More Tongue-In-Cheek Fun
Boat Evacuation Procedures was written by “Cap-Size.”
Fleas Navidad and Other Winter Winter Insects, Hart, is a buggy reference to the Christmas holiday.
Two Bees or Not Two Bees
Spotted Tigers, G. Rowl.
The Mystery Castle, Cindy Ella.
Shades of Khaki, B. Land.
Cheetahs Never Prosper, Hirano.
Swimming in the Amazon, Doug E. Paddle…get it, doggie paddle?
A series of books entitled Getting Even, by R.E. Venge.
How to Survive a Lava Flow by U.B. Ash.
Old World Monkeys by Babette Boon.
The River Puns Through
Is This Deadly?, Mort Al.
More Jungle Cruise and Skipper Canteen Magical Secrets
Many famous individuals got their starts as Jungle Cruise skippers, including actors Steve Martin and Kevin Costner and former Disney-Pixar animation head John Lasseter.
The attraction ride vehicles actually travel upon a track. As such, Jungle Cruise Skippers cannot control the boat’s course. They can, however, control the attraction’s speed.
Approximately 1,750,000 gallons of water flow through the attraction’s four rivers. The water depth ranges from 3.5 feet to 6.5 feet.
A drinking fountain near the Jungle Cruise is shaped like a large wooden crate. The crate includes a “FEEDING HOLE” near one of the fountains, so guests should drink at their own risk!
Large wooden planter boxes in the Jungle Cruise plaza are labeled, “Evans Exotic Plant Exporters.” This is another tribute to Disney Imagineers Bill Evans:WDI Master Landscape Architect Bill Evans carefully selected a palette of plants that would evoke a tropical feel while remaining hardy enough to withstand the relatively mild (but not tropical) central Florida winters. The plants needed to feel correct, even if they would not be found together, or, in the types of groupings he used—even on the same continents we portray them to be. Bill broke away from a textbook approach in order to better serve the story.
—The Imagineers, The Imagineering Field Guide to the Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World, An Imagineer’s-Eye Tour (2005), p. 40.
The Skipper Canteen includes portraits of both Albert Falls and Alberta Falls. Professor Falls’ portrait is noble and distinguished, while the portrait of Alberta is more cartoonish and abstract.
A large wooden barrel in the Skipper Canteen pays tribute to one of the Jungle Cruise’s most famous attractions, as it is aptly labeled “BACKSIDE OF WATER.”
Real History
The original Jungle Cruise debuted in Disneyland on that park’s opening day, July 17, 1955. Construction began on the Walt Disney World version of the Jungle Cruise in the Spring of 1969 and the attraction opened with the Magic Kingdom on October 1, 1971. Although based in large part on the Disneyland original, the Disney World version featured even more of Marc Davis’ tongue-in-cheek humor, a longer ride experience, and a few new scenes including Inspiration Falls, gorillas ransacking the camp, and the Cambodian temple finale.
Additional covered areas were added to the attraction’s queue in 1973. A larger queue renovation in 1993 included the addition of Albert Awol’s comedic radio loop. The Jungle Cruise boats were also redesigned in 1998 to appear more rustic and aged, as opposed to the shiny new boats that previously navigated the waters.
Adventureland was formerly home to a counter-service restaurant known as the Adventureland Veranda. This eatery was located to the right as guests passed into Adventureland from Main Street, U.S.A. This unique cafe offered both indoor and outdoor seating, the latter of which was on a verandah that overlooked the surrounding canal. It was one of the most relaxing areas in the Magic Kingdom. The Adventureland Veranda opened with the Magic Kingdom on October 1, 1971. It served guests basic food options like sandwiches and fried chicken. The restaurant underwent a substantial change in 1977 when Kikkoman (the soy sauce company) assumed sponsorship of the Veranda. During this time, the Adventureland Veranda offered some of the most unique in-park dining options in the Magic Kingdom, including teriyaki hamburgers with pineapple and sweet-and-sour hot dogs. The veranda moved to seasonal operation in the early 1990s before finally ceasing regular operations later that decade. The Adventureland Veranda periodically served as a meet-and-greet area for numerous characters in the decades that followed. The Skipper Canteen opened in the former home of the Adventureland Veranda on December 16, 2015.
Wamba Wanda
Congo Connie
Amazon Annie
Ganges Gertie
Rutshuru Ruby
Zambezi Zelda
Volta Val
Nile Nellie
Ucyali Lolly
Bomokandi Bertha
Irrawaddy Irma
Sankuru Sadie
Mongola Millie
Orinoco Ida
Senegal Sal
PART TWO
Tomorrowland
chapter five
Tomorrowland
A vista into a world of wondrous ideas, signifying man’s achievements…a step into the future, with predictions of constructive things to come. Tomorrow offers new frontiers in science, adventures, and ideals: the atomic age…the challenge of outer space…and the hope for a peaceful and unified world.
—Walt Disney (referencing Disneyland’s Tomorrowland)
Tomorrowland is one of the most popular lands in the Magic Kingdom. Thousands of guests make the popular “race to space” each morning when the park first opens to experience Space Mountain, one of the parks perennial “E” ticket attractions. Families will find plenty of attractions to enjoy in Tomorrowland, including the Tomorrowland Speedway, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, and Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. The land even provides fans of Disney nostalgia with two of the park’s most historically significant attractions, Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress and the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover. Because of this wide range of offerings, Tomorrowland appeals to thrill seekers, families, and Disney historians alike.
Notwithstanding Tomorrowland’s widespread appeal, most guests are unaware that the land is, without a doubt, the most troublesome theme park area ever created by Disney. The Imagineers explained the large problem associated with creating a land based upon a vision of “tomorrow” as follows:
It’s a fundamental challenge when you build something and call it Tomorrowland. There are many different versions of the future that we see in film, on television, in art, and in print. It’s one of the most unforgiving subjects on which to give your best guess, because with each passing day we are proving or disproving somebody’s vision of the future.
—The Imagineers, The Imagineering Field Guide to the Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World, An Imagineer’s-Eye Tour (2005), p. 108.
In order to address the ongoing problem of accurately designing “tomorrow,” Disney Imagineers took the dramatic and unprecedented step of completely re-theming Tomorrowland after more than 20 years in operation. Imagineers looked to the future…as viewed from the past, and created a backstory that is set in an intergalactic spaceport as viewed from the perspective of early 20th century visionaries such as Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. Tomorrowland is now set in a fictional world where humans, aliens, robots, and monsters interact on a daily basis. It is a world governed by an intergalactic association known as the League of Planets, and a world that is home to numerous interstellar organizations like the Sleepless Knights of the Milky Way, the Loyal Order of Little Green Beings, and the Galactic Association of Retired Aliens. That’s right, the future that never was…is finally here.
Backstory
The Original Backstory:
The Future That Is Around the Corner
The original backstory for the Magic Kingdom’s Tomorrowland traced its roots to Disneyland. When Disneyland’s Tomorrowland opened in 1955, it was supposed to represent the future…of 1986. That year was significant because 1986 was the next scheduled appearance of Halley’s Comet, and a time whe
n flights to the moon would presumably be commonplace. The inspiration for this theme of Tomorrowland flowed directly from Walt Disney, who was fascinated with what technological advancements and progress would bring to society generally and the day-to-day lives of individuals specifically.
Like Disneyland, the Magic Kingdom’s Tomorrowland was rooted in scientific advancement and was supposed to provide a realistic look into the future. The land would represent the hope and optimism of the space age and, in many respects, attempted to portray a utopian city of the future. Disney explained this “real world” backstory for Tomorrowland in an early marketing booklet for Walt Disney World known as the “Preview Edition Walt Disney World ‘The Vacation Kingdom of the World’” (1970):
Tomorrowland will be an ongoing preview of exciting new developments in store for the near and distant future. Many of America’s leading companies will present adventures and shows designed as “living blueprints of tomorrow.” Revolutionary new transportation systems and unique space-age communications will all be utilized as Tomorrowland explores new scientific frontiers. Guests will actually experience what many of America’s foremost men of science and industry predict for the world of tomorrow.
In many respects, this backstory reflects Walt’s original vision for his Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. Author Jeff Kurtti further explained the initial backstory of Tomorrowland in connection with the science and technology of the time period of the early 1970s:
The initial Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom drew on the Disneyland version but heightened its coldly dramatic architectural approach, in keeping with the movie futurism of the time. At its 1971 opening, the manned flight to the moon was barely two years past, and the horizons of space travel appeared limitless. The same technology that had put men on the moon promised sparkling new cities and limitless opportunities for humankind—and for Imagineers.
—Jeff Kurtti, Since the World Began, Walt Disney World The First 25 Years (1996), p. 69.
The Tomorrowland that guests experienced on the Magic Kingdom’s opening day, October 1, 1971, reflected this real world backstory. The buildings in Tomorrowland featured simple, streamlined architecture with sterile white and blue palettes. The entrance to Tomorrowland was dominated by two 85-foot high monolithic towers on the left and right hand sides of the walkway that entered the land from the central hub. Those towers stood in the middle of two slanted concrete walls. Waterfalls flowed down both the towers and the concrete walls and flowed into the castle moat below.
Once guests entered the land, empty show buildings greeted them on both sides of street. On opening day, Tomorrowland included only two attractions, neither of which related to the land’s backstory. The Grand Prix Raceway allowed guests to drive go-carts along a track, similar to the popular Disneyland Autopia attraction. The second opening day attraction, the Skyway, was a gondola-style attraction that transported guests from a station in Tomorrowland to a station in Fantasyland, and vice versa. Two additional attractions would open in Tomorrowland before the end of 1971: America the Beautiful and Flight to the Moon. Although the Magic Kingdom was barely two months old at this point, Tomorrowland was already experiencing major thematic problems.
Yesterdayland
Imagineers soon discovered that maintaining a plausible vision of the future was extremely difficult. The problem with tomorrow is that it quickly becomes today. Walt Disney himself predicted this problem years earlier, stating: “The only problem with anything of tomorrow is that at the pace we’re going right now, tomorrow would catch up with us before we got it built.”[The Imagineers, The Imagineering Field Guide to the Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World, An Imagineer’s-Eye Tour (2005), p. 108.]
Maintaining a realistic portrayal of Tomorrowland would require frequent updates and upkeep, which unfortunately did not happen in the decades that followed. This struggle proved to be one of the most frustrating challenges ever faced by Disney Imagineers.
As an example of this conundrum, the early version of Tomorrowland included an attraction called Flight to the Moon that opened on December 24, 1971. In this attraction, guests sat in a circular theatre for a simulated journey to the moon with the help of operations director Mr. Tom Morrow. The preshow of the attraction stated that the experience was taking place “sometime” in the future. The problem was that an actual flight to the moon had already happened in 1969, almost two years before Flight to the Moon’s opening. In fact, four moon landings occurred prior to the attraction’s opening. As such, Flight to the Moon did not exactly represent a “futuristic” concept.
Author Jeff Kurtti also explained the complexity of maintaining the early vision of Tomorrowland:
Predicting the future has always been problematic, but never more so than in the late 20th century. It is not just a matter of imagining things to come; the real problem is presenting these concepts in permanent facilities with shows of lasting appeal.
—Jeff Kurtti, Since the World Began, Walt Disney World The First 25 Years (1996), p. 69.
Over the course of the next 15 years, Tomorrowland remained largely unchanged and quickly grew outdated. Some Imagineers went so far as to joke that Tomorrowland should be called “Yesterdayland:” “Much as Walt Disney had predicted, the 1970s Tomorrowland had become the present, and it was time to move on.” [Jeff Kurtti and Bruce Gordon, The Art of Walt Disney World Resort (2009), p. 130.]
The Future That Never Was…Is Finally Here
In order to address the Yesterdayland problem, Disney executives planned a massive overhaul of Tomorrowland’s theming in the early 1990s. Disney Imagineers drew inspiration from the newly opened Discoveryland in Disneyland Paris and developed a plan for a new Tomorrowland that would be a science fictional future in the mold of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and Buck Rogers.
New Tomorrowland would be themed as an intergalactic spaceport as envisioned through the eyes of popular science fiction from the early 20th century where people, robots, aliens and monsters all lived, worked, and played together. The substantially revised Tomorrowland would represent a fanciful and fantastic vision of the future that would forever remain ingrained in American pop culture thanks to classic science-fiction movies, television series, books, and magazines. In short, new Tomorrowland would be the “future that never was.” Best of all, it would be a future that was never out of date.
In its 1992 Annual Report, the Disney company described this new backstory when referencing the massive construction work that was already taking place in Tomorrowland:
[New Tomorrowland will be] a utopian metropolis that portrays yesterday’s visions of a brighter tomorrow. The transformation will create a galactic community inspired by science fiction where humans, aliens and robots all work together.
In 1993, Disney Imagineers released a definitive backstory for new Tomorrowland:
At the Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom, Tomorrowland is a community where everyday living is made better through science, invention and intergalactic influence. Inhabited by robots, space aliens and a few humans, this amazing Earth community is so world-renowned, it was selected as the universal headquarters of the League of Planets.
In Tomorrowland, robots perform household chores, ice cream comes from the Milky Way, and a trip through time is as common as a spin around the solar system. Tomorrowlanders keep up with the latest on and off-world wonders and technologies by visiting the exhibits presented at their neighborhood Interplanetary Convention and Science Centers.
Those who work and play in and around Rockettower Plaza, the bustling heart of the community, live outside of town in the hoverburbs. They commute via the Tomorrowland Transit Authority’s Superskyway Blueline Express. Locals get all of the news before it even happens by subscribing to the Tomorrowland Times.
Today, in this fantasy community of Tomorrow, the future that never was is alive and well.
—The Imagineers, Walt Disney Imagineering, A Behind the Dreams Look at Making the Magic Real (1996), p. 42.
The Imagineers provided even further detail on the backstory of the updated version of Tomorrowland:
[New Tomorrowland is] a more fanciful version of tomorrow. A vision of the future rekindled from the past carries with it a charm and a sense of nostalgia that gives it a comforting appeal. Ours is a retro-future concept replete with all of the trappings of an intergalactic spaceport. We’ve got space-age transportation, technology displays at the Interplanetary Science and Convention Centers, and all the comforts and conveniences that science and technology will one day afford us. This design was chosen because it’s fun, optimistic, and familiar to all of us, even though we’ve never really been there. We all remember when we thought the future would be like this. Tomorrowland offers us the opportunity to visit it.
—The Imagineers, The Imagineering Field Guide to the Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World, An Imagineer’s-Eye Tour (2005), p. 109.
A marketing poster for the new version of Tomorrowland created by George Stokes and Anne Tryba in 1995 summarized Tomorrowland’s new backstory perfectly: “The Future That Never Was…Is Finally Here!”
Storytelling Elements
The Look of Tomorrow
A new backstory for Tomorrowland brought with it a massive overhaul of the look and feel of the land. The large sterile towers and sloped concrete walls that formerly marked the entrance to Tomorrowland were removed. In their place, Imagineers added a retro-futuristic entrance marquee that consisted of glass pipes, brushed metal, and neon lights. In addition, a series of mysterious, alien-like rock formations were added to the right and left-hand sides of the walkways entering Tomorrowland from the central hub.
As guests pass through this new entranceway to Tomorrowland, they step onto the Avenue of the Planets, which serves as the Main Street, U.S.A. for Tomorrowland. The buildings along this futuristic thoroughfare have exposed steel finishes, much of which are brushed and highly polished. Designers also incorporated “cast-steel machine parts” into many of the re-themed building designs. The Avenue of the Planets leads to Tomorrowland’s visual “weenie,” Rockettower Plaza, a glistening futuristic beacon around which futuristic rockets soar. The sterile whites that dominated Tomorrowland in the 1970s gave way to “a variety of colors and textures, burnished and patinated metal surfaces, and greater human scale and warmth rather than an antiseptic and institutional feel.” [Jeff Kurtti and Bruce Gordon, The Art of Walt Disney World Resort (2009), p. 130.]
Adventureland, Tomorrowland, and Fantasyland Page 12