The next stop on our Walt Disney World photo tour is the Magic Kingdom's Tomorrowland. Through the years, this land has received a couple of major renovations. The first, which came in the mid 1970s, saw the addition of Space Mountain, as well as the WEDway PeopleMover. This required some major construction for the PeopleMover tracks to be added to all the buildings, as well as the new PeopleMover loading station at the Starjets location. The other major renovation occurred in the mid-1990s. This changed the vision of the land from future predictions to a more fantasy-based retro land reminiscent of the old Buck Rogers serials. It is often said that predicting the future is harder than trying to hit a moving target, so the Imagineers went to something a little easier, looking at past predictions of the future. So let's take a trip to the future, through the past!

The Carousel of Progress, which was added to Tomorrowland in the mid 1970s, has always been one of my favorite attractions. Perhaps it is because of the historical storyline of the attraction, perhaps it is because of the heavy use of Audio-Animatronic figures, or perhaps it is because the original attraction was created in one of Disney's golden ages, the early 1960s. But for whatever reason, I have always enjoyed this one. I never did see the original version, which played at the 1964 New York World's Fair and later at Disneyland. I have only seen the two versions that have been at Walt Disney World.

What better way to see Tomorrowland than from the WEDway PeopleMover. Or as it is now known, the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. Back in the old days, this was seen as a possible future transportation system, and was actually marketed by Disney. Unfortunately, the only other installation is at the Houston airport. This system, which uses linear induction motors, is completely different that Disneyland's version, which used motorized wheels embedded in the track to move the vehicles.

Here is a scene from the old Tomorrowland, circa 1988. To the right is the Grand Prix Raceway, and to the left is the Tomorrowland Terrace restaurant. Even with all the trees and planters around, Tomorrowland has always seemed to me to lack vegetation, mainly being a land of concrete. Also, it has no body of water to help break things up. Not that any of that is a bad thing, just a different layout.

These next few pictures give us a look of the new Tomorrowland, which opened in 1995. One new feature was this entry thing over the walkway from the hub. Just in case you didn't know which land you were entering. I like the design, because it gives a glimpse of the design of the rest of the land.

Moving just a bit past the entry arch, we find ourselves entering the city of Metropolis, which was the theme for the new Tomorrowland. On the left is the Interplanetary Convention Center, and on the right is the Metropolis Science center, where the Timekeeper shows his new time machine, although now he only demonstrates it occasionally. Further on ahead is the Astro Orbiter.

A view of some of the rockwork and some spaceship looking things. Not sure exactly what those are, but they certainly look futuristic in a retro sort of way.

A different view of the main entrance to Tomorrowland from the hub. Here you can see more rockwork. Those are some of the seating areas of the Plaza Restaurant on the right of the picture. I always love to eat there.

Continued

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