Adventureland, Tomorrowland, and Fantasyland

by Christopher Smith

  As the attraction begins, guests pass through a distinctive “energizing portal”— a tunnel with numerous bright blue strobe lights that continuously flash as hypersonic music plays in the background. According to the attraction’s backstory, this “portal” powers the rocket ships for the journey ahead. The portal also serves a real world function: the flashing blue lights shrinks guests’ pupils, thereby making the attraction seem darker than it really is.

  After passing through the energizing portal, the ride vehicles travel up a large lift hill. A series of flashing signs provide a countdown for anxious guests:

  “20 SECONDS TO BLAST-OFF”

  “10 SECONDS TO BLAST-OFF”

  “3 SECONDS TO BLAST-OFF”

  A large spaceship identified as “MK-1” is docked near the initial lift hill. This name references the fact that the Magic Kingdom’s version of Space Mountain (which can now be found in Disney parks across the world) was the first such attraction constructed. The MK-1 ship also includes an inscription reading “H-NCH (SM1975).” This fun detail pays homage to the Imagineer John Hench. “SM1975” is a reference to the year Space Mountain opened in the Magic Kingdom, 1975. Two astronauts can be seen hanging upside down as they work on this large spacecraft.

  Once guests reach the summit of the lift hill, they are then hurled through a series of dips and dives around the interior of the show building. Although Space Mountain ride vehicles only reach a maximum speed of 28.7 miles per hour, it feels much faster due to the loss of orientation guests experience by virtue of the perpetual darkness of the attraction. Amongst the darkness, guests can see flashes of lights representing stars, comets, planets, moons, and other celestial bodies.

  As the attraction nears the end, guests pass through another portal. This time it is a “de-energizing portal” with numerous flashing red lights and a sonic boom signifying the end of the intergalactic journey.

  The Exit / Post-Show

  Even after the attraction ends, the story of Space Mountain continues in a post-show area along the attraction’s exit path. A sign reading “EXIT TO TOMORROWLAND” includes a welcome note from the Tomorrowland Chamber of Commerce.

  A baggage claim area is located to the left-hand side of the walkway. If guests look closely, they will see a variety of stickers attached to pieces of luggage that pay homage to a couple of extinct Disney attractions that also looked to the future. One sticker references Space Station X-1, a Disneyland attraction from the 1950s. Another sticker is labeled “Mesa Verde,” one of the futuristic destinations in the now extinct Epcot attraction Horizons. Other baggage stickers include references to “Pluto” and “Luna Port.” Another nearby area is labeled “LOST & FOUND REDISTRIBUTION SYSTEM.”

  Up ahead, guests will see a robot to the left-hand side of the walkway in a workstation labeled as “Tomorrowland Station MK-1 Command Center.” Guests then step onto a moving walkway, where they can see a series of panels on a console to the left-hand side of the walkway. These panels provide some of the best details in the entire attraction.

  A panel to the far left references “closed sectors” and lists a series of acronyms. Each of these acronyms pay homage to now-extinct Walt Disney World attractions:“FL-28K”—20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage (Fantasyland)

  “FL-MTWR”—Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride (Fantasyland)

  “TL-SK2L”—The Skyway, which transported guests from Tomorrowland to Fantasyland and vice versa

  “MSU-SB”—Plaza Swan Boats (Main Street, U.S.A.)

  “FL-MMR”— Mickey Mouse Revue (Fantasyland)

  “TL-M2M”— Mission to Mars (Tomorrowland)

  Another panel lists “open sectors” that refer to Walt Disney World attractions that are still in operation:“FL-MAWP”—Fantasyland’s Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

  “AL-AFC”—Adventureland’s Magic Carpets of Aladdin

  “FL-MPM”—Fantasyland’s Mickey’s PhilharMagic

  “FRL-SM”—Frontierland’s Splash Mountain

  “TL-BLSRS”—Tomorrowland’s Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin

  “TL-MILFaFt—Tomorrowland’s Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor

  Yet another panel provides a number of “traffic codes” that are, in realty, references to actual Florida roadways:“5-A1A-COAST CLEAR”—A1A is a road that runs along the Atlantic coast of Florida.

  “6-I4-HEAVY CONGESTION”—I4 refers to Interstate Four, which is one of the primary thoroughfares that runs very close to Walt Disney World. And yes, I4 is often heavily congested.

  “7-192-ALERT-TOUR ZONE”—192 refers to US-192, one of the primary roads in Kissimmee along border of Walt Disney World. US-192 is lined with hotels, restaurants and shops, making it a “tourist zone.”

  “8-C50-ALERT-COLLISION”—C50 refers to State Road 50 that cuts through Central Florida, including Orlando.

  “9-INTL?-VISIBILITY LOW”—“INTL” is a reference to International Drive, an approximately 11 mile road that serves as Orlando’s primary tourist avenue.

  “10-VSTA-VISIBILITY HIGH”—“VSTA” refers to Buena Vista Drive, another primary thoroughfare on Disney property.

  The moving exit walkway then takes guests past three scenes:

  The first area features a video screen that advertises “Explore Mercury Peak Intergalactic Park, Off Roading, Off Planet.”

  A video screen in the second scene identifies the area as “Crater Caverns.” The advertisement tells guests to “Enjoy HOVER CAMPING and HYPER SPELUNKING.”

  A third video screen is for “20,000 Light Years Under the Sea” and encourages guests to “Dive the CORAL MOONS of PISCES 7.” This area pays homage to the now extinct Fantasyland attraction, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea—Submarine Voyage.

  Guests next move past a kitchen from the future. A robot butler serves drinks in front of a round booth. A video screen reads: “Constellations, THE CITY OF THE STARS,” “FIND LUXURY THAT’S OUT OF THIS GALAXY.” In the background, guests can see a futuristic city with blue lights emitting from it.

  More Space Mountain Magical Secrets

  A small robotic dog sits next to the moving walkway on the attraction’s exit path. Because Space Mountain was originally sponsored by RCA, this dog was called Nipper, a reference to the famous RCA dog mascot. As RCA’s sponsorship of Space Mountain ended in 1994, the dog is now just an unnamed futuristic canine.

  Space Mountain’s first official passenger on January 15, 1975, was Col. James Irwin, an astronaut who piloted the lunar module on the Apollo XV moon mission.

  Space Mountain is the oldest operating roller coaster in Florida.

  During the time that Federal Express sponsored Space Mountain, the attraction queue included a series of fantastical advertisements that were played on overhead television screens. These advertisements included one by Crazy Larry, a used satellite dealer. Actor Charles Fleischer, who is most well known for voicing Roger Rabbit in the 1988 live-action film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, played the role of Crazy Larry.

  Real History

  After the success of the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair, the Disney company turned its attention back to Disneyland. Tomorrowland in particular was in dire need of improvement, and Disney looked to substantially renovate the land into a “New Tomorrowland.” Walt had a grand idea for a new attraction that would serve as an anchor for New Tomorrowland:

  Walt began thinking about a new attraction that would combine the proven thrills of a high-speed roller coaster-type ride with the far more fantastic notion and—at the time—sheer novelty of space travel.

  —Jason Surrell, The Disney Mountains, Imagineering at Its Peak (2007), 37.

  Walt assigned Imagineer John Hench the project of developing a new roller coaster in the dark known as “Space Port.” This attraction would have been a steel track roller coaster with up to four different tracks that would weave around each other during the attraction experience. It would also use a variety of special effects to convince guests that they were flying throug
h the depths of outer space. The plans for this Space Port attraction, which later became known as Space Mountain, included a number of unique characteristics:

  Space Mountain was to feature a tubular steel roller coaster similar to the Matterhorn, but with four separate tracks twisting and turning around each other as they made their way into outer space and back. In addition to their interior journey through the inky blackness of space, the vehicles would blast out of openings near Space Mountain’s towering peak and streak down and around the structure for part of the ride, much like bobsleds emerge from the Matterhorn onto rocky ledges and race down its icy slopes.

  —Id. at 38-39.

  The plans for Space Mountain were ambitious. Unfortunately, the technology of the day was not advanced to the point of being able to make the Space Mountain concept a reality. In particular, the task of designing the ambitious multi-track ride system was too difficult to complete based on existing technology.

  The Disney company faced a much more difficult challenge on December 15, 1966, when Walt Disney suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. In the wake of Walt’s death, the company focused all of its resources on finishing the massive Florida Project, including the Magic Kingdom. Other “blue sky” concepts that had been on the drawing board at this time, including the Space Mountain attraction for Disneyland, were placed on hold.

  Walt Disney World officially opened to guests on October 1, 1971, and quickly became a runaway success. However, the park was noticeably lacking in the thrill ride department. In his book Dream It! Do It!, My Half-Century Creating Disney’s Magic Kingdoms (2013), Imagineer Marty Sklar described the decision of not including thrill rides in the Magic Kingdom on opening day as one of the biggest “goofs” of Disney Imagineers, noting that “we figured there would be too many older, retired people.” With that belief, the attractions in operation on the Magic Kingdom’s opening day were largely family-centered, and included classics such as Peter Pan’s Flight, Tropical Serenade (which later became Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room), Jungle Cruise, Country Bear Jamboree, Haunted Mansion, and Hall of Presidents. While all of these attractions were entertaining, none could be described as exhilarating. As such, Disney began looking at thrill ride options for the Magic Kingdom.

  Disney executives did not want to replicate Disneyland’s Matterhorn Bobsleds in the Magic Kingdom’s version of Fantasyland, as that land was fully developed for the most part. Instead, Disney focused on a land that was decidedly incomplete: Tomorrowland. With that in mind, the Space Mountain plans were pulled off the Imagineering bookshelf and dusted off for central Florida. Fortunately, technology had advanced enough to make the plans for Space Mountain a reality:

  By the early 1970s…the world was well into the space age, and if America could put a man on the moon, the Imagineers could manage to launch Walt Disney World guests into space. And like so many other “modern” problems, the solution to Space Mountain’s technical challenges was provided by a computer.

  —Jason Surrell, The Disney Mountains, Imagineering at Its Peak (2007), 41.

  The computer aspect was significant as it, among other things, allowed multiple attraction cars to be on the track at the same time, thereby greatly increasing the attraction’s capacity:

  Eleven years after Walt Disney first conceived of a roller coaster in space, the Imagineers finally had a ride system that enabled them to pull it off. Advances in computerization had led to the creation of a “zone system” that effectively controlled the flow of multiple trains on the same track. Individual braking zones could be opened and closed by computer, creating a “zone,” or length, of safety both in front of and behind each set of cars. The computerized control system automatically assigns the correct interval between ride vehicles, with lighter, slower shuttles given a head start over heavier, faster ones. If one train came to close to another, safety brakes along the track would automatically slow the vehicle, allowing up to seven trains to operate at the same time.

  Unlike the Matterhorn Bobsleds, Space Mountain was designed as a pure gravity ride with no boosters or retarders, the energy wheels that helped speed up and slow down the former’s bobsleds…Just as the Matterhorn had revolutionized the roller coaster industry with its tubular steel track and its own operationally friendly block zone system, Space Mountain advanced the state of the art even further with its own computer-controlled zone system.

  —Id. 45.

  In order to help fund construction costs, Disney reached an agreement with RCA to sponsor Space Mountain for approximately $10 million. Construction began on December 15, 1972, exactly six years following Walt Disney’s untimely death. The attraction officially opened two years later on January 15, 1975, and quickly became a runaway success. RCA’s corporate sponsorship of the attraction lasted until 1993. Federal Express became the new Space Mountain sponsor in 1994, and that sponsorship ran through 2003. Space Mountain has operated without a sponsor ever since.

  PART THREE

  Fantasyland

  chapter eight

  Fantasyland

  Here is the world of imagination, hopes, and dreams. In this timeless land of enchantment, the age of chivalry, magic, and make-believe are reborn—and fairy tales come true.

  —Walt Disney

  Fantasyland is the most “magical” land in the Magic Kingdom, a place where both classic fairy tales and beloved Disney films come to life. In this “timeless land of enchantment,” guests can fly to Never Land with Peter Pan and Tinker Bell, ride in a “Hunny Pot” through the Hundred Acre Wood, spin in a teacup during an exuberant “unbirthday” party, and step inside three different storybook castles. As Disney described it, Fantasyland “is dedicated to those who believe that when you wish upon a star, your dreams really do come true.”

  Fantasyland is the largest land in the Magic Kingdom and is divided into three distinct sections:

  Original Fantasyland: An area that sits immediately behind Cinderella Castle and is themed as a medieval Renaissance fair.

  The Enchanted Forest: A part of the New Fantasyland expansion where the classic Disney films Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), The Little Mermaid (1989), and Beauty and the Beast (1991) come to life.

  Storybook Circus: Another part of New Fantasyland that is dedicated to children and themed as a classic American circus.

  Fantasyland is also home to more attractions than any other Magic Kingdom land and, as a result, is filled with more stories than any other area of the park. While those stories are all unique, they all begin with “Once Upon a Time,” and end with “Happily Ever After.”

  Backstory

  The Place Where Fairy Tales and Disney Films Come to Life

  The overarching backstory for Fantasyland is that this magical place is where fairy tales and Disney’s classic animated films come to life. An early marketing booklet for Disney World called the “Preview Edition Walt Disney World ‘The Vacation Kingdom of the World,’” conveyed this original backstory:

  In Fantasyland guests will relive the adventures of Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, and many other famous characters “come to life” from Walt Disney animated film classics.

  Disney Imagineers further explained this backstory:

  The most magical land of them all is Fantasyland—the heart and soul of the Magic Kingdom. It wraps all of the hopes and dreams of children around the world into the storybook settings they have read about in literature and seen in the fairy tales told in the Disney animated films. Fantasyland is a place of endless enchantment, where it’s always “happily ever after.”

  —The Imagineers, The Imagineering Field Guide to the Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World, An Imagineer’s-Eye Tour (2005), 78.

  In implementing this backstory into the actual land, Imagineers drew inspiration from many Disney films:

  The inspiration for Fantasyland, of course, was provided by Disney’s classic animated films, namely Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 1937 (Snow White’s Scary Adventures); Pinocchio, 1940 (Pinocchi
o’s Village Haus snack bar); Dumbo, 1941 (Dumbo the Flying Elephant); The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, 1949 (Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride); Cinderella, 1950 (Cinderella Castle and Cinderella’s Golden Carrousel); Alice in Wonderland, 1951 (Mad Tea Party and The Mad Hatter hat shop); Peter Pan, 1953 (Peter Pan’s Flight and Tinker Bell Toy Shop); Sleeping Beauty, 1959 (King Stefan’s Banquet Hall restaurant); The Sword in the Stone, 1963 (Merlin’s Magic Shop); The Aritsocats, 1970 (The AristoCats gift shop); and The Black Cauldron, 1985 (Gurgi’s Munchies and Crunchies Snack Bar). [Author’s Note: Many of the referenced attractions and shops are now closed and/or have been replaced.]

  —The Disney Company, Walt Disney World 20 Magical Years (1991), p. 38.

  Fantasyland allows guests to actually step inside the Disney films that they fell in love with as children. Guests can dine with Cinderella and Belle, journey under the sea with Ariel, ride through a diamond mine with the Seven Dwarfs, and experience many other adventures:

  Fantasyland is a gateway to the world of make-believe. Faraway kingdoms and adventures in imaginary realms lie around every corner. You can live out your daydreams and look into the windows of your childhood. Never Land isn’t the only place where nobody ever grows up.

  —The Imagineers, The Imagineering Field Guide to the Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World, An Imagineer’s-Eye Tour (2005), 77.

  A Modified Backstory for New Fantasyland

  When New Fantasyland first opened in 2012, Disney Imagineers created another piece of the Fantasyland backstory that explained how Beast’s Castle, Prince Eric’s Castle, and Storybook Circus came to be located in Fantasyland. As part of the promotional activities for New Fantasyland, Disney released a series of videos and interactive games that conveyed this modified backstory to guests. According to the narration of these promotional videos, both the Enchanted Forest and Storybook Circus areas of Fantasyland had been there the whole time: