The Sparkle of Disneyland's Tomorrowland 1967

The Submarine Voyage and the Peoplemover. What more can you say? Plenty! Add in the Carousel of Progress, the late and great Adventure Thru Inner Space and a refreshed entrance to Tomorrowland.  The year 1967 would remain one for the books in the annals of Disneyland history. 

Walt's park seemed better than ever under the guidance of those first generation Imagineers. And, boy, they were on a roll! It's a Small World was first, then Pirates of the Caribbean in the Spring of '67 and the Haunted Mansion a couple of years later. Let's not forget Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln coming hot off the World's Fair. 

Things would slow down for awhile, but as this photograph from the late and great Vintage Disneyland Tickets shows, the future was also moving at Disneyland- unless you look at Tomorrowland. That revision in 1998 was a dud- Rocket Rods aside-, and it was the last time that area of the park had even the slightest bit of cohesion. Will the Imagineering team bring a great new person of the future for the park's 75th Anniversary? Your guess is as good as mine!

(Photograph copyright Vintage Disneyland Tickets.)

1967 Disneyland Map

Want to see a Disneyland map with the Peoplemover, the Mine Train Thru Nature's Wonderland, the Skyway, and the Mike Fink Keelboats? Well, here it is! These long gone gems of Disneyland are right here on this 1967 map. Or is it "Fun map"? I never can remember. Regardless, the vintage, retro, very cool image is just the very bright and charming piece I wanted to show this Monday morning. With all the doom and gloom in the world, a little fun never hurt anyone. 

(Image copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow: Carousel of Progress Comes Home

Walt Disney and the New York World's Fair. What a combination! The success of the four Disney shows impacted the future of the Company in big ways. It's success paved the way for Walt Disney World, proving that regardless of the naysayers, East Coast audiences were not immune to the charms of Disney attractions. 

The World's Fair was also a boon to Disneyland as Walt and company had procured agreement with attraction sponsors that these experiences would find their way back to California once the fair was over. 

Imagineer Colin Campbell's beautiful concept art for this theater in the round Audio-Animatronic show represents the grand finale: a modern family living with all the latest technologies created by General Electric. (I've included this art in the biggest form possible- just click on it.) The attraction was so popular that it became the centerpiece of a brand new Tomorrowland. The beloved 1967 version that remains the best ever created for California. Along with the Peoplemover and Adventure Thru Inner Space, Disneyland's home of the future became a fresh and inspiring look at what life could be- something far beyond the disjointed, character-filled mess it is today.

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

The Disneyland Tomorrowland We Almost Got

I've never seen this piece of concept art for Disneyland before! A brand New Tomorrowland of EPCOT Center influence. It's one with smooth wide walkways of glistening white, multiple flags, elegant fountains, and streamlined curved wing roofs. Imagine a land on the move where the chain of cars in the Peoplemover are a variety of different colors instead of one individual color per train. Instead of a glowing Spaceship Earth, the Rocket Jets take center stage high above it all. Although I love her work, there wasn't a Mary Blair mural in sight. Very different than what was built, but both versions looked inviting. 

When those iconic Disney Imagineers of old began to dream up what could replace the pennant filled early and temporary land of the future, the final result was just astounding. It's true Disney park fans still speak of Adventure Thru Inner Space fondly, but it is so much more than nostalgia. This was a land of optimism and discovery! A living Carousel fo Progress. Under the watchful eye of Walt Disney who never got to see it open, the land was executed to perfection. How the Company that bears his name needs someone that visionary more than ever!

Tomorrowland 1967 at Disneyland remains the best version of the Land of the Future ever built in California! 

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

Rare Concept Art for Disneyland's 1967 Tomorrowland?

It took a visit to the Walt Disney Family Museum to see this piece of concept art! I had never seen this before, which was kind of a surprise as I am just a huge fan of the work created for Disneyland's 1967 re-envisioned Tomorrowland. The best of Disneyland's Land of the Future. Adventure Thru Inner Space? Check. Peoplemover? Check. Carousel of Progress? Check again. What a line up! 

This blog is stuffed with some of Imagineering's best renderings of it all. Say what you will about the newer attractions like Rise of the Resistance. They may be great, but they lack the charm, optimism, and innocence of an era where the future was seen as a great, big, beautiful, tomorrow.

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company. Photograph by Mark Taft.)

Rare 1967 Disneyland Painted Map

Here's a fresh and bright and charming 1967 map of Disneyland. It seemingly wasn't used much if at all as there are no labels or text, but it is full of vintage goodness. Used shortly after the opening of Pirates of the Caribbean that same year, the graphic design of the icons sparkle with life. 

It was during a season when Audio-Animatronics were new and exciting. Take a look at the prominence of Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln right at the hub, the Enchanted Tiki Room makes its splash on the map, and the beautiful clock tower of It's A Small World stands proudly behind the castle. Beyond those highlights, the beloved and iconic New Tomorrowland shows off the Peoplemover while older school attractions still have a place. From the Swiss Family Treehouse to the Matterhorn Bobsleds and the Jungle Cruise, Disney knew their market and that variety is the spice of life.

For all its many changes over the decades, "Walt's park" certainly remains just as astonishing as ever!

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

Disneyland Without Space Mountain?

Disneyland without Space Mountain? Don't be so sure it could not happen. Shanghai Disneyland opened with Tron Lightcycle Run in its place- and not a single person seems to have expressed outrage they did not get to ride one of Imagineering's iconic attractions. But that is exactly what happened in 1967. The plans were clearly in the works to add Space Mountain to the brand New Tomorrowland, and you can see it in this page from the Disneyland Guide book. The concept art is right there front and center. When the revision of the land did open, Adventure Thru Inner Space made its debut and Carousel of Progress opened up on the West Coast after a great response to the show at the World's Fair. The Peoplemover covered the land in style. There was excitement everywhere! Except Space Mountain would not make its debut. That had to come later. Much later. A decade in fact.

Love Space Mountain and want to learn more about its history? Check out this mega-post with all the history and concept art you could want!

The 1960's: The True Disney Decade at Disneyland

Disneyland's Tomorrowland 1967 was a world on the move, and this very rare and stunning piece of concept art for the Peoplemover shows exactly what the Imagineers planned. Noticeably missing is the Rocket Jets, but the rendering was meant to highlight the new mode of transportation. Even if the Peoplemover train was once only two cars long.

It's difficult to admit as a Disney theme park fan, but the 1960's were the ultimate peak decade for Walt Disney's original Magic Kingdom. That's 50 plus years ago! There were projects both small such as adding Snow White's grotto to those groundbreaking new technologies such as Audio-Animatronics first debuting in Adventureland's The Enchanted Tiki Room. This was only the beginning of a wonderfully fruitful and innovative season!

Then toss in It's a Small World into Fantasyland straight from the 1964 World's Fair, a fan favorite that's still delighting kids of all ages. Next up was New Orleans Square, quickly followed by what park fans still refer to as the best example of Disney Imagineering: Pirates of the Caribbean. 

A brand new Tomorrowland followed, updating the land and bringing it into the future: Adventure Thru Inner Space took us into the atom while the legendary Carousel of Progress gave us a humorous look backward and forward. The Monorail and Skyway had new competition with the super popular Wedway Peoplemover providing yet another way for guests to get an overview of the land and its attractions.

The Real Disney Decade ended in 1969 with the long awaited Haunted Mansion on the banks of the Rivers of America. So many iconic attractions first came into being during the real Disney Decade. All under Walt's direction and leadership- when giving guests more than they expected was the mantra. 

Never again would Disney leadership give guests such an amazing decade for Disneyland Park. As good as it will be, I sincerely doubt the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge is the beginning of another amazing decade, even 50 years later.

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

Miracles from Molecules Indeed

Isn't this a beauty? Perhaps you've seen this in person or maybe you weren't fortunate enough to personally ride Disneyland's iconic attraction Adventure Thru Inner Space. And this great piece of concept art is only a look at the exit platform of the journey. Yes, the exit. Hard to believe. (Click on it in order to see it in a very, very large size.)

With no question, Tomorrowland 1967 was the best incarnation of the land. 

Everything before- and certainly everything after- pales in comparison to what Walt Disney and his Imagineers put together. As with Pirates of the Caribbean, the genius didn't get to see this at opening. Individual attractions may have been terrific since, thinking Space Mountain here, but the sum of the whole was never better than what guests found in the Spring of '67. Toss in the eye catching Peoplemover and the Carousel of Progress, and you've got the core of an incredible land on the move. 

Perhaps when Star Tours goes by the wayside after Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge opens, the suits can let the space it occupies revert to something far better- by looking backward as they look forward.

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.) 

Behold the Theme Park Sphere

Love Epcot? Me, too. There's just so much creativity and charm mixed in with all that positive, forward focused thinking. That said, the park's iconic centerpiece, Spaceship Earth, is far from an original thought.

The top photo of Expo 1967- Montreal (from Imagineering Disney) reveals those amazing Disney Imagineers were not the first to recognize and adapt the power and style of the sphere as an icon. Nor would it be the last.

Europa Park, Germany (photographer unknown)

Epcot's landmark sphere was copied almost directly at Europa Park in Germany. Opening in 1989, only a few years after Disney's park, this slightly shorter building houses the Eurosat coaster. Hmm. A coaster fully enclosed in the dark.

Time Racers to replace Spaceship Earth.

Where have we heard that? Oh yes, it was part of the Imagineer's planned redesign for Spaceship Earth, a coaster called Time Racers, back when Future World was to become Discoveryland. As you can see, designers gain inspiration from each other. It really works both ways.

Futurescope, Paris, France (photographer unknown)

Just a few hundred miles west in Paris, another theme park sphere shows up. Futurescope, celebrating the power and influence of film, also uses the mighty sphere to make a powerful statement. No metallic triangles, but just as striking with its smooth exterior. The use of the sphere is not limited to Europe, however.

World Energy Expo 2017, Astana, Kazakhstan

Here's a new sphere in the theme park / exposition landscape. On the other side of the world in Kazakhstan, Central Asia's largest sphere will debut this year as the centerpiece building of the World Energy Expo in Astana. The concept art above appears to present a transparent structure- certainly a first.

1964 World's Fair, New York, USA

Let's close out our brief look at the theme park sphere with three lovely if not fully realized parks. Directly above, the 1964 New York World's Fair's 12 story Unisphere. Any Disney park fan with a small bit of knowledge of the company's history knows this World's Fair hosted a multitude of Disney attractions. Everything from It's A Small World to the Carousel of Progress. With President Lincoln and dinosaurs in between. The success of the Disney attractions paved the way for the decision to build Walt Disney World.

EPCOT Center 1981, Orlando, USA

The next theme park sphere holds a very special place in my heart. Epcot's Spaceship Earth. Not only is it an absolutely stunning piece of architecture, it reminds me of the very first brand new Disney park my wife and I ever toured together. We'd been married just a year when we first visited. And my very first glance of it was from the monorail just shortly before park closing. A beautiful, balmy Florida evening in late March 1983. Our future looked as bright as the park did. (Over time, we have fared much better than the park!)

One last theme park sphere to explore.

Proposed Westcot, Anaheim, USA (unbuilt)

The unbuilt Westcot. This was what Disney promised and never delivered as Anaheim's second park. A grander refreshed version of Epcot for the West Coast. Would have loved it! Instead, we got California Adventure 1.0 to satisfy the massive Disney fan base. (There was even a version of Epcot proposed for France, but that's for another story.) Speaking of Westcot, I'm reminded I still need to finish that story...

(Disney artwork copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

Tomorrowland 1966 Map

This is an absolute kick! Picture if you will what Disneyland's world of the future looked like prior to the grand opening of the incredible 1967 revisioning. Tomorrowland was quite a spectacular blend of the "now" and the future that would be. The beloved and often malfunctioning Flying Saucers was found here, as was the Matterhorn Bobsleds, which flipped back and forth over the years between being in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. 

A closer look reveals two Autopias, the Douglas Rocket to the Moon, plus a few free exhibits. It is interesting to note that ticket designations are not found on this page. It's something they would add later, making even easier for guests to use the guidebook land by land and decide how to spend those precious coupons.

The most interesting fact of all to be noticed is that the buildings which form the basic entrance of Tomorrowland have remained in place since the opening in 1955. From Monsanto's original Hall of Chemistry on to Adventure Thru Inner Space to Star Tours v1 and v2, the building structures have endured. Same story across the way with the space moving from its early use onto America the Beautiful to the entry for Rocket Rods and now Buzz Lightyear's home. 

Count me in the group that says it's time to totally re-Imagineer the land. What would you design for it?

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

Herb Ryman's Wedway PeopleMover

Imagineer Herb Ryman is best known in the "Disney World" for creating some of the most beautiful pieces of concept art. His work for Disneyland's New Orleans Square among his most loved creations. His art for EPCOT Center is just breathtaking! A quick search on this blog will reward you with some gorgeous pieces!

Herb was also known for his pen and ink sketches. Seemingly without much effort, he could turn out a concept that would surprise and delight. Look at this PeopleMover inspired art for Disneyland's 1967 Tomorrowland. It's a pretty good glimpse as to what was going to open, isn't it? If you look even closer, you'll find the artistic touch that sets his work apart from more modern day Imagineering concepts.  The PeopleMover cars themselves are emblazoned with a stylized "Wedway" on the exterior. A brilliant move that would not come to be but a lovely little touch nonetheless. 

In our current world, in this writer's opinion, Imagineers rely too heavily on their computers to generate the art used to sell or promote an idea. There are exceptions, but it is pretty rare. The human touch full of personality cannot be replaced. Furthermore, the popular trend of incorporating photographs of humans into the art is just lazy as well as ugly. It's art to depict parking lots. Oh for the days where great concepts were envisioned and great artists brought them to life!

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

WED Imagineering Announces Tomorrowland 1967

At a then staggering cost of $23 Million, WED Imagineering, the design arm of Disneyland, announced the July 2 opening of the New Tomorrowland 1967. 

Only in Disneyland's "World on the Move" could you journey in a submarine, explore the inner workings of a snow flake by going into a microscope, soar to the Moon, and experience transportation systems of tomorrow. 

Tomorrowland 1967 was a huge success. And it came on the heels of New Orleans Square with The Pirates of the Caribbean. Just a couple of years later, Imagineering would debut The Haunted Mansion. It was a great time to be a park fan- back when there were new, major attractions added every two or three years at the most. Back when Disneyland was the cutting edge theme park. In the day when Walt's philosophy guided the investors and company accountants and not the other way around.

(Image from Phil Sears.)

Alien Encounter of a Different Kind

Were you lucky enough to experience Alien Encounter at Walt Disney World before its disappeared? It only lasted a fun ten years, but Did you know plans were almost approved to add this thrilling and scary (but very fun!) attraction to the line-up at Disneyland? It's true.

Here's a piece of Imagineering's concept art to prove it. 

Tomorrowland circa 1967 was a world on the move. With innovative attractions and transportation systems on and above the ground, it was the place to be seen- and to be watched. But time made sure this park's Tomorrowland started looking to much like todayland. This attraction was to be one of the stars of the renewed "Tomorrowland 2055". 

Why didn't the scary show make the cut? Two main events: the over budget Disneyland Paris and parent feedback from the frightening attraction already built at Florida's Magic Kingdom. Cold feet and lack of cash meant this alien would stay foreign to Disneyland - for good.

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

Tomorrowland 1967- World on the Move

It was a great big beautiful tomorrow, a true world on the move, when Disneyland's wonderful brand New Tomorrowland debuted in 1967. The beautifulCarousel of Progress promised all would look bright as we looked forward with General Electric, giving us an optimistic future. Disney gave us a very different one than what we see today in California or the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. When you look at the current state of Tomorrowland, it's a thematic mess. Calling Iron Man Tony Stark. Calling Tron, calling someone...

(Concept art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

When the Future was Forward Thinking

What was it about the 1967 version of Disneyland's Tomorrowland that inspired so many? If you look at this piece of Imagineering concept art, you'll catch a small glimpse and begin to understand the passion of those older Disney park fans that saw this version in real time.

Here is the McDonnell Douglas sponsored Flight to the Moon adventure, a prominent first version of the Peoplemover, and off to the far right, a freshly rendered version of Space Mountain. Much like Epcot's original version of Future World, the future has never seemed so thrilling, hopeful and inviting!

What do we have today? Potential- but little representation of what is to come. Buzz Lightyear (My favorite space ranger!) and Nemo take up prime property, the space flight to other planets is now a restaurant, tracks from the Peoplemover sit waiting for something to come, with all of it housed in an architectural environment consisting of a mish mash of styles and outdated 80's concepts.

Myabe this last visit to Disneyland and California Adventure reignited my passion to see Tomorrowland return to its glory days. Or my mid-February visit to Walt Disney World and its sci-fi version in the Magic Kingdom. If nothing else, both reminded me what the Walt Disney Company can achieve when they put their mind to it- and what they don't when they focus first on synergy and cross-marketing.

Let's keep looking forward as we continue our explorations of Tomorrowland on Monday mornings.

(Concept art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)