The Astro Orbiter in its current location, seen here from inside the Plaza Inn restaurant, doesn't blend well with that area's turn-of-the-century theming and also clogs the entrance to Tomorrowland from the Hub (Disneyland's Central Plaza).
The buzz from Disneyland insiders is that the Suits in charge there know they need to increase the number of attractions in order to deal with that park’s crowded conditions.
It’s a great, big, beautiful Tomorrowland!
Because of that, rumor has it that Disney Imagineering projects have been approved to revamp Tomorrowland — including moving the Astro Orbiter out of that land’s crowded Central Plaza walkway and returning them back to the old Rocket Jets location, flying high over the heart of Tomorrowland with, get this, a new PeopleMover below it as well as a replacement for Innoventions in the old Carousel Theater/America Sings building.
I’d love to see all of that happen as well as a new attraction in that interesting building (hopefully utilizing its unique rotating ring section). It is way past time to evict the Elias family out of their Innoventions Dream Home on 360 Tomorrowland Way. They can continue celebrating their son’s “amazing” soccer goal elsewhere… or move with your lives on as you move out, Elias family. You’ve been hosting a party celebrating Robbie’s soccer goal since 1998. Is he even still living at home after all that time?
Add to the expansion project mix that Disneyland Resort president George Kalogridis at D23′s Destination D mini-expo admitted they “hear us” about bringing the PeopleMover back, so plans have been created to make that possible. He went on to explain what Disney has to do to make the attraction comply with today’s safety standards (adding a walkway alongside the track with railings and emergency exit staircases, etc.). Changes made to the park’s Alice in Wonderland attraction immediately come to mind.
The PeopleMover was a very high-capacity, short line, efficient attraction that in and of itself would help to alleviate Disneyland’s Guest overcrowding problem. Plus, they could bring back the TRON SuperSpeed Tunnel section to the PeopleMover — synergy with TRON Legacy! Having the 3,000 Guest per hour capacity of the PeopleMover back will be a great start to lessen Disneyland’s overcrowding.
Frontierland Expansion
But that’s not all. Word is that Frontierland will be expanded with at least one new attraction, an E-Ticket (i.e., a super attraction).
Before Frontierland can be expanded, though, room needs to be created for that behind the berm. That’s why Disney is looking into where offsite — but nearby — they can move the backstage Circle D Ranch horse stables (then uses trailers to transport the park’s horses to/from the park) to open up room behind the Festival Arena to expand Frontierland with a new E-Ticket attraction which might be themed to Johnny Depp’s upcoming “Lone Ranger” movie.
Good! Big Thunder Ranch can certainly use something more exciting than a log cabin and a petting zoo. Big Thunder Trail can be much more than a backdoor path to Fantasyland behind Big Tbunder Mountain.
I hope all of these rumored changes are officially announced soon and come to pass. With these additions to Disneyland — along with the improvements at Disney California Adventure — my opinion is that the Disneyland Resort will be better than ever. Reply with your thoughts about this!
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you need the people mover back, Disney is way too over crowded!
I would be amazed if Disney actually did these things. But I have to wonder what took so darn long. Bring back tomorrowland fans have been around for years and we have been expressing all of these concerns. I hope they figure it out. Now I just wish there was a way to bring back the Mary Blair Tiles that were under the ugly graphics of space crafts. Bring back the old rockets, bring back the people mover. Clean it up and get those astro orbiters out of there. Getting rid of the purples and blues would be nice too. It is so depressing over there. I also hope they utilize the amazing rotating stage of the old America Sings building. I can think of many creative ideas…maybe they should hire me!
This absolutely outstanding. I am truly excited by the peoplemover. That astro orbiter is an eye-sore. I think that rotating theater is not successful. Also, while your at it, in Frontierland, BUILD THE COUNTRY BEARS AGAIN! It is impressive though that they give that (sort of) run-down part like section of tomorrowland into good use. (EX. Innoventions, Peoplemover, Astro Orbiter, etc.)
~Pianostar