Innoventions Articles

A quarter of a century after the Carousel of Progress show stopped spinning and a decade after America Sings sang its last song Innoventions opened in the big round Carousel Theater at the back of Tomorrowland. Innoventions wasn't a daring risk for the park. It had already been a success at Walt Disney World before it came to Anaheim. At Disneyland the attraction continues to be an ever-changing multi-faceted presentation of innovative edutainment. Innoventions focuses on the future not the distant future but the future none-the-less, even if that future sometimes seems like it's only about 10 minutes away.

In its first decade Innoventions spread displays of gadgets and games many of which were already on the market out across its 30,000 square feet. Subdivided zones pertaining to Modern Living, Entertainment, Home, Transportation,Information and Sports and Recreation grouped exhibits together thematically with each zone sponsored by major companies like Yamaha and Pioneer. The content of the zones was frequently updated making each Innoventions visit a new experience. Typically, there was a ring of exhibits circling the slowly rotating perimeter that were demonstrated by cast members. One complete revolution still takesabout 18 minutes.

In a central hub there are hands-on games, quizzes, gadgets, and computers for guests to linger over. The upstairs floor offer more exhibits corporate displays and the exits. Throughout the building guests may have seen voice-activated appliances the latest PlayStation games an imaging program that ages a just taken photograph a tree made out of circuit boards a futuristic car and virtual reality exercycles.As of 2008 the interior space has been dominated by the 5000 square foot Innoventions Dream Home a variation of the House Of The Future that lasted 10 years near Tomorrowland's entrance. Sponsored by Microsoft and other companies the home displays high-tech well furnished rooms used by the fictional Elias family. lias was both Walt Disney's middle name and his father's first name.

Innoventions guests will also hear long spiels about next generation cars coming from major sponsor Honda.What guests won't find inside Innoventions are restrooms. Evidently those haven't been innovented yet.The carousel theater is usually filled with audio animatronic figures there were over a hundred for America Sings. But now only one prominent AA character is on view. He's a doozy though. Hosting the proceedings is a wisecracking robot with Nathan Lane's voice, transparent skin and a see-through lab coat.He is called Tom Morrow. He recalls a similarly named Flight Director in the old Flight To The Moon attraction. Another nostalgic nod to the past is a Sherman Brothers familiar There's A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow tune bolstered with new lyrics.The theater exterior salutes the past with banners showing old Tomorrowland attractions a nice reminder that Innovation is nothing new at Disneyland.

Voices:
Tom Morrow - Nathan Lane

Exhibits and Sponsors:
1998-2000 - Honeywell sponsored playground
1998-2004 - General Motors simulator attraction
1998-2007 - Hewlett Packard-sponsored (formerly Compaq) free computer game arcade
2000-2007 - AT&T- Hyperlink Hopscotch, previously an interactive cartoon show.
2004-2005 - Segway track, where guests 16 and older could ride a Segway
2005-2007 - VMK Central
2000-2007 - Pioneer "Virtual Resort", guests experience a virtual reality vacation
2000 - 2015- St Joseph's Medical exhibit about healthy living, and a chance to see yourself 50 years in the future.
2002 - 2015- Disney Synergy exhibit where guests can play Stitch games, or even talk to Stitch himself
2002 - 2015- Disney Interactive and ESPN videogames in a free arcade. You also can play VMK there.
2005 - 2015- Honda ASIMO theater, a 15-minute presentation on the state-of-the-art ASIMO robot
2007 - 2015- Siemens AG Project Tomorrow
2008- 2015- Microsoft Innovations Dream Home