The D23 Horizons Disney Parks Showcase announced that Disneyland’s Tomorrowland will be reimagined. This came as quite a surprise, with the night seemingly about to be wrapped up. In this post, we’ll share the news before adding our own commentary. Let’s get to it!

Yesterday’s tomorrow, today! On stage during the Horizons: A Carousel of Progress Disney Experiences, Chairman Thomas Mazloum announced some very exciting news for Disneyland Resort. Revealed during the closing moments of the D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event showcase, a reimagining of Tomorrowland in Disneyland park is in the works!

The transformation of Tomorrowland will honor the legacy of the original land while reimagining its future. Disneyland Resort will strive to preserve what guests cherish most, while also introducing new experiences and possibilities for the next generation of fans.

Walt Disney Imagineers are already beginning to dream up the next chapter of innovation and storytelling for Tomorrowland with new attractions, more open spaces and new places for Disneyland guests to dream about the future. The plans for Tomorrowland will restore the spirit of optimism, innovation and possibility that inspired Walt Disney to create “a vista into a world of wondrous ideas…” in 1955 and have defined this land for decades.

More plans for the transformation of Tomorrowland will be revealed in the years ahead!

Commentary

There’s both a lot and very little to break down here. The actual announcement is a tease. Maybe tease is unfair, as that can sometimes suggest it may or may not happen. I think a Tomorrowland reimagining is going to happen. Perhaps a teaser, like the very first short preview, for a film you’re psyched about is more accurate. You know that movie is still a long ways out, and you probably don’t really know anything more than you did before watching the teaser, but it’s still very exciting. That’s what this drop at the end of the parks showcase felt like.

Disneyland’s Tomorrowland has become a bit of a punchline. A few solid attractions aside, everyone knows the land is bad. Everyone also knows that the company should fix it, including the company themselves. No one actually believed that would happen at this point. There’s been the same construction walls up for a new Tomorrowland entrance for about 7 years, for crying out loud. The real punchline is that they’ll probably have to take those walls down to start actual work on the land.

We’ve known for a few months that Autopia would be getting an update at Tomorrowland. The cars are set to go electric and that alone will be an upgrade. Most people, including myself, thought that an Autopia update at the parks showcase would be all we’d get on the land. In fact, I put it in my “Dream Big” predictions post that anything beyond Autopia would be announced for Tomorrowland. I initially titled that post “Pie in the Sky Predictions” so that should tell you what I thought the chances for this announcement were.

I don’t want to get over my skis here though, the promises are vague at best. When the press release says that “plans for the transformation of Tomorrowland will be revealed in the years ahead!” then you know this is in the very early stages. Like early enough to the point where Thomas Mazloum learned he could announce it a few minutes before he did. That probably didn’t happen but it felt like it.

The concept art (or poster, in this case) is pretty, albeit not specific. I do like that the news includes ideas of more open spaces. That has been a point of emphasis in Tokyo Disneyland’s Tomorrowland makeover and something that the Disneyland version desperately needs. Mentioning more than that is clearly preemptive and I don’t think anyone knows what is on the chopping block and what’s not. Likewise, I’m not sure anyone knows about what could be added and what not. Not you, me, Malzoum, D’Amaro, or Beck knows exactly what this is going to look like right now.

The good news is that almost any change is good change. It’s hard to overstate how unpleasant the Disneyland Tomorrowland experience is. Here are a few words that come to mind: Cramped, crowded, ugly, unimaginative, in between, pavement-y (it’s a word, don’t look it up), forgotten. There are plenty of other negative descriptors I could have come up with. While the land has good rides, getting to them is the worst aspect of Disneyland.

So, where to begin? Close your eyes and point! Anything could be replaced and that’s what makes this project, no matter how vague it is, exciting. Seeing Tomorrowland transform into a place people actually want to spend time will be a dream.

A safe bet, as I’ve mentioned, on where this transformation will start is at Autopia. I think we’ll see work done there in a few months. If we don’t hear anything about that in the near to mid term then maybe that attraction is actually on the chopping block. I doubt that though.

After Autopia, cosmetic work makes sense. Along with that, taking an attraction down and reworking it one by one will probably happen. Tomorrowland is not going to close all at once. Disneyland needs that capacity and can’t afford to just section off an entire quarter (maybe more like a fifth or sixth) of the park. Construction wall mazes that end at Space Mountain will be in play whenever they get around to this project.

Reworking Buzz like Magic Kingdom’s recently updated ride would be a nice win for the resort and a strong place to start. Like I said, there’s not really a wrong way to go here. Most updates will be celebrated and change is more than necessary.

That’s why I’m excited even after such an early stages announcement. I don’t expect a Tomorrowland reimagining to be done anytime soon. Heck, I don’t expect it to start anytime soon! There’s a very good chance that Autopia gets an update and then we hear nothing but crickets until the next D23 Expo in 2 years. But this was the acknowledgement that the company knows Tomorrowland is a problem at Disneyland, next comes actual plans. Hopefully, we look back at this year’s D23 Expo as the one that started waking up the sleeping giant that is Tomorrowland.

Are you excited for the Tomorrowland reimagining? Let us know, along with any questions you might have, in the comments below. Planning a trip to Disneyland? Check out our Planning Guide here. Looking for discount tickets? Check out this site! If you enjoy what you are reading here on Wandering in Disney please share this post with your friends, as well as like our social media pages. You can also subscribe to the blog via WordPress or email. All of those links are on the right side of this page. Thank you for reading, we really appreciate it!