Adventure Thru Inner Space
Adventure Thru Inner Space, presented by
Monsanto, was an attraction in
Disneyland's
Tomorrowland, using Disney's
Omnimover.
Adventure Thru Inner Space opened on
August 5,
1967 as part of the New Tomorrowland, and closed in 1985 to make way for Disney and
George Lucas's new
Star Tours attraction, which opened in early 1987. The attraction was narrated by
Paul Frees, who also lent his voice to the
Haunted Mansion attraction, another Omnimover attraction which is still open to this day.
The attraction was designed to simulate shrinking to a size smaller than an atom. As riders wait for their journey into the atom, they were able to see other riders entering one end of the Mighty Microscope. The other end of the Mighty Microscope had a glass tube in which miniaturized riders could be seen moving toward the end of the microscope. The end of the microscope was aimed a panel behind which snow could be seen falling.
Upon boarding their 'Atomobiles', riders are greeted by the voice of an unseen scientist who explains that he was the first to make the shrinking journey that they are about to embark on. He further elaborates that once they have been shrunk, they will be out of communication other than being able to hear his own thoughts that he expressed as he made the same journey.
The Atomobile enters the Mighty Microscope and begins to shake back and forth as the riders enter the darkness.
As their vision returns, the riders see giant snowflakes all around them, some still spinning as they fall. As they contnie to shrink, the snowflakes take on a crystaline form eventually being large enough to cover the entire field of the riders vision. Approcahing the walls of ice crystals, the voice of the unseen scientist marvels at how "Nothing is solid". The ice crystals can be seen to not be solid but a lattice-like structure that the riders pass through.
The scientist explains how he is seeing "strange spheres" which the riders see and soon discover are indidual molecules of frozen water with two hydrogen and one oxygen atom. The scientist and the riders continue shrinking as they pass through the whirling electrons to pierce the wall of an oxygen atom. A large pulsing red nucleus can be seen inside the atom as the scientist ponders entering the nucleus. He decides not to push further on for fear of being unable to return to his full size.
The riders begin the return journey to full size but are soon greeted with the site of the water molecules swirling rapidly. At first confused, the scientist soon realizes that the snowflakes are melting and the molecules are moving faster as their temperature increases.
A new voice is heard by the riders explaining that the snowflakes are, indeed, melting but there is no cause for alarm as they riders are being monitored by scientists. The riders can see evidence of the monitoring as they pass under a large microscope through which they can see they giant eye of a scientist.
Having returned to normal size, the riders disembark and pass by displays of Monsanto's advances in material science before exiting the attraction building.
Like many of the WED attractions of the 1960s including "
It's A Small World", the
Carousel of Progress and the
Enchanted Tiki Room,
Walt Disney assigned his staff songwriters, the
Sherman Brothers, the task of writing an opening and closing song for the "Adventure Thru Inner Space" attraction. That song was
Miracles from Molecules and bridged the ride message of adventure with the Monsanto company's mission statement.
*The Mighty Microscope can be seen in Star Tours as an homage to Adventure Thru Inner Space
*The Omnimovers used in the attraction were called Atommobiles
*This was the first ride that used the Omnimover system
*The attraction is featured in one of the public rooms in Disney's
Virtual Magic Kingdom Tomorrowland expansion, including Atom-Mobiles and the Mighty Microscope. The
Miracles From Molecules song can be heard in another Inner-Space themed area in the Virtual Magic Kingdom.
*
Grand opening: August 5,
1967*
Closing date: September 2,
1985*
Designer: WED Enterprises*
Sponsor: Monsanto
*
Previous attractions:**
Monsanto Hall of Chemistry (1955-1966)
*
Current attraction: Star Tours
*
Required Ticket: "C"
*
Ride system: Omnimover
*
Yesterland Inner Space page*
Adventure Thru Inner Space fan site, 3-D model of the ride
