The Astroblaster is pretty straightforward: climb into your rocket ship, which is attached by a long arm to a big central column, and then spin around and around that column for 30 seconds or so. Disney adds some novelty by sticking an up/down lever inside the ship, but in general this ride is pretty one-dimensional.
The rocket ship is built high above the Tomorrowland plaza, giving some nice views, and I gave one bonus mousetrap because the ride is so photogenic.
This may look like a kiddie ride from the outside, but... well, actually, it is a kiddie ride. And a very cool one at that. Disney animatronics stick you in the middle of a fearsomely sanitary battle between Buzz Lightyear and the evil Zurg.
This is more than just another sit-and-watch-the-story-unfold ride, though. You, brave space cadet, have an important role to play! Each car is equipped with two fat laser guns with which you shoot as many "Z"'s as possible. Wrack up your score and defeat Zurg! Plus, each car comes with a "spin" joystick that puts you in control of the car's orientation. Make it go left, right, or spin around and around -- it's all up to you. The interactivity is simple, to the point, and very effective. This is a ride that everyone will enjoy. To Infinity... and Beyond!
Imagine your typical roller coaster. Ups and downs, curves all around, you know the drill. Pretty ho-hum, right?
Now, turn off all the lights.
That, in a nutshell, is Space Mountain. A typical ho-hum roller coaster, hurtling through a blackened field of sparkling lights. The effect is very cool. The whole scenario is very "2001: A Space Odyssey"-ish although you'd probably be better off spending two hours watching the movie instead of spending two hours waiting in line. This ride is a classic, though, and needs to be experienced at least once.
In the 1960's, this was probably a very fantastical vision of futuristic travel. As we head into 2000, though, it's pretty clear just how silly those 1960's visionaries were.
The ride consists of a track which meanders throughout Tomorrowland, and automated cars which cruise along the track. A sound track accompanies the car as it travels, describing the various attractions. The ride is pretty disappointing -- the pace is typical for many Disney rides but features none of the outstanding animatronics. The only saving grace is that this ride gives some different, "behind-the-scenes" perspectives on the other Tomorrowland rides.
The galaxy's largest corporation ("We're here to help... the profits are just an added bonus") is showing off the latest in transportation technology: teleportation! The show starts with a demonstration by one of their automated robots. Disney's engineers have done an incredible job with their new animatronics, and the expressive flexibility of these things has to be seen to be believed. The robot demonstrates across-the-room teleportation of a cuddly little alien thingy. The mixed results are just a taste of things to come.
From there the audience is led into a circular theatre with a teleportation tube in the middle. Some lucky audience members are selected to take part in a teleportation demonstration, but before things can get under way the alien CEO interrupts and insists on teleporting to Earth to personally show us how things work.
Things get nasty from here on in and I don't want to spoil things for you, so I won't provide details. Suffice it to say that I was jumping out of my seat. Things get really dark, and really loud, and really uncomfortable. This is, bar none, the best attraction at Disney's Magic Kingdom.
Only the comedic talents of Robin Williams salvaged this attraction from a single-mousetrap rating. The premise: an animatronic robot (voiced by Robin Williams) has invented a time machine, and sends this floating nine-eyed camera contraption (voiced by Rhea Perlman) back and forth through time. The results are projected in surround-vision: nine cameras showing on nine screens that completely encircle the audience. The animatronics are great but the story and film are pretty boring and the whole thing just smells gimmicky.
According to the brochure, this attraction "has been seen by more people than any other theatrical presentation in the history of American Theater since its debut at the 1964 World's Fair." That's a shame.
This attraction was designed by old Walt himself. The audience sits in a rotating theatre and watches how the home life of the typical American family has changed over the century. We get vignettes from the 1900's, 1920's, 1940's, and 1990's, all set to an annoyingly catchy Disney theme song. The script for each vignette is basically the same: "Wow! Life is great! It couldn't be better than this! We've got this new thing called (insert appropriate technology here) and it makes things so much better than before." The end result is a naive presentation that comes off just slightly short of insulting.
The Tomorrowland Speedway is every child's dream: a chance to drive! Go-carts are attached to metal guides to keep them in the middle road. You can steer a bit, but mostly the driver controls the gas and brake. The end result: if there's somebody slow in front of you, too bad. You can't change lanes.
The Tomorrowland Arcade has video games.