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Eddie Sotto considers an old Disney guidebook, Disneyland, Tomorrowland, Disneyland and how Walt Disney understood Kinetics and theme park design.

A successful theme park is a “World on the move”. A vibrant, living entity, guests visit to feel alive and be part of the action. However, the importance of kinetics in theme park design is often overlooked.

I was pouring over one of those old Disney guidebooks they used to sell for a buck or two in the sixties. Then I ran across the above picture and just stopped.

It is of Disneyland’s “new” Tomorrowland. This was a dynamic addition to the park, and a sequel that easily outdid it’s lean predecessor. It opened in 1967, at the height of the Space Age. It was billed as a “world on the move” and to this 9 year old it was the future. The clean white organic shapes felt like Eero Saarinen‘s TWA Terminal meets Paul Williams LAX theme building, but with rides. How do you beat that? In the picture above the spinning rocket triggered a myriad of warm summer memories from that optimistic era.

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