Over the years, Tomorrowland has seen more change than any other land in a Disney Park. When the original opened with Disneyland in the '50s, it was intended to represent the world of 1986, when Halley's Comet would next return. It was a time when satellites were new, man had not yet travelled in space or landed on the moon, and home computers were the stuff of fantasy.
Today, the future has arrived. At the dawn of 2011, we may not have flying cars or colonies on Mars, but we carry sophisticated touch-screen computers in our pockets and watch wafer-thin televisions that hang on the wall. With the rapid advance of technology, Tomorrowland has had to adapt. The science-factual futurism of Tomorrowland past always ended up feeling dated, so Imagineers have transitioned the storytelling in the land more toward science fiction.
This shift began back in 1987 with the debut of Star Tours. To help the characters and settings of that galaxy far, far away fit into the land, the attraction was positioned as an intergalactic journey originating from a Tomorrowland spaceport. Storytelling details helped support this idea: "Gates," "Terminal," Baggage Claim signs at the exit, the Flight Attendant delivering the safety information.
In the more than two decades since the opening of Star Tours, nearly all of Tomorrowland has embraced the concept of a fantastic spaceport. Shuttles blast off from Space Station 77, XP-40 craft take brave space rangers to the Gamma Quadrant to defend the universe from the evil Emperor Zurg, and young Padawans learn the ways of the Force in the Jedi Training Academy.
While a fantasy Tomorrowland becomes dated far less quickly than a realistic one, even those sci-fi adventures can benefit from advances in technology. Later this year, we'll see the fruits of that with Star Tours: The Adventures Continue, bringing digital 3-D and branching story lines to these voyages through outer space.
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