Tomorrowland, September 1971
I really love today's first image, an unusual view (almost "souvenir guidebook worthy") taken from the upper level of the Carousel of Progress, which was still going strong at Disneyland in 1971. A father snapped a photo of his family as they looked over a busy Tomorrowland - some might even say "peak Tomorrowland". We can see the Peoplemover, the Skyway, It's a Small World, and the Matterhorn (of course), along with a very busy Tomorrowland Terrace down below. The fence looks surprisingly low, I'm sure that it would not be built that way today.
Next is a more standard (but still nice) look at the Rocket Jets, with rockets a-flying. Most people pulled back on the stick to reach maximum altitude, while a few more timid souls prefer to soar without needing supplementary oxygen. We've said it before, but this was a feature that was almost as fun to look at as it was to ride.
15 comments:
Major-
"The fence looks surprisingly low, I'm sure that it would not be built that way today".
In reality, the fence railing is quite tall; that family is afflicted with gigantism-! All kidding aside - you ain't just whistling Dixie about that image - a beauty for certain.
It's going on two days in-a-row for sighting the dual follow spots on the roof above the gantry elevators. I'm impressed.
Thanks, Major.
I suppose Fudgie the Whale is in there somewhere too... but I'm not seeing him... well, maybe a piece of the tail but...
Besides the fence being too low by today's standards, the family is too skinny by today's standards!
That really IS a nice photo of the Rocket Jets! Our attention is drawn right to the Rockets because there's not much else to distract us. Plus, the lighting and focus is perfect. I'm keeping this one!
Beautiful photos today, Major.
The Rocket Jets photo is a beauty. Also nice to see the rotating "Goodyear" and "PeopleMover signs. I think the themed Tomorrowland centerpiece was one of the best designs ever at Disneyland. Thanks, Major.
I love how that shot is "different" and that the family is not doing the typical "face the camera and smile" pose. I wonder if dad asked them to face the other direction, or if he just snapped the photo while they were admiring the view. I also wonder if while they had their backs to him, if he slipped away and ditched all of them.
I think the themed Tomorrowland centerpiece was one of the best designs ever at Disneyland.
Ken, I think so, too! And then they went and destroyed it, and replaced it with garbage! Twenty-six years have now passed, and they have done absolutely nothing to try and correct that horrible mistake. LOSERS! :-)
Thanks for sharing these, Major!
Tell us how you really feel TM! I happen to also support your POV. There is untapped $$ in Tomorrowland...great design leads to $$. Bad design makes people not want to be around it...I suppose guests today don't care? or not sophisticated enough? Jury is out. Bubble makers: hope you make some margin on those things...I'm sure they do. My merchandising idea: bring back the Character Shop, and also have a "Mall of the Future": with really crazy "futuristic" things for sale: cutting edge VR: things you can't buy anywhere else in the US...crazy Japanese things..things that NASA designed....et al. All "Wookie" goes to "that place over there"...have a "retro Tomorrowland" shop: 'ala "Inn of the Future...et al...Stovall stuff"...you can still have all your core merchandise in the Character shop: but build some diversity in the "Tomorrowland Main St." Tiered shops like a Jetson's town. That all being said (and you are welcome WDI...) "Peak Tomorrowland" exactly so: looks amazing. I remember standing at this railing as a kid...enjoying the after effects of the Carrousel of Progress...and seeing the models...which I still love. I was so happy back then because the COP was not the horrifying Pirate ride or the even more horrifying Submarine Voyage. I like how from this vantage point you can see the facade of it's a small world (lower case). There's a lot to see over there at Coke Terrace: PRE "Papa Doo Run Run" or "Gazelle"...maybe it's "Sunshine Balloon?" Thanks for the PTL this morning Major! Bring back PTL!
Bubble makers: hope you make some margin on those things...I'm sure they do.
Bu, I visited the Disney cast member store (Company D) as a guest, in 2019. They were selling the bubble blowers for $2.99 each. I went to Disneyland two days later, and upon entering the park, I noticed that the bubble blowers were being sold in Town Square. I went over to price them. They were priced at $25 each. That has to be a huge profit for them. Heck, I bet they are even making a profit off of selling them to cast members, for only $2.99. I would love to know how much it costs Disney to have them manufactured in China. Maybe $2.99 per dozen? Maybe even less than that?
WDI has developed dozens on new Tomorrowland’s since 1998 …. But it’s DISNEYLAND management that just doesn’t bite the bullet. BU : both your shop ideas have sadly come and gone already. The PREMIERE shop in Tomorrowland once sold all those “unique things” from Japan , Germany … very futuristic things …. And they were also very expensive. For a short time the location also featured a modern futuristic art gallery …. . ( WDW had an equivalent shop as well) unfortunately neither of these shop offerings did very well. For a short time a section of the Premier Shop sold Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland merchandise . In 1998 the same location - part of the TOMORROWLAND TRANSPORTATION SOCIETY sold re-issue plastic model kits of the strombecker DISNEY’S MAN IN SPACE kits including the TWA MOONLINER . For a very short time the kits had special Disneyland exclusive packaging but eventually went to the standard Strombecker/Glencoe boxes. WDI also created a highly detailed model series sold in Tomorrowland (and Disneyanna) the models ranged in the 125.00 to 550.00 range and Bob Gurr was a consultant on the series . It included the MARK 2 monorail , MARK 7 AUTOPIA , PEOPLEMOVER, SUBMARINE VOYAGE SUB - in 1959 livery , FLYING SAUCER , MOONLINER , and a film version of The Nautilus. A Rocket Jet , 1965 Skyway, a Atomobile and a Space Mountain rocket sled were also designed and prototyped but the series ended before they could be released.
I forgot : the same location as well as The Star Trader sold a line of retro Disneyland Tomorrowland merchandise…. And of course there was the DISNEYLAND FOREVER cd machines that allowed guests to select 10 audio track selections from over 50 years of Disneyland attraction and parade soundtracks - when new every month new selections were added . The WED - WDI and Disneyland sound departments released some amazing stuff at the time. In fact a GDB follower ( not me) owns on of the original Disneyland Forever AUDIO CD machines !! There was also the print on demand machines in Tomorrowland for awhile .. you could print WED and WDI attraction posters and concept images … during the 50th new WED concept art was added every 6 months for several years … and over that time hundreds images of Tomorrowland WED / WDI images came and went …some pretty rare stuff from Dale Hennessy , Herb Ryman , Bruce Bushmann early 50’s tomorrowland concepts , to John Hench , Bob Gurr Herbert Ryman , Mary Blair 1960’s Tomorrowland and all kinds of concepts into the 70’s, 80’s , 90’s and 2000’s. The images could be purchased on archival paper or canvas on four sizes framed or unframed . Unfortunately my favorite image of Herb Ryman’s 1967 New Tomorrowland overview was never included on the system- I understand the person in charge of making the selections didn’t like all the orange in the rendering ……
Some would say, in fact, I say, this is Peak Tomorrowland!
Someone here described this view as the last act of the CoP show, step out from the model into the Real Progress City.
Yes, that rail would not meet current codes, multiple violations present.
Major, these are wonderful, thank you!
JG
Nanook, I guess I should have known that the increased radiation count would cause that family to grow to more than double their original height. Soon this blog will be nothing but photos of the Super Trouper spotlights!
JB, this was after Fudgie said he was going out for ice cream, but he never came back. I still look for him, wistfully. Funny how there could be a picture of rockets in which we didn’t want to look at the actual rockets! “Hey, is that a chipmunk??”.
K. Martinez, rotating signs are the best. And I agree, that part of Tomorrowland was stunnning.
TokyoMagic!, my guess is that dad just snapped that photo spontaneously. I do like the idea of him ditching them while they weren’t looking however. That’s MY move! “Hey, look over there! I think I see Britney Spears!” (runs sneakily). I was going to say, “How do you really feel, TM?”, but I see that Bu asks the same thing.
Bu, I have proposed an exhibit for Tomorrowland, “Sandpaper of the Future”. You’ll walk through a display of all kinds of sandpaper, and you’ll even be allowed to touch them. “Whoa, this 100-grit is really scratchy!”. “Wet-dry sandpaper? Now I’ve seen everything!”. Maybe we can get 3M to sponsor it. I have to wonder if today’s crowds would even be interested in futuristic, or science-based products for sale in Tomorrowland? All they want is bubble blowers. It would be very cool if they had items that acknowledged the old motels outside of Disneyland, do you think there would be any legal problems with doing that? Most of them are long-gone. I wish I remembered the Carousel of Progress more vividly, it closed while we lived on the east coast, and I never thought that I wouldn’t be able to do the original attraction again.
TokyoMagic!, wow, $2.99 each? That’s amazing. The shops are full of those dumb bubble toys, it’s pretty astonishing how popular they are. Yes, if they are charging $25 apiece now, that is some kind of crazy profit. The underpants gnomes have a thing or two to learn.
Mike Cozart, days (or was it weeks?) ago I said that I’m sure that Imagineers had lots of ideas for Tomorrowland, but that all of those plans had to be approved by the “money boys”. And that’s where the problem lies. I do think they could conceive of a few lower-cost but clever attractions, but they’d still need to pony up the money and pay the big bucks for a few key rides. As cool as the Tron coaster looks, I’d be very disappointed in its super-short ride time, so I almost hope we never get that one. How about a sandpaper coaster?? I once interviewed with a lady who worked on those Disneyland Forever kiosks, she even appears in one of the graphics (though it is tiny and barely recognizable). Funny, I was just talking about the print-on-demand machines, in this case we were discussing poster reproductions, but I did know that you could get other artwork printed out too. Certain colors are hard to get just right, and oranges can often go muddy, or too red, or too yellow, or… yeah.
JG, to this day I hope that the Progress City model will return to Disneyland. I remember reading an article written by an Imagineer, in which he said that he would be willing to restore it for free on his own time, but that clearly got no response.
MAJOR : about 10 years ago the surviving section of PROGRESS CITY on display in Walt Disney world’s TOMORROWLAND was restored. Everything was deep cleaned … broken and missing pieces replaced or repaired .. faded and missing scenery re-painted and “re-planted” and with approval from Marty Sklar the high speed electric trains were replaced with monorails. Animation and lighting was also fixed . Scale model figures ( Merten , atlas , Preiser ) and scale automobiles ( Ingap , Athearn , Wiking , Revell HO ) over the years had been damaged and it stolen by employees … these were also replaced.
The 1967 Progress City model was designed by WED Imagineering but it was actually built and fabricated by a display & model company located in Tustin California ( defunct now) the company built other things for Disney including doing the Monsanto House of the Future outdoor displays , the interior remodel and the displays from the bell telephone PICTURE PHONE exhibit in Tomorrowland… and those miniature ATOMOBILES from Adventure Thru Inner Space . The same company built the architectural models for MARRIOTS GREAT AMERICA , BUSH GARDENS - VAN NUYS and the display model
For Knott’s Roaring 20’s ( designed by Rudderroe).
MAJOR: the PRINT ON DEMAND / ART ON DEMAND systems were actually brought in to offer reproductions of the parks attraction posters. These were far better quality than the popular miniature photo reproductions and the later digital prints . The larger lithographed poster copies were expensive and limited the amount of selections the Disney Gallery could offer. ART ON DEMAND allowed almost ALL the posters to be available to guests to purchase. And because no inventory was needed. Eventually other categories were added … the dirt was THE ART OF THE HAUNTED MANSION … followed by THE ART OF PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN. In 2005 for Disneyland’s 50th 500 WED - WDI concept art Images were added to the offerings … not all at the sane time but every month some new selections and some other ones would drop off. This was a dream ! The color quality was outstanding and the prices were very reasonable … but more so what was being sold ! Imagineering concept art reproductions never ever offered or even seen before in sone cases !!! Some famous Imagineering art and some real obscure stuff. It was amazing . THE ART OF DISNEYLAND was later joined by THE ART OF WALT DISNEY WORLD . As new exhibits opened new ART ON DEMAND categories were added for the exhibition run : DISNEYLAND YEAR ONE , DISNEYLAND ENHANCING THE CLASSICS, ART OF ITS A SMALL WORLD , MAGIC ON THE WATER , MAGIC OF THE RAILS, ART OF THE ENCHANTED TIKI ROOM, ART OF DISCOVERY - DISNEY park steampunk , THE ART OF FANTASYLAND , DISNEY CASTLES …. THE ART OF DISNEYLAND PARIS ( EDL ONLY) THE ART OF HERB RYMAN ( EPCOT FESTIVAL ONLY) E TICKET ATTRACTIONS AND THE EARLIEST VISIONS .
Sadly about 6 years ago Disneyland merchandise managers had ALL Imagineering art and attraction posters pulled from the ART ON DEMAND menus .
Imagineering concept art and attraction posters are still available at Disneyland Paris and limited selections at WDW.
That's a great candid image of a visit to Tomorrowland. Though the seemingly random placement of the skylights on the roof o Tomorrowland Terrace is always vaguely off-putting to me.
I don't know the current regs around railing height, but I do know that there are specific requirements around sideways forces they need to withstand at various heights from a course on using them to lower victims in an emergency.
The railings get higher and higher and higher !
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