Full confession mode: I used to love Disneyland's incredible Tomorrowland. Not so much anymore. Now, it's nice to look at (the Matterhorn Bobsleds against the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage Lagoon), but aside from Space Mountain, I just kind of move on. My favorite era was the 1967 version of the land, fresh with Adventure Thru Inner Space, PeopleMover, and the Carousel of Progress.
At opening, Imagineer Herb Ryman created several different pieces of concept art for the entrance to the Land of the Future. The one above was not chosen, but it still has value as a piece representing a Disney History when looking to the future was still in vogue.
Now that Epcot Center is fully abandoning its origins of a forward thinking Future World, and the castle parks' Tomorrowland has become an excuse for attractions based on animated movies which took place in the future, these renderings provide a look back to what once was. A time when Disneyland was more than just a theme park, when it also highlighted a hopeful future for mankind and a world where we would truly see progress. Unfortunately, as politics and human nature proves, this hopeful future on earth is a thing of the past. We are selfish and broken at our core (this author included), and we need a savior- one to forgive us, set us free from an awful eternity apart from God, and one to give us hope. Even Walt Disney couldn't create that!
(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)
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