Wednesday, May 27, 1998
Revamped Tomorrowland conjures imaginative future
AMUSEMENT: New rides, family-friendly ambiance draws on classic
notions
By Mike Prevatt
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
More often than not, thoughts of Disneyland bring forth
nostalgia and excitement for most of us, even as the park tries to
reinvent itself for the 21st century. Lucky for us, the people
behind the Disney mystique have mastered the balancing act.
On Friday, Disneyland unveiled to the fantasy-hungry public the
newly renovated Tomorrowland, one of eight themed areas that
comprise 85 acres in Anaheim. Destined to be the hottest attraction
of the year among theme parks, the new Tomorrowland sheds the ’60s
retro look for a colorful, inviting atmosphere, featuring
redesigned older rides and innovative newer ones.
The first new major attraction since 1995’s highly successful
Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye thrill ride, the
new Tomorrowland expresses the whimsical, family-friendly Disney
style and applies it to everything from the rides and restaurants
to the architecture and landscaping. Every square inch of the
themed area that borders Fantasyland and Main Street USA reflects
this unique take on the future, making each visitor fully take in
the environment without being overwhelmed or distracted.
Above and beyond the quest to find the right mood and rides for
the land was the notion of engaging the imagination of the millions
of guests visiting the "Happiest Place on Earth."
What makes the dazzling new Tomorrowland unique is its emphasis
on the positive aspects of the future. Rather than adopting ideas
and images from such apocalyptic, bleaker cultural references as
"Blade Runner" and "1984," Disney Imagineers looked to combine
elements that reflected a more inspiring picture of the coming
centuries, familiar to generations before us. As a result,
Tomorrowland relies on the past to look to the future.
One of the biggest challenges of Tomorrowland was to "create a
design that didn’t become ‘Yesterdayland,’" project director and
Imagineer Bruce Gordon states. "We came up with a classic design
that borrows from the Jules Verne era, a little H.G. Wells and all
the way back to Leonardo Da Vinci. It is, in itself, a new way to
look at the future but is based on timeless, classic elements that
we think will not date (it). … (Tomorrowland) will stay fresh for
a long time."
Of course, Disney doesn’t expect millions of people to fork over
$38 a head to look at architecture. No doubt the main draw here
will be the Rocket Rods thrill ride, futuristic drag racers that
zoom around the mile-long track in three minutes that the old
PeopleMover took 16 minutes to glide over. Guests in line first
watch a short film on the future of transportation and speed in
"Circle-Vision" format, waiting to board the 28 vehicles which seat
five at a time in single-file formation, make pop wheelies and
careen around tight curves. It is Disneyland’s fastest ride to
date.
Setting the mood at the themed land’s entrance, the
Astro-Orbitor takes the place of the old Rocket Jets attraction
that used to reside above the PeopleMover boarding station. With a
design that hearkens back to pre-Enlightenment notions of the
universe and space travel, 12 "orbitors" spin around planets and
constellations for a minute-and-a-half, offering an experience
that’s still akin to those boring carnival rides we rode as
children.
Also taking the place of an older attraction, this time the old
"Carousel of Progress" revolving theater that long ago featured
"America Sings," is Innoventions, a multi-story, multi-sensory
exhibit much like those featured in Florida’s EPCOT theme park at
Disney World. Guests listen to Tom Morrow, an "audio-animatronic"
figure that introduces on-lookers to the world of tomorrow through
the ideas of the past and presents lighthearted presentations of
how up-and-coming technologies will be made more efficient and
available to all people. Guests also get hands-on experience with
yet-to-be-released technology that reinforces the idea of a fun,
more positive future.
Replacing the Michael Jackson "Captain EO" 3-D attraction in the
Magic Eye Theater is "Honey I Shrunk the Audience," a wildly
entertaining experience which combines a funny 3-D film with
in-theater special effects. Guests find themselves screaming and
squirming as a science experiment goes amok, giving the impression
through a moving floor that the audience has indeed been shrunk. To
say anything more would spoil the numerous surprises featured here
(wear shorts, folks).
All the remaining, older rides in Tomorrowland get a face-lift.
Space Mountain added a trippy, Radiohead-goes-B-52’s-like
soundtrack for passengers of a couple years back, and now the
classic Disneyland roller coaster is enclosed in a spire-marked
building covered in a green and copper color scheme.
And it doesn’t stop there. A maze-like, interactive fountain
aims to delight kids and soak hot summer tourists in the hub of
Tomorrowland. Just above the fountain is the towering,
satellite-like "Observatron," which moves every half-hour to a
music track.
Indeed, old and new attractions alike seem to follow with Walt
Disney’s own visionary ambition that embraced creativity, wonder
and newer technologies. Even with years of experience, the Walt
Disney Imagineers and the seemingly tireless ride engineers who
have perfected the art of the escapist theme park have found
themselves awestruck with the goal of continuously topping
themselves.
"Keeping up with the future is always a daunting task," Paul
Pressler, president of the Disneyland Resort, admits. "But we’ve
got lots of great ideas, and as Walt had always said, ‘Disneyland
won’t be complete as long as there are ideas and imaginations
left.’ So we’ll constantly be adding new shows, new attractions and
new excitement to Tomorrowland as time goes on."
To take reinventing themselves and properly representing the
world of tomorrow to a new amusement park extreme, Disney
landscapers replaced typical plants and trees with agriculture and
vegetation that actually grow among twirling rockets and speeding
cars. Guests are encouraged to touch and smell the "agrifuture"
which further perpetuates the notion of a warm, inviting
future.
"Generally, the images we’ve seen of the future are very devoid
of landscape and any greenery," says Julie Bush, Imagineering
landscape architect. "What we’ve done here is brought agricultural
landscape to the forefront. We really wanted to highlight the
beauty of fruit trees, vegetables, herbs and show that the land is
precious."
In the end, the massive crew that managed, designed and built
the eye candy that is 1998’s Tomorrowland found a way to give
Disneyland patrons something totally different than what’s offered
at the other, "bigger-is-better"-oriented amusement parks, and
that’s exactly what guests expect of Disney.
"I think people need reassurance, and that’s really what we’ve
offered here at the park," says John Hench, creative development
consultant, "by creating an environment totally unlike other
environments. … When they come through the front gates, they come
to a new place that is absolutely unique."
THEME PARK: Disneyland, open 365 days a year, is located off the
Harbor exit on Interstate 5 in Anaheim. One-day passports are $38.
Operating hours vary. To verify, call (213) 626-8605, ext.
4565.
Courtesy of Disneyland
Using the former "Peoplemover" track as a raceway, "Rocket Pods"
is the fastest and longest thrill attraction at Disneyland.
Courtesy of Disneyland
A pair of "astronauts" spin around the "AstroOrbitor," a da
Vinci-inspired mobile of planets and spheres.