Adventure Thru Inner Space
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- "Adventurous men of science, who've made this journey before you, are carefully plotting every phase of this incredible journey as you shrink beyond the smallness of an atom, the smallest building block of matter. We wish you an enlightening experience. For though your body will shrink, your mind...will expand."
- ―Narrator (Paul Frees).
| Adventure Thru Inner Space | |
 | |
| Disneyland | |
| Land | Tomorrowland |
| Designer | WED Enterprises |
| Attraction type | Dark ride |
| Theme | Microscopic World |
| Opening date | August 5, 1967 |
| Closing date | September 2, 1985 |
| Hosted by | Paul Frees |
| Music | "Miracles from Molecules" by the Sherman Brothers |
| Vehicle type | Omnimover |
| Vehicle names | Atomobiels |
| Vehicle capacity | 3 |
| Replaced by | Star Tours |
| Sponsored by | Monsanto Company (1967-1977) |
Adventure Thru Inner Space (presented by Monsanto) or simply ATIS (1967-1985) was a former attraction at Disneyland. It was located in the site of the current Star Tours. In it, guests were pretended to be shrunk down to the size of a molecule then to an atom as you joruney into the world of the snowflake. The centerpiece of the attraction was Monsanto's Mighty Microscope, a giant microscope designed on a napkin by a Disney Imagineer. It was also one of the most advancing rides in technology as it was the first ride to utilize Omnimover vehicles known in the attraction as "Atommobiles".
Contents |
The Ride
Upon entering the queue, guests see the Mighty Microscope. Full size Omnimover vehicles can be seen entering the Microscope. On the opposite end of the Microscope miniaturized Omnimovers are seen moving toward the final miniaturization point, a chamber of falling snowflakes. Magnified displays along the queue preview the coming journey to guests.
After boarding the Atommobile, guests proceed into the large, dark end of the Mighty Microscope. As they are "miniaturized", the vehicle shakes back and forth to disguise the left turn the vehicle was making. The narrator explains that once the guests are miniaturized, they will be out of contact with the scientists monitoring the experiment. The only guide will be the thought patterns of a former explorer who passed this way before the guests did.
Emerging from the darkness, guests find themselves surrounded by spinning snowflakes before entering a labyrinth of gigantic ice crystals that form an individual snowflake. Shrinking even further the snowflakes are revealed to be a lattice-like structure. Even the solid lattice is revealed to be made of individual water molecules, hundreds of which can be seen spinning slowly around the guests.
Soon the molecules themselves dwarf the ever-shrinking guests as they head for the whirling electrons of an oxygen atom. Piercing the electron shell of the atom, the pulsating red nucleus is seen. The narrator declares that is too risky to continue shrinking to explore the nucleus and the miniaturization process is reversed.
The guests are confronted with the familiar water molecules which are now rapidly whirling and colliding with bright flashes of light. The narrator confirms the snowflake is melting but reassures the guests that they are now under the watchful eye of the scientists (literally seen as a massive human eye looking down the tube of a microscope) and will be restored to their normal sizes momentarily.
The final stop is the unloading area with a spiraling "rain drop" fountain as the centerpiece.
Songs
Most of the soundtrack of the ride (a chilly weird creepy music) was made by Buddy Baker, but the main song, "Miracles From Molecules" was made by the Sherman Brothers. and was showed in the end with the Monsanto exhibition, and even when it was changed to the Disneyland exibithion.
Vandalism
ATIS had been noticed to get much more vandalism than any other ride in Disney's history. The eye at the end of the ride had to be encased in a protective glass layer to stop garbage, spit, and other annoyances. Set pieces were damaged or even removed due to these acts. Acts like this were so high that Disney developed a system called "Envelope of Protection." This utilized hidden cameras and forced the ride to close briefly to install these components.
Trivia
- Rumors have sprung up that on board the ride, adults would perform sexual acts. They did this because they didn't know they were being monitored by personnel and were in complete darkness.
- It is speculated the original Mighty Microscope during deconstruction was detonated.
- Monsanto ended their sponership and didn't renew it in 1977, so all references in the ride script and sets were removed.
- Four tributes to Adventure Thru Inner Space exist in Star Tours:
- The first queue line segment is the same from its days as ATIS.
- An Atommobile from the glass Mighty Microscope tube has been sighted in one of the overhead bins in the Droid Room.
- The Mighty Microscope can be seen in the Mantinence Area in the ride movie on the bottom-right hand side, right before the Starspeeder heads into space.
- The comets are based loosely on the dancing snowflakes.
- Additionally, the new Star Tours features the Mighty Microscope in a corridor on the left hand side of the screen before the Starspeeder 1000 leaves the unfinished Death Star through a docking bay.
- The Omnimovers from ATIS were sent to a landfill in Mexico, but at least two have been known to survive. One is on display in the Disneyana museum at Disneyland (open to Cast Members only). The others are in the hands of collectors.
- A clone of the attraction was in the works for the failed Westcot at Disneyland. Added to the shrinking to the size of a molecule, you would grow to see the world around you.
- There is a fan made Adventure Thru Inner Space virtual ride thru for sale on blu-ray
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