Some attractions aren’t meant to last. Some rides simply meet the end of their operational lives thanks to improving technologies that make them obsolete. Sometimes, attractions lose favor as a new generation begins to visit the parks and loses touch with classic rides. Unfortunately, there are times that rides need to be removed to make way for something bigger, better, grander. Some attractions simply aren’t made to withstand the test of time.
Make no mistake: none of that is true of the PeopleMover. Gentle, simple, and outstanding in concept and execution, the progressive PeopleMover in Walt’s Tomorrowland at Disneyland was a prototype for the future – one of Disney’s innovations aimed at making life better for everyone. And today, this spectacular showcase of innovation and ingenuity joins our growing library of Lost Legends – in-depth stories dedicated to the most spectacular closed classics on Earth.
How can such a simple, slow-moving attraction be remembered by Imagineering fans today as a legendary loss? How did this Space Age innovation come to be? How did it work? What was it like to take a tour through Tomorrowland along its elegant elevated highways? And what became of the ride both in its original Anaheim incarnation and in its Orlando sister?
And long-time readers of our in-depth entries know, the story of a beloved attraction usually begins well before the first riders ever step on board. And to trace the rise and fall of Walt’s Tomorrowland and the optimism, futurism, and innovation that went into it, we have to begin in the past…
Yesterdayland (1955)
When Disneyland opened in 1955, the Tomorrowland guests stepped into was a world away from the one we know today. As a matter of fact, it was quite a bit different than Walt himself had hoped, too. From the time Disneyland broke ground to its official opening day in July 1955, exactly one year and a day had passed. Running short on time (and money), Walt had officially halted construction on Tomorrowland in the fall of 1954, resigning himself to the idea that his “vista into a world of wondrous ideas” would simply need to open in a Phase II expansion once the park had recouped some of its initial investment.
But that winter, he decided to change course. Construction went ahead on Tomorrowland, even if it would pared down from Walt’s initial dreams.
Arriving guests discovered a land entered via a Courtyard of Flags representing all 48 states (you read that correctly) surrounding the iconic World Clock. Beyond, the towering 72-foot-tall Moonliner rocket acted as the visual “weenie” to draw guests further in, as well as the icon of Disney’s Rocket to the Moon theater-in-the-round attraction. Otherwise, Tomorrowland featured the classic Autopia as well as a walkthrough of the sets from Disney’s 1954 film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
If it doesn’t seem like enough to fill a land, you’re right. To add to the park’s lineup (and its revenue), Tomorrowland was famously filled with corporate exhibitions. Walt had in effect rented out real estate within Disneyland, resulting in “attractions” like the Crane Bathroom of Tomorrow, the Kaiser Aluminum Hall of Fame, the Dutch Boy Paint Color Gallery, and the Monsanto Hall of Chemicals.
As a matter of fact, it wouldn’t be until the park’s second year that the land would finally gain the spiraling Astro Jets so associated with Tomorrowland today (even if this version was merely a bare carnival ride installed at ground level) and fellow Lost Legend: The Skyway, ferrying guests to and from Fantasyland.
If you asked Imagineers, this Tomorrowland was set in the then-distant 1986 – a year so incomprehensibly far away, it might as well have been the stuff of science fiction. Imagine, for example, if today’s Tomorrowland tried to accurately and scientifically showcase the styles and technologies of 2050… While commercial flights to the moon may not have been available by the real 1986, Walt’s designers actually did a respectable job predicting the textures, styles, and atmosphere of the Space Age!
Even if it’s hard today to see much futurism in this land of concrete walls, white and red canopies, fluttering flags, and the nascent hints of the Space Age, this relatively simple version of the land was nonetheless important in establishing tried-and-true hallmarks of the concept today, like mirrored showbuildings spanning an entry corridor and an inner courtyard with spinning rockets at its center. It also debuted what would become another hallmark of Tomorrowland: not staying the same for long.
Chasing tomorrow
Given that Tomorrowland just wasn’t what Walt had hoped, it was a focus of substantial growth right from the start. 1957 saw the opening of the fabled Monsanto House of the Future, where guests could tour through a dynamic cantilevered home that dreamed of picture phones, remote-controlled televisions, and the must-see microwave oven that stopped visitors dead in their tracks. (The countertop version wouldn’t be available for another ten years.)
But it was nothing compared to what followed. In 1959 – just as the park turned four years old – Walt himself oversaw the opening of three attractions so vast in scope, they required the invention of a new most expensive and limited ride ticket to experience: an E-Ticket. This all-at-once expansion on previously unused land between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland was so grand, a “Grand Re-Dedication” of Disneyland was broadcast on television to celebrate.
Now, Tomorrowland would offer three of the most spectacular attractions ever developed: the Disneyland-ALWEG Monorail (the hemisphere’s first daily operating monorail system), the Submarine Voyage (the “world’s largest peacetime submarine fleet,” as Walt boasted) and the Matterhorn Bobsleds (the world’s first modern steel roller coaster).
The massive influx of resources and attention on a mostly-undeveloped corner of Tomorrowland was no accident. With 1960 on the horizon, Tomorrowland had become something of a project for Walt. While the rest of the park was growing, Walt had felt since opening day that Tomorrowland was “not quite finished.” Luckily, a spectacular opportunity would soon arise, providing Imagineers with all the tools they’d need to create the “great, big, beautiful tomorrow” Walt dreamed of.
Elsewhere…
Beyond the berm of Disneyland, America faced a tremendous era of change. The emerging 1960s were a wild departure from the 1950s, and the two decades’ ideas of the future had changed proportionally. At Walt Disney Imagineering, ambitious projects were setting a new gold standard… except the work they were developing wasn’t for Disneyland at all.
In fact, Walt and his Imagineers were at work designing attractions for the 1964 – 65 New York World’s Fair, where they’d been contracted to create shows for four exhibitors at the expo. With the opportunity to experiment and innovate without financial burden, it’s no surprise that the four attractions they developed were pivotal to the history of Imagineering:
- The fair’s UNICEF pavilion (sponsored by Pepsi-Cola) hosted Walt Disney’s “it’s a small world” – A Salute to UNICEF and the World’s Children – the debut of the world famous flume ride through international waters. Naturally, the attraction featured the eponymous song by the Sherman Brothers. After the fair’s closure, the ride would be relocated to Disneyland in 1966.
- The General Electric pavilion was called Progressland and featured a revolving circular theater showcasing one American family’s advance through the ages alongside the evolution of electricity in the home. As well as introducing the world to unthinkable human Audio-Animatronics, this sensational presentation also came with a Sherman Brothers tune: “A Great, Big, Beautiful Tomorrow.”
- The third Disney influence at the World’s Fair was hosted in the Illinois state pavilion. It was a stunning animatronic figure of Abraham Lincoln (voiced by Royal Dano) reciting famous speeches in the groundbreaking Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.
- Ford Motor Company presented Ford’s Magic Skyway. This unusual attraction featured 50 actual Ford convertible vehicles (without motors) which traveled around and through Ford’s pavilion passing by scenes of animatronic dinosaurs. The unique ride system was boarded along a moving walkway traveling at the same speed and alongside the convertibles, which moved continuously along elevated tracks outside the building and within.
At the close of the World’s Fair in 1965, Walt’s team had added to their playbook the priceless innovations, technologies, and ride systems that they’d developed for the Fair (which would eventually coalesce into Walt’s magnum opus, Pirates of the Caribbean). To walk’s thinking, though, at least one of those concepts would evolve. In fact, though Ford’s Magic Skyway was not directly relocated to Disneyland, the technology that powered it was just what Walt needed… Read on…
Moving the future
By the close of the 1964 – 65 New York World’s Fair, Walt was able to dedicate himself to his biggest projects yet. It’s no secret to Disney fans that, by the mid-1960s, Walt’s focus had shifted from Disneyland to “The Florida Project.” After years of covertly acquiring land holdings in swampy Central Florida, Walt owned up to his plans for a “Disney World” that would be a blank canvas for experimentation. And though Walt was willing to build a “Disneyland East” there as a concession, his real ambitions had grown.
In fact, Walt’s dreams of an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow are worth a dissertation in their own right. Suffice it to say that this malleable metropolis would’ve been a real city where people would live, work, and play; a living laboratory where the newest household and urban innovations would be constantly tested, serving as a blueprint for all global cities after.
Ever the futurist, Walt had big plans for his E.P.C.O.T. to change the world, and one of the most vital components was reimagining transportation. To his thinking, the 1959 installation of the Monorail at Disneyland had merely been a test… a prototype disguised as a ride, serving to introduce the public to a new, efficient mass transit system. And what Disneyland had tested, E.P.C.O.T. would now make real. Monorails would sail through the city center, connecting E.P.C.O.T. to the theme park, the Disney World Airport, and Lake Buena Vista residential community.
And from there, an entirely new system would take over. Like capillaries filtering into the finer points of the Florida property, Walt and his team envisioned Peoplemovers – continuously-moving, high-capacity, mass-transit lines that would radiate through the property, modeling a new and effortless urban transit solution for the world. Residents of EPCOT would use Peoplemovers to commute to work and keep the city’s center traffic-free.
Walt Disney had an idea. Thanks to the World’s Fair, he had the technology to bring it to life. And thanks to Tomorrowland, he had just the place to test it…
The Tomorrowland problem
Hang around Disney Parks long enough, and you’re guarunteed to see it in action: the “Tomorrowland problem.” As Walt himself would admit, from day one, Tomorrowland had a tough time keeping up. Unfortunately, the closer designers get to sincerely predicting the textures and technologies of tomorrow, the more they risk Tomorrowland becoming Todayland.
Though Imagineers had done a bang-up job envisioning the future from the ’50s, even a decade into the park’s lifetime, it just wasn’t holding up. The Space Age was in full swing, and the hard corners, checkered flags, and brutal concrete of Tomorrowland looked entirely at odds with the sleek curves, bounding parabolas, and pastel accents that would define futurism in the ’60s and ’70s.
Given that Walt had never been happy with the original Tomorrowland and that the advances of the World’s Fair (and his dreams of E.P.C.O.T.) now empowered Imagineers with unprecedented tools, the time was right… A floor-to-ceiling renovation was in order, and Walt’s Tomorrowland would soon take shape….
A World on the Move
Walt Disney didn’t live to see the glorious renovations of Tomorrowland developed throughout the 1960s. New Tomorrowland would open on July 2, 1967 – seven months after his unexpected death. Still, Walt’s DNA was present in most every corner of the land.
Completely reborn, this New Tomorrowland was redesigned from the ground up – new buildings, new textures, new colors, and new attractions. If the park’s Frontierland represents the past with its cumbersome riverboats, plodding mules, and idling speed, Tomorrowland would be our future – a “World on the Move.” And indeed, this land was marked by kinetic energy all around.
Now dressed in the sleek and purposeful dressings of the Space Age, New Tomorrowland was a utopia that perfectly encapsulated the future as seen from the 60s and 70s. The land’s harsh right angles and simple geometry had disappeared, replaced with sleek, streamlined simplicity… It was a masterwork of mid-century modern architecture – aerodynamic curves, upswept roofs, gentle and organic shapes, and a neon glow. The perfect union of form and function, the land was now two-stories tall, drawing the eyes ever skyward.
Two mirrored show buildings flanking the land’s main entry path contained new attractions. The northern showbuilding contained an expanded and remastered Circle-Vision, presented via nine screens surrounding standing guests. The southern contained one of Disney’s most legendary dark rides ever – the Lost Legend: Adventure Thru Inner Space, debuting the Omnimover ride system in a spectacularly scientific attraction shrinking guests to the size of an atom (born of Walt’s optimism around the promise of the Atomic Age).
Meanwhile, the very rear of the land was equipped with its own revolving theater, built from scratch to house the Modern Marvel: Carousel of Progress (newly transported to Anaheim from the World’s Fair).
Nearby, Flight to the Moon and its simulated space voyage theaters were cutting edge compared to the original Rocket to the Moon that had come before.
And then, the land’s center, the new Rocket Jets were positioned high atop a three-story pedestal with a Space Age red gantry lift as their only access point. With the Rocket Jets revolving above, the Submarine Voyage gliding below, and the Monorail soaring throughout, Tomorrowland really was a World on the Move with something new to see in every direction. But this two-story Tomorrowland featured one timeless attraction that today’s Disney fans deify.
Let’s travel back to 1967 and head toward it…
A highway in the sky
No matter where you step in this kinetic Tomorrowland, it’s hard to miss the PeopleMover as it bobs and weaves, gliding cheerily through the skies. Supported by elegant white trunks growing up from the ground, the gleaming tracks are practically icon of the land, visible from most anywhere as they weave into and out of each of the land’s interconnected buildings.
But how do we climb aboard? Frankly, that’s part of the fun. At the base of the white pedestal that the Rocket Jets revolve over, the way to the PeopleMover is a “speed ramp” that carries us to the second level of the land’s central icon. There, the speed ramp deposits us at the start of another continuously moving sidewalk (this one flat) advancing at about 1½ miles per hour. As we step onto it, we find ourselves carried along, aligning effortlessly with a chain of PeopleMover cabs arriving at the same sped, their roofs tipped back and doors slotted open, waiting for us.
Watch you head and step! Once on board, get cozy – we’ll be here for over fifteen minutes, relaxing in the California sun and enjoying unbeatable views of this Space Age playground.
As the train slowly advances out of the pedestal’s circular loading area, you might notice that a portion of the train ahead breaks off from the slow-moving continuous stream through the station. As if by magic, this newly-cut segment zips off down a straightaway, ducking into a showbuilding. But now, it’s our turn. With an effortless boost, our train now speeds up to 7 miles per hour, floating weightlessly down the central spine of track running through the center of the land’s entry path. Wave to the folks below, and to the returning PeopleMovers on the right, en route back to the pedestal!
But now, ahead, the path forks. Ours heads off to the left… Ready to see what’s inside? Before we do, let’s take a quick detour to explain the technology that’s powered the PeopleMover so far…
The mechanics
The continuous and gentle glide of the PeopleMover through the skies of Tomorrowland felt almost like magic. So how did it work? What complex computer systems controlled the acceleration of the train segments, keeping vehicles appropriately spaced and paced?
Here’s where the World’s Fair comes back into play. Disney had premiered four attractions at the World’s Fair. Three of them – Mr. Lincoln, “small world,” and Carousel of Progress – had very directly been transplanted to California in the years following the fair. The only one that hadn’t made the transition was Ford’s Magic Skyway, with its motorless convertible cars soaring along the track through Ford’s pavilion. But that doesn’t mean the technology didn’t.
The PeopleMover borrowed much of the technology behind the Ford attraction. With its constantly-moving trains that allowed continuous boarding, the PeopleMover offered a theoretical (and often met) hourly capacity of 4,885 guests per hour – tremendously high, and double the capacity of even the most efficient rides today. Most impressively, the vehicles were lightweight and motorless, with no moving parts whatsoever beyond the door and tilting roof for loading – another masterwork by Disney Legend Bob Gurr (who once said “if it moves on wheels at Disneyland, I probably designed it”).
There’s no need for a propulsion system or even a computer system aboard the PeopleMover. Instead, the attraction was entirely powered through the track. About every nine feet, the train would pass over a Goodyear tire embedded in the track. Those tires were turned via an attached electric motor. In fact, 517 motor-driven tires were placed along the ¾ mile track of the PeopleMover, each motor providing up to 3 horsepower to control the speed of the attraction by simply adjusting the speed of the turning tire.
Using this spectacularly simple and impressively innovative technology, the 16-minute journey through Tomorrowland sent the PeopleMover trains gliding up and down hills, through curves, and into the show buildings of Tomorrowland for sneak peaks of the land’s attractions. So let’s hop back on board to see exactly what the PeopleMover has in store… Read on…
The PeopleMover
Where were we? Oh, that’s right! High over Tomorrowland, comfortably seated in a whisper-quiet PeopleMover cab just as it accelerates from the station and down the land’s central straightaway. You inched from the station, further and further until it happened… Passing over an embedded tire, the train suddenly was propelled forward to a brisk 7 miles per hour, zipping pleasantly down the center of the land’s entry.
To your left and right are the two mirror show buildings housing Adventure Thru Inner Space and Circle-Vision 360, respectively. Their façades are adorned with two complimentary murals designed by Mary Blair, the legendary artist responsible for the signature style of “it’s a small world” and its pop-up exterior. While Blair’s style may seem inappropriate for Tomorrowland, the murals are perfect for the New Tomorrowland.
The north mural shows children from different nations dancing and singing, with textured ribbons overhead representing global communication hovering over a united world. Overhead, communication satellites orbit in the sky.
The south mural is focused not on communication, but energy – solar, wind, fire, and water-power are embedded into the international mural. Both murals together are entitled “The Spirit of Creative Energies Among Children,” and perfectly encapsulate the optimism of the future as envisioned by this World on the Move. Each of the murals is 54 feet long, and the second-story PeopleMover provides the best vantage point.
Ride into the future
As the PeopleMover presses past the show-buildings and reaches the edge of Tomorrowland, you’re provided a priceless view of Sleeping Beauty Castle and the park’s Hub. There, the track bends to the left and enters into the showbuilding belonging to another celebrated Lost Legend: Adventure Thru Inner Space, with a cutout in the wall looking down on guests queuing below. The graceful trains glide past the Mighty Microscope and the unusual Omnimover cars that pass continuously into it, reappearing at the microscopes other end mere inches tall! (By 1986, this view would be replaced with a look down into the queue of another Lost Legend: Star Tours, which re-used much of Inner Space’s infrastructure.)
Exiting from the Inner Space building, the PeopleMover would open into a view of the outdoor Tomorrowland Stage where live performances are presented. A decade after New Tomorrowland opened, this corner of the park became dominated by Space Mountain, which the PeopleMover was re-routed to pass through. As the trains glided gently through the stars, guests would provided with a unique view of Space Mountain – the perfect tease for youngsters or those who wouldn’t want to tackle the coaster’s thrills.
Now, the PeopleMover trains exit from Space Mountain, they pass into the Carousel of Progress. But rather than looking into the show, the train encircles the second story of the showbuilding, which is home to Walt Disney’s model for EPCOT – the city, not the park. The train passes around the circumference of the circular building providing exceptional views of the massive model, which is also available for foot traffic by those exiting the Carousel of Progress show.
From there, the ride arches over the Skyway buckets, speeds above the Autopia and presses forward to glide above the Submarine Lagoon. Here, subs dive beneath the waves as Monorails pass right alongside the PeopleMover track, the two futuristic mass transit systems coming within inches of each other. The train twists and turns over the lagoon and through the woods of the Autopia.
Finally, the trains move through the Circle-Vision theater providing views of its colorful waiting area before re-emerging near the castle and sharply turning left, back to the central straightaway with the Rocket Jets looming overhead. The 16-minute PeopleMover is a breathtaking, gentle, sightseeing tour that’s built into the futuristic land and adds tremendous to the kinetic energy.
You can watch a leisurely video of the classic PeopleMover here:
(Along the way, keep an eye out for an extra feature… In 1977, the PeopleMover track through the upper level of the Carousel Theater was enclosed to become the SuperSpeed Tunnel, with surrounding projections creating the illusion of acceleration. In 1982, the tunnel’s projections become the Game Grid from the film TRON. The embedded video from 1990 includes the TRON scene, part of the informally renamed “PeopleMover Thru the World of TRON.”)
The end
There’s no question that the PeopleMover was a timeless classic. The outstanding attraction was poised to glide into the twenty-first century as a crowd-pleasing, relaxing, magnificent reminder of Walt’s original plans for Tomorrowland and E.P.C.O.T. – a living prototype of the effortless mass transit our world may one day offer. But best of all, the PeopleMover was seemingly adaptable to any style that the land might evolve into, looking right at home alongside the arrival of the Modern Marvel: Space Mountain and its anchoring Googie architecture a decade later, at the tail end of the Space Age in 1977.
But if Tomorrowland has taught us anything, it’s that times change. Unfortunately, the future didn’t stay quite so bright. Chalk it up to the Tomorrowland Problem once more that, in the ’80s and ’90s, pop culture’s vision of the future looked radically different. Films like Alien, Blade Runner, and even Star Wars made the squeaky clean optimism of the pastel Space Age looked downright naive. Times had changed indeed… And the PeopleMover was in the way of progress.
So imagine one last time that sleek, scientific Tomorrowland of the ’60s – a “World on the Move” filled with swirling rockets, streaming Monorails, bubbling Submarines, the revolving Carousel of Progress, the groundbreaking Adventure Thru Inner Space, and the gliding PeopleMover criss-crossing through it all. This is the future that Disney Parks fans yearn for… and if only this mid-century tomorrow had held on through the ’90s, it would be seen today as a timeless, nostalgic retro-cool paradise.
But it wasn’t meant to be. Truthfully, the pivot point was probably the arrival of the Lost Legend: STAR TOURS in place of Inner Space and the radical, pop-infused Lost Legend: Captain EO playing in a custom-built 3D theater – both offering radical reimaginings of what Tomorrowland (and Disneyland in general) could be. And while Star Tours and Captain EO reigned in the late ’80s, the rest of Tomorrowland was falling apart.
The Carousel of Progress vacated in 1975 so that it could instead be moved to the newer Magic Kingdom in Florida. Its replacement – America Sings! – had played a full decade before closing (its Audio-Animatronics moved to the new Splash Mountain), leaving the Carousel Theater empty. The Rocket to the Moon theaters had given way to Flight to the Moon, then Mission to Mars in a continuous attempt to keep up with the future, and by the early ’90s, it had closed altogether.
It was undeniable: Tomorrowland needed another floor-to-ceiling renovation. And frustratingly for Disney executives, three decades of Tomorrowlands had proven without a shadow of a doubt that this facelift wouldn’t be the last! In fact, by its very nature, Tomorrowland would always need continuous, expensive upgrades that would inevitably become outdated! Unless… Read on as we wrap up the tragic tale of the Peoplemover by exploring the fall of Walt’s Tomorrowland…
A timeless tomorrow
By the late ’80s, the Space Age inspired Tomorrowlands in both Anaheim (dating to 1967) and Orlando (1971) were out of sync with pop culture, and badly needed revived once more. But endless investment in futile futurism was not sustainable, and a new model was needed if the concept of Tomorrowland stuck around. Luckily, an Imagineering experiment in progress gave reason for hope…
Across the Atlantic, Imagineers were hard at work on EuroDisneyland – a park that would forever change the face of Disney. Given the outright contempt that the French media had displayed around the Parisian park, Imagineers were tasked with doing something they’d never done before: stripping the Americana out of the inherently-American concept of Disneyland. And it makes sense, doesn’t it? A Tomorrowland of swirling NASA-inspired rockets and Space Age iconography would be pretty meaningless to Europeans.
So designers did something amazing. EuroDisneyland opened without a Tomorrowland at all. In its place stood Discoveryland (interpolating elements of the never-built Possibilityland: Discovery Bay once planned for Disneyland). Rather than being stylized after modern (and ever-changing) ideas of tomorrow, this golden, literary seaport was instead a fantasy future based on ideas from the past. Discoveryland is the future as it was envisioned by late 1800s European writers like H.G. Wells and Jules Verne – a steampunk-stylized world of spinning astrolabes, docked zephyrs, Captain Nemo’s Nautilus, and Victorian daydreams of science.
Unlike the sterile, white scientific Tomorrowland, Discoveryland presented a European fantasy future; a world at one with nature, derived from literature, and anchored by the sensational, epic, one-of-a-kind Lost Legend: Space Mountain – De la Terre á la Lune.
A-ha! There was the answer! Discoveryland had solved the Tomorrowland problem! By bringing to life a future envisioned from the past, this new take on Tomorrowland had entirely avoided the messiness of making real predictions, keeping current with cutting edge concepts, or stylizing a land with ever-changing tastes of architecture. Discoveryland was timeless; it was evergreen; it would never need an expensive, floor-to-ceiling redesign! And just like that, Imagineers were tasked with designing similarly timeless Tomorrowlands for Florida and California…
Magic Kingdom: New Tomorrowland (1994)
“The future that never was is finally here.” At least, that was the promise set forth by Magic Kingdom’s New Tomorrowland, debuting in 1994. Whereas Paris’ Discoveryland had been a fantasy future based on late 19th century literature, Magic Kingdom’s would be a science fiction future as envisioned in early 20th century pulp comic books. Metallic fins, neon signs in exterrestrial languages, metallic palm trees, robotic newsboys, docked alien saucers, and glowing silver accents swept across the land, crafting a clever way to make Tomorrowland timeless.
Amazingly ambitious, this vast New Tomorrowland was one of Imagineering’s first attempts at a modern, immersive themed land. This Tomorrowland wasn’t just a vague collection of buildings with sci-fi architecture; it was a “real” place with a mythology all its own, and an overarching design aesthetic and frame story connecting each ride, show, and restaurant within. And believe it or not, the park’s Peoplemover was one of the central elements of that world-building.
Now to be clear, Magic Kingdom has had a PeopleMover since 1975 – opening alongside the relocated Modern Marvel: Carousel of Progress and Space Mountain. However, the Floridian PeopleMover works a bit differently from Disneyland’s, including a quite different layout (remaining at a steady elevation throughout), uncovered cabs (the entire track is covered instead), and using LIM electromagnetic motors along the course rather than drive tires.
But in this New Tomorrowland, the PeopleMover would be reimagined as the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, cast as the “real” mass transit system of this alien spaceport city. Cleverly, nods to imaginary stations, spurs, and color lines throughout the rebranded ride “built-out” the world of this metropolis. But coolest of all, on-board narration got in on the story, too, with announcements and pages referring not to individual rides, but to the “venues” within the city they inhabited.
For example, passing by the retrofitted theaters of the Floridian Mission to Mars, the narrator would point out that guests were passing the Tomorrowland Interplanetary Conference Center – nevermind that dystopian alien conglomerate X-S Tech had currently rented it to showcase their new teleportation technology, creating the terrifying Lost Legend: Alien Encounter. Similarly, the Metropolis Science Center offered its current special exhibit, a time travel demonstration alongside the Lost Legend: The Timekeeper.
Granted, this New Tomorrowland didn’t last very long. Its substance was stripped away by a mandated character invasion in the late ’90s, turning Tomorrowland into a catch-all for Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, Toy Story, and Buzz Lightyear. The pulpy sci-fi style meanwhile, hung on quite a bit longer, and is only now being phased out in favor of (ready for this?) the ’70s simplicitly Disney was once so desperate to cover up. Florida’s ride has been renamed the PeopleMover and continues gliding along the elevated highways of Tomorrowland in Orlando. Meanwhile…
Disneyland: New Tomorrowland (1998)
Initially, plans were moving forward with transitioning Disneyland into a sci-fi future, too. In fact, we dove deep into the concepts floated for the never-built Possibilityland: Tomorrowland 2055, looking in awe at glowing alien night parades, extraterrestrial cabarets, and more. In fact, Tomorrowland was in such a sorry state in the early ’90s, its own Mission to Mars theaters were closed and emptied in preparation of housing the generation-traumatizing Lost Legend: Alien Encounter there.
But, as we know, plans changed. The 1992 opening of Disneyland Paris didn’t exactly go over as executives had hoped. In fact, the overbuilt and undervalued park practically caused the cancellation, closure, or downsizing of every single project in the Imagineering pipeline for two decades… including the ambitious Tomorrowland 2055.
With the budget slashed and half of Tomorrowland rotting in plain view, Disney needed to move forward with a New Tomorrowland in California. But now, it would need to be cheap. The solution?
In 1998, Disneyland’s Tomorrowland came out from under the knife looking… well… quite a bit like Discoveryland. In an attempt to reimagine Tomorrowland with as little new research and development as possible, the literary, Jules Verne inspired aesthetic of Paris’ fantasy future came to California (albeit, explained now as an “agri-future”).
Honestly, the idea of diverting the two U.S. Tomorrowlands into sci-fi and fantasy, respectively, is interesting! Unfortunately, the execution of this New Tomorrowland was… well… bad.
In fact, New Tomorrowland 1998 amounted stylistically to little more than dousing Walt’s Space Age architecture in buckets of dreary brown and copper paint, up-to-and-including Space Mountain. But unlike the custom-built look of Paris’ brass steampunk peak, California’s mountain (and the rest of the land) still looked like mid-century masterpiece… just painted brown.
The Rocket Jets that once revolved high atop a pedestal in the land’s center were grounded. Following in the footsteps of Paris, they were replaced with the earthy Astro Orbitor, set awkwardly at the land’s entrance and surrounded in Discoveryland-style rocks burst forth from the ground. And that was emblematic of the problem. While the beautiful, entrancing Astro Orbitor makes great sense in Paris, the new look of the ride and the rest of the land felt entirely at odds with Star Tours, Space Mountain, and the “new” attraction: Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, none of which made sense in the context of a European retro-future anyway.
Vacant highways
But of course, the true tragedy is that this unfortunate redesign also spelled the end for the PeopleMover. The attraction closed forever on August 21, 1995 in anticipation of the land’s makeover. When New Tomorrowland made its debut in May 1998, those elevated tracks throughout the land remained… but now, rather than the elegant and simple pastel trains of the PeopleMover, they would house the revving, squealing, rubber-burning Rocket Rods.
Traversing in three minutes the same course that had taken then PeopleMover sixteen, the Rocket Rods were meant to not only be the anchor attraction of New Tomorrowland, but an adrenaline-packing hot rod thrill ride that would redefine Disneyland.
If you’re in the mood for heartbreak, this would be the time to make the jump to our official, in-depth exploration into the Disaster Files: The Rocket Rods and Tomorrowland 1998 – a sort of sequel to the story of the PeopleMover. The short version of the story is that the Rocket Rods literally didn’t work. Despite being the “starring” prototype technology of New Tomorrowland, the ride’s frazzled computers and blown tires lead to multi-hour waits and days, weeks, and months of closure on-and-off for about two years before Disney officially threw in the towel.
The Rocket Rods may have burned off in a flash, but the heartbreak left in their wake sure hasn’t.
What’s left of the PeopleMover? Unfortunately, all of it. The tracks still twist above Tomorrowland and dart in and out of the land’s show buildings, often overgrown with weeds and treebranches. Since its closure (and especially since the closure of the Rocket Rods in 2001), guests and fans have rallied endlessly for the return of the PeopleMover. Occasionally, Imagineers will cryptically state that they recognize fans’ fervor for the ride and mention, “We’re working on it” or “Be patient.” But it doesn’t seem that the PeopleMover will ever be back.
For one, the removal of the Rocket Rods’ bus-bar hardware would be a land-spanning challenge in its own right, much less the installation of new PeopleMover propoulsion and vehicles. More damning, the compelling reason often cited by industry experts is the ride’s relative inaccessibilty under even the baseline requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In other words, if the PeopleMover were built today (especially in California), it would require widened pathways and guard rails for evacuations, frequent staircases, ADA ramps, and other substantial rebuilds that would inherently impact every showbuilding in the land.
The more likely scenario is that – because of that tangled layout placing track and support structures throughout the land’s buildings – the remains of the PeopleMover are simply too difficult to remove. For that reason, any change to the PeopleMover – be it reimagining or removal – will likely coincide with the next complete renovation of Tomorrowland… whenever and whatever that may be.
Lost Legend
It’s often said, “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.” That’s probably true of the PeopleMover, a gentle, functional, high-capacity park addition that gave life to Walt’s “World on the Move.” A living prototype of potential mass transportation solutions of tomorrow, this Space Age transit technology was simple, sensational, and spectacular.
Perhaps in part because of its absence, Tomorrowland lacks the optimism, fluidity, motion, and spirit that Walt and his Imagineers had so infused in the land back in 1967. In some ways, the PeopleMover proves that not every starring attraction has to be a thrilling E-Ticket. Perhaps the most appropriate lesson to learn from the case of the PeopleMover is one of the oldest adages in the book: “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
If you enjoyed this in-depth look at Disneyland’s forgotten highway in the sky, make the jump to our In-Depth Collections Library and set course for another Lost Legends feature. Then, share your memories, thoughts, and ideas about the PeopleMover in the comments below.
