Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Disneyland - Tomorrowland Is Filthy!

I was at the Park quite recently and stood on the elevated Tomorrowland Monorail Station for a brief look around. Sadly, I had no digital camera with me, so you'll have to use your imagination for this post.

What I saw was a decaying Tomorrowland infrastructure and hideous paint choices galore.

The Peoplemover (Rocket Rods) track has its railing painted a goldy/rusty color that looks dilapidated. The tracks themselves have been left to rot as they wait for some type of attraction to be reinstalled (one can only hope). The trees near the Subs and Autopia are actually growing over the old Peoplemover track.

The paint choices for the Monorail station (dark blue and purple) and the buildings around Tomorrowland contribute to a dark depression.

Give me the bright white future of yesterday. (What the hell did I just say?).
"The bright white future of yesterday."
Wow. Sounds like bad beat poetry, but it's true.

When Coke Terrace and America Sings and the Rocket Jets were all painted with primary colors (lots of white, red, blue), and the Tomorrowland Stage glowed white as well, the whole area seemed to glow with optimism.

If today's Tomorrowland represents "Tomorrow," then please get me back to Yesterday ASAP.

Anyway, even the Monorail train was beaten up and ready for the trashbin. I guess they are letting it go because of the newer version that has debuted (several times, actually). But the Monorail track and supporting pylons are sure beat up and look terrible. How about a little rehab love here, huh?

As I was riding on the Monorail on the way into Tomorrowland, we cruised over the Disneyland Railroad as it was pulling into the station. The train's canopy was FILTHY. It looks like it has not seen a high pressure washer since I worked there in the 1980s! The roof of the rear car of the train (I hope it wasn't the Lily Belle--I couldn't tell) was dirty, cracked, and its paint was faded. It was like one of those old converted cabooses on a desert highway that someone turned into a tourist-trap restaurant.

Walt is absolutely SPINNING somewhere---with Ward Kimball joing in, I'm sure! Letting the Disneyland Railroad go to pot is tantamount to urinating on the graves of these two gentlemen. For shame, Disneyland.

Here's a hint: buy some paint---or at least a pressure washer from Sears. Step two: USE THEM---and use them often. In my day, we had a crew of painters who repainted stuff EVERY NIGHT. They were damn good at it, too.

To conclude today's mini-tirade, allow me to add that the Autopia cars are simply hideous. Viewed from above, I saw them parade by, sporting their bizarre colors. Purple-ish. Brown-ish. Beige-ish. What the heck?? And can we raze that stupid cylindrical building in the middle (along with the vast awning structure thingy)? Worthless. These dark colored structures completely obstruct the view of the attraction and make Tomorrowland feel claustrophobic---a neat architectural trick, in and of itself.

I'm telling you, Disney, get some white paint, apply it liberally in Tomorrowland, and you'll amaze yourselves at the improvement!! Lose the dark blues and rusts and golds and beiges and whatever.

Lose Innoventions while you're at it. Wait, have I mentioned that one before????

13 comments:

Ryan P. Wilson said...

My wife and I made it out to Disneyland for the first time last year for our honeymoon, that is to say I was completely enamoured with the entire place. Growing up with Walt Disney World I was a Tomorrowland/Frontierland kid, and was excited to see both in Disneyland. That said, I found the lack of continuity in color schemes throughout Tomorrowland, as well as the complicated layout and some of the abandoned pieces alarming. I thought maybe since we were going during a down time of year that perhaps a few things had slipped through the cracks, unfortunately it seems like that wasn't the case.

I hope that the future of tomorrow is brighter than the dinginess of today's tomorrow.

Yellows said...

Let's keep hoping there's a great big beautiful tomorrowland again someday.

Mike--I'm a regular reader and enjoying your posts tremendously. In fact, I hope to follow in the wake of Jungle is 101. Please stop by.

http://bestpossiblejob.blogspot.com/

Vintage Disneyland Tickets said...

Oh no, this doesn’t sound good. I have been to DL a lot this year, but my focus has usually been anywhere but Tomorrowland, I must not have noticed how bad things have gotten. I am actually going to the park tomorrow, so I'll try and get some sad photos. I agree 100% with your Autopia evaluation, those cars are a mess and the structure thing can get torn down anytime, it wouldn’t bother me. Maybe when Chevron’s sponsorship is up (soon I think) we can get a new Autopia.

Namowal (Jennifer Bourne) said...

The new Tomorrowland is about as appealing as New Coke. Ironic that the retro space look of its former self was becoming popular around the same time they updated it.
And now it's dirty and falling apart? Lame.
Something has to be done. Someone should videotape the evidence and post it on the internet. I'll help spread it around.

Mike said...

Namowal,

I wish that I had taken a camera with me. There is a shot in a video I posted today (September 12) of Tomorrowland in 1987. The shot is taken from the Tomorrowland Monorail station almost exactly where I was standing when I made my recent observations. The 1987 video provided a sharp contrast between today's "Dead" Tomorrowland and yesterday's vibrant, busy, bright "Alive" Tomorrowland.

Um. This ain't rocket science, Disney. Get on the stick (and off your Rocket Rod). Get the Rocket Jets back where they belong, get the Peoplemover moving, buy some paint for the Autopia cars (think PRIMARY COLORS!) and lose the funky paint job on ALL the Tomorrowland buildings!

Michelle said...

BRING BACK THE PEOPLE MOVER!!! Love your blog! :)

Mike said...

Thanks, Michelle! Please bring back the Peoplemover, Disneyland!

-- Mike

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Mike said...

xxbored-brilliantxx,

Consider my day made. Thanks for posting!

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Anonymous said...

Yes! Bring back the people mover. Bring back Adventures through Inner Space. Take us back to yesterday. The future that is being shown isn't one I want to be a part of. I love your blog!!

Ickysan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ickysan said...

Man. Great blog. I have been complaining about this for years. My friends are sick of me bellyaching about it. Yeah, why can't they make Tomorrowland look like it did - bright, white, and optimistic? Not this half-assed, faux-"patina" they've slapped on there. And why the hell is the Astro-Orbiter on the ground? In the entranceway where all the people come in? Seriously, who designed this? I don't have a degree in art or architecture but at least I know this is a bad idea. The whole thing that made the Rocket Jets so cool is that it was up high. What's that stupid thing in its place? It plays music and spins around every so often. Oooh! It's just so sad that this once dynamic area is now such a pathetic waste of space. I say bring back the Skyway, the People Mover, put something in the building that now houses Innoventions (don't get me started on that joke)- how about a new Carrousel of Progress? Anything! And please, for God's sake, PAINT the damn thing. I'll come down there with white paint and do it myself. Disney should be ashamed of this. There's no excuse.