Reliving Fond Memories: Catchin’ Up At the Park - Part One - Sep 2, 2005

Reliving Fond Memories: Catchin’ Up At the Park - Part One
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by David Mink (archives)
September 2, 2005
David finally makes it to the park to visit some of the updated attractions - Space Mountain and The Enchanted Tiki Room.


All Shiny and future-y

Catchin’ Up At the Park

I guess this is the kind thing about a forced vacation for seven months: The entire park seems new, fresh. My eyes have been diverted elsewhere, so the colors seem deeper, brighter. I had heard about the attractions refurbishments, such as Space Mountain or the Tiki Room, and I was itchin’ to get to it. This was the reward for my finger tapping patience.

I never realized how completely and desperately I missed Space Mountain. The attraction had become the anchor of Tomorrowland. Without it, there was really no reason to go into that land. The attractions had swindled to nothing. No Submarine, America the Beautiful, Mission to Mars, all shrunk and shipped off to Yesterland one by one. The new Autopia was doing great business, demonstrating that guests wanted more in the land of the future, but I’m over ten years old, so the pull of kiddie cars is not there. This was a misfortune: a missing piece of furniture to put the park out of balance. The wheel had lost one of its spokes, becoming wobbly. Not only was Space Mountain a fixture, but it was significant landmark in the park’s mountain landscape. Since the “new�? Tomorrowland in the unhappy 90’s didn’t have much to offer except murky paint and landscaping, a roller coaster all is the more important to paying guests. For decades this land was “the�? nighttime destination for the kids, with live bands playing at the Tomorrowland Terrace, the Peoplemover providing quiet romantic moments, the subs gliding below in blue green liquid space. It was all gone now, except for the asparagus plants. Above the emptiness is the Orbitron, waving its arms to the sky like a drugged amputee. The perfect mascot for the New Tomorrowland.

Once in the park, I strolled (more like dodged) my way down a teeming Main Street to Tomorrowland. The foremost thing to do before relaxing was to secure a FastPass for Space Mountain. This reminded me when I was a kid and my friends and I raced down the old folk’s street and headed into Tomorrowland. This was the start of a sweep of the park going from East to West. Now its 32 years later, and I’m back on track.

The sun was straight up and the FastPasses were selling out rapidly. The return times were pushing into the evening hours. People were milling about, looking at the signage overhead, then at their feet. The return line for FastPass to the attraction, to get a FastPass, and the Standby line are all in one spot. It is a bit of a problem, especially for guests paying attention several things at once, like children. There was a CM standing by with a bemused look to help sort out the confusion.


Beautiful. And no piece of paper is too small
to put an advertisement on…

My pass return was seven, which wasn’t too bad. I figured in another hour or so the passes would be gone, and guests would have to wait like the old days. The standby lines were in the bright sunlight overhead, and I wasn’t looking forward to that. Already the machines were overburdened by 12 year olds figuring out which way to insert their passport into the slots. The only thing missing was the old Space Stage having a live production of 1970’s Mickey Mouse Club, the music and pubescent singing mixing in with the smells of burgers from the Space Place and the sound of the Master Computer Program letting the Users get away from the game grid of Tron in the Super Speed Tunnel nearby.


Choose wisely. Minutes or hours.

I happily returned a little after seven. After the snarl of determined and confused guests bottling the entrance of Tomorrowland, the Fastpass line moves smoothly, gliding directly into the mountain. Here I had my first taste of the changes. The new entryway begins the brushed steel motif seen throughout the renovation. One thing I did notice: For an attraction that had been unveiled just a month before, the railings were already losing their red paint and looking scratched. A LOT of people have been going through. It was like the damn burst and cascades of desperate guests poured into the bowels of the new walkways, tattering, tearing and scratching their impatient way down to the waiting cars.

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