5. Mission to Mars / Mission: Space (Disneyland, Magic Kingdom, Epcot)

Image: Disney

The attractions: Mission to Mars replaced Rocket to the Moon at Disneyland, and was also installed at the Magic Kingdom. It took guests on a simulated flight around Mars. Mission: Space is a more modern flight simulator at Epcot, which uses centrifuges to send riders on a trip to Mars. The prediction:

• Man will one day undertake a flight around Mars (Mission to Mars), and will land on the surface by 2036 (Mission: Space). (NOT YET CLEAR - we'll have to wait and see if this one pans out.)

4. Spaceship Earth (Epcot)

The attraction: An opening day attraction at EPCOT Center in 1982, Spaceship Earth is a massive geodesic dome which contains a dark ride about the history of communication. From 1994 to 2007, it presented a vision of future communication technologies as well (the ride has since been updated). The predictions:

• Kids will videoconferenceeach other while watching television on the same screen (TRUE - anyone with a laptop and an Internet connection can pull off this trick using Skype and Hulu, or indeed using an Xbox One).
• Instant audio translation will make it possible for people to commuicate with each other without needing to speak the other's person's language (NOT YET CLEAR - primitive versions of this technology do exist, but are not yet up to the standards shown in Spaceship Earth)

3. Horizons (Epcot)

The attraction: Opened a year after the rest of EPCOT Center, Horizons was an Omnimover dark ride. Guests were whisked past scenes showing visions of the future, in what was essentially a sequel to the Carousel of Progress at the Magic Kingdom. It included scenes focused on communications, energy, transportation, physiology and man's relationship with the environment. The ride opened in 1983. The predictions:

• Robot butlers will serve humans in their homes (NOT YET CLEAR - Japanese firms such as Honda are indeed working on humanoid robots that could act as butlers - but they aren't yet ready for mass adoption).
• Families will interact with each other at long distances via television-based videoconferencing (TRUE - this is possible today using Skype).
• Glasses-free technology will enable those videoconferences to take place in full 3-D (NOT YET CLEAR - glasses-free 3-D screens do exist, but the viewing angles are too limited at present to enable mass adoption of 3-D videoconferencing)
• We'll be able to play the keyboard simply by waving our hand over it (NOT YET CLEAR - we're not quite there yet, but laser harps have been around for decades)
• Farming will be conducted by fully-automated robotic machines (PARTIALLY TRUE - robotic farming is still quite specialized, but it does exist already).
• Underwater personal submarines will help us to live in underwater mineral-mining cities (PARTIALLY TRUE - if you have the cash, you can buy a personal submarine. But we're not living underwater just yet.)

2. The Bathroom of Tomorrow (Disneyland)

The attraction: Disneyland was built at a breakneck pace. Inevitably, not everything was ready for its 1955 opening day - and Tomorrowland was way behind schedule. In the end, it opened in 1955 with a thin line-up of attractions and the promise of new additions coming soon. One of those additions was the Bathroom of Tomorrow sponsored by the Crane Plumbing Company and accompanied by the boast: "This fabulous bathroom, designed for the future, is available for your home today!" All of the fixtures in the Bathroom of Tomorrow were in a vibrant citrus yellow color, with the bathtub and bidet being gold-plated. The predictions:

• Hot water will be available from boilers of "advanced design" (TRUE - all manner of on-demand boilers are in use today).
• Homeowners will keep fit using dumbbells that are attached to the wall of their bathrooms, enabling them to take a quick workout at any time (FALSE - this concept doesn't seem to have to have caught on).

1. Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress (New York World's Fair, Disneyland, Magic Kingdom)

The attraction: First built for the New York World's Fair in 1964, the Carousel of Progress featured a circular center stage, divided into six scenes. This was surrounded by six 240-seat sections of theatre seats. After loading in the first scene, guests remained in their seats as the theatre revolved around the stage, enabling them to watch four scenes set in different time periods. The final scene was used as an unloading area. The storyline revolved around how the development of electricity and related technologies had enhanced the lives of ordinary families. It has been updated several times and now resides at the Magic Kingdom in Florida. The predictions:

• Some time beyond 1967, our "television consoles" will be more than just a TV set - they'll have a built-in "videotape recorder" (TRUE - combined TVs and VCRs did become commonplace by the 1980s and 1990s).
• Nuclear power plants will provide energy to our cities (TRUE - they do not dominate the industry, but there are plenty of active nuclear power plants).
• Cities will be enclosed in climate-controlled domes, ensuring that the weather will always be dry and comfortable (FALSE - it's difficult to see this happening any time soon, and certainly not in the same timeframe as the previous two predictions).