[INTRO Sound Effects]
>>NARRATOR: This episode of Yesterworld is Sponsored by Audible.
Make sure to stay to the end of the video to hear about my first experience using Audible,
and use my link audible.com/yesterworld, or text code yesterworld to 500-500, to get a
free book and 30-day trial.
[Clip: “I officially rededicate Tomorrowland.”]
[cheering]
In 1998, the Newly remodeled Tomorrowland made it’s debut at Disneyland.
And along with aesthetic changes and a number of new experiences, the land featured a brand
new ride, called Rocket Rods.
[Clip: “It’s probably one of the best Disney rides ever.”]
[“Yeah, it’s awesome!”
“We love it!”]
But just 2 years later, the attraction, which
had replaced the much beloved people mover, was closed for what was to be a year long
refurbishment including enhancements, only to never reopen.
Leaving behind a legacy of failed endeavors, abandoned ideas, and an uncertain future.
[Intro and theme]
In 1967, when Disneyland unveiled it’s new reimagining of Tomorrowland, it did more than
just give the land a welcome and long overdue update, but brought Walt Disney’s original
vision of what Tomorrowland could be, that much closure to reality.
[Clip: “Tomorrowland is a world on the move.
The best way to see it all is to ride the wed way PeopleMover.”]
And much like Disneyland’s It’s a small
world and great moments with Mr. Lincoln, whose first incarnations had been showcased
at the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair,
This updated Tomorrowland also featured 2 brand new attractions with world fair origins:
The Carousel of progress, which had been inspired by General Electric’s Progressland, and
the Peoplemover, inspired by Ford’s Magic Skyway.
[Clip: “Avoid through time and space, from a dark and distant yesterday, to a bright
and promising tomorrow.”]
The PeopleMover was a living prototype of
transportation Walt Disney envisioned for the future.
So much so, that Ford declined to continue it’s sponsorship out of fear of future competition.
So with Goodyear as it’s sponsor, the relaxing
16 minute ride gave guests a one of a kind view and tour through Tomorrowland, and offered
a unique glimpse into the land’s various attractions, show buildings and shops, including
a model of Walt Disney’s vision for his Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.
[Clip: “You can get a view of tomorrow.
A model city of the future.”]
For nearly 3 decades, the peoplemover grew
to become a fan favorite and icon of Tomorrowland, as while other attractions in the land came
and went over the years, the people mover’s unique experience endured.
It even inspired a similar version at Disney
World’s Magic Kingdom in 1975.
But as the 1990’s approached, it was becoming
clear to Disney that Tomorrowland was in need of another major update,
So they eventually came up with Tomorrowland
2055, with a concept revolving around a science fiction city home to intergalactic beings.
And much like Euro Disney’s alternate interpretation of Tomorrowland, which had used the unrealized
Jules Verne inspired discovery bay as a source of inspiration,
Disney believed that by retheming the land as a fictional depiction of the future, this
would save them from another costly overhaul down the road.
Fixing the problem of tomorrow always becoming today.
Tomorrowland 2055 was so close to a reality
that a test mural was painted at the tomorrowland terrace, and a new audio track could be heard
in the men’s restroom,
but unfortunately, due to the initial financial disappointment of Euro Disney, this new tomorrowland
concept was shelved, and along with it a number of planned attractions and experiences.
However, Tomorrowland was still in desperate
need of another revitalization, as aesthetics aside, with the closure of mission to mars
in preparation for alien encounter, and America Sings closure a few years prior, the land
now had 2 completely vacant attractions.
So Disney settled on a less extensive makeover,
borrowing many elements from Magic Kingdom’s originally proposed Tomorrowland, which was
to be a near carbon copy of Euro Disney’s Discoveryland.
But at that point, CEO Michael Eisner had
reportedly lost interest in the planned attraction for the abandoned revolving theater, and had
already decided that Disney World’s Magic Kingdom would receive the first incarnation
of Alien Encounter,
So for Tomorrowland’s brand new starring attraction, he settled on another planned
attraction that he believed could not only fit well within this new retheming, but would
also be the most cost effective.
So on August 21st 1995, the People Mover was
permanently closed to make way for anew take on futuristic transportation.
[Clip: “Roads?
Where we’re going we don’t need roads.”]
Construction of Disneyland’s new tomorrowland went forward, and was set to debut in the
spring of 1998.
And in addition to the mysterious new attraction
replacing the People Mover and aesthetic alterations throughout tomorrowland, Captain EO would
be replaced by Honey I Shrunk The Audience, which had been at Epcot since 1994, and the
original Rocket Jets would become the discoveryland inspired Astro Orbitor.
However, as it became clear that the platform
would not be able to support the weight of the new structure, it was disassembled and
rebuilt at the land’s entrance, with a new installment known as the observatron to take
its place.
And by late 1997, the people mover’s replacement
was finally announced as Rocket Rods XPR, and would be a high speed adventure, in which
guests would ride in futuristic transport vehicles of the future.
And around the same time, guests riding the
monorail would be able to hear a voiceover teasing the ride.
And on May 22, along with Disneylands new tomorrowland, Rocket Rods officially opened
to the public, at a cost of 25% of Tomorrowland’s total makeover budget of an estimated 100
million dollars.
[Clip: “It was fun.”
“Yeah.”
“It was great.”
“It was fun!
I’d do it again!”]
You would enter Rocket Rods through the newly
remodeled Circlevision theater, and in addition to an assortment of retired and newly repainted
ride vehicles and schematics on display,
a documentary about the history of transportation would play on the screens within the story
of this fictional ride of the future.
And after passing through a tunnel and winding
up the golden staircase, you came to the loading area of Rocket Rods.
The experience of this new attraction started
out exhilarating, as your vehicle did a wheelie as it accelerated from 0 to 35 mph.
However, as you approached the first turn,
the thrill was cut short as your vehicle had to slow down to turn the corner, revealing
the flaw of using the unmodified people mover track layout for a high speed adventure.
From there you race past Star Tours and it’s
extended queue, with the PeopleMover’s previous view of Star Trader blocked off, and replaced
with a low budget effect using a mirror to appear as if you were about to collide with
another vehicle, helping disguise yet another slow turn.
And with the view of the starcade’s recently closed 2nd floor also blocked blocked off,
you speed past space mountain with little time to take in the view, but then get a fantastic
view of tomorrowland, and race through the still under construction Innoventions.
This was, of course, assuming you weren’t subjected to the ride’s frequent instances
of coming to a complete standstill.
The rest of Rocket Rods consisted of speeding above Tomorrowland, and the ride ends with
strobe lights and a blast of air, as you pass through the attractions queue, and arrive
back to the loading station,
[Clip: “This ride ron is one of the big stars of the new Tomorrowland, and I for one,
am ready to rocket into the future.”]
For all it’s moments of genuine fun, was
unfortunately riddled with problems.
Many of which stemmed from People Mover’s
original track, as there wasn’t enough money in the budget to modify the original layout,
Forcing the ride vehicles to endure the stress
of being in a near constant state of speeding up and slowing down, and in addition to wearing
down the vehicles tires at an exponential rate, and wreaking havoc on the vehicles engine,
this would cause the attractions computer systems to stop the ride dead in it’s tracks
if any of the vehicles were off from it’s calculated position, leading to frequent downtime
for maintenance, evacuations, or computer system resets.
[Movie clip: “Please shut down the system.”]
Making matters worse, all of these factors
combined with the vehicles only being able to hold 5 guests per load, led to a ride that
that regularly had a much higher than anticipated wait.
And became such a problem, that for the first
time, Disney began offering a single ride’s line to fill in any empty seats available.
At the height of Rocket Rod’s issues, it’s
even rumored that a brake shoe broke off a vehicle and few halfway across Tomorrowland,
[Movie clip: “Nice distance!”]
Disney realized that they had a serious problem
on their hands, so the ride was closed for a refurbishment just a month after opening.
And despite returning 3 months later, the attraction was still an operational nightmare.
There were even reports that the track and
support columns were beginning to show signs of structural damage, as the tracks had not
been built to withstand the much heavier and faster ride vehicles.
So less than 2 years later, the ride was again
closed for a extensive refurbishment that would last until spring of 2001, and would
include the ride vehicle lighting effects originally planned before budget cuts.
[TV show clip: “I want to overhaul your entire engine.”]
[“How much money is this gonna cost me?”]
However Spring of 2001 came and went, and
the ride had yet to re-open.
But on April 28th, verifying what many had begun to suspect, Disney announced that Rocket
Rod’s would remain permanently close, never to reopen.
It wasn’t long before the Rocket Rod vehicles
were destroyed for parts, with the exception of one being put on Display at Disney’s
California Adventure, and another which is believed to have been sold to a collector.
And In 2005, the former rocket rods showbuilding
and theater was converted into Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, a spinoff of magic kingdoms
Space Ranger Spin, With several of the ride vehicle elements in the gift shop Rocket Rod’s
had previously exited into being simply rethemed.
And thankfully, the 2 peoplemover cars on display in the rides queue, believed to be
the only remaining originally connected sister cars 10B and 10C, were spared and have since
been restored to their former 1967 glory.
[Movie clip: “It’s amazing.
You’re a genius.
It’s just like new!”]
Today, while space mountain and the rest of
tomorrowland has mostly been rid of the discovery land color palette that many found unappealing,
traces still remain throughout the land.
And though it’s been closed for well over
a decade, the former People Mover and Rocket rod’s track remains in a state of abandonment,
almost as if frozen in time With the ride’s views into various show buildings and attractions
having since been boarded up.
as Disney is in a bit of a pickle: to remove the tracks would involve a delicate and costly
process as it’s support structures are physical built into the land’s buildings and foundation.
And while it’s been suggested to simply
bring back the people mover, the weather beaten and rusting track would have to be completely
torn down and rebuilt to meet current safety standards, and is more or less unusable in
it’s current state.
So for now, the former attraction remains
abandoned, and exists as a painful reminder of what was, and what could have been.
Thank you all so much for watching.
I wanted to quickly share my story and experience of using Audible.
As a New Years resolution, I’ve made it a personal goal to get back in the habit of
reading books about creators and visionaries within the subjects I have a passion for.
And as a subscriber recently recommended the Jim Henson biography, I knew where to begin.
And from the very first page I was invested, but I was also struggling to find the time
to sit down and actually read it.
And around the same time, I saw that Audible offered a free audio-book of my choice when
trying out their service, and while I’ve always preferred reading from physical copies,
I couldn’t resist giving it a try.
It wasn’t long before I realized how much of a life changer Audible can be, as I could
use the time I spend in the car, at the gym, and even walking our dog Frodo, to finish
the book and look forward to the next.
And as there are many inspirational and fascinating books I’ve read in the past that I’ve
wanted to revisit, with members getting 1 free book credit per month, I now have the
time to do just that, and find other inspiring titles from their incredible selection of
audio content.
As Audible members get to keep their books forever, and if they pick a title that doesn’t
fit, they can swap it for another without hassle.
This Jim Henson Biography is more than just an entertaining story of his life and how
the Muppets came to be, it’s an inspiring story of following your dreams, and I not
only recommend you checking it out, but invite you to join me in reading this fascinating
exploration of Jim Henson’s life story, and I would love to hear your thoughts, or
favorite parts of the book in the comments or through any of my social media platforms.
So if you want to give Audible a try for yourself and get a free book of your choice and 30
day trial, use my link Audible/com/yesterworld, or text code yesterworld to 500-500, all of
which can be found in the description below.
So what about you?
Did you get a chance to ride Rocket Rods, and if so, what are your memories?
Thank you all again so much for watching, and I’ll see you next time.
https://youtu.be/Yi_mk8EXE4U
Yesterworld Entertainment