-Kart tracks would be used to create at least one new E-ticket ride in both MK and DL.
I'd love to see the following rides/attractions added to Tomorrowland, either in land reclaimed from the Go-Karts or from reconfiguring other spaces in both parks' Tomorrowlands:
* Alien Zoo Dark Ride -- using omnimovers, taking you through an alien zoo that shows you what life could look like on other planets
* Cruise Through the Solar System Restaurant -- a restaurant that is themed to be a starship that takes guests past the planets of our solar system and beyond. It would use the technology that Disney Cruise Ships use for the lounges that have views of other cities in the "windows"; guests would be able to look "outside" the ship and see the stars and planets as the "ship" cruises along during their meal. I envision this as a sit-down, table service restaurant that is nice but not terribly expensive though it could also be a counter service place
* Time Travel E-ticket -- rocket back through a few periods of Earth's history to see life at the beginning of time and through the dinosaur era, into Ice Age, and then into the distance future to show how Earth will look a million years from now
* Shrinking Ride -- an E-ticket that zaps you in size so that you buzz around like you are minuscule in size and takes you through insect life and then microscopic life
I know that Meet the Robinsons was not a big hit for Disney, but the characters from that movie are fun. I would not mind seeing them in Tomorrowland. Sitch could be a meet and greet character but I would like him to escape his Great Escape and have that ride repurposed. Buzz Lightyear should stick with Woody in a Pixar Land somewhere (though, I wouldn't really mind Buzz if he was a face character and not a furry...and would like Woody in Frontierland if he was a face character).
Currently, after we ride Space Mountain my family wants to get out of Tomorrowland as fast as possible because we think it looks junky and there's nothing we want to do besides Space Mountain (though I enjoy Carousel of Progress at MK, I think this attraction should somehow be part of Main Street for some reason as I think it fits better there).
I'd love a Tomorrowland that gets my family excited and has so many cool things that they don't want to leave Tomorrowland and go elsewhere. I'd also love it if going to Tomorrowland made my niece and nephew badger me with questions the rest of the day because they are so excited thinking about all the possibilities of tomorrow. Right now, they get deflated going to Tomorrowland in its current state and I'd like to see them pumped up with optimism and curiosity after leaving Tomorrowland instead.
What do YOU think Tomorrowland's mission should be and what guiding principles do you think Disney should adopt (think of them as "the rules that keep Tomorrowland on track") to make this a reality?
