Looking Ahead: Disneyland : There’s No Tomorrow for Tomorrowland

Expect a new look--and a new name--soon for Tomorrowland, the futuristic but somewhat dated theme area at Disneyland.

Starting in March, much of Tomorrowland will vanish behind construction walls for its most thorough renovation ever and its first serious revamping since 1967.

When Tomorrowland opened amid the orange groves 40 years ago, it celebrated the idea that opportunity seemed limitless. Generations of children got their first taste of what might lie ahead in its rides and pavilions that boasted of a rich technological future.

But yesterday’s futuristic expectations can seem old and quaint today.

Already, the Skyway buckets and Mission to Mars have vanished, along with Adventure Through Inner Space, the Monsanto-sponsored attraction--popular in unofficial Disneyland lore as a prime make-out spot--where riders assumed the perspective of an atom.

Old rides at Disneyland have a way of never quite being forgotten. People still talk about the air-propelled flying saucers that disappeared from Tomorrowland in 1966, and some may remember the Carousel of Progress that closed in 1973.

Soon the People Mover will join the list of Tomorrowland memories, along with the Circle-Vision Theater, the Magic Eye Theater and the Rocket Jets.

When the area reappears early in 1998, it is expected to have more of a science fiction theme, in keeping with the formula at EuroDisney and renovations at the Magic Kingdom in Florida.

Popular rides such as Star Tours and Space Mountain will be part of the new theme and will remain open during construction at the Anaheim park.

The Tomorrowland Autopia, the attraction where youngsters can pilot motorized cars along a simulated freeway, also will remain. The Fantasyland Autopia has already closed.