Tomorrowland 2055: The Path to Imagineering’s Never-Built “Timeless” Tomorrow

Welcome back to Disneyland! The last time you were here, you probably spent some time in Tomorrowland. If you did, you probably remember it the way that it was when Walt Disney was still alive, three decades ago: a simplistic, geometric realm of simple shapes, oblong planters, and pops of color.

Back in the 1960s when it was designed, that Tomorrowland probably looked like a model for utopian cities of the Space Age. Take a look while you can, because times have changed, and so has Tomorrowland.

This is the 1990s. So welcome to TOMORROWLAND 2055.

The concept is simple: the year is 2055 (Disneyland’s 100th birthday) and things have changed. Once, Tomorrowland was a conceptual place – geometric exteriors to big, flat showbuildings. But now, Tomorrowland is an intergalactic alien spaceport – a stop over for extraterrestrial visitors on their journey through hyperspace. In this new New Tomorrowland, a trip to Mars is as simple as a trip to San Diego. 

Along the land’s main entry, you’ll see odd formations: crystals and rocks jutting up from the ground with crystal clear water pouring from them, undulating with light. Whatever these new, strange formations are, they seem to pulse with energy, creating an otherworldly, fantasy landscape. The story here is that these supernatural crystals – uncovered during the construction of this New Tomororwland – were ancient, buried beacons left by sentient beings. Now uncovered and exposed to Earth’s sun, the glowing crystals are transmitting messages deep into space, drawing aliens who had long forgotten about Earth. 

Now with a re-established relationship, Tomorrowland has turned out to be the perfect place for those aliens to rebuild their Earth port. This new, thriving metropolis isn’t just conceptual place, it’s a habitable one. People – and aliens – live, work, and play in this urban landscape. There are landed spacecrafts, shops and restaurants run by alien immigrants, and launch ports for you to travel into the wild reaches of outer space. 

That old New Tomorrowland from the 1960s was based around kinetics, as Peoplemovers, Rocket Jets, and Monorails zoomed overhead. Make no mistake: that’s still the case. But Tomorrowland now is more alive than ever. Bridges, catwalks, and escalators have created an entire navigable second floor, creating a vast urban area that can be explored and viewed from many vantage points with shops and restaurants overhead, people passing over metallic bridges.

The land is alight with neon shimmering off of metal and crystals glowing and pulsing. 

Of course, classics like Space Mountain continue to rocket guests to the distant reaches of space (though the attraction now would be themed more consistently with the rest of the land’s continuity as an Earth base for a space station). And along the land’s main entry, Star Tours continues to offer non-stop interstellar service to the forest moon of Endor. Across the way in the land’s northern showbuilding, the Circle-Vision theatre is playing host to a new animatronic show: The Timekeeper. There, a wild mechanical scientist (played by Robin Williams) sends his robotic assistant Nine-Eye back in time to collect the story of civilization. 

The real goodies come deeper with the land. First, the Carousel Theatre. It had hosted the Carousel of Progress from 1967 through 1973, at which time it was relocated to Florida for the new Magic Kingdom. Without Carousel of Progress, Disney had created a new revolving theater show called America Sings which opened in 1974. It closed in 1988 so that its animal animatronics cast could be moved to the under-construction Splash Mountain on the other side of the park leaving the Carousel Theater empty. Tomorrowland 2055 would fix that.

The circular theater would be extensively redesigned to resemble a landed alien spacecraft belonging to none other than P.T. Quantum. By walking up its gangplank and into the craft, you’d be welcome into Plectu’s Intergalactic Revue, serenaded by a hundred animatronic aliens, exemplified by the rare Passholder-exclusive character concept art below. Like Carousel of Progress, this rotating theater should would’ve introduced a lovable cast of intergalactic creatures. 

Quite the opposite was true next door. 

Since the early 1990s, a group of Imagineers had been working on a new attraction concept that would change the face of Tomorrowlands across the globe, beginning with Tomorrowland 2055. The terrifying true story behind Disney’s scariest ride ever was chronicled in one of our signature in-depth features, but suffice it to say: Imagineers were excited that their new, horrifying Lost Legend: Alien Encounter would debut in Disneyland’s Tomorrowland 2055.

A new centerpiece of Tomorrowland, tucked in the shadow of Space Mountain, guests would find the imposing entrance to a new “techno-deco” facade of golden carvings and alien plant life… growing closer, you might have noticed that the building’s intricate exterior was truly supported by shacked, hunched-over humanesque pillars, holding aloft massive stone carvings of otherworldly overlords and dystopian technologies among the stars… Consider it a warning.

The idea was simple: one of the alien races drawn to Tomorrowland were the genius scientists from a mysterious, far-off planet making its first contact with the primitive peoples of Earth. The engineers of Mega Tech had brought something with them… a new technological breakthrough ripe for selling: groundbreaking teleportation technology, capable of beaming beings across galaxies.

Guests would tour through the facilities of X-S Tech, seeing their dystopian, Twilight Zone-esque accessories and technologies put to use by eerie Martian scientists, then find themselves recruited to observe their signature new technology in the flesh.

It would all begin in a Hall of Invention rotunda before ushering guests into a routine demonstration gone awry. After witnessing the basics of teleportation across an auditorium, guests would find themselves seated around a massive teleportation tube for Mega Tech’s big demonstration…

The ride – a simple and budget-friendly re-design of the park’s theater-in-the-round Rocket to the Moon / Mission to Mars building would equip each seat with special effects harnasses and place a teleportation tube in the room’s center. You know the rest: abloodthirsty, horrifying alien gets teleported into the chamber instead, breaks loose, lights go out, and sensory special effects take over. Shattering glass, gnashing fangs, blood splatters, tongues, warm drool, screams… 

After Alien Encounter debuts here at Disneyland, it’s expected to make its way to every other Tomorrowland, too. But Disney executives and Imagineers purposefully want to bring it to California, first. After all, Disneyland already had a few “PG-13” attractions (like Indiana Jones Adventure and Star Tours) that will make Alien Encounter feel right at home. If it had to debut at a park like Magic Kingdom (with a much more fairytale oriented ride line-up and far less in the way of dark and sinister rides), it would probably not land so smoothly. Good thing it won’t… right?

That’s a pretty strong ride line-up, and a pretty interesting concept. But it doesn’t stop there. One more piece of Disneyland adds the final touch to this new spaceport. The beloved Lost Legend: The Main Street Electrical Parade is ending its storied, 24 year run in 1996 – about the time that Tomorrowland is opening. The Main Street Electrical Parade will be a hard act to follow no matter what, but Disney’s got a pretty good idea. 

Now, when it was time for Disneyland’s nighttime parade, an announcement throughout the park would suggest that a strange flying object had been spotted flying toward Disneyland. Then, fireworks, projection, and sound effects would signal that a spacecraft was indeed hovering above the park. As light and sound coalesced, the “spacecraft” would appear to be landing just outside of Main Street, U.S.A.

After a few moments of anticipation, the gates to that backstage area would swing open as brilliant white light flooded out. This nighttime parade, called Lightkeepers, would feature a tall, elegant, ethereal alien race – presumably the ones who had left their glowing crystals in Tomorrowland all those aeons ago. The graceful interstellar humanoids would then walk the parade route with brilliant lights and projections and designs on their wild, gliding floats, making their way through the park.

According to Jim Hill, design and development of this unique tie-in parade was more than two years into creation when it was cancelled. Why? Well, because all of Tomorrowland 2055 was called off. You may wonder how such a unique and compelling concept could fall away, and what happened to pull Disneyland’s Tomorrowland out of the 1960s instead. Read on…