The birth of space exploration in the middle of the 1950s affected both sides of the globe, but before the Space Race there was the Cold War. There was a fair share of unilateral fear from several previous wars. As a result, it pitted the United States against Russia in a "race" for strategic military superiority. Although the Cold War came first, the Space Race wasn't far behind and for a long period ...

During the rush of getting the Park constructed, "Tomorrowland" was the last land finished. Budget cuts didn't allow all of its attractions to be opened that first day. One of those cuts was to use the "Nautilus" sets from "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" as a walk-through. When it closed in 1966, the organ belonging to Captain Nemo was moved to the ballroom of the "Haunted Mansion." For the first four ...

When Walt Disney's theme park opened 62 years ago, ?it was named Disneyland and christened "The Happiest Place on Earth." ?It was a thrill to behold all the rides and exhibits making Disney's movies, cartoons, ?and characters come to life. My sister, Diane, and I were treated to an even more special event. Our preview of the park occurred a year earlier than the official opening on July 17, 1955. (Bet ...

If the creator of Mickey Mouse had never been born, we might not have landed men on the Moon or sent robots to Mars. As a boy, Walt Disney was fascinated with the futuristic tales of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. As an adult, his passion for the future intensified. In the early 1950s, as Walt prepared to build Disneyland, he read a series of articles in Collier's magazine on the future of space travel. ...

Here's the deal with Disneyland. The two women ahead of me in line were Elizabeth and Lexi, twins fromWinnetka, Ill. Elizabeth is a communications and political science major at the University of Southern California. Lexi is a philosophy major atYale. They knew the words to ''We Can Fly,'' a song from Walt Disney's ''PeterPan.'' It's the song the chorus sings when Wendy, John and Michael,powered by ...

If Imagineers David Mumford and Bruce Gordon have gained fame among Disney fans, it may be because they haven't forgotten their roots. Gordon spent his childhood building Disneyland models in his garage and went on to become a show producer on the park's new Autopia. Mumford, meanwhile, filled his early years with Disney memorabilia and worked his way up to his current stint as art director for the Mermaid ...

Some people preserve family memories in scrapbooks and dresser drawers, filling them with vintage photographs of mom and dad, mementos of wartime service, souvenirs of that first trip to Disneyland. Diane Disney Miller has all that, too -- and she's planning a museum to share it with us. It will be a lot more than a scrapbook, but it won't look like a monument, a theme park or a shopping mall. ...

Long before the Strip was dry-cured to its current shoe-leather state, it dreamed of being the first meat patty in space. That's why this curious cutlet's juices started flowing when it heard about a rocket ship landing soon in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. On September 1, a 35-foot rocket is scheduled to take a ride on a flatbed truck through Kansas City streets like a Soviet-era weapons parade. ...

Dan Viets isn't the attorney Columbia thinks he is at home. Oh no, no, no - he's a rocket man. Shortly after 1 p.m. yesterday, Viets, wife Sheila Dundon and friend Don Jourdan set off in a two-vehicle caravan as Jourdan's F-150 pickup towed a trailer carrying a 40-foot novelty shaped like a rocket known as the Moonliner II. They were headed for the Airline History Museum in Kansas City. "I just ...

Last year, 157 million people traveled to Disney 's 12 theme parks across the globe. The parks are a $4.5 billion a year business, and one that 's been skewing older and older. Adult Disney fandom no longer holds the stigma it once did, despite the best efforts of the New York Post. We 're all going to die soon, why not let a 28-year-old ride some teacups? This is a sentiment I relate to. In ...

Man's activities in 1986, the world of the future, are being presented in various exhibits In Tomorrowland by some of the major corporations in the United States. The earth's history, dating back three billion years, is portrayed through an animated display by Richfield, while the "Story of Oil," in Cinemascope, is also present. The Autopia, gasoline powered car which travels the ...

A blast of mighty rocket engines, the whine of rushing air, then the utter quiet of hurtling through space at supersonic speed . . . These are realistic sensations of passengers taking off on a TWA Rocket To The Moon, one of the major features of Tomorrowland. After speeding by a space station to the half-way point in its simulated flight, the ship turns end over end to reverse ...