New Tomorrowland: A World on the Move (1967)
Image: Disney
Walt didn't live long enough to see the New Tomorrowland that opened July 2, 1967. He passed away seven months prior due to lung cancer. But Walt’s fingerprints were present in almost every corner of the land – it was exactly as he had envisioned from the start.
Imagineers called this stunning, groundbreaking New Tomorrowland “a world on the move.” And it was. If Frontierland was meant to display the idling speed of the past with its humungous riverboats and stagecoaches, Tomorrowland would be a kinetic paradise of bright colors whizzing past; motion above, below, and before; the sounds of transportation all around.
Indeed, standing at the entrance to this New Tomorrowland, guests would look down an entry corridor not unlike the “old” land. But now, gone were the boxy showbuildings so distinctly of the 1950s. Instead, tall, soaring geometric fins and rounded exteriors of two mirrored showbuildings – one to the north and one to the south – signaled that this land was dynamic and fluid. Gone were the ornamental flags and concrete towers. Instead, this land was white and sleek, packed with Googie architecture – upswept roofs, curves, boomerangs, and parabolas.
Between those mirrored showbuildings, the white, geometric tracks of the Peoplemover whisked guests along the land’s second story in brightly colored trains – a pop of color whizzing past white architecture. The trains of the Peoplemover would glide effortlessly down this central straightaway, beginning and ending their round-trip tour of Tomorrowland from a pedestal at the land’s core.
Image: Disney
There, a red-and-white rocket launch elevator would carry batches of guests up to the third story, where the gleaming white Rocket Jets would await, spiraling guests forty feet above the futuristic land. Just past, the revolving Carousel Theatre played host to the Carousel of Progress rotating theatre show, relocated from the World’s Fair.
Of course, Walt’s staples from 1959 remained, with the cars of the Autopia curving around the caves and waterfalls of the Submarine Voyage chugging through the lagoon below, now joined by the Peoplemover as it zigged and zagged through the Monorail tracks that curved gracefully overhead.
Put simply, this Tomorrowland got it right. Even removed from nostalgia (and the widespread disdain of the half-hearted Tomorrowland that replaced it), New Tomorrowland was exactly what Disneyland needed – a fanciful, clever, bright, kinetic look at the future dedicated to real scientific ideals. The defining ride for this wonderful, optimistic, educational, scientific Tomorrowland resided right at the land’s entry beneath a graceful curve in the track of the Peoplemover – finally, it was Walt’s atomic attraction that would redefine dark rides.
Monsanto
Image: Monsanto
As the story goes, the Monsanto Company who had sponsored the House of the Future and the Hall of Chemicals in the “old” Tomorrowland had grown tired of the outdated confines of their exhibits. Times had changed, and so had Monsanto’s reach. Guests no longer fawned over microwave ovens, and Monsanto had better products to showcase. When Tomorrowland went under the knife for its 1967 rebirth, the Monsanto House of the Future was demolished. (According to Disney legend, the wrecking ball bounced right off of the plastic house, necessitating a week-long demolition done by hand with hacksaws.)
Image: Disney
Monsanto wanted a better showcase of their specialties, and they got their chance when New Tomorrowland debuted a new starring attraction: Adventure Thru Inner Space. Born of the same thoughtful processes that would later give rise to EPCOT Center and its educational, historic, and epic dark rides, Adventure Thru Inner Space was a wonder. It was a high-capacity dark ride in tune with the optimism and wonder that filled audiences of the 1960s as they explored this utopian Tomorrowland that they saw as their very real future.
On the next page, we’re going to step inside of Adventure Thru Inner Space and miniaturize down to the size of an atom. Hold on tight, and read on!
Comments
I grew up a few miles from Disneyland. In high school, it was well known that Adventures Through Inner Space (or "Monsanto" for short) earned the dubious distinction as the "make-out ride." In later years, the giant styrofoam snowflakes too close to the Omnimover vehicles were decorated with wads of gum.