Disneyland and the Future - Tomorrowland

The Washington Post has a good, lengthy essay on Tomorrowland in Disneyland, and why their vision of the future is so ... well .... nostalgic.

Here is a small sample, that touches on some of the imagery of the Enchanted Tiki Room.

• On a stage in the Innoventions building in Tomorrowland, Honda regularly presents a 15-minute showing of Asimo, its dwarf humanoid robot that trots around in a slight hunch, like the bottom of its little feet are sunburned. The climax of the big show is -- are you ready? -- Asimo walking down five steps! All by himself! His human companion calls for a big round of applause for this miracle. He gets a tepid smattering.

Sometimes it takes guts, trying to dazzle people with the current future. Especially in a Disneyland that has been making Audio-Animatronic birds, flowers and South Sea carvings sing and dance for more than 40 years. *

Read the full essay here ....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/18/AR2008071800837.html

When Walt died it was as if his enterprises (theme parks, media productions, etc.) became a Sleeping beauty lying in state waiting for the yet-to-emerge Prince Charming to arrive and awaken her.