Disneyland's Tomorrowland: A New Vision

Tomorrowland is my favorite land in the castle style parks. Actually, let me rephrase that and be more honest. Tomorrowland is my favorite by potential of the theme. In actual practice, it has some issues that keep it from being the top. The issue that stands out to me, present in every single Tomorrowland/Discoveryland, is that there is just too much contradiction present from years of IP additions and a lack of singular vision. It may be Tomorrowland, but it does not reflect Tomorrow. As has been said many times before, building the future is hard in comparison to lands that predominately look to the past, so it is to an extent understandable. But that doesn't mean there can't be another try at it. 

So this plan, which is elaborated from the expansion plans I proposed for Disneyland last year, is my attempt at completely starting over with the land and developing a new identity for Tomorrowland, just like has been attempted in real life a couple times before. 

Instead of aliens and sci-fi or looking to the past, I decided to follow the model of what I see as the most successful attempt at building the future: EPCOT, with a particular focus on space. I wanted to follow a realistic but optimistic guiding principle of building a better future, even as we travel to new frontiers. 

I really see this as the most clear fulfillment of the original purpose of the land. The core childhood fantasy that defined the world of tomorrow has always been the fantasy of becoming an astronaut and going to space. This is the land where we look to the future and to the stars, always optimistic for a better tomorrow. So that was my core philosophy and guiding principle for the following design.

As you continue reading this post, it might be valuable to have some background music. So here's a playlist with a couple of tracks I put together that fit the style I imagine for the land. 

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Before getting to the actual design, I want to start with the varied sources of inspiration.

One of the biggest inspirations for the subject, the tone, and the style of the land comes from the above series of NASA posters which show our universe as a series of travel destinations. These are so well designed and optimistic, suggesting a time where the universe is accessible and a part of human society. I like that idea for Tomorrowland. Specifically, I am using The Grand Tour to suggest the setting of the land. This Tomorrowland is a space travel station on Earth that is celebrating the alignment of the planets for the Grand Tour and inviting us guests to learn about and ultimately travel to space.

The next primary inspiration, like I mentioned, is EPCOT from the early years. The inspiration is less of the style but absolutely the tone and specifically the Horizons attraction. The realistic hard science approach of EPCOT stands is opposition to the fantasy style of many of the existing Tomorrowlands, but I am confident it could work. Especially because of the success of so many space science movies over the last few years. If entertaining, real science doesn't drive people away. So EPCOT and its attractions are a big element here. More on that later.

And finally, I have to mention the Tomorrowland movie. Though I don't reference it explicitly in the design of the land, again the style and philosophy are a big factor. Getting architecture specific, that means that the highly organic architecture of Santiago Calatrava is present in the inspiration imagery. Overall, the idea is clean and white, organic and sweeping, dense but open, and monumentally impressive. 

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Now to the overall concept of the design.

Like mentioned, this is a futuristic space travel station on Earth where the optimistic ideals of space travel are idealized. There is no overly complicated story or definite setting besides the general theme of the future.

The land is divided into three districts. Future Tech at the entrance to the land, Future Life to the north of the land, and Future Frontiers to the south of the land. At the center, forming the thematic core of the land is a new Horizons attraction, which ties the ideas of the three districts together into a single concept.

The significant element of the renovation that needs to be mentioned first is the addition of a second level to the land in the form of an organic sweeping walkway that connects many of the existing buildings. There's a couple reasons for this addition. Logistically, existing Tomorrowland is tight and when it is crowded, it's not fun. The second level, and the decision to place some of the attraction entrances on the second level, is an attempt to spread some of the crowds. But aesthetically, I think there is something interesting about the visual density and kinetic value of two levels of pathways. There is density, but organized density, and the visual of guests walking above or below you suggests there is more to be seen. The upper level has a staircase and elevator tower on either end for access.

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Future Tech is focused on how technology creates a better future and includes both real life and slightly fantastical examples of the cutting edge of science and technology.

This district starts at The Hub. The Astro Orbiter is removed from the front of the land and moved back to the central tower. So to replace it is a new fountain, called the Fountain of the Worlds, sitting at the same spot as the original Clock of the World. Behind, the Peoplemover track is adjusted. The central run is removed to allow for better crowd flow and the second level addition, but the track is adjusted to cut straight across the path from building to building, so it is still able to be a kinetically dynamic entrance element to the land. Ahead, the second level and the exterior glass elevator tower is visible. There are staircase access points in both the buildings on the left and right, where new occupiable second levels are constructed.

The Future Tech district has four attractions. To the left is a replacement for Buzz Lightyear, which does not fit in the theme. To the right is a replacement for Star Tours, which also does not fit theme. And above on the second level is the entrance to the new Peoplemover and the relocated Astro Orbiter.

Replacing Buzz is a dark ride based on Big Hero 6, which I believe has the same positive science and technology philosophy as my idea for the land. Like I have said before, I am not opposed to IPs if used properly. in my opinion, Big Hero 6 fits the setting and tone of the land, so it's perfectly ok here. The dark ride uses the same track and similar omnimover vehicles for a tour through the Big Hero group technology workshop, set up like the lab scene in the film. We tour through a series of labs, guided by Baymax, where each of the team members demonstrates some kind of futuristic technology they are working on, created with practical interactive effects. Things like electromagnetic levitation, high tech robotics, laser technology, and of course microbots are demonstrated in a fun and entertaining way. The main lab scene is open to both the accessible second level above, where the staircase comes down to the ground level of the lab, and a large curtain wall looking out to the main pathway. I want the crazy technology lab setting, filled with movie robots and lasers and experiments to be highly visible.

Across the main path is the replacement for Star Tours. Ideally, it should close as soon as Star Wars Land opens and the new attraction will retain the simulator system. To reflect the Future Tech concept, the new attraction shows the future of transportation in the form of an ultra high speed public transport train that gives a tour of the future world of tomorrow. The exterior is redressed as a transit station, with locations and times tickering by on update boards. The glass curtain wall looks into the waiting room queue with an exposed upper level mezzanine.

The trip take us through first the immediate area of Tomorrowland, expanding the scope of the land, and then high speed jumps across the country and world, showing us what could be the world of Tomorrow, like a version of London where a rocket dwarfs Big Ben. This is a little inspired by the dynamic train trip in the Tomorrowland movie and therefore passes some similar visions before expanding around the world. It could be possible to have multiple different itineraries just like the current version.

The upper level to the waiting room is the queue for the Peoplemover, reinforcing the transit theme of the building. The Peoplemover follows the same track, minus the central section that I already mentioned. It goes counterclockwise around the land, looking into many of the attractions and explaining the Districts organization and overall theme of the land.

The Astro Orbiter is now up on the upper level in its original position, and its queue is on the middle level below it. There is a new elevator tower built adjacent as well.

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Next, the Future Life District is actually just existing attractions and locations in a new grouping. The concept of the district is the future of life on Earth, showing a high tech civilization that better lives on and with the natural world.

First, Nemo is removed from the Subs. The new attraction retains the subs and infrastructure, but now is dressed as high tech research vessels that explores life underwater while on a trip to SeaBase Pacific, an underwater futuristic community. The trip includes exotic fish, encounters with a whale and a giant squid, and ultimately a trip through the futuristic world of civilization underwater, passing by other high tech water crafts and divers. It utilizes the same screen technology as the existing version, plus more sets and limited real figures in SeaBase Pacific. Back outside, there is also a bridge built over the corner of the lagoon to resolve another bottleneck and allow for cool visual connections into the lagoon.

The Autopia is slightly shortened and there is an additional indoor scene built, but it is essentially the same. The Monorail is also rerouted slightly to stay out of Fantasyland. Both of these moves were done to open up an expansion plot for Fantasyland. The Train is also in this area, and also gets a bit of change. Maybe controversially, I propose the complete removal of the Grand Canyon Scene, to be replaced with a scene that shows a diorama of a vista over an expansive and active Tomorrowland. Showing a large and busy city, the view would include ships and Monorails and cars flying by, both physically and projected. The style would be clean, bright, and optimistic, like the rest of the land. The transition between this scene and the next has the train pass through a series of strobing laser fields, to suggest some kind of teleportation into the past of the next scene. The Primeval World show scene would get a thorough refurbishment to update the figures and effects to act as a fitting and thrilling finale to the Grand Tour.

Last for this area, the Tomorrowland Terrace is renamed and the covered area is expanded into a new organic based restaurant. Reflecting foods grown on earth, the new menu would be an attempt at something healthier and more diverse. Just to the south, by the Astro Orbiter, is an outdoor garden area, showing many of these Earth grown foods.

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The final district, Future Frontiers, is all about space travel, and is centered on the existing Space Mountain.

The 3D theater at the base of Space Mountain is removed and replaced with a better entrance way to Space Mountain, a new attraction, and a new post show area for the two attractions. Anchored by a giant modern 45' rocket (reminiscent of the original one from Tomorrowland), guests enter a new space flight concourse, where they can turn left to enter the existing queue system of Space Mountain, or go straight to enter the new attraction, Mission: Mars. The right leads to the post show from both attractions, which expands into the Starcade.

Mission: Mars is new iteration of the space flight simulator attraction, combing elements of Mission: Space and the original Mission to Mars. The attraction is based in a theater in the round underneath a spherical projection dome, but the theater is not stationary. The attraction uses a custom motion base system and has two identical theaters. The round theater seating platform is on a full motion base and can rotate and slightly pitch in both directions under the seamless projection dome.The entire base can also rotate along one horizontal axis 30° forward and 15° backward. The seats also recline to about 10 degrees so that you have a great view looking up into the dome. The diagrams below explain this a bit better.

This motion would allow for some slightly realistic show action to coordinate with the rocket flight and trip through space. Guests launch from the Tomorrowland Spaceport, stop off at a massive Space Station, showing life in space, and then rocket on to Mars and land at a station right above the Red Planet. The spinning motion of the theater during launch would simulate minor g forces of launch and flight, and the pitch would be able to simulate some interesting floating through space, disorienting your true gravity. Here's a video showing how the theater could move.

The post show from both attractions would be set in a Space Station and feature astronaut games and panoramas looking out to the alien world.

Rocket Rods Pizza Port next door is renamed and redressed to fit in with the Space Port look and theme.

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Finally, the attraction at the center between the three districts is a new version of Horizons that ties themes from all three areas together into one vision of the future. Occupying the entirety of the former carousel building, it can be a pretty large attraction. The entrance is on the upper level, and on the lower level, there is a small home of the future style walk through, where you get to actually step into one of the sets along the ride path.

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That describes the complete attraction vision for the land. But text doesn't really convey the visual style that I have in mind. So I decided to built it. The whole land. That's why this post took extra long. Enjoy the design below, ending with a pretty exciting flythrough of the land.

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So that is my Tomorrowland. I am really happy with it and hope you do too. 

Let me know what you think! And I would really appreciate any kind of sharing! 

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Tomorrowland Architecture Image Credits
1. The Octopian
2. All Ears
3. Disney by Mark
4. and 5. Google Maps

Tomorrow World Transit Image Credits
1. Daily Mail
2. Londontopia
3. Futuristic News