In terms of design direction, I found the Hong Kong Tomorrowland area the most interesting. The original concept at Disneyland’s opening in 1955 was a “World of the Future: 1986” (representing the next return of Halley’s Comet). Walt Disney intended the area to be a constantly revolving and updated showcase of the most current technological advancements in the industrial sector and in transportation—both of which he was personally fascinated by. Projecting this future has been problematic since the earliest days of the park; either your predictions are wrong and turn out laughable, or they are correct and your vision quietly becomes passé. Walt Disney himself saw his land of the future go through three major revisions in just over its first decade (remodeled in 1959 and again shortly after his death in 1967).
When the time came to develop concepts for Disneyland Paris in the late 1980s, the designers had learned from their mistakes—theming requires a degree of control and the future, by definition, cannot be controlled. Thus, as is so often the case with thematic design, they turned to the past for inspiration. Instead of a Tomorrowland, the park in Paris would have Discoveryland—a retro-futurism vision of what past science fiction and fantasy luminaries thought the future would look like. The works of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells and Leonardo da Vinci were carefully woven into a single meta-narrative with a Victorian steampunk aesthetic (see my previous post on Mysterious Island at Tokyo DisneySea for a more in-depth discussion of this style). Besides being a refreshing and innovative theme, the design of the Paris Discoveryland solved a key problem—rather than project what might come to pass, it's easier to fantasize about those that already have.
The approach was so successful that in 1994, a remodeled Tomorrowland at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom opened to rave reviews. Billed as “the future that never was, is finally here,” this reboot injected the original technological utopia with a healthy dose of fantasy (and plenty of neon). Drawing on early twentieth century American science fiction legends such as the original Buck Rogers, the new design featured early modernism combined with 1930s and 40s Art Deco. The focus was again on past visions of the future, albeit this time more recent and definitely more American.
In 1998, the Disney designers once again took a look at the original Tomorrowland in Anaheim and saw the need for change. Taking cues from Discoveryland and Florida’s new remodel before it, Disney gave the area a bevy of (some would argue mostly superficial) alterations, ranging from new architectural accents to new neon lighting effects and a completely fresh color palette of gold, burgundy and emerald. Whatever the extent of the redesign, once again the emphasis was on fantasy and not prognostications. After this flurry of remodeling, only the Tomorrowland at Tokyo Disneyland remains largely what it was on opening day in April, 1983—a white concrete urban utopia of corporate control and technological supremacy.
With the design of HKDL, however, any pretense of futurism has all but been erased from the Tomorrowland formula—this is science fantasy, not science fact.
The architectural features, color palette and graphics style are all playful with an almost comic book vitality. The feel is very, very pop; bright and colorful.
This approach makes sense, given the popularity of sci-fi/fantasy—not to mention graphic novels and manga—throughout Asia; it's a language that the native audience grasps fairly intuitively.
The overwhelmingly whimsical approach is far beyond even the steampunk Victorian stylings of Paris and Tokyo DisneySea's Mysterious Island; well beyond the fanciful neon rings of the Magic Kingdom's "future than never was."
Here in Hong Kong there is, in essence, no tomorrow left in Tomorrowland. I suspect the name was kept only to tie the park closer to the original in California.
Rocket ships carrying humans to the moon and mars have given way to flying saucers and cartoonish alien cultures.
The Hong Kong Space Mountain attraction serves not to launch us to faraway stars—instead it's just a trip around the neighborhood; as for the cosmos, we're already there.
Even the Autopia attraction—a mainstay at Disney Parks since 1955—is decidedly otherworldly; no interstate freeway signage here.
Tomorrowland at HKDL illustrates the difficulty that present-day thematic design has with true, visionary futurism. Modernism and Progress is the name that sociologist Mark Gottdiener gives to this archetype—one in which technological utopia is fused with a sense of "cutting edge" and perpetual becoming—and it's one of the least successful models, if Disney's constant revising at its parks over the years is any indication.
The company's slow retreat from Walt's original "showcase of the now and soon to be now" concept has been gradual, lasting many years and numerous different stabs at a solution.
Now, with the Hong Kong iteration, the transformation from tomorrow to today is complete. The area is basically a Fantasyland with little green men instead of a wicked stepmother.