In days gone by, attractions that attempted to predict the future were a major fixture at Disney’s theme parks. Walt Disney himself championed the creation of Tomorrowland, one of Disneyland’s original themed areas, which featured a host of futuristic rides, shows and exhibits. And EPCOT Center, which opened in 1982, devoted half of its space to Future World, which similary dealt with what was to come. Of course, rides that predict the future become outdated very quickly. Tomorrowland has been overhauled numerous times, and most of EPCOT Center’s opening day attractions have either gone or been revised. Nowadays, Disney focuses on building attractions based around movies, rather than cutting-edge technologies that don’t yet exist. The days of Disney attractions that show us what is to come may be fading, but we can still look back and see just how accurate some of those forecasts turned out to be. Let’s take a look at 10 such attractions and see whether their predictions panned out…
10. Monsanto House of the Future (Disneyland)
The attraction: The Monsanto House of the Future, sponsored by the Monsanto Chemical Company’s Plastics Division, concentrated on plastic as the building material of the future. It was installed in 1957, and was designed to show what life would be like in 1986. The predictions:
- Houses will be built of near-indestructible plastic, from the walls to the floors to the ceiling and beyond (FALSE – plastic has all kinds of uses, but building residential homes with the material is not a widespread practice).
- By 1986, we’ll all be using time-saving appliances such as compact microwave ovens and ultrasonic dishwashers (TRUE – microwaves and dishwashers did become commonplace by the mid-1980s)
- In the 1980s and beyond, we’ll watch shows on wall-mounted televisions, which we’ll interact with via a remote control (TRUE – although it wasn’t really until the 2000s that flat-panel, wall-mounted TVs took off).
- 1980s fashion will be dominated by polyester clothing (TRUE – there was polyester aplenty in the 80s).
9. Monorail (Disneyland)
The attraction: The first major expansion of Disneyland was completed in 1959, and included the Monorail. Walt had seen a monorail system in action during a trip to Europe in 1958, and immediately put his Imagineers to work on a version of the German Alweg-style monorail on his return. The prediction:
- Monorail systems will solve the growing transit problems in the world’s cities, providing a clean and efficient way of transporting large groups of people across long distances (FALSE – there are some urban monorail systems, such as the one in Las Vegas that uses second-hand Disney trains – but mass adoption never came, despite Walt Disney’s efforts).
8. WEDWay PeopleMover (Disneyland)
The attraction: Walt Disney longed for an overhead transportation system that could offer people a rapid overview of an area in a city. In 1964, he set Imagineer Bob Gurr to work on creating one. The result was the WEDWay, also known as the “PeopleMover”, which opened in 1967. The chief innovation of the WEDWay was that the vehicles never stopped moving. Instead, guests boarded via a circular moving walkway, which dramatically improved the loading speed when compared to a linear walkway. This was coupled with a set of small trains that were pushed along by rotating tires that were embedded in the track every nine feet, each with its own electric motor. The cars themselves did not have motors, and the breakdown of any of the spinning tires would not cause the entire system to break down. The prediction:
- Like monorails, WEDWay systems will play a vital role in future cities. Residents will commute to work via WEDWay trams, with automobiles and trucks being restricted to underground tunnels – enabling cities to become more-or-less car-free zones (FALSE – without Walt Disney to drive their adoption after his death in 1966, WEDWays never caught on in a big way. The only example outside a Disney theme park is at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas).
7. Autopia (Disneyland)
The attraction: Autopia opened with the rest of Disneyland in July 1955. It allowed young riders to board real, gasoline-fueled cars and take them for a controlled spin around a “highway”. The prediction:
- America will be criss-crossed by multi-lane, limited-access highways (TRUE – Autopia opened before President Eisenhower signed the Interstate Highway legislation, and proved to be a very accurate simulation of what was to come).
6. Rocket to the Moon (Disneyland)
The attraction: The TWA Moonliner was a futuristic exhibit located in Tomorrowland, and stood at some 76 feet tall. Adjoining the rocket was Rocket to the Moon, which took guests on a simulated flight to the moon. It opened in 1955. The prediction:
- Man will be able to fly to the moon in a spaceship, propelled there by an enormous rocket (TRUE – in fact, man would go even further and land on the moon within 14 years of the ride opening).
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).
