Welcome to TPMvids Disney Beat where we talk about all things Disney!
If you’re new to the channel, hit that subscribe button and click the bell icon to be notified
when we upload a new video.
We also have Instagram and Twitter- you can find us @TPMvideos.
Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, is the one land at the park that’s
seen the most attractions come and go.
Ascetically, the land has also changed from its original sleek retro look, to the steampunk
space theme we got with the 1994 refurbishment.
It’s really tough having a land based on the future when the future will always become
the present or past, so frequent updates are needed to keep it current.
Today Tomorrowland is going through a little bit of an identity crisis and Disney is slowly
updating parts of it.
There are many defunct attractions and while Tomorrowland has in a sense become yesterday
land, if you know where to look and what to listen for, there are many hidden references
and remnants left over from many extinct Disney attractions!
So today we’re gonna be looking at some Tomorrowland history and counting down the
Top 5 Hidden Secrets and remnants of Extinct Attractions in Tomorrowland.
Number 5 If you ever use these restrooms at the back
of Tomorrowland, you’re actually walking into part of an extinct Disney World attraction.
The Skyway was one of the opening day attractions at Magic Kingdom in 1971.
While you were seated in your gondola, you able to travel back and forth from Tomorrowland
to Fantasyland while getting a great birds eye view of the park.
It was a popular attraction with guests and it was a great way to get between two different
lands.
The fantasyland station was located where the Tangled Restrooms are today and the Tomorrowland
Station was across from Space Mountain.
On November 10th 1999 the Skyway was closed for good in an effort to remove some of the
older rides to make way for new experiences.
Well so much for creating new experiences because for almost 10 years, from November
1999 until September 2009, the Tomorrowland Skyway station remained abandoned until it
was demolished…well partially demolished is more accurate.
These restrooms in Tomorrowland were actually the restrooms that used to be in the Tomorrowland
Skyway station.
Disney only tore down the top floor that contained the load area for the Skyway and the front
portion of the building with the waterfall.
In this old video you can see these are the exact same restrooms and even the original
signage on the building seems to have survived.
So just when you thought that the new Skyliner would be the only tribute to this extinct
Disney attraction, always remember that this restroom building was actually a part of the
original Tomorrowland Skyway.
Number 4 Tomorrowland currently has the oddly placed
Rocket Tower Plaza Stage in the middle of the land, but did you know that Tomorrowland
used to actually be home to a real outdoor amphitheatre with seating?
That’s right, the area right here where Buzz Lightyear currently meets used to be
open and behind these walls there was the Galaxy Palace Theatre.
It originally opened in 1980 as the Tomorrowland Stage and used to be home to revue style shows
that were such a beloved part of the 90s at Magic Kingdom.
{Singing} Disney World a Wonderland!
The kids of the kingdom ladies and gentlemen.
During the 1994 refurbishment of Tomorrowland, the theatre was renamed to the Galaxy Palace
Theatre and it opened with a show called Galaxy Search.
{Music} Its been a blast but its time for us to move!
Galaxy Search!
Where the heart of us is a stage.
So long from Galaxy Search!
As the years went on, the theatre was only used for dance competitions and hard ticket
events like Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, then in January of 2009 Disney decided
to close the theatre for good.
They constructed a wall under the PeopleMover, installed a Buzz Lightyear meet and greet
and just like that the entertainment venue became defunct.
The theatre footprint is now a backstage area with a cast member parking lot.
There are no real references left over from the theatre but just knowing that the Disney
magic used to continue beyond these concrete walls creates this sense of wonderment when
you walk by.
It’s fun imagining what this area would have been like prior to 2009, and quite frankly
with how busy the park has become, having this added capacity of an entertainment venue
today would help disperse some crowds.
Maybe one day Tomorrowland will get another stage like the Galaxy Palace Theatre but until
then, this wall will serve as a reminder of this extinct Disney attraction.
Number 3 Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin opened
on October 8th, 1998 and before your mission was to defeat the evil emperor Zurg, this
space used to be home to what was originally known as Delta Dreamflight.
When the attraction opened in 1989 it was sponsored by Delta Airlines and they remained
the attractions sponsor until 1995.
After Delta pulled their sponsorship, the ride was briefly renamed to just Dreamflight
then when it was refurbished to remove all references to Delta it became Take Flight.
Well the changeover from Take Flight to Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin only took 11 months
which is very quick for Disney.
Since it was a quick turnaround you can find many references leftover from this extinct
attraction in Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin.
It starts right at the marquee sign.
The original sign for Delta Dreamflight was shipped as a cloud and if you take a look
under the blue trim of the Buzz Lightyear sign, well you’ll see its in the shape of
a cloud and was just recycled from the old attraction sign.
With that blue trim around the edge it does disguise its shape as a cloud when you’re
looking at it from the front.
Now once you get inside the attraction and board your ride vehicle, you’re actually
traveling along the original Delta DreamFlight track.
Disney built Buzz Lightyears Space Ranger spin around the old track, which is why the
track is elevated above the show scenes.
One last left over reference from Delta Dream Flight is when you enter the emergency escape
hatch.
If you ever thought it was kinda strange that you were going from such a vibrant set of
show scenes into what seems like a very disconnected tunnel that doesn’t really fit, well thats
because it was just a leftover scene from Delta DreamFlight.
Originally you passed into a giant turbo jet that looked like this.
As you enter the emergency escape hatch, you’ll also see these red side lights, similar to
the lights in Dreamflight.
Then once you got into the physical tunnel Delta Dreamflight used to project a flying
sequence on the ceiling and walls, but now you’ll find spaceships and aliens flying
here instead.
Number 2 The Tomorrowland Transit Authority People
mover is a classic Disney attraction that originally opened as the Wedway People Mover
in 1975.
With many attractions coming and going the PeopleMover script has always been altered
and modified since the attraction does offer a grand circle tour around Tomorrowland.
Currently after you pass the space mountain lift hill into this corridor you’ll hear-
“Paging Mr Morrow, Mr. Tom Morrow.
Please contact Mr. Johnson in the control tower to confirm your flight to the Moon.”
Now you might think that Mr. Tom Morrow is just a play on words of Tomorrow and it definitely
is but its also a reference to an old extinct attraction.
In the show building where Stitch’s Great Escape used to be, this was once home to Flight
to the Moon from 1971 until 1975.
In the attraction’s pre show there was an animatronic character named Mr. Tom Morrow
who was the director of operations at Mission Control.
In 1975 the attraction was renamed Mission to Mars and was slightly re-themed.
They still kept the Mr. Morrow animatronic but he then became Mr Johnson.
Mission to Mars closed in October of 1993 and Tomorrowland’s 1994 refurbishment is
the first time these extinct attractions were referenced on the PeopleMover.
In the 1994 script as you approached the Carousel of Progress you used to hear- “Paging Mr.
Morrow, Mr. Tom Morrow your party for Saturn has arrived.
Please give them a ring.”
In 2009 the PeopleMover script received a revamp and that’s when Disney changed it
to reference both Mr Tom Morrow from Flight to the Moon and Mr. Johnson from Mission to
Mars.
“Paging Mr Morrow, Mr. Tom Morrow.
Please contact Mr. Johnson in the control tower to confirm your flight to the Moon.”
Number 1 Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor is the newest
Tomorrowland attraction and it opened on April 2nd 2007.
Before Mike Wazowski and the other monsters were telling jokes to collect laughs this
space used to be home to the TimeKeeper.
The TimeKeeper was another attraction that opened in 1994 with the refurbishment of Tomorrowland
and like the rest of new Tomorrowland, TimeKeeper has this steampunk retro theme.
When the attraction closed in February of 2006 to make way for Monsters Inc Laugh Floor
a lot of the Timekeeper queue was left in tact.
Pretty much everything in the queue that doesn’t directly relate to Monster’s Inc is a leftover
reference from The Timekeeper like the green archway.
During its time as the Timekeeper, these archways had TVs hanging from the beams and today each
of them has this hallow oval shape where the TV used to attach to the beam.
The TVs also had wires extending to either side and these wires used to attach to the
lasers on the right hand side.
This steampunk futuristic lasers is still in the Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor queue and
it definitely doesn’t match the aesthetic of Monsters Inc.
The water pillars were also part of the Timekeeper as well.
When you take a look at the design of the interior of the attraction compared to the
queue, there are definitely two very different looks.
The Timekeeper and former attractions in this space were presented in Circle Vision, and
when you look at the layout of the theatre it’s still retained its circular form acting
as another remanent and reminder of the past.
In mid 2018 Disney removed the spaceship outside of Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor that was added
in 1994 and they replaced the marquee sign with something that looks almost identical
to the old signs of Tomorrowland prior to 1994.
Slowly the 1994 references are being removed and although the timekeeper has been defunct
for more than a decade, these remnants that are still left act as a little reminder of
the beloved extinct Tomorrowland attraction!
So if you could bring back one of these defunct Tomorrowland attractions which one would you
choose?
I’d love to know!
Leave a comment down below to start a conversion and don’t forget to hit that like button
if you enjoyed the video.
Thanks so much for watching!
Click the TPM icon on the screen to subscribe to this channel and check out some of these
other videos which we’re sure you’ll like!