A Major Reason Why Disneyland Gave Up On Tomorrowland

Star Tours is still a better ride than Smugglers Run.

I don't hate Tomorrowland, but I hate that significant improvements have seemingly been abandoned for guests who can't afford to get behind the paywall.😫

The one thing Star Tours has that Galaxies Edge doesn’t, is the feeling and connection to the Original Trilogy. The cue is one of the best in the world.

Honestly, I would rather ride Star Tours over Smugglers Run. Smugglers is the same ride each time, and only really fun when you're the pilot. I love walking through the Falcon, but it's not a must do for me. And Star Tours' wait is significantly less

The submarine lagoon is a beautiful open space. Disneyland is a small footprint and the lagoon adds asthetic value especially with its proximity to the iconic Matterhorn. WDW with its significantly larger real estate maximizes what is essentially beautiful landscaping to enhance the immersive experience. The submarine ride could be changed in some manner, but don't rip out what is in itself iconic. "Progress" isn't always successful or necessary. Just look at actual city planning in Los Angeles and how neighborhoods or certain buildings were bulldozed and replaced with generic developments. All that unique civic flavor was lost forever. Los Angeles is notorious for poor city planning. No need to do the same in Disneyland which is as much a magnificent art piece as it is a moneymaking theme park.

I remember Tomorrowland as a kid and loving to get up on the Rockets Jets just as the fireworks were starting. Tomorrowland used to have all this kinetic energy, the Tomorrowland Stage going up and down, The Carousel of Progress spinning, the People Mover moving throughout, the Subs, and the Monorail coming through. Tomorrowland needs that centerpiece that has motion, sound and light and for it be a destination, even a shaded elevated area to people watch down below would be appreciated. 😊

I did a live on TikTok talking about the abandoned buildings and wasted space etc. I’m so glad you covered this. I referred to it as an abandoned mall.

Great update and you confirmed a lot of observations I had connected together over the last year or so. Look forward to more updates as Disneyland Forward unfolds.

Space mountain is literally the best ride in the entire resort. I do agree Tomorrowland has been neglected big time at Disneyland to bring up Tomorrowland is to bring back the peoples mover for a start. Then to get a new attraction on there then to get it some new paint etc but to get rid of the original space mountain is not a good idea you can still open up that land behind and keep the same space mountain just fix the walkways to go around to get to that part of the land and add a new thrilling attraction behind the already great space mountain.

I am a huge Star Wars geek and really appreciate Galaxy’s Edge and think Rise of the Resistance is Disney at its best. I like walking through the Millennium Falcon to ride Smuggler’s Run. Yet, I find the antiquated Star Tours more fun than Smuggler’s Run. If they tear down Tomorrowland, they should move some of the Star Tours movie elements to the cockpit sections on the Falcon. The video game graphics don’t work so well, and if you’re not the pilot or copilot, you just get bored.

It does need a major overhaul but my fear is that they will replace 6 rides with 2 or 3. The subs are unique and classic but I wouldn’t mind a new theme. Autopia could be easily switched to electric cars and give it maybe a futuristic Tron aesthetic. Put Astro orbiter back where it used to be and rebuild the People mover tracks. Star Tours could be rethemed easily enough.

Excellent analysis. As I've said before, if they are going to fix Tomorrowland, the whole southern half of the the land has to come down and be rebuilt. It just isn't built for the needs, and with all of Peoplemover in it, you gotta pull it out. The problem is that the Lagoon is really popular. It makes Disneyland Disneyland, in my opinion. While it is true that Autopia and the Submarines probably do need to be replaced, because they do chew up a lot of real estate in such a tiny park, the Lagoon overall is a big boon, and while the rides for that part of the park are slowly dying, I don't know if removing it all is long term desirable. Let's face it, it's So Cal. That pond and shaded area is a boon overall, and helps make the summer tolerable. It's going to be tricky what to do with that area. The main avenue, though? Complete redo. Just toss it and start over. We've done it before. Peoplemover didn't always exist, after all. We can do it again.

Great update. Can't wait to see NOS when it's finished. Very curious to see what happens to Tomorrowland... But it works like we'll be waiting a while for that!

I fear there’s too much asbestos in Tomorrow Land to ever rip it all out.

Such a great update! We so appreciate your staying on top of these things and filling us in and answering our “whys” and “when’s” of what’s going on in our beloved Disneyland.

It's called Tomorrow Land, because it's gonna be the same land tomorrow.

You said it. New Orleans Square and that whole area DIDN'T NEED ANYTHING while Tomorrowland NEEDED EVERYTHING. That's where they made their mistake. Nothing wrong with adding to an already great area, but there is something wrong when you're doing that while another area needs to be fixed. We should be halfway into this new rebuild of Tomorrowland ALREADY while doing the rest of the improvements to the West much later.

I couldn’t agree more with your assessment of what needs to happen in Tomorrowland. It’s time for a major reno. Even with Space Mountain being right in the center of Tomorrowland, this neighborhood can be salvaged and improved. Personally, I think Space Mountain is the only thing in Tomorrowland worth saving at all.

Never been to Disneyland but I am surprised at the neglect of Tomorrowland. And I will never understand why the PeopleMover has never been repaired. 🤷‍♂️

As a person, who loved People Mover, AT&T Presents Circle Vision 360, Adventures in Inner Space, especially Carousel of Progress, and of course Skyway, I recommend Disney do the following: Rename Tomorrowland 1. Memoryland: (Maybe the theme to Cats playing????) 2. Cemeteryland Aside from filling up the hole in the Matterhorn, another memory, Disney now needs to bulldoze the entire land. I recommend instead of the Carousel of Progress adding in a Spaceship Earth merged with Carousel of Progress, next gen ride. Yes, I vote for a return of the old classics in new form.