Monsanto House of the Future | |
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Disneyland | |
Area | Tomorrowland |
Coordinates | 33°48′45″N117°55′06″W / 33.81250°N 117.91833°W |
Status | Closed |
Soft opening date | June 11, 1957 |
Opening date | June 12, 1957 |
Closing date | December 1967 |
Replaced by | Alpine Gardens |
Ride statistics | |
Attraction type | Walkthrough attraction |
Designer | Marvin Goody & Richard Hamilton |
Theme | Futuristic House set in 1986 |
Site area | 1,280 sq ft (119 m2) |
Participants per group | 60,000 per week |
Sponsor | Monsanto Company |
The Monsanto House of the Future was an attraction at Disneyland's Tomorrowland [1] in Anaheim, California, United States, from 1957 to 1967. [2] It offered a tour of a futuristic home, and was intended to demonstrate the versatility of modern plastics. [3]
Sponsored by Monsanto Company, the House of the Future was made possible by Monsanto, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and WED Enterprises. [1] With this project, Monsanto wanted to demonstrate plastic's versatility as a high-quality, engineered material. [4] The design team for this innovative structure included MIT architecture faculty Richard Hamilton and Marvin Goody (founders of Goody Clancy) and MIT civil engineering faculty Albert G. H. Dietz, [5] Frank J. Heger, Jr. (a founder of Simpson Gumpertz & Heger) and Frederick J. McGarry. The MIT faculty worked with the Engineering Department of Monsanto's Plastics Division, including R. P. Whittier and M. F. Gigliotti. The house, featuring four symmetric wings cantilevered off a central core, was fabricated with glass-reinforced plastics.
The attraction offered a tour of a home of the future, featuring household appliances such as microwave ovens, which eventually became commonplace. [6] The house saw over 435,000 visitors within the first six weeks of opening, and ultimately saw over 20 million visitors before being closed. [7]
The house closed in 1967. The building was so sturdy that when demolition crews failed to demolish the house using wrecking balls, torches, chainsaws, and jackhammers, it was ultimately demolished using choker chains to crush it into smaller parts. The plastic structure was so strong that the half-inch steel bolts used to mount it to its foundation broke before the structure itself did. [8] : 6
The reinforced concrete foundation was never removed and remains in its original location, now the Pixie Hollow, where it has been painted green and is used as a planter. [9] The concrete base can be seen covered in camouflage and netting over the top of Disneyland's signature " Go Away Green " paint behind the Pixie Hollow sign. [10]
The House of the Future has had a significant impact on later design at Disney and Epcot. [5] [9] In February 2008, Disney announced it would conceptually bring back the attraction with a more modern and accessible interior. The $15 million Innoventions Dream Home was a collaboration of the Walt Disney Company, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, software maker LifeWare, and homebuilder Taylor Morrison. [11]
In 2010, MIT Museum Architecture Curator Gary Van Zante gave a presentation on campus where he showed archived drawings and photographs of the plastic house. The talk, titled Back to the Future: A 1950s House of the Future, was part of the Cambridge Science Festival. [12]
The attraction served as the basis for The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse episode "House of Tomorrow".
The PeopleMover, sometimes referred to as the Goodyear PeopleMover and WEDWay PeopleMover, was a transport attraction that opened on July 2, 1967, in Tomorrowland at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. Guests boarded small trains that ran on elevated tracks for a "grand circle tour" above Tomorrowland. The term "people mover", now in wider use to describe many forms of automated public transport, was first coined as the name for this attraction. PeopleMover was originally only a working title, but became attached to the project over time. The attraction was initially seen as a serious prototype for intercity public transport. The ride closed on August 21, 1995, but its station and track infrastructure—which it shared with its short-lived successor, Rocket Rods—remain standing as of 2025. A second PeopleMover opened on July 1, 1975 in Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida near Orlando, Florida, and is still operating today.
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.
Fantasyland is one of the "themed lands" at all of the Disneyland-style parks run by The Walt Disney Company around the world. It is themed after Disney's animated fairy tale feature films. Each Fantasyland has a castle, as well as several gentle rides themed after those Disney animated feature films.
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.
Mickey's Toontown is a themed land at Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland, two theme parks operated by Walt Disney Parks & Resorts and The Oriental Land Company respectively. At Tokyo Disneyland, this land is named Toontown. A similar land existed at the Magic Kingdom until 2011 and was named Mickey's Toontown Fair. Walt Disney Studios Park in Disneyland Paris has a related land called Toon Studio.
Paradise Gardens Park is a themed land at Disney California Adventure.
Ariel's Grotto is a meet-and-greet area at several Disney parks, as well as a former restaurant in Disney California Adventure based on Disney's 1989 animated film The Little Mermaid.
Storybook Land Canal Boats is an attraction located at the Disneyland and Disneyland Park (Paris) theme parks. Passengers embark on a leisurely paced outdoor boat ride through a winding canal featuring settings from Disney animated films recreated in miniature. The Disneyland version was one of the original attractions when the park opened on July 17, 1955, although the miniature buildings and landscaping were not added until the following year. The version in Disneyland Paris is named Le Pays des Contes de Fées and opened in the spring of 1994.
Lonesome Ghosts is a 1937 Disney animated cartoon, released through RKO Radio Pictures on Christmas Eve, three days after Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). It was directed by Burt Gillett and animated by Izzy (Isadore) Klein, Ed Love, Milt Kahl, Marvin Woodward, Bob Wickersham, Clyde Geronimi, Dick Huemer, Dick Williams, Art Babbitt, and Rex Cox. The short features Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck & Goofy as members of The Ajax Ghost Exterminators. It was the 98th short in the Mickey Mouse film series to be released, and the ninth for that year.
Disneyland is a theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It was the first theme park opened by the Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney, and opened on July 17, 1955.
Pixie Hollow is a character meet and greet attraction at Disneyland and Hong Kong Disneyland, offering guests the opportunity to meet Tinker Bell and her friends from the Disney Fairies franchise, including Vidia, Terrence, Fawn, Rosetta, Silvermist, Iridessa, and Periwinkle. The attraction is designed to create the illusion of gradually shrinking to Pixie size as the scenic elements in the queue increase in scale as guests approach Tinker Bell's teapot house.
Pixar Pal-A-Round is a 150-foot-tall (46 m) eccentric wheel at Disney California Adventure, at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. The attraction opened to the public on February 8, 2001, at Paradise Pier as the Sun Wheel. Inspired by Wonder Wheel at Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park, Coney Island, which also features both sliding and fixed gondolas, Pixar Pal-A-Round has a large pie-eyed Mickey Mouse face at its center.
Main Street, USA is the first "themed land" inside the main entrance of the many theme parks operated or licensed by The Walt Disney Company around the world. Main Street, USA is themed to resemble American small towns during the early 20th century. In Tokyo Disneyland, it is called World Bazaar and covered by a glass Victorian-style conservatory roof to shield guests from the weather there. At Shanghai Disneyland, it is called Mickey Avenue and is orientated to help introduce visitors to Disney characters.
Mickey's PhilharMagic is a 4D film attraction found at several Disney theme parks around the world, including Magic Kingdom theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort, Hong Kong Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Park (Paris), and Disney California Adventure. The film was directed by George Scribner, who also directed Disney's 1988 animated film Oliver & Company. Mickey's PhilharMagic is a 12-minute-long show featuring 3D effects, scents, and water, as well as a number of characters from Disney movies. It is shown on the largest purpose-built 3D screen ever made, at 150 feet wide.
The Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland was a 2 ft 6 in narrow gauge railroad attraction in Frontierland in Disneyland, that featured Audio-Animatronic animals in natural desert- and woods-themed environments. It opened on June 12, 1960, as an extension of Rainbow Caverns Mine Train, which opened on July 2, 1956. It closed on January 2, 1977, to make room for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
Go Away Green or no-see-um green refer to a set of proprietary colors that are used in Disneyland and other Disney amusement parks to disguise parts of the park infrastructure. The color is supposed to blend in with the environment, and redirect the focus of visitors towards the attractions. It has been compared to military camouflage like Olive Drab.