Hey, gang —
Greetings from New Boston, N.H. Where — as of this moment — I’m still journeying to the center of my desk. Trying to dig my way out from under a three week accumulation of mail.
But just because I’ve gotten ‘way behind in my correspondence doesn’t mean that you nice folks have to go without a brand new story today. Which is why — with the help of Jeff Lange, JHM’s official photographer/archivist — I’ve unearthed something that I think you Disneyana fans will really enjoy: Pictures of Disney-MGM’s never-built “Journey to the Center of the Earth” attraction.
Now someone of you (particularly those folks who toured the post-show area of the Magic Kingdom’s “Walt Disney Story” during Disney World’s 20th anniversary) may already be familiar with the concept of this attraction. Given that the concept art for this proposed Disney-MGM addition was on display back there for a year or so.
But — for those of you who are unfamiliar with this particular concept — let me walk you through the idea. Using photos of the model that some kind soul at WDI slipped me 10-15 years ago.
The basic premise here was that — by the Spring of 1994, Disney-MGM’s fifth year of operation — people were going to grow bored with the studio theme park’s “Backstage Tram Tour” attraction. Which was why — by the early 1990s — the Imagineers was already looking for ways to spruce the tour up. Looking for dramatic new scenes to add to the show, with the hope that these additions might then compel Disney-MGM guests to re-ride the tram.
And — about this same time — Walt Disney Studios was actively developing a big screen version of the Jules Verne adventure classic, “Journey to the Center of the Earth.” Once WDI got wind that this film was in the works … That was it. The Imagineers began drawing up plans for a “Journey to the Center of the Earth” show sequence, which could then be added to the Disney-MGM “Backstage Tram Tour.”
The plot (As it was explained to me many years ago) was that — as part of your tram tour — you would roll up to a brand new soundstage. Where your guide would then tell you that your tram was about to roll onto “a hot set.” Which would seem particularly ironic — given that the first thing that you’d feel as your tram rolled into this cavernous building was a blast of cold air.
Mind you, the reason that you’d be feeling that extreme cold was — as your tram entered the building — you’d be rolling through a corridor that was loaded with enormous ice crystals …
… Which the characters that were supposed to appear in Disney’s “Journey to the Center of the Earth” film were to have encountered in a particularly memorable & dramatic moment in that movie.
Anyway, as your tram continued to move deeper into the soundstage …
… Things would literally begin to heat up as your tram reached the center of the Earth. Where the remains of Atlantis seemed to float on a lake on liquid lava.
… Which admittedly would be pretty cool to look at. If it weren’t for that massive magma worm that suddenly rose out of the pool in front of us. Which now begins to snap viciously at all those guests on the tram.
Seriously, folks. We’re talking about one motherously large Audio Animatronic figure here. This next photo (Please note that the Imagineers made sure that the teeny trams that they built for this foam core model still included their distinctive yellow-and-black stripe) shows how huge this figure was supposed to have been. Easily 30-40 feet high.
Anyway … Before that massive magma worm can actually put the chomp on us and/or crush our tram in its coils, our guide gets us safely out of the building. Which allows us to proceed with the rest of our tour.
Doesn’t this “Journey to the Center of the Earth” soundstage sequence sound like it would have made a great addition to Disney-MGM’s “Backstage Tram Tour”? So why didn’t this ever get built.
Well … You see, the real problem was … Disney studio officials were never able to come up with a script for its “Journey to the Center of the Earth” film that Michael Eisner felt comfortable with green-lighting. So — as the movie version floundered in development hell — so too did its theme park spin-off. With both versions of this “Journey to the Center of the Earth” project eventually dying on the vine in the mid-1990s.
Mind you, this isn’t to say that some concepts & ideas from Disney’s aborted “Journey to the Center of the Earth” film & theme park attraction didn’t find their way into other projects. Take — for example — the magma worm. Those of you who have checked on the “Deleted Scenes” section of your “Atlantis: The Lost Empire” DVD may remember the lava whales sequence. The scene that was cut from that animated film that shows Milo Thatch & his fellow explorers being menaced by a massive monster that lived in the magma.
And — of course — all you Tokyo DisneySea fans will no doubt remember that theme park’s “Journey to the Center of the Earth” attraction. Which took this aborted Disney-MGM addition, combined it with the technology used in Disneyland’s now defunct “Rocket Rodds” and created a wild new thrill ride for that theme park’s “Mysterious Island” area.
Given how enthusiastically TDS visitors have been responding to that theme park’s “Journey to the Center of the Earth” attraction, it’s clear that the Disney-MGM version would have been a hit with WDW visitors too. But all because Disney’s development folks couldn’t come up with a script that Eisner liked, the “Backstage Tram Tour” version of “Journey to the Center of the Earth” never made it off the drawing board.
Which seems a real shame. I mean, doesn’t this model make the “Journey to the Center of the Earth” sequence look like it would have been a fun addition to Disney-MGM’s “Backstage Tram Tour” attraction?
Your thoughts?