9. Microscopes in space
Tribute to: Adventure Thru Inner Space (1967 - 1985)
Found in: Star Tours (1987 - Today)
Location: Disneyland
When Disneyland’s New Tomorrowland opened in 1967, it was a radical redesign that cemented the land’s most definitive form: a Space Age inspired utopia of white spires, upswept roofs, and gentle curves supporting a “World on the Move” brought to life by swirling rockets, churning subs, kinetic sculptures, and the Lost Legend: The Peoplemover. But even then, the land’s highlight was the Lost Legend: Adventure Thru Inner Space.
The first ever ride to use Disney’s fabled Omnimover ride system, Adventure Thru Inner Space invited guests into a curving queue leading to the base of the Mighty Monsanto Microscope where a chain of Omnimovers would advance into the microscope's base… then appear to emerge out of the other end barely an inch tall. It was a brilliant and iconic set-up for one of Disney's first rides that “shrink” guests to an infinitesimally small stature to view the inner structures of atoms.
Eventually, Inner Space was replaced by the original STAR TOURS… but its DNA lived on. In fact, one of the most recognizable parts of Inner Space – its curving queue – remained in place for Star Tours, merely swapping the Microscope for the parked StarSpeeder upon which C-3PO is running diagnostics. Meanwhile, on the ride, the Mighty Microscope was snuck into the ride film just as guests crashed out of the space port... It was even added to one of the three endings in the upgraded Star Tours: The Adventures Continue three decades later!
It’s interesting to consider that the Mighty Microscope’s “cameo” appearance (and the iconic curving queue) were exported to subsequent installations of Star Tours and its successor as they spread to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris. That means that, although Adventure Thru Inner Space ever only existed at Disneyland, its “DNA” lives on not just in California, but in Florida, Japan, and France as well! And speaking of Star Tours...
10. Career-changing Droid
Tribute to: Star Tours (1989 - 2010)
Found in: Star Tours: The Adventures Continue (2011 - Today) and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge (2019 - Today)
Location: Disney’s Hollywood Studios
In the pantheon of classic Disney attractions, the original STAR TOURS is truly legendary. It’s remembered as the ride that changed Disney Parks forever, birthing the Age of the Simulator and the “Ride the Movies” era in one, and proving that Disneyland could grow and adapt to changing pop culture, even if it meant showcasing characters and stories that were not Disney stories!
It also introduced one of the most beloved “original” parks characters ever, R-3X, a hapless pilot Droid (an in-cabin Audio-Animatronics figure voiced by Paul Ruebens of "Pee-Wee Herman" fame) who’s “still getting used to his programming.” With “Captain Rex” at the controls for his first ever solo flight, our routine trip to Endor became a mad dash through the galaxy aboard the Lost Legend: Star Tours. Beginning in 2010, the four Star Tours clones around the world (California, Florida, Tokyo, and Paris) were upgraded to Star Tours: The Adventures Continue, bringing 3D, 4K visuals and a randomizer capable of sending riders to different planets for different character encounters each time.
The “new” Star Tours, however, was narratively a prequel to the original taking place years before. Since we'd been aboard Captain Rex's first flight in a Starspeeder 3000, he couldn't possibly be aboard the Starspeeder 1000 of the prequel ride.
Though Imagineering snagged a worthy replacement (C-3PO!), fans still loved and missed Rex… Thankfully, he made a cameo even in the updated version, where Rex can be found sparking and sputtering garbled lines (of his Star Tours dialogue!) in the Starport's Droid Customs, packaged and awaiting return to a manufacturer for reprogramming.
Apparently, the reprogramming worked. When Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opened, it presented yet another slice of time within the Star Wars story set a few decades after Star Tours and on the remote, impoverished planet of Batuu. There, in Oga’s Cantina bar, DJ R-3X is an attraction unto himself, playing remixed and reimagined music that’s a much needed injection of Star Wars sounds in the otherwise grounded land.
11. The golden monkey
Tribute to: Kongfrontation (1990 - 2003)
Found in: Revenge of the Mummy (2004 - Today)
Location: Universal Studios Florida
Like Earthquake, another of Universal Studios Florida’s headlining attractions was the Lost Legend: Kongfrontation. Expanding on the single scene along Hollywood Studio Tour, the Floridian version had guests climb aboard Roosevelt Island aerial trams in an evacuation of New York. Naturally, the raging ape intervened in elaborate (and harrowing) encounters. Kongfrontation felt like a timeless, evergreen classic… but with Universal’s (and recently, Disney’s) constant push to include blockbuster properties at any cost, no ride really lasts forever.
Kong was quelled in 2003. The record-breaking showbuilding the ride had taken place in was large enough for something equally ambitious: the Modern Marvel: Revenge of the Mummy. The incredible dark ride / coaster combo has (perhaps surprisingly) outlasted the classic it replaced by several years and become a fan favorite in its own right. Of course, as one of the first of Universal’s classics to be replaced, nostalgia was high when Kong breathed his last banana breath.
As a last testament to the building’s original occupant, riders who glance around the ride's Treasure Chamber full of glisteng golden chamber of piles treasures and gems might notice a golden statue of Kong beating his chest. The monkey’s momento is barely a foot tall, so look toward the front of the room on the left. (In Hollywood, the treasure room contains an even harder to spot golden E.T. since the ride there replaced E.T. Adventure.)
12. Tarzan’s tunes
Tribute to: Swiss Family Treehouse (1962 - 1999)
Found in: Tarzan’s Treehouse (1999 - Today)
Location: Disneyland
An absolute staple of Adventurelands around the globe, the Swiss Family Treehouse walkthrough attractions are gentle, classic, and beloved attractions. It’s probably likely that, between California, Florida, Japan, and France, more people have climbed through the Robinson family’s salvaged shipwreck treehouse than have seen the 1960 Disney film that it’s based on.
In the mid-’90s, the infamous character infusion that spread through Disney Parks struck again. Imagineers recount that Disneyland’s tree was in need of major repairs that it was unlikely to receive without a marketable overlay. Thankfully, 1999’s Tarzan began with a late-1800s Victorian British couple becoming shipwrecked and turning the remains into a treehouse.
Voila! After a brief closure, the treehouse opened anew as Tarzan’s Treehouse, gaining a British flag, some static figures of Tarzan, Jane, and the leopard Sabor, and the musical cues of Phil Collins’ recognizable score.
Fans of the Swiss Family can still find at least one direct reference to the treehouse’s original inhabitants: in the walkthrough’s final stop – the outdoor research lab of Professor Porter – a phonograph plays the iconic “Swisskapolka” tune from the original. (When Hong Kong Disneyland opened in 2005, it featured Tarzan’s Treehouse from day one, but the original Swiss Family lives on in Orlando, Tokyo, and Paris, where the “Swisskapolka” is more than just a cameo.)
Comments
What a delightful article. I considered myself pretty high up in Disney trivia but many of these were news to me! Fascinating article and nice to know that Imagineers are paying homage to their past accomplishments, blowing kisses to the rides and areas of the past.