List of Former Disneyland Attractions - Tomorrowland

Tomorrowland

1955–1997, Circarama, U.S.A., renamed Circle-Vision 360° in 1967

Scenes from around the United States (and, later, China) in 360-degree splendor. Guests stood in a large circular room and watched a film projected on nine large, contiguous screens that surrounded them. During its run, the attraction was hosted by American Motors, Bell System, AT&T Corporation, Pacific Southwest Airlines, and Delta Air Lines. In 1998, the theater became the ride-queue for the short-lived Rocket Rods attraction. The building now houses Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. Shows were:

1955–1959, "A Tour of the West"

1960–1984, "America the Beautiful"

1984–1989, "All Because Man Wanted to Fly" (lobby pre-show)

1984–1996, "American Journeys"

1984–1996, "Wonders of China"

1996–1997, "America the Beautiful"

1955–1966, Clock of the World

A clock tower in the center of Tomorrowland

1955–1966, Monsanto Hall of Chemistry

A hands-on museum-like attraction teaching guest the romance of chemistry

1965–1966, Monsanto's Fashions and Fabrics through the Ages

See the history of women's attire from the stone age to the space age

1955–1960, Space Station X-1, renamed Satellite View of America in 1958

A circular screen shows America from space

1955–1966, Rocket to the Moon

Inside a building under a tall futuristic-looking rocket ship, the audience sat in seats around central viewing screens (top and bottom of the center of the room) so that they could see where they were going as they headed away from Earth and towards other worlds. As the real journey to the moon became more likely, the ride was refurbished as:

1967–1975, Flight to the Moon

A refurbished version of rocket to the moon with a mission control pre-show

1975–1992, Mission to Mars

The attraction building is now the site of Redd Rockett's Pizza Port, a space-themed pizza and pasta restaurant.

1955–1956, Tomorrowland Boats, renamed Phantom Boats in 1956

The boat engines were unreliable, and this became the first permanent attraction to be removed from Disneyland. Later became the site of Submarine Voyage, now Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage.

1955–1960, The World Beneath Us

A fast-paced film about man's quest for energy

1955–1966, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Exhibit

A walk-through with sets from the 1954 film

1955–1966, Flight Circle

A show about planes, cars and boats

1955–1966, Hobbyland

1955–1966, Art Corner

1955–1960, Aluminum Hall of Fame

1955–1963, Dutch Boy Color Gallery

1956–1964, Astro Jets

A rocket-spinner ride originally located between Submarine Voyage and Flight to the Moon. Astro Jets has undergone the following name and location changes:

1964–1966, Tomorrowland Jets

New name for the original attraction after corporate sponsor disagreements. Later became the site of Carousel of Progress and America Sings (see below); now the site of Innoventions.

1967–1997, Rocket Jets

Opened in new location above the PeopleMover loading platform. Now the site of the Observatron.

Its present incarnation is known as Astro Orbitor, located at the entrance to Tomorrowland from Main Street, and debuted in 1998.

1956–1960, Crane Company Bathroom of Tomorrow

1956–1994, Skyway to Fantasyland

See Skyway to Tomorrowland in Fantasyland, below.

1957–1958, The Viewliner

"The fastest miniature train in the world" ran alongside the Disneyland Railroad for just over a year, and therefore has the distinction of being the shortest-lived ride in the park's history.

1957–1967, Monsanto House of the Future

A walk-through tour of a plastic house with plastic furnishings and interior and fascinating modern appliances such as dishwashers. The house was designed in roughly the shape of a plus sign with high-tech rounded exterior contours, all made from white plastic with large windows. It was outdated almost as soon as it was built. It was anchored to a solid concrete foundation that proved to be so indestructible that, when it was dismantled, the work crew gave up and left some of the support pilings in place and they can still be seen in King Triton's Grotto between the Tomorrowland entrance and Fantasyland.

1959–1998, Submarine Voyage

Riders entered the half-submerged miniature submarines by descending through access hatches at either end of the submarine, sat on tiny fold-down seats, and leaned forward to peer out through portholes on either side of the submarine. The submarines moved around a track in the mermaid lagoon and simulated diving by having bubbles rise around it with the purported captain intoning commands over the loudspeaker (they never really submerged). On the trip, riders saw real-looking and imaginary sea life fastened to rocks or floating in the water, a treasure chest of gold, mermaids and a sea serpent, and passed under icebergs at the "North Pole". The submarines were originally military gray and named after US Navy nuclear-powered submarines but were repainted high-visibility yellow in the 1980s. The attraction returned as "Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage" in 2007.

1960–1966, The Art of Animation

1961–1966, Flying Saucers

Guests rode in single-rider cars on a cushion of air that were steered by shifting body weight. The air cushion was supplied from below through holes in the floor that opened when the cars passed over. Later became site of Tomorrowland Stage; now site of Magic Eye Theater. In 2012, a revamped version of the ride, Luigi's Flying Tires, inspired by Pixar's Cars, opened in Cars Land at Disney California Adventure Park in 2012.

1965–1966, Fashion and Fabrics Through the Ages

1967–1973, General Electric Carousel of Progress

A sit-down show in which the building rotated the audience around a series of stages. The stages had audioanimatronic humans and household appliances showing how appliances and electronics advanced about every 20 years from the turn of the century to the "modern" era of the early 1960s. The audience stopped in front of each stage while the characters joked with each other, described life at the time in history, and demonstrated their kitchen. This ride originated at the 1964 New York World's Fair and was installed at Disneyland after the fair closed. The transition from stage to stage was accompanied by all the characters singing the upbeat theme song, whose chorus was "There's a great, big beautiful tomorrow shining at the end of every day; there's a great, big, beautiful tomorrow, and tomorrow's just a dream away." In 1974, Carousel of Progress was moved to Florida's Walt Disney World, and the show building was used for America Sings (see below). It is presently the site of Innoventions.

1967–1995, PeopleMover

A scenic, slow-moving ride high-above Tomorrowland that was intended to demonstrate how people could be shuttled around a central urban area without rushing to board individual trains or drive individual cars. It consisted of many dozens of small open-air cars seating up to eight riders, all running continuously on a track above and through the various attractions in Tomorrowland. People boarded the PeopleMover by stepping onto a moving walkway that brought them up to the speed of the cars, which then took riders all around Tomorrowland, providing a preview of all of the Tomorrowland attractions: it ran through the entry waiting areas for CircleVision and Adventure Through Inner Space, down the main promenade, over the Autopia, and so on. After the ride was closed, the track sat vacant for two-and-a-half years until the opening of the ill-fated Rocket Rods. A new version is reported to be in the works, part of the Tomorrowland Revitalization Plan and scheduled to open sometime in the next few years, but for the time being the track once again remains abandoned and visible. The Walt Disney World version is still active in the Magic Kingdom under the name of Tomorrowland Transit Authority.

1967–1985, Adventure Thru Inner Space

This originally Monsanto Company sponsored ride seemed inspired by Fantastic Voyage, a popular film of the year before the ride was first presented. It was a dark ride that pretended to shrink the rider gradually down to microscopic size within a snowflake, then further to view a water molecule in the flake, then finally to the point where one could see the throbbing nucleus of a single oxygen atom (but didn't "dare" shrink further), with electrons zooming all around. A clever feature was the demonstration's use of a frozen crystal of water molecules, each of which, on extreme magnification, is reminiscent of the shape of Mickey Mouse's head.

The ride's entryway featured a floor-to-ceiling spiral network of strings down which evenly spaced droplets of oil slowly ran, appearing to be sparkling liquid beads in nearly suspended animation. From the line inside the entry, line-standers could watch other riders in their 3-person cars disappear into a shrinking machine and then see the other shrunken riders (actually scale-model cars and riders) appear in perfect synch and then disappear into the ride. Within the ride at one point, a gigantic eye perused the riders through a huge microscope lens.

1974–1988, America Sings

A sit-down show in the same building using the same stages as Carousel of Progress. Audioanimatronic animals sang American tunes from different eras. It was described as a "lighthearted journey to Musicland, U.S.A". After the attraction closed in spring of 1988, most of the singing, dancing animals were recycled into the current "Splash Mountain" attraction, except for Sam the eagle and his co-host, Ollie the owl. Earlier in 1987, two geese were removed and their outer skins peeled and used in the Star Tours queue as droids. Between the years of 1988 and early 1997, the building was completely empty, except for seats, the old stages and some offices. Today, Innoventions occupies the same building.

1977–1984, Space Stage

1984–present, Magic Eye Theater, which still exists with current 3-D films, also featured the following

• 1984–1986, "Magic Journeys"

• 1986–1997, 2010-present "Captain EO": Michael Jackson dancing and singing in a 3-D story of a spaceship captain and his misfit crew against an evil queen.

• 1998–2010, "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience" : A 3-D movie that serves as a sequel to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, starring Rick Moranis, Marcia Strassman, Eric Idle, and Robert Oliveri. The basic storyline is that Moranis, as inventor Wayne Szalinski, is demonstrating his shrinking machine at an inventors' awards show and accidentally shrinks the audience. The audience members are given such impressions as dog's sneezing, the auditorium moving, and mice crawling up their legs. The attraction is based on a similar one at Walt Disney World.

The 3-D technology used in the Magic Eye Theater is also used in multiple theaters at Disney's California Adventure

1955–1999, Tomorrowland Autopia

In 2000, a new, expanded Autopia opened at the same location, using much of the same infrastructure as the original.

1996–1997,Toy Story Funhouse

1998–2000, Rocket Rods

A short-lived attempt at a thrill ride using the massive supportive infrastructure and track left from the scenic PeopleMover attraction. The line for the Rocket Rods was routed through the old Circle-Vision theater, where early Disney films about transportation, combined with more recent footage, entertained riders before they continued on to the ride itself. The retro-styled rockets, each seating up to five riders, traveled along the former PeopleMover track, periodically accelerating rapidly until they rose onto their back ends and then decelerating until the front end dropped back to the track. However, ongoing technical problems that resulted in frequent ride closures were never resolved. After the attraction closed for good, the tracks and supporting structure were left standing unused along the main promenade, and still are today.

1998–2003, The American Space Experience

An exhibit highlighting space exploration in conjunction with NASA's 40th anniversary. It occupied the former Premiere Shop location outside of the Circle-Vision 360 theater. Now the site of the FASTPASS Distribution Center for Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, as well as part of the attraction itself.

1986–2010, Star Tours

Built at the original site for Adventure Through Inner Space, this was Disney's first attempt at a motion simulator ride, based on the Star Wars film series. It was closed in late July 2010 to allow the area to be remodeled to a new attraction, Star Tours: The Adventures Continue which features all new simulators, along with a new story line and other changes, including the film being shown in high-definition 3-D.