Tomorrowland – A World on the Move
Moving into Tomorrowland, the Submarine Voyage and its lagoon form a major feature of the park. Yellow submarines (“And our friends are all aboard…�?) travel “liquid space�?, disappearing behind a waterfall only to return a few minutes later. The loading area for the submarines is underneath the Tomorrowland monorail station, and the voyage is themed to an actual - though silly - submarine voyage under the North Pole. There are no characters from films involved.

The monorail fleet was recently rebuilt, with mostly-white trains identifiable by a colored stripe – Purple, Orange, Blue, Red – replacing the colored, bubble-topped trains with doors that swung outward.

The Tomorrowland Autopia entrance is a lot less inviting and impressive than it will be in the future. Guests wait between painted tubular metal railings in two separate lines as they switch back and forth under a triangular roof. The loading area and track layout are different than they will be in the future. The loading area has two sides that are mirrors of each other.

The Tomorrowland Skyway station is adjacent to a big, round building officially known as the Carousel Theater, known to some as “America Sang�?. It has once housed the Carousel of Progress, and, until a couple of years ago, America Sings. A large sign outside promises that the theater is closed to Imagineer a new attraction. Something to look forward to in the next year or so? Don't hold your breath. In the upper level, Peoplemover shuttles pass through two rooms that use footage from "Tron", fans, and sound effects to create a bit of a sensation of being in the world of Tron. As the shuttles emerge high over the Skyway, the Master Computer Program warns "You have escaped Tron's game grid for now, users. But take heed: next time you may not fare so well."

The Tomorrowland Terrace serves up burgers and features a rising stage for musical performers – usually nighttime performances of Top 40 songs. Nobody there knows anyone by the name of Buzz Lightyear.

In the middle of Tomorrowland is an island unconnected to anything else. It features a snack stand called The Lunching Pad, which faces the Carousel Theater. Above it is the circular Peoplemover station accessed by flat-rubber escalators on the opposite side of the structure from the Lunching Pad. The Peoplemover, a high-capacity attraction, provides a sense of movement throughout Tomorrowland as it travels along an elevated track. Above the Peoplemover is the Rocket Jets attraction. Think Astro Orbitor, only much higher up and with a white spinning rocket as the centerpiece. It is accessed by a pair of elevators in a tower near the Lunching Pad.

In front of Space Mountain, there is a covered rubber ramp escalator taking people waiting for Space Mountain from the ground level to the upper level. On the ground level, the Magic Eye Theater features a 3-D film called “Captain Eo�?, starring the international archcelebrity pop icon, Michael Jackson, who is a top record seller and known more for his visionary music videos. There's no stopping that guy!

To the left is Mission to Mars, which takes guests on a trip to the red planet and back to earth, without neither Jerry O'Connell nor Val Kilmer. Guests wait in a lobby for Mission Control to become available. Then, the guests move in to the observation area to watch as Mission Control staffers (audio-animatronics) monitor current operations in outer space. One of them, Mr. Johnson, talks to the guests and explains things to them. From there, guests are escorted into one of two identical spacecraft, where they sit in seats placed in circles. There are two "windows" (circular film screens) - one the floor and one on the ceiling, and two informational screens on opposite sides of the room from each other. Guests can feel the rumbling at blastoff, though they do not feel heavy g-forces. Once observing Mars, though, something goes wrong and the guests are taken away and returned to Earth.

Mission to Mars seems outdated, given the still-new Star Tours attraction nearby, in which "something goes wrong" much earlier in the shorter trip.

Back in the corner between Mission to Mars and the Magic Eye Theater is the Space Place, a fast-food eatery that is open rarely - only during peak seasons. Mmm, cottage fries! On the other side of the Magic Eye Theater is the Starcade, which has two levels packed with the latest in arcade video games and some air hockey machines.

Space Mountain, gleaming white, has no entertainment or instructional video in the queue area, other than audible transmissions between Mission Control and space shuttles. There is a section where you can observe the dark, noisy attraction to get a glimpse of what you're getting yourself into. Directly above this section is where the Peoplemover shuttles also preview the attraction. There is no music on the Space Mountain shuttles, no photos taken of you as you come in for a landing. However, the track layout is exactly the same it has always, and apparently will always be.

Star Tours, presented by M&M's Chocolate Candies, still attracts quite a crowd that must wait in line switchbacks in the sun, on the black slurry. Inside, Peoplemover shuttles zip by above the queue. The trip to Endor is the only adventure so far, but I hear a rumor that Disney and Lucas also made up a bunch of other trips to other "Star Wars" destinations and it is simply a matter of installing the film and programming. I'm sure that's going to happen any day.

A quiet little place with a souvenir stand, called Alpine Gardens, is tucked away between the Tomorrowland entrance and the Matterhorn. No mermaids can be spotted there, but some guests may recognize that this is where the House of the Future once stood.

Next to Alpine Gardens, across the way from Star Tours, is CircleVision 360, which features “Wonders of China�? in the morning and early afternoon, and “American Journeys�? in the afternoon and evenings. Both films completely circle the audience via nine screens and show the majestic landscapes and the cultures of China and the U.S.A., respectively.

The exterior of the building features a Mary Blair mural of children. Another, similar mural was covered up on the opposite building when Star Tours was build and a mural featuring Starspeeders was installed.

Most of the frontage space of the CircleVision building is taken up by the Premiere shop, which sells “futuristic�? doo-dads. More importantly, the shop houses Chatter Boxes, in which an entire group of people can go to talk on a pay speaker phone to whomever they decide to call.

The most interesting thing in the store, where the CircleVision audience exits, is Person of the Century Polling place.

That’s right… Disney is taking votes for "Person of the Century" via an electronic polling machine with two terminals. The poll has an alphabetical list of nominees you can vote for, or you can enter someone who isn’t on the list – a feature that some people use to register their negative feedback instead of entering a name. There's no control over repeat voting, and as we'll find out, apparently too many people are voting for Walt Disney, so his name will be replaced on the suggested nominee list with Michael Jordan. Groups can also be voted as “Person of the Century�?, as the Beatles are listed. Although they aren’t listed, the loose criteria could prompt some people to vote for influential, but historically unpopular people, such as Adolph Hitler or Joseph Stalin. As the polling machine indicates in an instructional video, the plan is to have polling places all over the world and to announce the Person of the Century on January 1, 2000.

However, looking back into the future, all the way to January 1, 2000, I see that the machines never will appear anywhere but Disneyland Park and EPCOT Center, and within a year or so, they'll disappear without announcement, nor will there be an announcement on January 1, 2000.