Disney Space station X-1

Wow, I would love to see some pictures of this great attraction!

There is a poster in Rocket Rods pizza port, but very little info anywhere else, except this:

http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=1258

I am still waiting for Disney to hire Shag to makeover tomorrowland back into a retro-60's atomic age style.

My mind reels when I think about what he could do with it. I am sure people would love it completely!!

Bring back inner space, the peoplemover, mission to mars, and add a few other things! Who cares if today's technology outpaces the actual exhibits and attractions.

I want Googie! I want space age! I don't want Jules verne anymore!!

Put a jetson's type lounge right where the loading dock for the people mover used to be! Serve alchohol! Play space age lounge and jazz music! You could sit up there and drink space themed drinks and watch tomorrowland underneath you!!

Do these things now, Disney! You are wasting so much space in that area!

On 2006-10-02 13:20, lucas vigor wrote:

Bring back inner space, the peoplemover, mission to mars, and add a few other things! Who cares if today's technology outpaces the actual exhibits and attractions.

I concur in spades.

Adventure Thru Inner Space is my all-time favorite Disneyland ride.

http://www.yesterland.com/innersp.html

I actually bought the virtual ride-through DVD (Kind of looks like an X-box version) of Adenture through inner space! Very cool indeed! This guy painstakingly created the entire ride from start to stop, with two different views. (one in the cars, one floating above the cars), the original audio and everything!! http://www.Atommobiles.com

Inner Space could be updated with Shag designs and modern knowledge of DNA/RNA strands. You'd have to have to hit the top pharmaceutical companies with big baseball bats to stop them trying to invest in a new version. It'd be amazang.

Indeed, why not do a lounge up top of the Peoplemover Tower? Great idea! What's the problem, 'Imagineers'? That mess of satellite dishes doesn't even work these days.

DisneyInc just doesn't have the insight or imagination anymore. Even Shag had to fight for his work against the same dimwitted marketing staff that hired him.

Since they took the Bat N'Rouge shop away, the place just isn't de same.

They do some things I don't understand. Chiefly, why do they seal up whole sections of walkaway during those dang parades and light shows?

Disney was always crowded, but I remember as a child there was at least places where you could run free, and find some space of your own. It seems like they are hell bent on funneling traffic down specific corridors. It was real bad last christmas, as the christmas parade pretty much shut down main street. It was reduced to single file traffic, and there were employees blocking the stores that connect, so you could not even cut through! People were getting mad, and starting altercations.

More then half the problem are the accursed double strollers. These little mini-Humvees that are always filled with todlers and younger (who can't take the long hours and sensory overload). These kids are always crying, crying, crying! Why even take them?

I don't know why the babies are kept in the park after dark. Shouldn't they be home, in bed?

When I was a teen, Disney after dark was mostly teens, with all the super-families having gone home at dusk. Not anymore.

And what's with the huge groups of people that just stand there, blocking the road? I don't get that. If you are that lost, and have no idea where to go next, or want to chit-chat, move the hell over to the side!!!!

But, I still love Disney. What else is there? It could be better, though.

Shag involved with tomorrowland would be a start. Prohibiting large strollers after 7 pm would also be a start. Stop closing fantasyland when the fireworks start would be good. Get that monorail back up and running. Bring back the skyway. The terminal near casey jones train is just sitting there. Open up the backcountry of frontierland. All that wasted space where the old mine train used to be is ridiculous. There is free area in the old fanstasyland autopia area. Get those peoplemovers going again. The snow white theater near toontown has not been used in over a year, and that's a great one for sucking in the stroller crowd and keeping them off the street for a while. What's up with the area behing big thunder ranch?

And mostly, make it all one big park and get rid of the big circle in between the two parks. Charge more if you have to.

Get rid of the churros completely. Have you seen the lines for those things?

Give the employees some caffiene or something. Seems like they are trained to be placed, docile and tranquilized, for how slow they move. And make them happy. They mostly seem sullen and unfriendly these days.

Move the emphasis from parades and other walkway cloggers back to the theaters (like captain EO, snow white, the hunchback, etc.)

Man, what a rant!

Dude, I agree, but you need to look into pharmacuticles(sp?) too.

j/k Jeff(bigtikidude)
p.s. I have a year pass, but hardly go.
I need to remember to go on Wed. evenings in the Fall or something.
because I can't stand the crowds either.

[ Edited by: Tangaroa 2007-12-08 19:05 ]

On 2006-10-03 08:28, lucas vigor wrote:
They do some things I don't understand.

That they do. I worked there for a few years in the mid 90s when Tomorrowland was undergoing its renovation, or whatever you want to call it. There are sort of semi-logical reasons for most of the unusual things they do and there's a different excuse for each of the things you brought up in your post. Just the one example I know from experience-- Fantasyland gets shut down during the fireworks because of the displays that are lit from the castle itself. The fallout presents a safety hazard. Maybe not much of a hazard, but let's face it, if someone got struck by a piece of a falling firework, they'd sue for millions of dollars and that would probably be worse than shutting down Fantasyland every night. Toontown and parts of the backstage area used to (and probably still do) get shut down for fireworks for the same reason. Even your average cast members weren't allowed back there.
I absolutely agree that Disney should move away from the sidewalk cloggers, but I also agre with Tang that Imagineers are generally not to blame. Most of the bad decsions we all complain about are the result of poor management decisions. I've heard things have been on the upswing lately, so hopefully things will continue in that direction.

Sorry Imagineers. It must really suck to have great big ideas that keep getting shot down every single time for the worst of reasons. They recently brought out a new train, the "Ward Kimball" that is one big gleaming beaut. Ward was a genius. Nice job.

Hey, we're all on the side of fun and imagination. We just need a bit more in the park. At least the canoes are still floating. They're my fave, I grew up in Northern Canada and feathering a no-drip stroke is at least something I got over SoCal Beefy Boys.

Wanna change something drastic? Knock down the division between Californioa Adventure and Dland. Go ahead, I dare ya.

On 2006-10-03 18:11, bigtikidude wrote:
Dude, I agree, but you need to look into pharmacuticles(sp?) too.

Actually...you used to be able to get pharmaceuticals at Disneyland. Right on Main Street at the old (long gone) Upjohn Pharmacy:

It was right across the street from the Hollywood-Maxwell Brassiere Company's store, where you could watch a mechanical tin robot extol the virtues of the elastic bra in a show called "The Wonderful Wizard of Bras."

I'm not making that up, either. That was in Disneyland.

:)

[ Edited by: Tangaroa 2007-12-08 19:08 ]

[ Edited by: Tangaroa 2007-12-08 19:08 ]

Great stuff guys!

I just receieved the DVD Disney treasures: Tomorrowland!

It has 4 educational cartoons/films that dealt with science and technology as of 1956-simply awesome!

Man in space
Man and the moon
Man on mars
Eyes in space
Our friend the atom
EPCOT

Ward Kimball and Verner Von braun are the hosts and narrators.

The cartoon segments on Man on mars were worth the 45 dollars alone! There is one dealing with the start of life on earth that is a total classic!

Anyone else seen these?

Yep - all that "Man in Space" Kimball stuff is really great... We have a fascinating interview with Kimball about these shows in "E" Ticket #24 - not many left in our backstock, however...

http://www.the-e-ticket.com/Issue_page_24.html

Tang,

You're making me weep here with the photos! What I wouldn't give to return to a Disneyland that looked like that again!

Cammo,

We'll have to meet at D-land sometime and commandeer one of the canoes. I'm an old Polynesian Outrigger canoer, so between the two of us, we sould be able to take it wherever we want it, regardless of what the frontier-guide in the back wants to do. Compare the North-woods no-drip, feathered stroke to the South-seas one.

Sabu

Interesting thing I saw the other day at the Rivers of america in the early evening:

Two powerboats racing right in front of where splash mountain makes it's turn after coming down the plume.

The wakes caused waves to make the ducks bounce up and down! The river must be deeper then it looks, with the submerged rails for the two big boats farther down below the surface!

Anyone hear any rumours about a scheduled movie based on "Jungle boat cruise"?

And how about that Mice age rumour of the tom sawyer's island makeover to match the third movie of POTC?

Another question: What does anyone think happened to the space station X-1 interior diorama? E-bay? Some imaganeer's backyard? Hidden in an attack above the star tours ride?

[ Edited by: Tangaroa 2007-12-08 19:09 ]

Or they ended up in a junkyard somewhere!

I was at one in Santa ana, and I saw this wierd rocker arm with a chipmunk affixed to a rotating disk..it took me a second or two to realize it was a dumbo flying circus arm!! They also had a matterhorn bobsled, and a giant cobra entranceway assembly which I believe was for the attraction that came directly after the tahitian terrace, before the current alladin show. I can't remember the name of the junkyard but it is very near the old water tower near the 5 fwy and 17th street. This was a few years back, so who knows if the stuff is still there. Whoever own it has a few strange things in that lot.

On 2006-10-10 10:44, Tangaroa wrote:
"Powerboats" are probably the skiffs used on both Jungle & the ROA to navigate quickly somewhere on the river. But they shouldn't have been driving them during operational hours - bad show!

Yes - a Jungle Cruise movie is in development, and yes - POTC in one form or another will eventually take over Tom Sawyers Island. Work on this began in earnest earlier this Summer.

Sad to say, most likely the Space Station X-1 diorama is long gone. Anything that didn't make it to the 1990s generally went in the trash heap (i.e. much of the sets from Adventure Thru Inner Space). My theory is that it was probably rolled up & put in storage at the park (if not trashed upon removal) - where it sat until soemone decided "we don't need this anymore". That's just a best guess - but a lot of things at the park ended up that way...

A jungle boat cruise movie sounds very cool, long as they make it more like "african queen" and less like the latest "love bug". Another movie with Lindsey Lohan and hip-hop music will turn my stomach. Hopefully, they have learned (by the success of POTC) that they can still make great movies without pandering to people born after 1987!!

Uh-oh. A Pirates makeover of Tom Sawyer Island? The place Walt designed himself, my favorite part of the park, the best place to sit around and watch the clouds go by, the only place that is so busy you'd think they'd never think of changing it, the only true 50's Disneyland Americana left, the only place they let you play on rocks and climb on wet teetering barrels, the definitive California hide-and-seek experience,

way to go Imagineers. Very imaginative.

Hey, I don't know if anybody noticed, but there already IS a Pirates ride at Disneyland.

I can almost, almost see why they would do it.

Mark Twain is one of my favorite authors, and I 100% agree with his political views, but, both his top stories are, how shall we say? politically incorrect.

American Indians could be offended if they miss the historical context, and so can african americans. The fact that mark Twain would be the least likely to discriminate against these people goes against the language and imagery in both books.

Getting rid of this wonderful island is regretable, but I can see why. I can also see that today's kids have not and will not read the books, so there is really no tie-in.

lastly, I don't go on scary rides so when my family or friends go on them, I usually like to go to the island...where I am a middle aged guy with no visible kids standing around watching and enjoying the scenery..You can see the problem there already! Enough dirty looks from yuppie parents have deterred me from this location.

But, although I can see the reasons and actually think it's probably a good idea to change the attraction to a POTC theme, it makes me sad to see yet another part of my childhood gone for good.

I am going this weekend, and the yuppies be damned! I want to take some pictures before it is all gone.

In my opinion, a lot is riding on "finding nemo". If that ride does well, and is good, they (Disney) may be on the path to redemption. I still miss the old subs, though. I still want them to fix tomorrowland and get Shag to help out with the imagery. I still would like to see the transportation in DL back up and running. Watching my EPCOT video, shows how Walt always wanted things in motion. In one shot you can see Peoplemover, monorail, flying rockets, autopia and matterhorn boblseds all going at the same time.

For more information, check out http://www.yesterland.com

Great site!

"Tom Sawyer" and "Huck Finn" are the best American books ever written; Ernest Hemmingway's opinion. The fact that modern audiences are less literate now than in Sam Clemen's day, when his books were a hit, is pretty disturbing. That Tom and Huck could be seen as being racist is even more outragous - "Huck Finn" is so heartbreakingly anti-racist it's credited as helping to motivate a lot of the rights movements later. These books have been translated into 267 languages, they are some of the most collectible books in the world, they helped start the Boy Scout movement (really!) and have been made into countless films and at least two hit Broadway plays. Mark Twain is America's best known and loved writer, an international personality and world traveller in his day, the father of Standup Comedy, the father of American Humor itself.

In a nutshell, DisneyInc thinks they can do it better.

Good luck. A Pirate version just doesn't sound interesting or imaginative, but it will blend in better to the New Orleans Square/Haunted Mansion area the boats depart from. The caves can be pirated up. Yeah, it'll work. Looks good on paper.

I give the idea a 3.7 out of 10.

Next, I swear, is the Paddlewheeler.

I recently finished reading both book, (again) and find myself laughing so hard in certain parts!

But, you can see why Disney does what it does: Lawsuits. Besides losing money on stuff like Rocket Rods, people get hurt, then they sue. People are offended by a pirate chasing a girl, so they change it to a pirate chasing a girl with food. The settler's cabin on TS island used to be engulfed in flames..not any more.

I love Peter Pan (The cartoon, not Michael jackson of course) but I cringe every time they come to the indians singing "What makes the red man go-uhggggg".

In my heart I know it was not meant to be offensive, but tell that to people nowadays!!

Now, does anyone know when the island will close for the renovation? DL pisses me off in that respect, as they close a ride or attraction before you get a chance for one last visit!!

Can you imagine being the last paying customer on Adventure through inner space? Man, would that be cool!

Did I mention that I have the computer-recreated ride-through on DVD?

On a large TV, in the dark, it almost looks real!

[ Edited by: Tangaroa 2007-12-08 19:10 ]

At the risk of almost getting back on topic, I present a few items from my meager Tomorrowland collection.

Our Friend the Atom and Man and Weather Satellites

A few Monsanto postcards

An extremely vague map of Tomorrowland 1957 (At least you can see where Space Station X-1 was located.)

Pictures of Tomorrowland from A Complete Guide to Disneyland 1957

Sorry about the glare. I don't have a scanner. Still looking for an actual picture of Space Station X-1.

Makes me sad. I'd love it if Tomorrowland became the fantasy version of tomorrow and looked like The Jetsons, with flying cars and googie housing on stilts. Walkways convey you everywhere and robots take care of everything. I have a cd of Walt Disney narrarating tours of the different areas and he refers to Tomorrowland as (forgive if this isn't word for word) "Fantastic atomic powered machines work for us" and then proceeds to the soundtrack from the Mission to the Moon ride...my favorite part of the cd.

On 2006-10-10 13:49, Cammo wrote:
Uh-oh. A Pirates makeover of Tom Sawyer Island? The place Walt designed himself, my favorite part of the park...

Yep. Walt had it down pat, unlike many of those that have come after him.

:)

The ironic thing is, the original Tomorrowland is absolutely up to date in the 21st century.

Molecular biology is the fastest growing field of medicine. Atomics drive every self respecting submarine, and still determine international policy. The computer is everywhere, just as it was forseen in the Home of the Future. That Mars Rover, it just keeps running.

Anybody with a 50's style home is the envy of everyone on the block. And the Tiki Tiki Tiki Room is ground zero for the biggest arts movement to hit California in years.

[ Edited by: Tangaroa 2007-12-08 19:11 ]

Amen!!

I have to say that I still think Shag is the one person qualified to remake tomorrowland..

He puts googie in his drawings. He gets it.

I hope he reads this and makes a pitch.

I've heard that the Dland management and designers don't like Shag very much. He has too many ideas and doesn't do exactly what they say, apparently. If he was on staff he would have been fired a long time ago.

The Disneyland designers in fact seem to have tried to copy his style (which is funny because Shag is lifting a lot of his stuff from 50's era Disneyland designers like Rolly Crump & Ward Kimball) for the 50th Anniversary items; that horrid stuff they put out with the grey-blue background colors and flat graphics of different sections of the park.

Here's my beef with the current Disneyland design staff; the 50th Anniversary items were lousy. I was hoping to get a really nice watch or at least a cool mug, but the stuff they ended up producing was dull colored and unimaginative. The 50th watch was in that dull blue again, or in dark brown on a black background; an unreadable watchface.

Why didn't they make everythjing gold colored? Why use battleship grey? What, are they crazy? Why not use the plethora of Disneyland 50's graphics to re-issue or update some new products? Why not do what Shag envisioned; a simple product for each section of the park original to 1955, and a shirt to match?

I was really hoping they'd do a watch for each land, a silver and red Tomorrowland watch, a woodsy Frontierland one with a Davy Crocket cap on the front, etc. How about a Fantasyland Matterhorn watch that plays the flute song as an alarm? You get the idea. Why don't they get the idea?

And it seems to be something you can blame on the designers themselves; I wouldn't have put my name on that stuff they were trying to sell.

Anyway, hey, the new Winnie the Pooh ride is not too bad. Finally they remembered the little kids who make the place tick tock.

And the Mickey Mouse Club watch in the shape of a TV set was really nice. A beautiful job. Everything should have that much class.

I agree: The Pooh ride is excellent, in the same dark ride style of the venerable fantasyland attractions.

I should have bought the Shag aloha shirt while I had the chance!

[ Edited by: Tangaroa 2007-12-08 19:06 ]

I gotta say, I like the 1967 version better!

Me too - but the 1950s version is more Googie... the Hench '67 is more modernist... It's what ever floats your boat! Actually - there are elements (like the lighting) of the 50s version I find almost as strong...

[ Edited by: Tangaroa 2006-10-11 22:14 ]

Definitely, the Peoplemover and the Innerspace ride are much missed by me. It's been such a long time since I saw those things. I'm not a big fan of the new new Tomorrowland. The new Space Mountain ride is okay, but I get scared by that thing. A rollercoaster in the dark--what kind of a mind came up with that?

On 2006-10-12 18:48, procinema29 wrote:
The new Space Mountain ride is okay, but I get scared by that thing. A rollercoaster in the dark--what kind of a mind came up with that?

John Hench, actually! Space Mountain was originally part of the plan for 1967 Tomorrowland, but didn't make it to reality until 1977...

Yeah, and the original had the cars outside the mountain!

Well...I went on the new Space Mountain last week, and they lost the Dick Dale surf soundtrack, and that was a BIIIIIG minus...that cheery little track helped keep me calm during those previous journeys on Space Mountain. Smoother ride, and better effects, but I thought that surf track really made it.

I wish Tangaroa had not removed all the posts!