Astro Orbitor
From The Unofficial DisneyWiki
This is about the Disneyland attraction, and should not be confused with the Magic Kingdom attraction with a different spelling: Astro Orbiter.
| Astro Orbitor | |
 | |
| The Astro Orbitor | |
| Disneyland | |
| Land | Tomorrowland |
| Designer | Walt Disney Imagineering |
| Attraction type | Spinner |
| Opening date | May 22, 1998 |
| Vehicle names | Rocket |
The Astro Orbitor opened on May 22, 1998 as part of the New Tomorrowland. It was to be located atop the PeopleMover/Rocket Rods station, where its predecessor, the Rocket Jets were located, but was too heavy for the structure, so the Rocket Jets system was stripped down to a metallic skeleton, and satellites were placed on it, and was renamed the Observatron. The Astro Orbitor seems out of place to many Disney fans, now that most of Tomorrowland was repainted blue and silver in 2005, but the Astro Orbitor remained gold. It is a clone of the 1992 Disneyland Paris attraction, the Orbitron or in French: Orbitron, Machines Volantes.
Along with the new Tomorrowland paint scheme that didn't reach the Orbitor, Walt Disney Imagineering supposedly has plans to open a new PeopleMover, and with it, the Rocket Jets taking back the spot where the Observatron is, therefore, eliminating the need for the Astro Orbitor and causing its closure.
In April 2009, the Astro Orbitor closed for refurbishment, and reopened in June with a new silver paint scheme with the rotating planet mechanism repaired.
