The toughest part of growing old is not being aware of the subtle changes taking place everyday. One day we wake up to wonder where those grey hairs came from or when we managed to put on the extra weight. And I won’t go into the angst of the sudden appearance of crow’s feet around the eyes, as I’m sure you get the idea.
Sometimes our busy lifestyles prevent us from doing a daily personal inventory. Thus the subtle changes go unnoticed until the inevitable arrival of that fateful day when we find ourselves saying, “When did this happen?”
I sort of had that kind of a revelation last October. On that solo trip to Walt Disney World I had set aside two days to do some in-depth park studies. These are days best spent adopting a slug touring approach to each park and slowing down and taking in as much as possible. It’s not a time to squeeze in as many attractions as possible but a time to stop and smell the roses.
So for those two days, I visited all four parks and did my thing—and I noticed something in both the Magic Kingdom and Epcot. One would think that this observation should have been made a long time ago, but let’s chalk this up to the subtle changes over the last 36 years.
Strolling through these two parks, I became a bit melancholy and thought about the early days of these parks, about how they were marketed and what they offered to their guests when their turnstiles started welcoming guests.
While making my rounds, I couldn’t help but notice how certain areas of these two theme parks evolved—more specifically, Magic Kingdom’s Tomorrowland and Epcot’s Future World—and how their monikers have become misnomers. In this session let me share with you my views on why.
Tomorrowland or Timelessland?
When Walt Disney World opened in 1971, the only theme park waiting for guests was the Magic Kingdom. The park had the castle as its hub, which was surrounded by Main Street USA, Adventureland, Frontierland, Liberty Square, Fantasyland, and Tomorrowland.
On March 9, 1955 Walt Disney aired the first television program on Tomorrowland. It featured “Man in Space” and as Tomorrowland was unveiled, we were told that this Magic Kingdom land was to bring us “the promise of things to come.”
Since 1971, Orlando’s Tomorrowland has been home to well over a dozen attractions. The question is whether or not these were appropriately placed, given the name of the land and its charter of “the promise of things to come.”
Circlevision 360 AKA America the Beautiful was our first exposure to “Nine Eyes” showing us the beauty of the continental United States. It gave new meaning to the term “theater in the round.” The first time I experienced Circlevision, I thought, “OK, this is new technology being showcased here so it fits in Tomorrowland.”
America the Beautiful gave way to Timekeeper. I guess the premise here is that the future holds the potential for time travel. We had a futuristic host and were also introduced to Nine Eyes itself. This attraction surely belonged in Tomorrowland.
The Carrousel of Progress was first introduced to us at the 1964 World’s Fair. The various scenes depicting the progress of electricity over the course of the 20th Century was both entertaining and educational. Still, looking back in the 1970s when I first saw that final scene has made me think that I’m not seeing the promise of things to come tomorrow, but what’s here today. While attending Carrousel of Progress last October, I also made the observation that over the last few decades as they have adjusted the final scene of the show, the Imagineers have also widened the technological leap between that final scene and the one before it; yet never providing us with a look at tomorrow. I know we all love Carrousel of Progress, but it’s historical and contemporary—somehow it doesn’t seem to fit.
If you do have a few of those aforementioned gray hairs then you probably remember If You Had Wings?, Delta Dreamflight, and Takeflight. These attractions focused on air travel and to my recollection were mostly contemporary in content, so the connection to the Tomorrowland charter was very loose.
Tomorrowland was also home to Flight to the Moon and Mission to Mars. These attractions were both very simple and made an attempt to simulate how it would feel to go into space. That honor now holds with Mission: Space in Epcot. Still, those two attractions were definitely focused on the future and thus were viable candidates for Tomorrowland.
For all its well-received criticism, Alien Encounter did make you feel like you were in a science fiction movie that depicted a futuristic technology that transferred molecules across the vastness of space. You could make an argument for this attraction to be in the perfect home. The fictional technology could be fact someday. Chalk this attraction up to the viable candidate column, too.
Skyway to Tomorrowland probably has no place in this discussion. I’m still not sure what that was doing in Tomorrowland, but it was an obvious carryover from its Disneyland cousin.
To this day, I have never really accepted the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway as an appropriate attraction for the Magic Kingdom, much less Tomorrowland. In the last 30-plus years, I’ve experienced this attraction twice. I hope those cars aren’t the promise of things to come.
Now you can make a case for the Star Jets that eventually evolved into Astro Orbiter. It’s a simple ride, but hey, the theme goes along with space travel, so this attraction gets a pass.
The WEDway People Mover known today as the Tomorrowland Transit Authority also gets a free pass because it seemed like an innovative way for people to get around, and I kept thinking that in the future we’d see transportation systems adopting this technology.
Oops. I almost forgot the granddaddy of them all: Space Mountain. OK, so it’s a roller coaster ride in space. I get it. Remember going through Space Mountain and seeing the Home of Future Living and RYCA 1 Dream of a New World? The first time I saw that, I immediately wondered how often that attraction would require eventual updating.
Obviously it would be a challenge for the Imagineers to constantly populate Tomorrowland with attractions that hold a “promise of things to come.” Somewhere, it finally dawned on them that it would be virtually impossible to continue holding the premise that Tomorrowland will offer a look into the future.
Might I suggest that Tomorrowland can best be now called Timelessland? Instead of offering a “…promise of things to come” it now offers a “…promise of things for fun.”
Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin is not a look into the future. It’s a timeless attraction. This attraction is all about having fun, and you could say it’s Walt Disney World’s first life-sized video game. When we join Buzz to combat Zurg it’s 2007, not 2700. You can’t argue with its popularity. Timeless video games usually are popular.
It’s no secret that many people just don’t care for Stitch’s Great Escape. I’m one of them. But this attraction has also taken on the timeless label. Our boy Stitch comes from outer space and not the future. However, unlike Buzz’s attraction, this one leaves a lot to be desired.
How about the new Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor Comedy Club? This attraction smacks of the same technology seen at Turtle Talk in Epcot’s Living Seas and does not look to the future. It, too, is a timeless attraction that offers fun through guest interaction. Thumbs up.
Over the years, Tomorrowland has changed… it’s now Timelessland, and interestingly enough, the timelessness of these attractions seems to make them more enjoyable.
There’s nothing wrong with these subtle changes. It just seems odd to walk into Tomorrowland and realize that the attractions are evolving from the original charter of the land into timeless attractions. I think it’s a good thing, however, because it adds longevity to these attractions—something I’m sure the Imagineers welcome.
Discovery World?
Some years back, there was some rambling about the possibility of Epcot’s Future World being rededicated and renamed. The word was that the retooling of Future World would result in it being renamed Discovery World. You could argue that from the beginning, Future World seemed to struggle with its name.
As Future World’s attractions changed it made sense to change its moniker. As with Magic Kingdom’s Tomorrowland the attractions soon began to take on a timeless theme.
At best, the Living Seas pavilion could have represented the future home of humans. I guess we can go off on a tangent and link in global warming into the discussion. This pavilion has evolved into a fun place for children. Turtle Talk and The Living Seas with Nemo and Friends has helped young guests discover the world of oceans around us and not the future.
The Land has served a wee bit as a look into the future with the Living with the Land attraction, but that’s it. The arrival of Soarin’ has changed the way some guests look at this pavilion. It’s more fun than ever before, but there’s no talk of the future here.
Journey into Imagination seemed to be a pavilion that was best put together to entertain. Only Captain EO had a hint of a futuristic theme. The Honey I Shrunk the Audience, at best, offers a possible glimpse into futuristic technology but its entertainment first.
Ellen’s Universe, formerly The Universe of Energy, addresses the past and present and barely addresses the future regarding energy resources. It’s enjoyable because it helps the guests discover the different resources of energy.
One attraction that did embody the Future World theme was Horizons. There were many aspects of Horizons that made it a perfect resident for Future World. It delivered entertainment and also a glimpse into the future and the technology that was just around the corner. To this day I hold that Horizons should have been one of those legacy attractions that would always seem at home in Future World.
Mission: Space, which replaced Horizons, is no doubt a suitable resident of Future World as it does simulate space travel, something that we all expect will be commonplace well into the future. It is one of the few present attractions that can justify the Future World moniker.
Test Track is a thrill ride, but I’m not sure if I can give it a pass as an appropriate attraction to reside in Future World. It’s sort of Epcot’s answer to the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway.
If any pavilion could have justified the renaming of Future World to Discovery Land, it was the Wonders of Life Pavilion, starting from The Making of Me to Cranium Command to even Body Wars. To this day I remain sad that this wonderful pavilion has seen its last days.
We finish at Spaceship Earth. Spaceship Earth takes us on a journey through communication and it has and will offer insight into the future of communication. It certainly remains as a solid citizen of Future World.
It does seem obvious to me however, that renaming Future World into Discovery World would work. A young family visiting Epcot for the first time would in fact discover much about energy, space, communication, flying, gardening, the oceans, and imagination.
Future World is more about learning what’s going on in today’s world than in the world of the future. The evidence is in the attractions.The future is discussed superficially but the present is greatly attended to and that’s what makes it so easy to…
…remember the magic.
Next Time
It’s sold out! Why? What is it about MagicMeets that makes them so popular? We’ll take a look next time.
