Tomorrowland Transit Authority


Intro: The TTA opened in 1975 as the WEDway People Mover, a demonstration of the new ride system that Imagineering had developed, originally for EPCOT. The idea was that large cities would replace their subways with this new type of urban transit that runs on magnets and is much cleaner to operate than normal trains. What ended up happening was roller coaster designers realized they could propel trains really really fast using magnets and America’s cities kept operating dirty mass transit systems. Oh well, live and learn.

Queue: There’s not really a “queue” per se at the TTA, both because there is never anybody waiting in line to board and because Disney anticipated this and, therefore, didn’t really build one, opting instead for what can best be described as a flat bottomed escalator leading up to the elevated moving platform on which you board the people mover cars for the ride.

Ride: There are two seats per car, facing each other, with enough total room in the cab to fit four people. Since the ride is hardly ever full, it’s a great opportunity to sprawl, relax, and enjoy the breeze. There is a story and a theme to the ride, which makes it all the more enjoyable, but if you don’t care to pay attention to such things you can just sit back and enjoy the scenic ten minute trip around Tomorrowland. But, since you fine folks read these reviews for a little more substance than “enjoy the breeze for 10 minutes,” I’ll elaborate on said story and theme.

One of the reasons I love Tomorrowland is because it is the only section of the Magic Kingdom where Disney has actually come up with one elaborate story to connect all of the rides to the land itself. The TTA is where you get the background of this story. If you want to get the most out of Tomorrowland, pay attention to the narration on this ride and then notice the subtleties all around the land that play upon it.

The TTA is the “skyway” transportation system for the metropolis of “Tomorrowland,” essentially a space trading outpost. A recorded voice narrates the tour of the city. The tour begins at the Tomorrowland Interplanetary Convention Center, where a company called X-S Tech is providing a demonstration of a new teleportation device. I’m sure nothing will go horribly wrong.

The train moves past the main entrance to Tomorrowland, spinning to the right of forward progress to offer a really nice elevated view of Cinderella Castle (even more amazing if you can hop aboard at night, and super duper amazing if you ride during Wishes, sometimes repeat rides of the kind are made available by generous corporate policy ducking cast members who let people stay on because, really, nobody else is racing up the flat bottomed escalator anyway.)

Next we move inside of the building that houses the colossal gift shop “Mickey’s Star Traders.” If I had a dollar for every tacky souvenir I bought in there on an impulse...hmm, come to think of it, I don't think I've ever actually bought anything in there. We pass by a model of a futuristic city, actually a model for Walt Disney’s original vision of EPCOT. It’s a very nice piece of Disney history that is rightfully on display for all to see. Next we pass by a window overlooking the gift shop, so you can begin planning your post-ride purchases now.

We head back outside and over the loud and annoyingly anachronistic “Tomorrowland Indy Speedway.” If they don’t want to ditch the concept completely, they could at least replace the goofy “Indy” cars on rails with go-carts or something. I suppose that’s better left for the “Tomorrowland Indy Speedway” review. Nah, that’s not going to happen. We move past the Speedway and down a long boring straightaway towards the giant arcade that I’ve never been into and should probably be replaced with something useful.

Finally, we make it to Space Mountain. Whooo! Wait until I actually write a full Space Mountain review, the Ric Flair references are really going to fly. Space Mountain, it is revealed, is actually a transit point for cargo. Makes perfect sense to me, especially since FedEx used to sponsor it. Though, they also mention that space travel is "an adventure." So, maybe the adventure is traveling like cargo. I love when ride backstories change at the whim of corporate sponsors, like baseball stadium names. The TTA actually moves through a significant portion of the ride, offering views of the main lift, the queue, and the boarding platform.

We continue to move through the far side of Tomorrowland, making our way over to the Carousel of Progress, spinning around the ride building, and then into the Buzz Lightyear building for a bizarre Horizon-esque advertisement for robot hair-care and then a glimpse into the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin ride. We head back outside for another nice view of Cinderella Castle, then we move over the Metropolis Science Center, where a demonstration for a time machine operates seasonally. The narrator doesn’t say it operates seasonally, I added that little tidbit myself. Finally, we head into the middle of Tomorrowland, dubbed “Rocket-tower Plaza” for the purposes of the backstory, where we return to the station and the ride comes to an end.

Thoughts: It’s not going to blow you away with special effects, or music, or in depth story and scenery. What the TTA will do is give riders a nice tour of Tomorrowland featuring entertaining narration providing the back-story of the land and a relaxing respite from a hot day in Florida. Not the greatest ride in the park, but a thoroughly enjoyable one.

Overall Rating: ***