The top image is in vibrant 60's era colors, so Tomorrowland sparkles with an energy it is certainly missing today. The Peoplemover, the Rocket Jets overhead, and the elevated ramps brought vibrancy and movement. Toss in the Skyway and the Monorail, well, you didn't need to see the blue waters of the Submarine Lagoon to realize the future was definitely one on the move, one that looked very inviting.
So good were the Imagineers at their craft that even in these muted brown tones or in charcoal, a clear sense of excitement there, easily communicated in these renderings.
Although long gone from Disneyland where the Peoplemover tracks rot, the great bones for stunning Tomorrowland now reside only in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World.
TRON will certainly add to the excitement, and now that those long lines will appear all over the land for two attractions with a height limit, I'd say it is high time to give some love and care at a deep level to classics like the Carousel of Progress. Folks who don't ride the land's thrill attractions need something to enjoy. So why not give them a taste of the excellently designed gifts of the first and greatest generation of Imagineers?
(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)
