So Old It's New

Today I drove out to a small zoo in Santa Ana for a little photographic excursion with a friend from school (look for those pictures soon). I passed Disneyland as I drove down the 5 freeway, and as I looked towards the Magic Kingdom, I caught a glimpse of something that made me very excited: the brand new Mark VII Monorail, as seen in the concept art above.

So why does this make me excited? Well, for one, it looks flat-out awesome! More important to me, however, is the retro design. It's a wonderful homage to the younger Disneyland of the 50's and 60's. Walt Disney was still alive in those days, and the park was truly his park. Walt's original vision for the park was to be a place where parents and children could have fun together as imagination and reality were joined. While that original vision was still maintained for a very long time even after Disney's death, I think recently more and more effort has gone into making Disneyland a bit more of a commercial success.

A good example of this is the recent addition of the smarmy "Year of a Million Dreams" promotion. This poorly marketed event has turned the park into a sweepstakes destination, planting cheap banners and displays all over the resort. Even the monorail trains suffered when their sleek white exteriors were done over with a dreamy blue paint job, complete with clouds, pixie dust, and the "Year of a Million Dreams" logo, transforming the elegant vehicle of the future into another means of cheap advertising. The park may still be a place of imagination and fantasy, but the addition of commercialism such as the "Year of a Million Dreams" makes it reek in places.

Needless to say, I was thrilled to hear that Disney was adding a new fleet of monorails, each with a spiffy retro design. Not only does this mean the end of the cheap advertising, but it could be a herald of many great things to come into the park, things that may fall into line more with Walt's vision and less with commercial success. I cannot wait to see these new monorails traveling through Disneyland's highway in the sky.

So long, everyone
T.H. Excellence