Area Tomorrowland Closing date March 31, 2015 | Status Closed Attraction type Interactive exhibits Soft opening date 3 July 1998 | |
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Similar Tomorrowland, Finding Nemo Submarin, America Sings, Submarine Voyage, Walt Disney's Carousel | ||
Innoventions was a 2-story museum in Tomorrowland at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. It opened on July 3, 1998 as part of the New Tomorrowland, focusing on near-futuristic technologies. The attraction operated for nearly 17 years, closing on March 31, 2015. From 2013 until its closure, its focus mainly shifted to character meet-and-greets featuring superheroes from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It occupied the Carousel Theater, a round two-story building in which the outer half of the first floor rotates. A similar attraction of the same name exists in Epcot at the Walt Disney World Resort.
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History
From 1967 to 1973, the building housed Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress. This attraction was moved from Disneyland to its current location in Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort in 1973, at the request of its sponsor, General Electric. America Sings occupied the building from the following year until 1988. Audio-Animatronics from the show were used in Disneyland's Splash Mountain. The upper level of the building continued to house the Tron SuperSpeed Tunnel segment of the PeopleMover until that attraction eventually closed in 1995. The attraction closed March 31, 2015.
The building was redesigned and reopened on November 16, 2015 as the Tomorrowland Expo Center. The first floor of the building hosts Star Wars Launch Bay, a Star Wars exhibit featuring peeks behind the scenes and character meet and greets with Darth Vader, Kylo Ren, Boba Fett, and Chewbacca, while the second floor hosted "Super Hero HQ", featuring meet and greets with Marvel characters Thor and Spider-Man and an exhibit featuring Iron Man's suits based on the film. Super Hero HQ closed in April 2016.
Attraction
The first floor hosted the Dream Home in alliance with Microsoft, HP, and Taylor Morrison. Keeping with Walt Disney's vision of bringing cutting-edge, inspiring ideas to Tomorrowland, the Innoventions Dream Home introduces Disneyland guests to then-newly available technology from the participating companies that would enhance their lives, while providing them a glimpse of the emerging digital advances they may find in their homes in the future. The attraction provided guests with a "high-tech, high-touch" opportunity to experience technology in an entertaining, low-risk environment showing them how the power of technology could connect them to the people and things they care most about.
Guests who entered the Innoventions building were greeted by Tom Morrow, an Audio-Animatronic, who is the fictional mayor of Tomorrowland. He explained Innoventions in a comedic style and performs an updated version of the Sherman Brothers song "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" from the original Carousel of Progress. He was voiced by Nathan Lane. Beginning in 2012, the Tom Morrow Audio-Animatronics were removed from display and are no longer part of the attraction. The building used the same rotation mechanism built in 1967 for the Carousel of Progress. In the past, the outer portion of the first floor would stop rotating during the evening, but in later years, it stopped rotating altogether due to a change in operation, with guests entering on the second floor.
Once Innoventions was refurbished and remodeled into both Super Hero HQ (upper level) and Star Wars Launch Bay (lower level), guests were allowed to enter the building from the first floor again and were given the opportunity to enter the worlds from both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Star Wars universe in November 2015. In the Super Hero HQ location, guests were able to meet Captain America, Thor, and Spider-Man. Guests were also able to embody Iron Man in The Iron Man Experience, which had guests partake in a simulator that enabled them to fly. Guests were also able to purchase Marvel merchandise.
The lower level gives guests the opportunity to meet Darth Vader, Chewbacca, and Boba Fett. The location opened with these characters in the winter of 2015. January 2016 saw the addition of Kylo Ren (who replaced Darth Vader until mid October 2016). Guests are given a variety of exhibits, such as props and costumes used in the films, and an area to buy Star Wars merchandise. Super Hero HQ closed in April 2016.