Originally Posted By ExpDave When I was a kid Tomorrowland was all about, well tomorrow and science. With attractions like Rocket to the Moon (this was Disneyland BTW), Rocket-Jets, House of the Future, the Monorail, the People Mover, Carousel of Progress, Adventure Thru Inner Space (still one of my all time favorite attractions), and Circarama, etc. It was wonderful, plus later Space Mountain too. But Walt said the park should always be changing and tomorrow is very hard to keep up with. Especially now that Disney owns Star Wars, even as much as I loved Tomorrowland as a kid, I think they should rename and retheme it in all Magic Kingdoms to Star Wars. Perhaps Galaxyland would be a good new name. At most parks I believe Star Tours is already there, at WDW it shouldn’t be that hard to move. Space Mountain could easily be rethemed, and new attractions based on the franchise added.
Originally Posted By just another guest I would miss "Tom Morrow Land." But I get what you are saying. It is really hard to predict tomorrow and a lot of rides and themes there now kinda represent more of what people thought would be "tomorrow" in the 60s. For our time, Autopia should be flying cars, the Rockets should be time machines moving through wormholes, and the Larry King Special is... well still the Larry King Special. Ha! I got you Larry!
Originally Posted By oc_dean Lets not forget ... that many of the imaginative ideas that creative types conjure up over at WDI get pushed aside ... in favor marketing brands ... from Pixar, to Marvel, to Muppets, to James Cameron/Avatar, to Lucas Film, etc! Or even "Meet The Robinsons" ..... https://picasaweb.google.com/ocdean/TomorrowlandInGeneral#5668313893485620450
Originally Posted By oc_dean I don't doubt original ideas that come up all the time - but pushed aside by "marketing robots" other known as .. the executive branch at the Burbank offices!
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I think the place where it would make the most sense to completely rebrand it would be WDW, since it is already home to several attractions with no connection to the future (Buzz, Stitch, Laugh Floor). Unfortunately (or fortunately), that's the only place where Star Tours is in a different park, making it quite difficult to get the Star Wars overlay. Yes, they could theoretically move it, but it really just wouldn't be worth the expense of essentially building the entire attraction again. Additionally, it would be really tough to tie the existing attractions (especially the ones tied to other franchises) to the Star Wars theme. Disney always works with a budget, and it seems like this idea would likely be too grand to fit in the budget they'd be willing to spend on it. I think I'd rather just see them give TL the love that it needs and do a good job with maintenance there. DL's needs some serious theming work (and as much as I hate to say it, take out the old PM tracks/tower), and WDW's just needs *something*. The international ones seem to have a pretty good handle on things, though they each interpret the TL concept in an entirely different manner.
Originally Posted By ExpDave Don't get me wrong with my initial post I'd love to see Disney really do Tomorrowland the way Walt envisioned it, "A vista into a world of wondrous ideas, signifying man's achievements... a step into the future, with predictions of constructive things to come. "Tomorrow offers new frontiers in science, adventure, and ideas: the Atomic Age, the challenge of outer space, and the hope for a peaceful and unified world. "Walt Disney July 17, 1955 I'd especially like more science based attractions like Adventure Through Inner Space, it just seems like the company has totally gotten away from Walt's vision for this part of the park already, and I (sadly) don't see them going back to it, so why not just change it altogether and theme it after the Star Wars franchise? Apart from the location problem with Star Tours in WDW it should be fairly easy Buzz, Stitch, and Laugh Floor will get old, if they aren't already and could be replaced by Star Wars themed attractions when they need to be replaced. BTW, I'd still love to see Walt's vision for EPCOT built too, but I know it will never happen, just have to live with that. Sigh.
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper No. Sorry, but I think an entire land dedicated to one property in a Disneyland style park is a mistake.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >> It is really hard to predict tomorrow<< I don't think that it's hard to predict ... it's what is changing that is sort of ho hum. The future used to be about rockets, space stations and trips to Mars. Now it's about gadgets.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt I think a Star Wars themed Tomorrowland would be great. No question that it would be a huge improvement over what's there now.
Originally Posted By fkurucz I agree that a "Star Wars Land" might not be such a great idea. But Disney will squeeze what it can out of that property, so it might be inevitable.
Originally Posted By sjhym333 I agree. But the problem is also that the cost of constant change is more than Disney wants to spend. It isn't just Tomorrowland but Communicore and Innoventions. It has been an ongoing problem
Originally Posted By ExpDave >>I don't think that it's hard to predict ... it's what is changing that is sort of ho hum. The future used to be about rockets, space stations and trips to Mars. Now it's about gadgets.<< I have to agree with that, things like a space station at L5, a space city with thousands of people living on it should have happened by now.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt The real problem is that the philosophy that inspired DL’s and WDW’s science-fact based Tomorrowlands and EPCOT's world of tomorrow in the 60s as an entertainment theme is passé today. If you consider that every man, woman and child is carrying around a device in the parks that can quickly connect the user to vast and unlimited amounts of information the idea of Tomorrowland sounds, well, quaint. Disney needs to either rethink the concept, or ditch it altogether and go with a cohesive sci-fi theme.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip I like the WDW Tomorrowland the way it is... if they do more with Star Wars in Orlando it should be at the Disney Studios, not the MK. I do think they should ditch Stich, give the Carousel of Progress some love and a new final scene, and update Autopia to make it more future oriented. I'm actually OK with Buzz and Laugh Floor. Sure, it's a cartoon future, but it IS future oriented. Buzz has flying through space to get bad guys and although Laugh Floor doesn't play up the future connection, Monsters Inc was based on the premise that you could instantly travel to any part of the world by going through portals (doors) stored in a Factory. I don't know about you, but I haven't seen anything like that yet at Home Depot.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt That's all fine, but that's science fiction, not fact. There will never be time portal doors available for sale at a retail store.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<That's all fine, but that's science fiction, not fact. There will never be time portal doors available for sale at a retail store.>> Who knows? Twenty years ago no one would have ever thought that you could have a phone that also acts as a computer that fits in the palm of your hand. The problem with science fact is that no one is much interested in it any more. Innoventions at Epcot tries to do a good job, but outside of the video games has a hard time attracting people to view the exhibits. I thought they had a very interesting "home of the future" five or so years ago, but it seemed very few ever bothered to visit it. I enjoyed the Segway demonstration/trial ride they had a few years back but that is no more... my guess is the lawyers pulled the plug on it.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>No. Sorry, but I think an entire land dedicated to one property in a Disneyland style park is a mistake.<< I think that having an entire land dedicated to a single property in any Disney park is a mistake, but that doesn't seem to stop them. Mermaid Lagoon at TDS has aged fairly well, due to it being an already old-ish film, but Flik's Fun Fair at DCA just seems silly these days. Although it's very well executed, I fear that Cars Land (still a dumb name) will have the same issues in 5-10 years. Yes, they could broaden the theme with any one of those lands (generic under the sea, generic bugs/tiny perspective, generic cars/desert), but given how dedicated Iger's Disney is to shilling their properties, I don't see that changing any time soon (even if Iger is set to depart in a couple years)
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt “The problem with science fact is that no one is much interested in it any more." Well, that's what I said. In the 60s and 70s futurism was a very fashionable thing, and now, in this post futurism age where technology is so integrated in everything that we do “the future” isn't very interesting as subject matter for a theme park, particularly in a place like the Magic Kingdom where Disney has dumbed down the experience from what it once was. With all this in mind, something sci-fi and cohesive would makes sense and be far more appealing to guests than what is there now. Obviously, Disney lacks a master plan for what the current versions of Tomorrowlands are supposed to represent. The result is this hodge podge of different themes and ideas, some new and some left over from the previous versions. I haven’t been to WDW in years, but the DL version is a mess.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "I think that having an entire land dedicated to a single property in any Disney park is a mistake, but that doesn't seem to stop them." How is it any more of a mistake than themeing a large section of the park to something like "the future". What does that even mean? It's a topic so broad and such a shot in the dark that even Walt Disney had problems keeping up with theme. I'm willing to bet that in 20 years Cars Land will have held up a lot better than any of the Tomorrowlands have.
