Disneyland's Tomorrowland: Which attractions will survive the reimagining

During D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, Disney Experiences, Chairman Thomas Mazloum announced that a reimagining of Tomorrowland in Disneyland Park is in the works with new attractions, more open spaces and new places for Disneyland guests to dream about the future. So, what does that mean for current attractions and current buildings around Tomorrowland?

Tomorrowland Today

First, let’s take a look at the attractions and buildings that are currently a part of today’s Disneyland Tomorrowland. The land currently has experiences sending guests racing through a dark galaxy, diving under the sea in a submarine, battling an evil emperor and more.

Current Attractions

Space Mountain is an indoor roller coaster that sends riders through darkness, with twists and turns framed as a trip through space.

Star Tours – The Adventures Continue takes guests on a 3D motion-simulator flight through the Star Wars galaxy. Each flight journey can be different as there are more than 250 storyline variations that randomly rotate with each journey.

On Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, riders aim laser cannons at targets to score points and defeat the Evil Emperor Zurg.

Astro Orbitor puts guests in small rockets that circle above the ground. Riders can raise or lower their ship during the ride. This is a spinner ride similar to Dumbo the Flying Elephant attraction in Fantasyland.

Autopia lets guests steer small cars along a set track while taking a scenic journey between Tomorrowland and Fantasyland. Even though the track and travel route has changed over the years, this is an opening day attraction from 1955.

Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage offers a submarine ride through an underwater story, with scenes themed to Pixar’s Finding Nemo viewed through portholes.

The Disneyland Monorail offers guests a trip to Downtown Disney and back. Guests can choose to disembark at Downtown Disney or return to Tomorrowland. During the scenic journey back to Tomorrowland station, the monorail travels on the outskirts of Fantasyland, over Autopia, Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage lagoon and more before arriving at the station.

The Disneyland Railroad stops in Tomorrowland allowing guests to embark on a scenic journey around Disneyland park aboard a classic steam-powered train. Guests already on the train can also disembark at Tomorrowland station to enjoy the land.

One of the most recent additions to Tomorrowland is Pixar Short Film Spotlight offering guests a 20-minute show to watch 3 Pixar shorts in the Tomorrowland Theater which has been closed since 2020. The theater previously hosted classic 3D shows like Honey, I Shrunk the Audience! and Captain EO. After Captain EO finished it’s second run, the theater was only used occasionally for Star Wars: Path of the Jedi and for previews of upcoming theatrical releases. Previously known as the Magic Eye Theater, the theater was renamed Tomorrowland Theater in 2014.

Food & Beverage Locations

Galactic Grill is a space-themed eatery in the center of Tomorrowland that serves out-of-this world items including burgers, chicken fingers and more. The quick-service restaurant is home to Tomorrowland Stage which offers seasonal entertainment.

Alien Pizza Planet is themed to the restaurant in the first Toy Story film with out-of-this-world menu items like breadsticks, pizza, and salad.

Tomorrowland Skyline Terrace is located on the top level of the old Carousel of Progress building (currently called Star Wars Launch Bay) offering breathtaking views of Disneyland Park from a unique vantage point. The location is only open in the evening hours and serves chilled foods, snacks and desserts. Tomorrowland Skyline Terrace is currently unavailable. It is expected to reopen later this year but that may change depending on the Tomorrowland reimagining project and the plans for this building.

Other food & beverage offerings around Tomorrowland include outdoor vending carts selling popcorn, churros, fruit and more.

Merchandise Shops

The Star Trader is the largest merchandise shop in Tomorrowland selling Star Wars-themed items and Disneyland merchandise.

Little Green Men Store Command offers Disney and Pixar apparel, toys and other merchandise at the exit of Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters.

TomorrowLanding is one of several dedicated Disney pin stores around Disneyland Park offering Limited Edition pin releases, Open Edition pins, lanyards and more.

Autopia Winner’s Circle is located right next to the entrance of the Autopia attraction in Tomorrowland selling Disney-themed souvenirs.

Space Mountain Exit shop offers a few Disneyland and Space Mountain themed merchandise items.

Tomorrowland History

Tomorrowland has been part of Disneyland since the park opened on July 17, 1955. When designing the land, the Imagineers had to use ideas about science, space, and new forms of travel because unlike the other lands around Disneyland Park, they had no history or stories to base the land on. The purpose of Tomorrowland was to present a view of what might come next, even though real technology would soon catch up with some of its ideas.

Redesigns kept the land looking ahead

As technology changed, Disney has updated Tomorrowland and its attractions to keep the future in view. In 1959, the land received two new attractions: The Disneyland Monorail and the Submarine Voyage. Another major change came with New Tomorrowland, which opened on July 2, 1967, adding the Carousel of Progress, Adventure Thru Inner Space, Flight to the Moon, and the PeopleMover. In September 1986, Captain EO opened replacing the Space Stage. And in January 1987, Star Tours opened replacing Adventure Thru Inner Space.

Then in 1998, Tomorrowland received another redesign which turned out to be a disappointment to most guests. Rocket Rods opened replacing the PeopleMover. The attraction was meant to be a high-speed ride and used the same track as the PeopleMover. But the ride was a disappointment and closed two years later due to ongoing mechanical problems.

Since 1998, the land has received minor updates including retheming a few attractions. The only major updates to the land since 1998 include Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters in 2005 which took over the Rocket Rods queue building and Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage in 2007.

Why Tomorrowland needs attention

Today, sleek shapes and space-age details sit beside rides built around newer films and characters. Tomorrowland carries echoes of older science fiction while giving guests current versions of space adventures. The result is a land with more than one visual era. Look beyond the ride themes, and you may spot older ideas about the future alongside newer technology and storytelling. But overall, the land has been in need of a new redesign for several years with the PoepleMover/Rocket Rods track abandoned and rotting away, the old Carousel of Progress/Innoventions building rarely used for most guests, the Tomorrowland Theater sitting empty until this year and the old Astro Orbitor platform abandoned while the current Astro Orbitor location causes guest traffic jams on a regular basis. Not to mention, there has been a boxed refurbishment area at the entrance to Tomorrowland showing concept work for a land redesign for over 8 years.

Disneyland Tomorrowland — Photo credit: Disney Parks Blog

Upcoming Tomorrowland Reimagining

With the most recent announcement that Disneyland’s Tomorrowland will be reimagined, the internet has been a buzz speculating what will change, which attractions will survive, which will go away and what new attractions will be added. The announcement did state that “new attractions” will be apart of the reimagining along with more open spaces and new places for Disneyland guests to dream about the future. But where will these “more open spaces” come from and where will new attractions be placed?

My thoughts

The most obvious area for making more space available is to demolish the old Carousel of Progress building. Demolishing the building will only free up a small amount of real estate but the area could then host a small attraction or “more open space”.

I feel that Star Tours – The Adventures Continue is also at risk of going away. Now that Star Wars has it’s own dedicated land and Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run is a similar attraction, Star Tours could be rethemed to a new franchise or completely replaced.

My biggest hope is that some sort of PeopleMover attraction will return to Tomorrowland. I’m sure the old track will need to be replaced (or at least upgraded) but it would be nice to have the attraction restored to the land.

A rumor has been circulating about Autopia and Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage being at risk of going away especially due to the real estate that both attractions consume. Since Autopia is an opening day attraction and still a very popular attraction, I hope it will survive in some sort. I also hope the lagoon at Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage remains; however, I am fine with losing the attraction or having it replaced something different.

Space Mountain is the only attraction in Tomorrowland that is almost guaranteed to survive the land’s reimaging; however, I wouldn’t be surprise if Space Mountain is upgraded to a newer version similar to what is coming to Disneyland Tokyo.

When to expect official announcements

Tomorrowland’s reimagining is only in the early stages so it may be a year or two before Disney makes any official announcements about what is to come. But in the meantime, it is fun to guess and speculate about what we want Tomorrowland to look like in the future.

When Disneyland’s Tomorrowland reimagining begins, I expect that it will be done in phases so that the entire land is not closed completely for a long period of time. However, only time will tell what the future holds for Tomorrowland at Disneyland Park.