Tomorrowland Rehab

[Alpoe001]

Yes folks this is a another TL thread... but what I hope to start is just list of what people would like to see built, kept, or new ideas. There are no wrong ideas in this thread... it is purely hypothetical. I want to see other peoples ideas for their redo of TL.

If you had the chance to pitch the idea for a TL redo what would you give?

My idea focuses on bringing back Tomorrow to TL, and focus on Walt's original idea of the 67' rehab... Land, Sea, Space, and Transportation. In Walt's own words:

"Tomorrow can be a wonderful age. Our scientists today are opening the doors of the Space Age to achievements that will benefit our children and generations to come. The Tomorrowland attractions have been designed to give you an opportunity to participate in adventures that are a living blueprint of our future."

Theme: Tomorrow's Horizon 2061 (2061 is the next passing of Halley's Comet) When Disneyland opened the idea of MS and TL were the passing of Haley's Comet MS being 1910 and TL being 1986... the next passing of Haley's Comet is 2061 so following Walt's idea, that would be the next logical time point to model for. Each redo of TL has been known by some term: New Tomorrowland/67' Tomorrowland or New New Tomorrowland/Tomorrowland 1998... my idea would be for this refurb would be called Tomorrow's Horizon 2061.

Inspiration:The premise behind the refurb would be an expansion of the idea of Epcot's old Horizons Pavillion/Futureport that closed in the late 90's. The idea of the Horizons' "Futureport" was a spaceship/station would take you to your desired destination Sea Castle (the newest and most exciting floating city in the Pacific), Mesa Verde (the most advanced desert reclamation complex in the western hemisphere, invites you to explore its wide range of career possibilities), Brava Centauri (newest of the exciting Centauri series of space stations, offers remarkably rewarding opportunities in earth support vocations) while showcasing the pasts idea of the future from Jules Vern to the 1950's as seen thru the eyes of the COP family... Horizons was seen as the sequel to COP.

Style: I like the current Silver/Blue color scheme... As for the Architecture only the main entrace walls would remain the same, but be embellished with additional elements that would be placed in the areas where the rockwork is currently. As for the rest of TL I would like to see more architecutal elements to give the sense of people in a city of the future, and keep the silver and blue colors. Silver and Blue although can be seen as harsh, cold colors are very "Metro" Art Deco which itself was very furturistic.

Layout: Basically the layout would be the same but the whole land would be an expansion of the Idea of Epcot's old "Horizons" Pavillion. "Tomorrow" should always be a part of TL and is the reasoning behind my love of Epcot's Horizons. The idea of the attraction embodied all what Walt would have wanted for the future.


Remove: Rockwork from entrance, Marble Water ball, HISTA, PizzaPort, BLAB.

Retheme:
1)BLAB would become a dark ride based on the Mesa Verde portion of Horizons...focusing on conservation and agriculture. Think of it on the lines of WDWs old "Dreamflight"

2)FN would be rethemed to a tour of undersea resorts and the undersea industry a' la "Horizons"
3)Autopia would be upgraded with newer cleaner running cars modeled to look more like hover cars.
4)Tomorrowland Terrace menu would be expanded and include pizza and pasta from PizzaPort
5)Star Tours would have rotating videos, 3 or 4 different ones, switching after each ride is completed

Move: Astro would move back on top of the PM station and would get the same style treatment of WDW's version

New:
1) People mover would return to its original station and become TTA (Tomorrowland Transit Authority)... traveling thru the same route giving an overview of tomorrowland and showcase dioramas of the history of tomorrow in the tunnel areas.


2) SM would get back it's speedramp... upper level would be enclosed and showcase AA dioramas of a space colony a' la "Horizons"

3) Pizzaport and HISTA would become Innoventions... HISTA theater becoming Asimo
4) Top level of Starcade would become DisneyQuest and have the design your own rollercoaster and ride machines
4) The Carousel building would become COP again but turn at 50 year increments... 1890/1910 - 1950/1960 - 2000 - 2061... the final scene would be be similar to the urban habitat scene from "Horizons"... the speedramp to the 2nd floor would return and be the "House of Tomorrow" walk-through

5)The current spot of Astro would a small town square benches and a small fountain... the original 67' facades would be expanded on to the area where the rockwork are currently in abstract decorative elements

[pianoman13]

I must say...I love all the Horizons references even though I never actually got to experience it. I think it would be amazing if they took that idea and made it into a TL attraction..perferably where Innoventions is now because it's a very central area of TL and this attraction would be like the main statement of a new Tomorrowland. The outside would be a new futuristic building and once inside you would board peoplemover-ish vehicles to go on a tour through all the different places in the future. First we could see the city life and the sets would be inspired by the original plans for Epcot, than you could go under the sea, It could be cool if you could see the submarine voyage subs around..and of course have the undersea city. Next would be space..have the settlements there and have Space Mountian somewere too in the background hovering. Than the ending of course would give you the choice of what future. Land(city? desert farm?), sea, or Space.

[MrPotatoHead]

Great idea , just what TL needs!

[Sir.Mouse]

This is a beautiful concept. I think the name should be Tomorrowland: Horizon 2061
rather than Tomorrow's Horizon 2061 because it preserves the original name but still indicates the new theme.

[Alpoe001]

the theme would only be an addition to the name... Tomorrowland: Tomorrow's Horizon 2061

Anyone have ideas that they would like to see in a rehab for TL?

[disneylandfan95]

How about just keep the name Tomorrowland.

[Alpoe001]

so am I the only person with a complete idea of what they would like to see in TL?

[MainSreetJake]

I like alot of these ideas! Personally, I would want Innoventions out totally, and replaced with the COP. Have HISTA replaced with a WALL-E show. Buzz is ok....although, that idea could be better! I agree with the Astro Jets being back uptop on the paltform. Totally take out the Starcade, add the rollercoaster building there. Bring back the PM, and add a newer updated Autopia, and it should be good! Oh, and a cooler looking monorail station.

[Datameister]

Originally Posted by Alpoe001

so am I the only person with a complete idea of what they would like to see in TL?

Actually, I must disagree about its classification as "complete." I'm not getting any unified sense of what the land is supposed to be about. You mentioned the Haley's Comet idea...but how does that tie into any of the other ideas you presented? I like a lot of the individual ideas I'm hearing, but I like a lot of the individual ideas currently in Tomorrowland, too. It takes more than that to make a concept that's really solid as a whole.

I'm also not getting a sense of how the land would be tied together visually. It's all well and good to say that blue/white/silver is a nice color scheme - and I agree - but simply repainting all the surfaces isn't going to make Tomorrowland feel more futuristic. The architecture itself is getting a bit tired, and the materials are really feeling depressingly mundane and modern.

Any redo of Tomorrowland needs to be very, very certain of what it's trying to be. (Not that that's happened in the past...but it's never too late to learn from one's mistakes.) Part of what makes the other lands so successful is that they're very clear about what they represent. Tomorrowland has always taken the easy way out and gone with the vague idea of "the future" without much specificity.

Time for change. My favorite idea is a spaceport adjoined to a research facility, set a good century into the future or so. Space Mountain is a temporarily docked space station that launches into orbit while you're in the queue, and then you in turn launch from the station in your rocket. Star Tours is an actual interplanetary travel agency in the spaceport. The Astro Orbitor/Rocket Jets/whatever is a toughie, and it'll never be perfectly realistic or anything...perhaps it's a training system for young pilots. FNSV would be officially "moved" to Fantasyland, where it belongs. BLAB, Innoventions, and HISTA would all be replaced at some point by thematically appropriate attractions. (I have ideas for some of these, but I'm not gonna state them right now.)

Anyway, I do appreciate you taking the time to post this, especially with the photos - those help a lot. But IMO, more is needed to make it a truly cohesive concept. (And on a side note...it's refurb, not rehab. Rehab is for drug addicts. [EDIT: Well...I guess you could refer to it as rehab, too, but refurb is what you hear more commonly.])

[pianoman13]

Right you are Data, If I had my way..Tomorrowland would be a city on Earth with space ports just like you might have an airport in a magor city. Space Mountian(like Data said) would be a docked spacecraft that lifts off in a preshow or sometime in the queue. So the peoplemover and Monorail would be Tomorrowland's transportation. That highly vegitated area were Autopia is would act as Tomorrowlands "Central Park" and The new Horizons inspired attraction on the outside would be like Tomorrowland's city hall or something.

[Bruce Bergman]

Data: If you want to get really pedantic about word usage those revised rides and shows need to be Furbed - they can't be Refurbed if they never existed for the first time yet...

To steal the meme from a wise man (George Carlin) we call it a Building when we're already done building it - we should call it a Built. Or more accurately, a Crumbling.

That aside Disney really does need to do a re-think of Tomorrowland. It's fast turning into Yesterdayland, and that must be changed pronto.

Bringing back COP and updating it with a new House of the Future interactive upstairs would be fantastic - and REALLY expensive, especially if they use a lot of full-motion top-of-the-line AA's like Tom Morrow with full compliance and lots of choreography...

If they could get General Electric to sponsor it again, it could happen. But I doubt it, because now they own NBC and Universal Studios - if they were going to spend major coin on something like that they'd put it at Universal Studios. So, know any other deep-pockets big corporate sponsors who aren't getting hammered by the recession?

By comparison, filming a half dozen other destinations for Star Tours would be cheap in comparison - it's like making a batch of short subject movies and not sparing the dough on the CGI and FX. And doing them all as a batch gets you economy of scale, develop the effect once and use it several times.

And there are other measures that can be done on a bit more realistic scale. Just putting some effort into new exhibits for Innoventions would be a big start. Rule: If an item is on sale at Best Buy and the price is rapidly dropping as it takes off, it really shouldn't be featured in Innoventions as a "The Next Big Thing!" type display anymore

--<< Bruce >>--

[Alpoe001]

Originally Posted by Datameister

Actually, I must disagree about its classification as "complete." I'm not getting any unified sense of what the land is supposed to be about. You mentioned the Haley's Comet idea...but how does that tie into any of the other ideas you presented? I like a lot of the individual ideas I'm hearing, but I like a lot of the individual ideas currently in Tomorrowland, too. It takes more than that to make a concept that's really solid as a whole.

Originally Posted by Alpoe001

My idea focuses on bringing back Tomorrow to TL, and focus on Walt's original idea of the 67' rehab... Land, Sea, Space, and Transportation

Theme: Tomorrow's Horizon 2061 - the next passing of Halley's Comet
Style: I like the current Silver/Blue color scheme...
Layout: Basically the layout would be the same but the whole land would be an expansion of the Idea of Epcot's old "Horizons" Pavillion.

When Disneyland opened the idea of MS and TL were the passing of Haley's Comet MS being 1910 and TL being 1986... the next passing of Haley's Comet is 2061 so following Walt's idea, that would be the next logical time point to model for.

I'm also not getting a sense of how the land would be tied together visually. It's all well and good to say that blue/white/silver is a nice color scheme - and I agree - but simply repainting all the surfaces isn't going to make Tomorrowland feel more futuristic. The architecture itself is getting a bit tired, and the materials are really feeling depressingly mundane and modern.

Any redo of Tomorrowland needs to be very, very certain of what it's trying to be. (Not that that's happened in the past...but it's never too late to learn from one's mistakes.) Part of what makes the other lands so successful is that they're very clear about what they represent. Tomorrowland has always taken the easy way out and gone with the vague idea of "the future" without much specificity.

Time for change. My favorite idea is a spaceport adjoined to a research facility, set a good century into the future or so. Space Mountain is a temporarily docked space station that launches into orbit while you're in the queue, and then you in turn launch from the station in your rocket. Star Tours is an actual interplanetary travel agency in the spaceport. The Astro Orbitor/Rocket Jets/whatever is a toughie, and it'll never be perfectly realistic or anything...perhaps it's a training system for young pilots. FNSV would be officially "moved" to Fantasyland, where it belongs. BLAB, Innoventions, and HISTA would all be replaced at some point by thematically appropriate attractions. (I have ideas for some of these, but I'm not gonna state them right now.)

Anyway, I do appreciate you taking the time to post this, especially with the photos - those help a lot. But IMO, more is needed to make it a truly cohesive concept. (And on a side note...it's refurb, not rehab. Rehab is for drug addicts. [EDIT: Well...I guess you could refer to it as rehab, too, but refurb is what you hear more commonly.])

Each REFURB of TL has been known by some term New Tomorrowland/67' Tomorrowland or New New Tomorrowland/Tomorrowland 1998... my idea would be for this refurb would be called Tomorrow's Horizon 2061. The premise behind the refurb would be an expansion of the idea of Epcot's old Horizons Pavillion that closed in the late 90's.

In Walt's own words: "Tomorrow can be a wonderful age. Our scientists today are opening the doors of the Space Age to achievements that will benefit our children and generations to come. The Tomorrowland attractions have been designed to give you an opportunity to participate in adventures that are a living blueprint of our future."

I fullheartedly belive in Walt's wish to not mix lands, which is why BLAB and Nemo should be removed. "Tomorrow" should always be a part of TL and is the reasoning behind my love of Epcot's Horizons. The idea of the attraction embodied all what Walt would have wanted for the future.

Although most people hate Innoventions I feel that Walt would want to keep it, IF it was structured better. It should be more on the lines of a mini World's Fair and be updated on a regular basis.

As for the Architecture only the main entrace walls would remain the same, but be embellished with additional elements that would be placed in the areas where the rockwork is currently. As for the rest of TL I would like to see more architecutal elements to give the sense of people in a city of the future, and keep the silver and blue colors. Silver and Blue although can be seen as harsh, cold colors are very "Metro" Art Deco which itself was very furturistic.

[Alpoe001]

This thread isnt about just my idea....

Originally Posted by Alpoe001

Yes folks this is a another TL thread... but what I hope to start is just list of what people would like to see built, kept, or new ideas. There are no wrong ideas in this thread... it is purely hypothetical.

... its about exchanging everyones ideas

I am not an imagineer, I would LOVE to be, but I'm not. So my idea wasnt fully complete, thats not the point... I want to see other peoples ideas for their redo of TL.

If you had the chance to pitch the idea for a TL redo what would you give?

[MainSreetJake]

Ok, here's my Ideas.
Refurb:
Autopia queue - Get rid of the videos on the inside room of the queue, add longer videos, and BETTER videos. Change the design to more of an ice planet discovery base. Have some minor AA's throughout the ride, and have an onboard radio with a few "stations" to choose from KBOT, KMKY (get this one?), and KWED. Update the cars to go a bit faster (10-12-mph), and make them electric.

Innoventions - take it out, at the moment, they have the House of now, and a bunch of Xboxes with really cool games. Bring in an Updated COP, and start it circa 1950's, and end it with a look into the future. Plus, do what the updated Horizons did, and have it take a picture of you, do a survey, and tell you what job/lifestyle you would possibly have.

HISTA-gut this area, retheme it to an AXIOM look, and showcase a
WALL-E film. Possible storyline-what all went on after everyone left the Axiom, and how they cleaned up the Earth.

Starcade-remodel with a cool red and orange neon look, have the rollercoaster design center here. Designs on bottom, simulators on second level (currently unused-this also gives a bit of motion to look at while in a long line at Space Mountain)

Redd Rocket's Pizza Port-retheme to a cantina-style restaurant, but not overdone with Star Wars.

TL Terrace-keep it, but find a way to maintain crowd control during shows. I have noticed that people walk through right next to the order stalls, and it makes for a VERY congested area. Possibly a sit down restaurant.

FNSV -take out current entrance, move to FL side, and have it be an official FL attraction, move the Smoking area to underneath the Monorail.

Monorail-update station with a very bright - (red, blue, orange) colors, and have kind of a new century subway station feel. Maybe an AA ticketcounter at the Entrance.

Train Station-this is a very, very unrecognized part of TL. Have a new station that has an all glass cieling, Kind of the greenhouse look. But in able to allow the smoke and fumes to escape, have hatches raised in the roof, and have the sides open. Plus, this enables the TL smoking area that is there now, to also be moved over to where the FN queue is now.

Star Tours - Add three new films, one from each of the newer movies. 1-Podrace 2-General Greivous chase 3-Space battle with Anakin and Obi Wan. New queue with new audio.

Astro Jets - moved from the front, to the top of the PM, jets are enclosed, but have vents for cool air. Jets will now be more extreme, with the ability to rotate not only in a circular fashion, but also in a barrel roll fashion. Giving the riders a chance to be Space Pilots for the Intergalactic Space Force. Give them the same design as the Mark VII's, but with a wider paint scheme, but still with the prism paint.

People Mover - Returning the old classic. New diaramas will be placed throughout TL. A Tron 2 tunnel, Wall-E scene, a giant video screen showing the latest neighborhood. Trains will be similar to the TTA in WDW, but have video screens with a TTA host, showing you around TL. (Tour guide barbie from Toy Story 2 anyone? ) Minor puns will be added, and the whole track will be covered. At night, a light green neon light gives ambiance.

New sign for the entrance, removal of the rocks, maybe add a link to the water lagoon by Pixie Hollow, with a few waterfalls, similar to this, but with a overhang with the name across the overhang. And... I think this wraps up my idea of the *new* Tomorrowland. Oh, and I'm going to stick with the original name, but like all the other refurbs, it'll be Tomorrowland:Horizon of the future 2775.

[darkfairycthulu]

For me, I'd propose a far more sci-fi/aliens based theme for the land. Make it be a spaceport, certainly, that's a solid concept....but take out the rocks, take out the giant marble, and totally re-do the center plaza with a interior spinning rocket ride, inside a show building, with special effects, light up planets, spaceships, sound effects, that on the outside could look like a futuristic, slightly funky and eroded, real building, like something from a alien world. Re-do exteriors for Star Tours and Buzz to be more like travel buildings, and change the Buzz ride to omit toy references..have more animatronics, giant robots, aliens, and such to shoot, lose the toy angle.

As for Star Tours, a new film, and after the ride/show, exit into former stores/Starcade into a version of the Mos Eisley cantina/bar with animatronic creatures and live Star Wars performers both, then have the store be in the starcade, and equally themed.

Space Mountain could recieve a entrance from the lower level into an interior, with more ship hallways and views into "space", displays of robotics and strange photos of distant galaxies along the walls or off the side as well. As for HISTA/Pizza Planet..give them the axe, and bring back the real Alien Encounter from Disneyworld. The scary version, not the inferior one with Stitch burping at you.

Innoventions/Carousel of Progress/America Sings was at some point theoretically up for another circular theater show involving aliens, and revamping the building to look like a landed UFO. Some sort of musical show with more comical aliens could be inside, and you enter through things themed as ramps, with circus type posters for this travelling alien circus/performance you're about to see. Bring back the people mover to peek at the attractions and go past new interior scenes of the sort included in Horizons, people and technology interacting with robots and aliens.

As for Nemo...well, in a perfect world, it would be replaced outright with a exploration of the ocean's floors in the far future, with natural unusual sea life and talk of the role of the ocean and harvesting of it's resources, advances in robotics, and odd deep sea variations of sea life, then an encounter with a very large AA sea beastie, a la the giant squid of the old ride, but more fantasy based and fearsome. The queue would deal with and set up the backstory of underwater exploration and technology of the future. That's what I'd like to see, at least.