Did
you know that Star Tours (the ride that replaced ATIS) has it's own
little hidden Mickey on it's attraction? If you look hard on the beginning
of the ride you can see the atommobile in the bottom right corner
of the warehouse section before you shoot out the opening and leave
the building warehouse. If you look hard you can see the little atommobiles
moving in the glass tube moving toward the end just as the ride had.
I guess it was a miniature made just for that sequence. I wish I could
see it up close.
Rumors:
There is also a rumor that while waiting in the Droid factory there
is a mini atomobile (from the actual Microscope tube) in the upper
"parts baskets" that travel overhead. I am still trying
to obtain a picture of that. Word has it that it has been removed.
If anyone can confirm this let me know.
More rumors: Someone wrote in
to me saying that when the ride first opened that the eye at
the end of the attraction was a projected image (like the original
Leota Head in crystal ball in Haunted Mansion) but was later replaced
with a physical model robot eye that we all know (or did know) of
back then. If anyone can confirm this please let me know.
Pay thru the nose... Another rumor
I heard is that an actual Atomobile that was in the microscope
sold on Ebay for $7000.00 Who would sell one?
Odds
and Ends Image Gallery
House
of the Future 1957 (inside attraction, book and destruction
images)
The Wrecking ball kept bouncing off the
plastic house during deconstruction made things difficult
for the crew. Workers used chainsaws to correct the problem.
Hall
of Chemistry 1955
Mural
(by Mary Blair) deconstruction sniff....I miss that mural
This
is the framework to hold the new sign (seen far right) for the
new Tommorowland. Holes were punched in the mural to hold the
new mural. The old Mary Blair mural is still under the new mural.
This
mural is now remodeled for the new Tomorrowland with different
graphics and a small homage reference to ATIS on the mural.
Can you see it? Click the image view mural up close. The new
mural looks like the whole thing was created in Adobe Illustrator
to me.
Interesting
info & Other Useless Stuff
The
large mechanical eye at the end of the attraction was repaired
from behind when needed. There was an access door that led up
a small flight of stairs into a small room. Only repair maintenance
people were allowed access and it was forbidden for regular
employees to enter this room. An insider informed me that sometimes
a maintenance employee would take their lunch breaks up there
and that they would sneak up to join them during their own lunch
break.
An
insider told me that certain wall sections of the interior of
Star Tours loading area had not been altered from the original
ATIS attraction. The back wall of the Droid area is supposed
to have a slant in it where the original wall was used for projecting
the little snowflakes at the beginning of ATIS ride. I have
yet to check this out but I doubt this is true. Another insider
told me that the original construction of Star Tours was not
supposed to Exceed the interior limits of the original ATIS
building. Designers had major problems when the simulator rooms
proved to be too small in the current ATIS building. The ceiling
roof had to be rebuilt and raised to accommodate for the Star
Tour simulators.
At the beginning of ATIS the narrator
Paul Freese says: "They will be our only source of contact
once you have passed beyond the limits of normal MAGNIFICATION"
then you would hear the words Magnification echo around you
as you entered the dark mighty microscope. This can be heard
on the sound track ride thru of the attraction but is not present
in the isolated narration soundtrack. An insider informed me
that the echoing Magnification was not echoed in the recording
that is coming from the atomobile speakers. The echo was created
by external speakers that were housed in the room you were entering
and the words "Magnification" were synched in between
with the narrator. This gave an illusion that there was a strange
echo while you moved forward into the darkness while shrinking.
Homage to the Oil Lamp
Back in 1967 when ATIS opened the exit "Display area"
section of the attraction housed a giant Oil Lamp that
were very popular during the 60's and early 70's. For those
of you that have never seen one of these odd pieces of house
decor, it was usually comprised of a small stature with a
gazebo type housing. Many small stings were tightly strung
vertical around it at an angle and little drops of a golden
"oil" would slowly drip down each strand. A very
messy item of furniture if you have kids in the house. Monsanto
had a giant oil lamp in the exit area that had 2 model mannequins
(one on a swing) that wore a new scientific fabric that was
called...Polyester! After Monsanto pulled the sponsorship
with Disney the attraction went through some cosmetic changes.
The oil lamp that once housed the mannequins were replaced
with a plain plastic snowflake sculpture and all the display
items in the windows from Monsanto were removed and replaced
with other Disneyland ride posters such as Space Mountain.
The rest of the Display area was turned into a gift shop.
The oil lamp stopped dripping oil near the last few years
of ATIS run. This was probably due to people flicking the
strings as their atomobile moved around it before exiting
the ride. I have to admit that I was a curious kid and touched
the string while there was oil dripping from it. Messy indeed.
It is hard to believe that at one time there was a giant oil
lamp like this for people to look at. Funny how people in
the past respected things more. There is no way that there
can be something like this be around today. Many people love
to trash stuff.
(Before) Oil lamp from
Monsanto sponsorship
(After)
Certain interesting special effects were added to make ATIS
a more convincing experience. The "Towering walls of
ice" room was colder than the rest of the rooms to give
the illusion of being inside a snowflake. Speakers were hidden
in the walls that played the background music or a faint sound
of the traffic controllers. Air was blown toward viewers in
synched with the sound and blinking of the center of the atom.
As you would pass by the intimidating red atom, a small burst
of air could be felt with each heart beat sound of the powerful
atom. This was later removed due to maintenance reasons. Many
people don't remember it being a part of the attraction.
Somewhere out there someone has
some of the eyelashes of the great mechanical eye that was at
the end of the attraction. If you had looked hard enough you
could see that the creators of this model created not only lashes
but a very convincing pupil and eyebrow hair as well. That would
be an interesting pic to add to this site.
Only a few molds were
made of the "mini" atomobiles that were housed in
the Mighty Microscope. An insider told me that there were about
five or six of them. The molds were then painted different colors
to give the illusion of different types of people. Sometimes
larger hair or some other small artifact was added to mix up
the looks of the different mini atomobiles.
Size
Matters
According
to inside sources the large snowflake mural in ATIS measured
33 feet long and was 16 feet high
The
large Mighty Microscope (Mighty Eye) was 37 feet long and it's
height measured 12 feet. The person responsible for the design
of the impressive Mighty Microscope was George McGinnis. The
entry way lobby of ATIS was considered very high tech for it's
time and many people felt like they walked into sci-fi movie
or science experiments.
Correct use of graphic
What
the heck?!!!
Strange but true. The graphic to the left was used on the old
Disneyland Souvenir Guide when you entered the park. These Guides
contained showtimes of events, location of attractions, a map
of Disneyland and other things about the park. In the Tommorow
land section of the book the graphic was seen next to the description
of ATIS attraction and it was incorrectly placed upside down!
Another funny fact is Disneyland reprints new Souvenir Guides
every few years or so and every one that had this graphic was
STILL upside down! I don't have an actual guide book or an image/scan
of one to show on the site yet. Hopfully soon I will have it
here in the Odds and Ends Section of the site. I need ot find
out the year/s and get one on E-bay. I believe it was around
1979 or so. Tell me if you know.
Upsidedown graphic on phamplet
Attention!
I was right about the upsidedown pic!!!
...and NO I didn't change it in
Photoshop!
Updated on (3-18-03)
A
fellow fan Tom Houben from far away Netherlands sent me a scan
of the above mentioned 1981 Souvenir Guide. See thumbnail for
a closer look! There are a few other different guides out there
that had the same error before they changed it so keep an "EYE"
out for them!
...I knew I didn't dream it!
More fun stuff! Did
you know that an info box dioramas that were in the waiting
line of ATIS were re-used as a set piece computer in Star Tours?
If you look below in the upper level of the droid factory room
you can spot a robot working on the computer box. See image
on the left. Click
for larger view!
Did
you also know that the side of the 2 entry buildings in
tommorowland (left building WAS Rocket Rods & right building
is Star Tours) still have the same molding from the old Tommorrowland?
The sides were just repainted for the new opening but you can
still see the snowflake in the design. See the image on the
left. Click for larger
view!
I have received some requests for
some Peoplemover pics. A fellow ATIS fan sent me these great
pics to post.
If
you have any other interesting odds and ends to add, drop me
a line here and I
will add it to the site.
The
large mechanical eye at the end of the attraction was repaired
from behind when needed. There was an access door that led up
a small flight of stairs into a small room. Only repair maintenance
people were allowed access and it was forbidden for regular
employees to enter this room. An insider informed me that sometimes
a maintenance employee would take their lunch breaks up there
and that they would sneak up to join them during their own lunch
break.
An
insider told me that certain wall sections of the interior of
Star Tours loading area had not been altered from the original
ATIS attraction. The back wall of the Droid area is supposed
to have a slant in it where the original wall was used for projecting
the little snowflakes at the beginning of ATIS ride. I have
yet to check this out but I doubt this is true. Another insider
told me that the original construction of Star Tours was not
supposed to Exceed the interior limits of the original ATIS
building. Designers had major problems when the simulator rooms
proved to be too small in the current ATIS building. The ceiling
roof had to be rebuilt and raised to accommodate for the Star
Tour simulators.
