Magic Kingdom Attraction Posters: The Tomorrowland Collection

An Introduction: Don't you just love Disney attraction posters? I do, and I have several in our home, reminding me of many visits to the parks over the years. When the internet first came around, I began searching for them. It became somewhat of a hobby to find as many as I could. The opening of the first Disney Gallery and Store and later, the option to print on demand was a boon to this ongoing quest.

Several years ago, 2011 to be precise, I first published my collection of Disneyland's iconic attraction posters, land by land, beginning with Main Street. I continued gathering these images from many, many, sources from all over the world, including auction sites and those from the great Daveland blog. But an unexpected source brought in the largest number of the pieces I had seen.

After years of searching, I was sent missing posters from my good friend (and eventually this blog's additional author) Len Yokoyama. He had gathered them from a variety of official Disney documents covering many of the parks in the ever growing Disney park universe. Upon looking at them and what I already had collected, I was astounded. I had amassed just about everything I'd wondered and heard about- and soon after, the first post appeared on the Insights blog. I had no idea this series would become so popular. (Look here.)

Naturally, I began to think about doing the same for the other Disney resorts, beginning with Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. This was more of a challenge as 1- There are fewer attraction posters created, and 2- There did not seem to be as much interest in parks beyond Walt's original.

That was, until The Walt Disney Company put together its own book, Poster Art of the Disney Parks. Covering all the Disney Parks, it is a magnificent work of love that included its own tear out poster at the end of the final chapter.

One last note as I begin this series of attraction posters in the Magic Kingdom: Over time, as I found with the Disneyland group, I keep discovering more to add, so look back every once in awhile. You may discover something new. Enjoy!
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Eastern Airlines sponsored If You Had Wings.

Tomorrowland is first. Unlike the collection for Disneyland, I have the largest number of attraction posters for this area of the Florida park. That is in direct contrast to what happened opening day when this area had so few actual attractions to enjoy!

In 1971, the beautiful Magic Kingdom finally opened its doors to guests in the midst of The Walt Disney World resort complex in Florida. The massive undertaking of building, essentially, the real EPCOT- a full city and vacation complex- placed a huge financial strain on the company. Much like Disneyland's realm of the future, the new Tomorrowland had to open with minimal attractions. With time and budget coming into play, many concepts for attraction posters came from Walt's California park.

Lots of clean up needed on this one!

A revision of the Disneyland original.

The Grand Prix Raceway was here, thrilling young kids and their parents who got to watch them drive. It sat on a huge piece of land as drivers didn't cruise by the landscape single file. No, this was an actual race between drivers. A nice twist on the original Autopia in California. Worthy of two posters.

Circle-Vision 360 was here as well, with America the Beautiful giving audiences a lovely tour of the country. Filmed attractions from the Magic Kingdom would prove to be popular inspirations for EPCOT Center, which would open a decade later. The attraction poster was a copy of the same one on the West Coast. 

American Journeys would update the original. Later, Magic Carpet 'Round the World replaced the American film. 

I have never found that poster, so the one above is actually from Tokyo Disneyland. I'm confident in time that one will surface.

Direct from Disneyland.

A version of the Flight to the Moon and the Skyway to Fantasyland rounded out the roster. (Unlike the first kingdom, there would be no train station in the land of the future.) I do not know if there was a poster created for Flight or not. Maybe you can tell me as I have never been able to get a clear answer to that question.

About nine months after the grand opening, the Eastern Airlines sponsored fan favorite If You Had Wings opened. Although this addition helped fill out time spent there, it was a massive addition to the area in 1975 that changed the face of Tomorrowland going forward. It was also one of the few attractions here that existed with two changes in sponsorship, new names, and significant re-Imagineering.

Decades late, this would appear.

In addition to the iconic roller coaster in the dark, the high flying AstroJets came into view on the skyline, and a few months later, the WEDWay Peoplemover began its grand tour of Tomorrowland.

 

Two variations.

As I wrote about in this article, eventually Tomorrowland needed an overhaul. With new attractions and a new aesthetic, a this beautiful poster arrived on the scene showing off the land's alien inspired elegance. 

This Timekeeper poster was taken from my 1999 photo.

I enhanced as best I could for this article.

The Timekeeper, starring Robin Williams as the friendly robot that takes you through history, had a poster within the land to advertise an exhibit at the "Tomorrowland Metropolis Science Center". Because the poster was located within the land and was part of the story, no "branded" official attraction poster exists. 

I would certainly love to find a better looking attraction poster for the out-of-the-box ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter, but as far as I know, one does not exist. This is the best one out there.

Probably the best place for this attraction poster.

I'd like to end this article with three posters from Greg Maletic. As you can see below, even though they were unofficial at the time, these are beautiful pieces of art celebrating Tomorrowland, Space Mountain, and the long-gone but beloved attraction, If You Had Wings (had wings, had wings, had wings... Sorry, couldn't resist).

                                               

Mr. Maletic's love of Disney attraction posters eventually propelled him to create his own. As a result, Greg was hired on by Disney to create beautiful posters for Hong Kong Disneyland and California Adventure. 

That's it for today. Keep your eyes open for the next chapter in the attraction poster saga!

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

Will the Jungle Cruise Movie Affect the Park Attractions?

Take one part Indiana Jones and a classic Disney attraction, The Jungle Cruise, and turn it into a movie. This looks like the best of both worlds! Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt star in what could be a very fun summer blockbuster. The poster is terrific!

The logo is darned cool!

What will happen to the classic Disney attractions if the movie is a smash? You can bet the IP loving suits will ass some changes to the rides just as they eventually did with Pirates of the Caribbean when Johnny Depp turned the ride into a cash printing movie franchise. 

The Jungle Cruise was planned for the Paris park.

Pending the success of the film, especially if it is successful in the  international markets, will pave the way for an Adventureland expansion in Disneyland Paris. As you can see from the early promotional map above, the Jungle Cruise was once intended for the French park. Alongside a glimmering (or should I say grimy?) new Indiana Jones Adventure - also planned- the cruise would pack a powerful punch and bring crowds to a largely neglected area of the park.

The boat bears somewhat of a resemblance...

On the home front, both the Magic Kingdom version and the older, original, Disneyland version could benefit from higher grade Audio-Animatronics as a fresh storyline. It's not as if Walt's park hasn't seen changes made to this ride over the decades. It certainly has! I say if the changes are subtle and fun, adding a new bit of thrill, count me in.

Greg Maletic's beautiful interpretation of an Indy attraction

with a Jungle Cruise sort of flavor.

Are you ready for a new Jungle Cruise?

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

WEDWAY Peoplemover Attraction Poster for Florida

Disney attraction posters. Who doesn't love them? Certainly they are a hit as many people create their own. Some good, some bad, some great (like those created by Greg Maletic). 

Here's an official one created by Disney Imagineering for the Magic Kingdom's beloved and enduring WEDWAY Peoplemover. It's a family favorite. An attraction that's a must do several times on every visit to Walt Disney World's Tomorrowland. Long lost at Disneyland and the envy of fans of classic Walt Disney inspired Imagineering. You know, the era from opening of his magical park in 1955 to his very unfortunate passing approximately ten years later. The era of Pirates of the Caribbean, New Tomorrowland, It's A Small World, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, and so much more. 

Folks viewing the Insights blog love my Disneyland Attraction poster series! But until I can get it together and do one for Walt's Florida kingdom, here's a retro look at a great attraction and a pretty good poster as well!

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

Disneyland Attraction Posters: The Main Street U.S.A. Collection

Note: Today, I want to re-introduce a new series- Disney Theme Park Attraction Posters. It's part history lesson, part art project, and 100% fun!

The park's posters are fine works of art, and they set a tone for the guests' Disneyland experience as to what adventures lie ahead. They also represent the amount of care Walt Disney and his Imagineers took to set apart this theme park from the many local fairs and carnivals before it. 

I want to thank the various sources from which I have collected these over the years. Some come from the incredible Daveland blog- a very fine source for current and retro Disneyland history, photography and other fun tidbits, some "unofficial artwork" from Greg Maletic, and some from many others- including scans and photographs by me and others. Thank you to everyone involved in documenting these!

As you view these posters, you'll notice changes in colors, names of attractions, and even multiple posters for the same attraction. I am hoping the blog posts will be "living" in the sense that you the readers would feel free to send me any new ones or better scans that you may find. Lastly, have fun! This project has been growing over many years- and it has been a blast!

The Disneyland series is complete. That is, until a new attraction poster comes along. Feel free to look around the blog for more.

When I get the drive to do it, I'm going to put together a series on Walt Disney World attraction posters. It's already being worked on, and I'm looking for the infamous Haunted Mansion poster in good form. If you happen to have a great scan of it, send it my way... 
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As Walt Disney and his team were planning Disneyland, they instinctively knew this was going to be a different type of park. How could they communicate to the public what they would see in it? Of course, television played a huge role in sharing the vision and the details.

With a plan for the park to be defined by the railroad tracks, it was only natural that the Main Street U.S.A. train station would be at the park's entrance. It would have two tunnels in which to pull guests from the front of the turnstiles into Main Street, one on the left and one on the right. Inside these tunnels, the Imagineering team proudly created posters advertising the attractions.

Over the years, the attractions would also be found in front of the park along the fences and over park benches as guests found seating alongside the main entrance. It's only fitting that we begin this look at the attraction posters by starting with the ones first encountered by the earliest guests- the ones for Main Street U.S.A.

Although the Grand Canyon Diorama was a very small part of the route, this poster did a magnificent job of communicating the grandeur and beauty to be found by guests making the full circle tour on the trains.

Primeval World would come later and provide even more thrills.

It's difficult to tell which color scheme of the attraction poster was actually used. Either way, the artist's use of colors not normally associated with railroading and bold imagery created a stunning representation! The beautifully intricate version at the top of this post came many years later, communicating the elegance of Disneyland's railroad in an entirely different way than earlier versions.

The Disneyland Railroad continues on as a major fan favorite. It is so revered among fans, that the attraction was celebrated along with the Centennial celebration of the United States of America in 1997. The poster above is quite beautiful, don't you agree? Here's another one:

(This one is new to the collection, added in 2019 as a recent find.)

The Horse Drawn Streetcars have their own poster, an ode to an old-fashioned form of transportation dow Main Street U.S.A. In contrast to the others, the background remains as a blue-lined sketch. It's quite nice, isn't it?

The Red Wagon Inn restaurant was the predecessor to the beautiful Plaza Inn and operated by that name until the mid 1960s. Again, the colors in these two posters are slightly different.

Arguably the greatest attraction found on Main Street U.S.A., Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln was quickly recognized as a masterpiece of engineering, artistic accomplishment, and exquisite storytelling. 

Over the years, multiple versions of attraction posters appeared to advertise this most patriotic celebration of  the greatest president the United States has ever seen. The poster above advertised the attraction at opening.

These posters from icollector.com

Werner Weiss, from the terrific Yesterland site, provides a great story about The Walt Disney Story with and without out Lincoln. Thank you, Werner!

Yet another.

The poster here shows the attraction as The Walt Disney Story, the new attraction at the Disneyland Opera House. Mr. Lincoln was gone for a rather long season, but here, he finally returns in 1975 due to numerous visitor complaints. When you remove Lincoln, you are removing a part of Walt Disney's strongest connection to the park and to the history of our great country. Not a wise move.

With new but oddly misused audio technology, the President returns in 2004. Werner Weiss also provides a photograph of the poster. (I have yet to see another image of this version.)

And the 2010 "playbill" poster version- via another terrific Werner photograph.

Here's the poster for the attraction as Disneyland celebrates its 50th Anniversary.

A new attraction poster debuted in 2023.

Update: In 2023, Disneyland added an exhibit in the waiting area that focused on Lincoln's work with abolitionist Frederick Douglass. The new poster, shown above, is a gorgeous pice of art! Sadly, Lincoln's image is nowhere to be found on it, but the portrait of Douglass is outstanding, nonetheless. 

The posters for attractions found on Main Street, U.S.A. are quite an impressive lot! There's more to come as we explore the other lands of Disneyland- and eventually Disney parks all over the world.Next time, we'll take a look at those posters for attractions in Adventureland. The exotic attractions form a very beautiful basis for another set are great artistic interpretations. Stay tuned for the next segment in this series: Adventureland!

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

Disney Poster Art Book Worth the Price

The Poster Art of the Disney Parks just arrived at my doorstep. It's a perfect book for a long winter's day when dreaming about the parks is as close as its going to get for this Californian longing for home. 

It's certainly not full of text, although there's some good information to be found in it. It's really all about the art. There's plenty of it in full page glory. If you've a soft spot for the original Disneyland graphics and the classic attractions they represent, you will be very, very pleased. Epcot fans might be a bit disappointed, as will those for the 3rd or 4th Walt Disney World parks. Some on Tokyo (especially on the gorgeous Tokyo DisneySea), many on Paris, a couple on Hong Kong, and absolutely nothing on Shanghai Disneyland. 

That said, it was to my delight that the posters of California Adventure 2.0 are found here- and even more delightful to find they were designed by the incredibly gifted Greg Maletic. All said, a worthy and beloved addition to my Imagineering collection.

(Art copyright the Walt Disney Company.)

Hiding in the Background

I love cruising the net to find all the latest and greatest, and always helpful, The Disney Report happens to be one of the places I visit daily.

One day while reading the updates, I noticed the background seemed very interesting. So, I thought I'd save it and open it up in another program to view it full size. What a great piece of art I've found! Looks like the work of Greg Maletic, but I could be wrong. Oh, blogmaster Aaron, would you reveal the artist???

Disneyland Attraction Posters: The Main Street U.S.A. Collection

Note: Today, I want to introduce a new series- Disney Theme Park Attraction Posters. As I do these series of posts, I want to thank the various sources from which I have collected these over the years. Some come from the incredible Daveland blog-  a very fine source for current and retro Disneyland history, photography and other fun tidbits, some "unofficial artwork" from Greg Maletic, and some from many others- including scans and photographs by me and others. Thank you to everyone involved in documenting these!

As you view these posters, you'll notice changes in colors, names of attractions, and even multiple posters for the same attraction. I am hoping the blog posts will be "living" in the sense that you the readers would feel free to send me any new ones or better scans that you may find. Lastly, have fun! This project has been growing over many years- and it has been a blast!
-----------------------------
As Walt Disney and his team were planning Disneyland, they instinctively knew this was going to be a different type of park. How could they communicate to the public what they would see in it? Of course, television played a huge role in sharing the vision and the details.

With a plan for the park to be defined by the railroad tracks, it was only natural that the Main Street U.S.A. train station would be at the park's entrance. It would have two tunnels in which to pull guests from the front of the turnstiles into Main Street, one on the left and one on the right. Inside these tunnels, the Imagineering team proudly created posters advertising the attractions.

Over the years, the attractions would also be found in front of the park along the fences and over park benches as guests found seating alongside the main entrance. It's only fitting that we begin this look at the attraction posters by starting with the ones first encountered by the earliest guests- the ones for Main Street U.S.A.

Although the Grand Canyon Diorama was a very small part of the route, this poster did a magnificent job of communicating the grandeur and beauty to be found by guests making the full circle tour on the trains.

Primeval World would come later and provide even more thrills.

It's difficult to tell which color scheme of the attraction poster was actually used. Either way, the artist's use of colors not normally associated with railroading and bold imagery created a stunning representation! The beautifully intricate version at the top of this post came many years later, communicating the elegance of Disneyland's railroad in an entirely different way than earlier versions.

The Red Wagon Inn restaurant was the predecessor to the beautiful Plaza Inn and operated by that name until the mid 1960s. Again, the colors in these two posters are slightly different.

Arguably the greatest attraction found on Main Street U.S.A., Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln was quickly recognized as a masterpiece of engineering, artistic accomplishment, and exquisite storytelling. The poster above advertised the attraction at its opening. 

 Above is a proposed version of the poster.

 Another variation on a theme.

Several years after Walt's passing, the Disneyland Opera House presented "The Walt Disney Story", a very fitting tribute to the man who started it all. The first version of the attraction replaced time with Mr. Lincoln in favor of a film about Walt. A later version left Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln as the stunning finale of sorts to the attraction. A new poster reflected that change.

This poster was used during the park's 50th anniversary.

The posters for attractions found on Main Street, U.S.A. are quite an impressive lot! There's more to come as we explore the other lands of Disneyland- and eventually Disney parks all over the world.Next time, we'll take a look at those posters for attractions in Adventureland. The exotic attractions form a very beautiful basis for another set are great artistic interpretations. Stay tuned for the next segment in this series!

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)