July 2, 1967 – The Rocket Jets, the PeopleMover, and the General Electric Carousel of Progress Open in Disneyland’s Tomorrowland
“There’s a great big beautiful tomorrow just a dream away!”
On June 2, 1967, as part of a major update to the Tomorrowland section of the Magic Kingdom, three new attractions were opened: the Rocket Jets, the Peoplemover, and the General Electric Carousel of Progress. The Rocket Jets were the replacement for Astro-Jets and the Tomorrowland Jets. The attraction is built much like the current Dumbo the Flying Elephant attraction, where guests climbed into rockets and circled around a space shuttle, able to control the height of their rocket with a lever, giving guests a great view of the park. The attraction was closed on January 6, 1997, and replaced with the Astro Orbiter in 1998.
The PeopleMover was an innovative attraction at the time of its opening, as it featured electric motors in the track that would propel the vehicles through Tomorrowland; this same technology was used to build a PeopleMover in the Houston International Airport. Guests would board the PeopleMover and see a preview of Tomorrowland as they traveled through several of the attractions. The attraction had major improvements added in 1968; the Superspeed Tunnel was added in 1977, and footage from the feature film Tron was added in 1982. The attraction was closed on August 21, 1995.
The General Electric Carousel of Progress was originally an attraction at the 1964 New York World’s Fair, and was moved to Tomorrowland after the fair was over. Sponsored by General Electric, the attraction took guests through the home of an Audio-Animatronic family through the years, stressing the increased importance of electricity as the decades changed. A song for the attraction, “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow,” was written by the legendary songwriting team the Sherman Brothers. The attraction closed on September 9, 1973, and was moved to Walt Disney World, with America Sings taking the Carousel’s place in Disneyland.
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