The Tomorrowland 2055 Post that Started Insights and Sounds and the Missing Dinosaur from Hong Kong Disneyland

What a title, huh? It's worth the story that follows! I remember it so well: The year was 1990, and I was strolling Disneyland one afternoon with my young family. It was another perfect Disney day in Southern California. We had walked into Tomorrowland to take in the Autopia and let the kiddos try their hands behind the wheel. But something stopped me in my tracks.

Next to the Carousel Theater, once home of the Carousel of Progress and America Sings, was a billboard for a new attraction called Plectu's Intergalactic Revue showing the piece above. For some strange reason, I snapped this photo of the concept art, never expecting it to be anything but a photo of what was coming... and I held on to it for many years.

When I began the Insights and Sounds blog, I knew local Disneyland fans would find this piece of unbuilt history of interest, but I didn't expect anyone else to. I was so wrong! Fans of Walt Disney World found it of interest as well! Within days of first posting it in March of 2008, my humble photograph showed on on blogs and websites all over the world. And it's still being  reposted to this day. Glad I took the photo!

(Much like the same thing that happened with the art I unearthed for Dubai Disneyland! Even my late friend Alain Littaye from the Disney and More blog was surprised I'd finally hunted it down. ) 

Hong Kong Disneyland's Missing Dinosaur

Then, there was this piece of dinosaur concept art that caused quite a stir! Long, long, ago, around 2009, I was "gifted" with this piece of concept art for an attraction at the then soon to open Hong Kong Disneyland. But with a smaller mindset of what the park should be, the ride never materialized. This was the case with major portions of the small little park, earning it the poor reputation it deserved at opening.

Looking at the art closely, this was clearly a coaster or troop transport type attraction. With that thought came the questions. What exactly it was for? Was it intended for a hybrid of a couple of attractions that never made it past the drawing boards of the Imagineers? To my eyes, it seemed to be Raging Spirits from Tokyo DisneySea - which in itself is a remix on the Indiana Jones coaster at Disneyland Paris - meets the infamous ferocious Carnatour from Countdown to Extinction/ Dinosaur from Disney's Animal Kingdom.  

More questions. Was the attraction scheduled to go into the lush, dense outdoor jungles of Adventureland or was it meant for an indoor weather-proofed warehouse a la Indiana Jones Adventure? Maybe a combination like what was originally proposed for the dinosaur area at Animal Kingdom? (Found in my "Disney's Animal Kingdom: A True Life Adventure" series. Eight parts and growing!)

Was it just too expensive to build? Was it too ambitious? But what was it?

Then sharp eyed reader Randy Savage had the definitive answer. The art for this dinosaur was part of the original plan for Hong Kong Disneyland in an Adventureland that contained an outdoor attraction with Audio-Animatronic beasts. The image was eventually found on the concept art map for the park in the book "More Making the Magic Real", published mid-year 2010. 

As you can tell, I've been blessed with a lot of interesting images and stories to go with them! More to come- and I can't wait to unearth anything else as folks keep sending me concept art.

 

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company. Top photo copyright Mark Taft.)

The Why Behind Nine Years of Insights and Sounds

Unintentionally, I breezed past a significant milestone for the blog. March 7 marked nine years that the Insights and Sounds blog has been around. How time flies!

The concept art above has its origins in a 1990 visit, but the blog itself became a constant thought in my mind in 2005. It was the year of Disneyland's 50th anniversary, and we found ourselves in California during the time. We hadn't planned to be there, but life happens.

I noticed people were purchasing birthday / anniversary souvenirs like crazy. Flying off the shelves as it were. The thought hit- "I have tons of vintage Disneyland stuff. I bet there's folks out there that would love to see it." And so the blog began- and it got more personal and well rounded as time progressed.

So, back to this piece of concept art for an unbuilt Tomorrowland attraction-

The year was 1990, and I was strolling Disneyland one afternoon with my young family. We had walked into Tomorrowland to take in the Autopia and let the kiddos try their hands behind the wheel.

Next to the Carousel Theater, once home of the Carousel of Progress and America Sings, was a billboard for a new attraction called Plectu's Intergalactic Revue. For some strange reason, I snapped this photo of the concept art... and held on to it for many years.

When I began the Insights blog, I knew Disney fans would find this piece of unbuilt history of interest. Boy, was I right! Within days of first posting it in March of 2008, my humble photograph showed on on blogs and websites all over the world. And it's still being  reposted to this day. Glad I took the photo!

The model for the new Carousel building.

Photographer unknown.

I cannot tell you who did the artwork. I will say, I have enlarged it and attempted to fix some of the elements to be as close to the imagined piece of art I saw it in my mind to be. Click on it to enlarge it.

Much like the two shows before it- expertly designed by Imagineer Marc Davis- Plectu's was to be an Audio-Animatronic comedy musical show and a core but small part of a new alien infested Tomorrowland dubbed Tomorrowland 2055. 

The less friendly Alien Encounter.

In fact, the Magic Kingdom in Florida's beloved (or reviled) Alien Encounter was also planned for the redesign. (Is it just me, or does the top of the building look much like the centerpiece that replaced the Rockets Jets high in the sky in the 1998 version of the Land of the Future?)

Florida's Tomorrowland changed from this...

...to this.

Disneyland was not so fortunate with their redo in 1998,
when plans for the much more expensive 2055 version were tossed out in favor of this.

One of few pieces of artwork seen for the Plectu characters.

Around this time, Michael Eisner and company took at long, hard look at the attractions that were crowd pleasers, and sad to say, but musical talking bears, tikis, and even Disney characters in robotic form were no longer a big draw. (Expanded history here.) 

Thanks to Mike Cozart from the Tomorrowland67 Lounge for this 2055 piece.

The plans were scrapped. Plectu's became a piece of Disney lore and history, and Tomorrowland stayed as was for almost another full decade as the plans for the 2055 version were shelved.

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company. Top photo copyright Mark Taft.)

The Disney Concept Art That Started It All

The year was 1990, and I was strolling Disneyland one afternoon with my young family. We had walked into Tomorrowland to take in the Autopia and let the kiddos try their hands behind the wheel.

Next to the Carousel Theater, once home of the Carousel of Progress and America Sings, was a billboard for a new attraction called Plectu's Intergalactic Revue. For some strange reason, I snapped this photo of the concept art... and held on to it for many years.

When I began the Insights blog, I knew Disney fans would find this piece of unbuilt history of interest. Boy, was I right! Within days of first posting it in March of 2008, my humble photograph showed on on blogs and websites all over the world. And it's still being  reposted to this day. Glad I took the photo!

The model for the new Carousel building.

Photographer unknown.

I cannot tell you who did the artwork. I will say, I have enlarged it and attempted to fix some of the elements to be as close to the imagined piece of art I saw it in my mind to be. Click on it to enlarge it.

Much like the two shows before it- expertly designed by Imagineer Marc Davis- Plectu's was to be an Audio-Animatronic comedy musical show and a core but small part of a new alien infested Tomorrowland dubbed Tomorrowland 2055. 

The less friendly Alien Encounter.

In fact, the Magic Kingdom in Florida's beloved (or reviled) Alien Encounter was also planned for the redesign. (And is it just me, or does the top of the building look much like the centerpiece that replaced the Rockets Jets high in the sky in the 1998 version of the Land of the Future?)

Florida's Tomorrowland changed from this...

...to this.

Disneyland was not so fortunate with their redo in 1998,
when plans for the much more expensive 2055 version were tossed out in favor of this.

One of few pieces of artwork seen for the Plectu characters.

Around this time, Michael Eisner and company took at long, hard look at the attractions that were crowd pleasers, and sad to say, but musical talking bears, tikis, and even Disney characters in robotic form were no longer a big draw. (Expanded history here.) 

Thanks to Mike Cozart from the Tomorrowland67 Lounge for this 2055 piece.

The plans were scrapped. Plectu's became a piece of Disney lore and history, and Tomorrowland stayed as was for almost another full decade as the plans for the 2055 version were shelved.

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company. Top photo copyright Mark Taft.)

Tomorrowland 2055 Artwork Rocks- Great New Blog Found

As does happen at times, I found a blog that had posted my very popular photograph of Tomorrowland's aborted Plectu's Intergalatic Revue. Little did I know when I was visiting the park so long ago that a simple snapshot would be viewed all over the world. And I'm happy to contribute that piece of concept art to the Disney blog universe, seen below. This Audio-Animatronic show was set to replace Disneyland's fun but dated America Sings. It never made it past the drawing boards.

What I didn't expect to find was a great blog stuffed with Tomorrowland 2055 concept art! You can see from the top piece, it looked terrific. You can go here to see one of many great posts and lots more art.  Thanks to Mike Cozart for the incredible TomorrowLounge67 blog.

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

America the Beautiful Back in the Day

Think Disneyland's Tomorrowland is dated and ugly now? Here is a picture of the very boxy and generic building that used to house "America the Beautiful"- a terrific little film. Quite an eyesore, isn't it? No, it isn't "Tomorrowland 2055", but Anaheim's Tomorrowland version 1998 looks much better compared to what was around 50+ years ago. Not an excuse, just an observation.