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Mission to Mars | |
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Disneyland | |
Area | Tomorrowland |
Status | Removed |
Opening date | July 22, 1955 (as Rocket to the Moon) July 2, 1967 (as Flight to the Moon) March 21, 1975 (as Mission to Mars) |
Closing date | November 2, 1992 |
Replaced | Flight to the Moon |
Replaced by | Redd Rockett's Pizza Port |
Magic Kingdom | |
Area | Tomorrowland |
Status | Removed |
Opening date | December 24, 1971 (as Flight to the Moon) June 7, 1975 (as Mission to Mars) |
Closing date | October 4, 1993 |
Replaced | Flight to the Moon |
Replaced by | ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter |
Ride statistics | |
Attraction type | Show |
Mission to Mars was an attraction located in Tomorrowland at Disneyland and at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. It originally opened as Rocket to the Moon at Disneyland in 1955, and as Flight to the Moon in Walt Disney World on Christmas Eve 1971, before it was retooled to the Mars version in 1975. It then closed down in 1992 and 1993, respectively. The attraction simulated taking guests on a space trip to the Moon or Mars.
The attraction was adapted by Disney into a feature film in 2000, eight years after the ride closed. [1] [2]
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The show was originally named Rocket to the Moon, and it opened in 1955 along with Disneyland. The ride was refurbished as Flight to the Moon in 1967. [3] On March 21, 1975, the destination was changed to Mars because humans had already been to the Moon. [4]
The show was initially sponsored by McDonnell-Douglas. After sponsorship ended, logos referring to the company were removed from the attraction, but the outline of the stylized tail fin in the McDonnell-Douglas logo still remained part of the building's façade as Alien Pizza Planet. After the show closed in 1992, McDonnell-Douglas merged with Boeing in August 1997 in a US $13 billion stock swap, with Boeing as the surviving company.[ citation needed ]
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The show was designed in cooperation with NASA and was basically a revised and updated version of the previous attraction Flight to the Moon. Guests would now be launched on a spacecraft into space and then approach the surface of the red planet Mars. [5]
Guests would first enter a viewing area known as Mission Control, which was modeled after a typical mission control center with chairs and control panels for about ten seated Audio-Animatronic "technicians" whose backs were to the audience as they moved their heads and arms. Facing the audience was the Audio-Animatronic flight director Mr. Johnson. He would then talk and show film clips to explain how humans had made numerous advances in space travel and manufacturing in microgravity, and also learned how to deal with the effects of space. The lecture was interrupted once per show by an intruder alarm caused by a large bird crash-landing near the spacecraft launch pad. The voice of Mr. Johnson was provided by George Walsh, who also was the narrator on the television show Gunsmoke as well as other Disney specials like Pacifically Peeking, an episode of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color and The Magic of Disneyland special.[ citation needed ]
After the pre-show, guests would move on and finally board their spacecraft. Inside was a circular theater with stadium-like seating with circular flat screens on the ceiling and floor. During the mission, guests could look at the views from outside the spacecraft from either of these screens. There were also side screens that showed film clips or graphics. "Third Officer Collins", voiced by Peter Renaday, [6] [7] was the tour guide, and discussed the mission as the spacecraft explored space and Mars. Eventually, the ship was damaged, possibly by a volcanic eruption, and the ship had to quickly head back to Earth. The seats in the attraction would simulate the vibrations and G-forces from "Hyper-space" during take-offs and landings by filling up with compressed air. Finally, the spacecraft landed safely back on Earth and Officer Collins would then urge guests to return and visit again. As he explained, "there's a lot more to see on Mars".
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The attraction closed at Disneyland on November 2, 1992, having first been removed from most visitor documentation by 1991. One reason behind the closure was that the controversial attraction ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter was to open in the building as part of CEO Michael Eisner's ambitious "Disney Decade". Along with Alien Encounter, The Timekeeper and "Plectu's Fantastic Galactic Revue" would have opened in the radical and richly detailed "Tomorrowland 2055" concept.[ citation needed ]
However, the "Tomorrowland 2055" project was cancelled in early 1993 when Disneyland Paris became a failure. [8] Michael Eisner started cutting costs around the company, and was not happy with the estimated cost of the Tomorrowland project, though he had liked the idea. Start of construction on Disneyland's New Tomorrowland was changed from Fall 1994 to Spring 1997, but Alien Encounter, The Timekeeper, and Plectu's Fantastic Galactic Revue never opened. In 1996, Mission to Mars was temporarily replaced with Toy Story Funhouse. [9] The building remained unused until it officially reopened as a restaurant, Redd Rockett's Pizza Port in Disneyland's New Tomorrowland on May 22, 1998.[ citation needed ]
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Mission to Mars closed its doors at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, Florida on October 4, 1993. It re-opened on June 20, 1995 as ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter as part of the Magic Kingdom's New Tomorrowland, along with The Timekeeper. Alien Encounter closed in 2003 and was replaced by Stitch's Great Escape!, which operated from 2004 to 2018 and re-tooled many of the elements from ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter in a more light and comical context. The space in the building where all such attractions operated in is currently unused for any attraction.[ citation needed ]
A ride with a similar theme, Mission: Space, opened in 2003 [2] at Epcot.[ citation needed ]
An E ticket was a type of admission ticket used at the Disneyland and Magic Kingdom theme parks before 1982, where it admitted the bearer to the newest, most advanced, or popular rides and attractions.
Space Mountain is a space-themed indoor roller coaster attraction located at five of the six Disneyland-style Disney Parks. Although all five versions of the attraction are different in nature, all have a similar conical exterior façade that is a landmark for the respective park. The original Space Mountain coaster opened in 1975 at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. There are two tracks within this attraction, Alpha and Omega, which passengers can choose from. Other versions of the attraction were built at all other Disney parks except for Shanghai Disneyland Park.
Star Tours was a motion simulator attraction at several Disney theme parks, based on the successful Star Wars film series created by George Lucas. Set in the Star Wars universe, the attraction sent guests on an excursion trip to Endor, whilst being caught in an altercation between the New Republic and an Imperial Remnant. The attraction featured Captain "Rex" RX-24 along with series regulars R2-D2 and C-3PO.
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin is an interactive shooting dark ride attraction located in the Tomorrowland area of the Disney theme parks. Designed by Walt Disney Imagineering, this attraction combines a carnival game and a third-generation Omnimover system. It is inspired by Disney/Pixar's Toy Story franchise, and contains several elements loosely based on the cartoon series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command.
The Timekeeper was a 1992 Circle-Vision 360° film that was presented at three Disney parks around the world. It was the first Circle-Vision show that was arranged and filmed with an actual plot and not just visions of landscapes, and the first to utilize Audio-Animatronics. The film featured a cast of European film actors from France, Italy, Belgium, Russia, and England. The film was shown in highly stylized circular theaters, and featured historic and futuristic details both on the interior and exterior.
The PeopleMover is an attraction in Tomorrowland in the Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida just outside of Orlando, Florida. Designed as an urban mass-transit system of the future, vehicles take passengers on a grand circle tour of the realm of Tomorrowland that provides elevated views of several other attractions.
Rocket Rods was a high-speed thrill attraction located in Tomorrowland at Disneyland, Anaheim, California. The ride was themed around a hypothetical “drag race” of the future, as well as a futuristic rapid transit system. The ride opened in May 1998, utilizing the existing PeopleMover track and infrastructure as part of the New Tomorrowland refurbishment project. Plagued from its inception with technical problems and mechanical repairs, Rocket Rods was shut down indefinitely for renovations in September 2000; ultimately, the ride would be fully shut down, as confirmed via an official press release in April 2001, after two years of sporadic operations. While Rocket Rods' queue was replaced with the Toy Story-themed dark ride Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters in 2005, the majority of the track infrastructure utilized by both the attraction and its predecessor still sit, visibly derelict, throughout Tomorrowland as of 2024.
Tomorrowland is one of the many "themed lands" featured at all of the Magic Kingdom styled Disney theme parks around the world owned or licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Each version of the land is different and features numerous attractions that depict views of the future. Disneyland Park in Paris includes a similar area called Discoveryland, which shares some elements with other Tomorrowlands but emphasizes visions of the future inspired by Jules Verne.
Adventure Thru Inner Space was an attraction in Disneyland's Tomorrowland, presented by Monsanto Company. It was the first attraction to utilize Disney's Omnimover system. The ride simulated shrinking guests to the size smaller than an atom before taking a tour of snowflakes at molecular and atomic levels.
Autopia is a race car track Disneyland attraction, in which patrons steer specially designed cars through an enclosed track. Versions of Autopia exist at Anaheim, California and Disneyland Paris in Marne-la-Vallée, France. There was also an Autopia at Hong Kong Disneyland on Lantau Island, Hong Kong before it closed on June 11, 2016. Other versions of the attraction can be found at the Magic Kingdom as the Tomorrowland Speedway and formerly at Tokyo Disneyland as the Grand Circuit Raceway. A previous generation of Disneyland's Autopia operated for over a decade at the Walt Disney Hometown Museum in Marceline, Missouri; one of the retired cars is now on display.
The Skyway was a gondola lift attraction at Disneyland, at the Magic Kingdom, and at Tokyo Disneyland. Since all versions of this attraction took riders back and forth between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland, the route from Tomorrowland was called Skyway to Fantasyland, and the route from Fantasyland was called Skyway to Tomorrowland.
America Sings was an attraction at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, United States, from 1974 to 1988. It featured a cast of Audio-Animatronics animals singing songs from various periods in America's musical history, often in a humorous fashion.
Rocket Jets was an attraction in Disneyland at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. This attraction opened in 1967 with the new Tomorrowland and closed in 1997 for the New Tomorrowland update in 1998. It was the third spinning rocket attraction in Tomorrowland and stood three stories above the ground. When Tomorrowland was redone for 1998, the Rocket Jets were replaced by a new attraction based on Orbitron at the entrance to Discoveryland in Disneyland Park Paris.
The Extraterrorestrial Alien Encounter was a "theater-in-the-round" attraction located in the Tomorrowland section of the Magic Kingdom theme park at Walt Disney World Resort. A co-production between Walt Disney Imagineering and Lucasfilm, the attraction was a darkly humorous science fiction experience that used binaural sound to achieve many of its effects.
Stitch's Great Escape! was a "theater-in-the-round" attraction based on Disney's Lilo & Stitch franchise. A non-canon prequel to the original 2002 film that detailed Stitch's "first" prison escape, it was located in the Tomorrowland area of Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort, as the fourth attraction to occupy the building and theater space that was previously used for Flight to the Moon, Mission to Mars and the ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter. Designed by Walt Disney Imagineering, many of the animators who worked on Lilo & Stitch were directly involved with the attraction's development. The attraction, which struggled with a mixed reception from park guests during its existence, was the only major permanent attraction based on Lilo & Stitch to have operated in the United States; all other such major attractions since have been exclusive to non-American Disney Parks resorts.
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