But what if the future is a farm in Montana?

The big news to come out of Saturday night at the D23 Parks and Experiences promotional show was the reimagining of Tomorrowland for Disneyland’s 75th anniversary in 2030. Considering that this date is now less than four years away, any reimagining needs to hit the ground running to meet that deadline.

Tomorrowland has always been the parks most challenging area since ground was broken in 1954. When the press preview was held, much of the area was incomplete and not ready for guests. Over the years, the idea of a cohesive storyline throughout the attractions has never properly come together. As Yoda observed, “Always in motion is the future. Difficult to see.”

By the time the future arrives, what we have been shown as new and exciting is common every day stuff. Imagination and storytelling often takes a backseat to the practical. Case in point? AT&T used to demonstrate the future with the video phone making live calls from outside the Circarama Theater around the world. Today, a Zoom call is a very common thing, and not very impressive. Hardly the stuff of the future.

As I compose this effort, the current state of Tomorrowland is an interesting one. Yes, it has its share of attractions that both thrill and amuse. But it also has its share of attractions that call back to the past. One in particular may be the single most problematic and ongoing maintenance issue in the park. And it contains the largest under utilized structures in the park. Along with a rambling piece of infrastructure that is decaying in place, unsafe for guest occupancy.

It is one heck of an opportunity waiting to be taken advantage of.

All the more, it’s a pity it will not happen.

What really needs to occur here is redevelopment right down to the bare earth of 1954. Maybe everything but Space Mountain, making way for a new experience that guests and the theme park industry will not stop talking about for the next twenty-five years. A true revolution in entertainment on a scale equal to what the creation of Disneyland was in 1955.

The saddest thing is that if anyone could do this, it is Disney. Or, at one time, the company had the talent to take on such a challenge and meet it head-on. Not only at Imagineering, but throughout the company from finance to theme park operations and even merchandising. Today? As good as the different parts of the company are, I don’t see them willing to take the risks.

What will we get? Likely new paint, new lighting effects, and maybe something to fit inside the existing underused carousel building and theater—claims of new and exciting, but more likely safe and cost-effective, to please shareholders. I would truly like to be completely wrong in this prediction, but for all the enthusiasm amid the afterglow of D23, the dead fish that is reality will float to the top eventually.

The practicality here is that Disney is a for-profit company. The kind of investment required to bring off such a redevelopment/reimagining of Tomorrowland would be something that would require a commitment of not only money but time and effort, worthy of guests spending enough to recoup that investment. Considering how much some guests complain about current prices, imagine the howls and cries if they had to pay for an all-new Tomorrowland?

For now, bask in the afterglow. 2030 is coming soon enough.

That line at the top? That’s allegedly from then-CEO Michael Eisner during a meeting about reimagining Tomorrowland, which resulted in edible plants in the landscaping and not much else.