March 1, 2017

Fly Me to the Moon

Tomorrowland really was once a "World on the Move". At least it was during the first re-Imagineering of the land in 1967. Walt Disney had to cut some corners due to budget restrictions during the planning and execution of Disneyland. But he's to be forgiven for that decision because what he did had never been accomplished before. Not so with todays suits who have had the audacity to pass off the original Disney-MGM Studios, the Walt Disney Studios Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland as full day Disney quality theme parks. Never before was the arrogance of the suits more obvious as when Michael Eisner, Robert Iger and company debuted California Adventure 1.0, opening the same year while giving the Japanese Tokyo Disney Sea.  But I digress.

Imagineering concept art has been a long time favorite of this blog. If you look at the piece above, not only will you see the People Mover, Carousel of Progress, and Rocket to the Moon, but you'll notice a shiny new Space Mountain part of the image. Yes, it had been in the planning stages for that long before it came to be in the 70s. 

With the glistening submarines, the skyway buckets, and even the train running through the land, Tomorrowland was once a place of action. Nowadays, it's really just disjointed, a pathetic shell of its former self. Perhaps the opening of Star Wars Land / Experience - or whatever it will be named- will give the suits the guts they need to totally reimagine, even demolish, large sections of the land, and create something stunning. Aside from die-hard Disney park fans, it's a pretty well kept secret that the original magic kingdom now has the dullest and worst Tomorrowland of them all. 

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

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