Future Flock

With rocket ships zooming overhead, Marsha Berlo shaded her eyes from the midday sun and wondered how long she would have to wait to step into the future.

“It won’t be the 21st century when we get to the front,” Berlo said from the rear of a three-hour line. “It’ll just feel like it.”

The Las Vegas resident, with husband Bill, was one of thousands on hand Friday for the opening of Disneyland’s refurbished Tomorrowland. The crowd cheered wildly during the opening ceremonies, then wilted beneath the sun in seemingly endless queues.

“Perseverance, patience--that’s what you need,” said Rick Furner, visiting from San Carlos with his wife and daughter. “If we didn’t come, we’d regret it later. It’s worth the wait.”

Most visitors shared that view, smiling through the ordeal so they could be part of the event. Most gave rave reviews to the attractions that have replaced longtime fixtures such as the People Mover, Captain Eo and the Carousel of Progress. Those rides are now history.

“I really liked Captain Eo, but I’m over that now,” said Trent Lewis, 18, of Simi Valley, on learning that the 3-D film featuring Michael Jackson had been scrapped. “But the new stuff is awesome. It’s really great.”

Tomorrowland had grown creaky and--perhaps appropriately--did not age as well as other areas of the park, visitors said. The old Tomorrowland was based on a 1960s vision of the future (“Think ‘The Jetsons,’ ” as one annual-pass holder said). The new aesthetic is a dreamier, more romantic vision inspired by science fiction writer Jules Verne and the old movie serials featuring Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon.

The theme is executed, though, with cutting-edge bells and whistles, thanks to the $100 million that Walt Disney Co. spent on the renovations.

Not only do the 3-D images of Honey, I Shrunk the Audience give visitors the feeling that they are in a shoe box--the 575 seats move to enhance the illusion. A device under the chairs delivers a furry flutter against viewers’ legs when mice appear to be flying to the floor.

“I thought they were real!” squealed 10-year-old Sindri, visiting from Portland, Ore., with her parents and sister. “I thought they were actually mice.”

Along with Rocket Rods, the other big crowd-pleaser Friday, was Cosmic Waves, a wide, flat fountain that squirts 5-foot-high jets of water to create a maze that delights youngsters and threatens video cameras. Screeching toddlers and teens raced through the unpredictable mini-geysers and gathered in the center of the fountain around a 1,200-pound granite ball that seems to levitate over the high-pressure pool.

Some time-tested rides, such as Space Mountain and Star Tours, remain part of Tomorrowland but have been spruced up or redesigned, Disney officials said. One new attraction, called Innoventions, is still under construction and will open this summer.

The man behind the curtain for the Tomorrowland renovation, Disney creative executive Tony Baxter, watched Friday as throngs streamed past the burnished spires and spinning globes of the Astro Orbitor, a sculpture based on the designs of Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci. The towering centerpiece is an example of the new attractions’ emphasis on the lasting power of imagination instead of fleeting technology, he said.

“The dreams stay valid, and the innovations become museum pieces,” Baxter said. “Reality overtakes a lot of the technological stuff, so we wanted to show the spirit. This is how they dreamed of space when space was a dream.”

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The overhaul was badly needed, according to longtime visitors such as Tonia and John Quinn of Corona, who had climbed aboard the old rides for 30 years. “They had to move out of the past. Technology was moving forward, and they were not,” Tonia Quinn said.

The Quinns said that, while they loved the fast-paced Rocket Rods, which lurch and pop wheelies before streaking away on elevated rails, they found themselves also wistful for some of the old, slow rides.

“Absolutely,” Tonia Quinn said. “This new ride takes a couple of minutes. On the People Mover you could put your feet up for 16 minutes of bliss. It was a great way to take a break from the park.”

Most people, though, couldn’t get enough of the park Friday, which appeared to be the busiest day so far this year, employees said.

Disney officials do not release attendance figures, but they did reveal that more than 600 media credentials were given out this week. And scores of TV and radio broadcasters, including stations as far away as Denver--used Tomorrowland as the setting for their shows.

All the publicity was what drew many of those who paid up to $38 apiece to be there for opening day. That was true for the Berlos of Las Vegas, who said they cut short a trip to San Francisco to rush to Disneyland. Others, such as Deidre Bull of Sydney, Australia, had planned months ago to attend.

Some visitors admitted to having skipped work.

“I called in sick,” said a Fountain Valley elementary school teacher who, for obvious reasons, would not give her name. “I think standing in a four-hour line will make me feel better. I just couldn’t miss this.”

And for one segment of the Tomorrowland mob, the renovations were not the main attraction. That group made a beeline for the gift shop after the 10 a.m. opening and jockeyed for position to buy a new line of Disney space-suited Beanie Babies--the plush toys that have become an international craze among collectors.

With armfuls of Mickeys and Minnies, collectors such as Laurie Gooboian stood in long lines as harried employees raced to restock the shelves. “I came down from Fresno today, and these were the main reason,” Gooboian said, nodding toward the dolls. “It sounds crazy, doesn’t it?”