In 1967 a new version of "America The Beautiful", using the nine-camera presentation, debuted at Disneyland on June 25, and the Disneyland attraction finally adopted the Circle-Vision name for the presentation method. The theater was moved from the western portion of the building to the central portion, freeing up the western portion to be a distinct pre-show space. When exiting the theatre there was an exhibit by Bell Telephone, with family sized booths housing a speaker phone. People would enjoy calling their family and friends to tell them they are calling from Disneyland! Remember: this was before mobile phones and everyone having Internet access. Also there were telephones where kids could talk to their favorite Disney character, by hearing a recorded monologue � a simple forerunner of more advance character encounters to come, such as Turtle Talk With Crush. Picturephones linked to EXPO '67, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, and the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Or, you could communicate booth to booth. A weather station phone provided the weather report for eight major cities. America's phone company was demonstrating the power of the telephone to provide connection, information, and entertainment.

This was part of a much larger overhaul of Tomorrowland that premiered in 1967 � A World of the Move, considered by many to be the golden age of that area of the park. Part of this remaking of Tomorrowland included the Peoplemover, elevated Rocket Jets, Tomorrowland Terrace with its rising stage, and a prototype Utilidoor tunnel that ran from behind the newly constructed Carousel of Progress to the western end of our subject building. Cast members could enter a door near the parade route across from the "back" of the Matterhorn, descend the stairs, and walk all the way to another set of stairs on the backstage side of the COP. Along the way, they would pass break rooms, dressing rooms for entertainment talent, restrooms, supply areas, and trash compactors. Utility pipes lined the tunnel. The tunnel had a distinctive smell as a result of all of these factors.

The exterior of the building featured a Mary Blair mural of children, with a related mural on the facade of the southern building. The southern mural was covered up in 1986, but the one on the Circle-Vision building lasted into 1997.

Leading up to the USA bicentennial, the Circle-Vision film was revised with scenes of Philadelphia. Note that when �Carousel of Progress� show had moved on to Walt Disney World and was replaced by �America Sings�, a patriotic presentation that relied solely on the presentation method to fit into the Tomorrowland theme. Like Circle-Vision, the content of the show did not express futurism - it was solely the presentation method that fit Tomorrowland.

"American the Beautiful" closed on January 3, 1984.

The cinema was renamed "World Premiere Circle-Vision" and reopened on July 4, sponsored by Pacific Southwest Airlines, bringing to an end the long sponsorship by the American telephone company under its various names. Ironically, with that monopoly dismantled and challenged by competition, they could have used the publicity more than ever.

One of the films shown, �American Journeys� was similar to its predecessor, but updated to accommodate the fashions and places more popular in 1984. While the previous film was more of a documentary, this film was staged, shot, narrated in character, and scored in a way to give the audience more of a feeling for the various regions of the nation. People wanting to hear the narration in other languages could use marked phones in one row of the �lean rails�. The rails were so named so as to discourage sitting on them. They were especially helpful to guests who experiences a little dizziness due to the nature of the presentation. Sometimes that dizziness would cause a guest to toss their cookies... or frozen banana... and we'd get called into clean the carpet as best as we could during operating hours. It was always nice to get into the air conditioned building on a hot summer day - even if it was to clean something up.

The pre-show film, �All Because Man Wanted to Fly" was about the history of air travel � kind of.

American Journeys would not be the only film showing at this time in the building�s history - "Wonders Of China" ran in the morning. The film had premiered in 1982 at Walt Disney World with the opening of EPCOT Center. To have these two movies share the day was no small feat. The films ran on large serpentine loops (bin loop projectors), and it took time and labor to change over the nine loops in the middle of the day. No other Disney film-based attraction, such as Star Tours, Body Wars, or Magic Eye Theater took advantage of this possibility, the way commercial cinemas often do with single screens. It was as if the theater was really a theater, and not an attraction synonymous with the film being shown; an actual presentation method that could become commonplace "tomorrow". With today's digital technologies, it would be as easy as pressing a button to switch from movie to movie.

This can be compared and contrasted with The Carousel Theater and the Magic Eye Theater at Disneyland. The first only housed two shows � �Carousel of Progress� and �America Sings�. Like Circle-Vision 360, it did not become a system widely used outside of theme parks. The Disneyland Magic Eye Theater, presented by Kodak, would show �Magic Journeys� and then "Captain Eo" before being adapted into "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience" and then reverting back to showing "Captain Eo", without the original in-theater effects and with the addition of HISTA's moving floor. In contrast to a 360-degree cinema, or a theater revolving around a central stage, 3-D cinema has become somewhat mainstream over the last few years.

Because AT&T didn�t have a post-show any more, The Premiere Shop opened in much of the space in December 1985. I (Ken) remember this being one of my favorite shops when it featured �futuristic� knick-knacks like those globes with blue lightning in them, and pretty... sculpture things... using fiber optics. Totally 80s. So... rad.

In 1989 Delta Airlines took over the sponsorship (PSA had flown into airline history), becoming the official airline of both Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resort. In the waiting area, in view of the passing elevated Peoplemover cars, PSA�s animated film was replaced by a short film featuring �Dusty�, the Delta Air-Lion. Also, along the walls and above the doors leading to the theater, was the 2-D �Magic Wall� that depicted cartoon illustrations of Delta�s destinations, with limited movement of the various pieces.

Delta�s sponsorship ended before the attraction closed.

One of the more interesting and little-discussed items in Disney theme park history was featured in the exit area starting in January of 1990 - the Person of the Century Poll.

Disney was taking votes for "Person of the Century" via an electronic polling machine with two back-to-back video terminals with touch screens. There was a short introductory video explaining the poll and the plans for the poll. The poll itself an alphabetical list of nominees from which you could select the person (or group of people, such as the Beatles) for whom you wanted to cast your vote. There was also a write-in feature if your choice wasn't one of the nominees listed. Some people used this feature to provide negative feedback to Disney about anything and everything.

There was no control over repeat voting.

Contrary to some recollections, Walt Disney was indeed one of the nominees, but was replaced at some point by NBA superstar Michael Jordan. It was obvious, because the nominees were initially listed alphabetically, and Michael Jordon�s listing was out of place - in the place where Walt Disney's name had been.

Although the introductory video indicated that Disney planned to place polling stations in many places around the world, as far as we can tell, the only machines that were placed and did take votes were these two at Disneyland and several more at a single location in EPCOT Center.

While they weren't listed, the loose criteria could have prompted some people to vote for highly signficant, but wildly unpopular people, such as Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, or Pauly Shore. The write-in feature made it possible to vote for fictional people, like James Tripoli Kirk.

The stated plan was to announce the Person of the Century on January 1, 2000, but not too far into 1991, the poll ended and Disney never mentioned it again. Perhaps the announcement was thwarted by the Y2K bug? Yeah, that's the ticket.