Saturday, May 24, 2008

Someone save the Future!

Disneyland in California has such unique places and feelings to offer it can really stand beside Disneyland Paris (and sometimes even beat it, but don't say to loud...) Of course, there's always an exception and in this case it's the sad sad land which is know as the land of tomorrow: Tomorrowland.

Forget the charming streets of New Orleans Square, long gone are the good feelings of Main Street: of all the lands of Disneyland, Tomorrowland is the worst of them all, such an all-time-worst even Walt Disney Studios in Paris can claim it offers better theming (I never thought I would say it!). We always thought Walt Disney Studios stood as the quintessential evil in Disney entertainment, well think again: Disneyland's Tomorrowland is your new enemy.

Ok, I'm used to Discoveryland, with its strong and cohesive identity, and ok, we all know the hard time Imagineers (and not just them) had and still have in representing realistic tomorrows (have a look a Paleo-future to get what I mean), but Tomorrowland has no excuses: it's just an area of the park that has been left abandoned for years (at least that's what it seems). I tried to get a picture of it, I looked for a nice point of view, for a "contemporary" look to take a picture of... nothing.

There's an exception to the exception of course: Space Mountain, wich beats Disneyland Paris' completely: it's less bumpy, more colorful, much better themed, with sights and sounds blending just perfectly into each other, and most of all it can be be ridden even by people who would never ride our Space "Washing Machine" Mountain, wich is what Disneyland is all about: having fun all together.

I liked the (recently redone) interior of Space Mountain. It goes full speed in the direction of representing a good ol', naive, future. Much much better than the sad, inconsistent, disjointed representation going on elsewhere on this area.

2 comments:

Mike said...

Tell me about it. Tomorrowland was gutted and pillaged in the last "Jules Verne-let's-paint-everything-turquoise-and-rust-and-try-to-look-retro" remake during the sick "Eisnerization" period that poor Disneyland suffered through. Rocket Rods? Where's the Peoplemover?! No Skyway? Who in their right mind thought moving the Rocket Jets to MAIN STREET was a good idea? Oh, and CircleVision? I'm so glad it's now a cheap "Buzz Lightyear" travesty that looks like a dark ride from a poorly financed carnival. Where do you go to cool down on a hot day? No more 360 degree movie chock full of Americana.

Jeez, while you're at it, please cover up that hideous Mary Blair mural. Who would want to see actual art inside the berm?

On second thought, let's mess with the Autopia. How 'bout a big canopy thingy that blocks out the view of most of Tomorrowland? Sounds good.

Next, lets put a stupid FOUNTAIN in the middle of Tomorrowland with a giant rolling marble.

And that ugly empty space where the Rocket Jets used to be? How about a funky new age sculpture that looks like someone just signed on with DirecTV?! Great idea!

I know, we'll finish things off by turning the "America Sings/Carousel of Progress" buidling into a giant waste of space and let's make "Mission to Mars" into a stinky pizza parlor for the kids!

At least they brought the subs back. The Skyway will be back soon, I sincerely hope.

At least I'm not bitter. Which way to Adventureland?

Massimo said...

Thanks Mike, I couldn't agree more!