new changes to Tomorrowland

As of late there have been some changes happening in Tomorrowland at Walt Disney World.  Here’s a quick rundown:

• Space Mountain has been closed for a bit starting in April and going through at least mid-November according to some sites.
• The Tomorrowland Transit Authority (or TTA or WEDWay PeopleMover as I still find myself calling it) has been enhanced with a new lighting scheme
• A new character meet-and-greet has been added where the Galaxy Palace Theater used to be
• The Tomorrowland portion of the old Skyway is being demolished (except for the bathrooms which they are keeping) to make room for a rumored extra restaurant

I will say that the Galaxy Palace Theater is not something we ever really went to.  I know they put shows on there and that some might feel that it was an integral part of Tomorrowland but we just passed it by.  Also, since the Skyway has been out of commission for so long (closing in November of 1999), it will be nice to have it gone and have a bigger, seemingly more open space back in the back of Tomorrowland.

I’m excited for the possibility of more restaurants in Tomorrowland because of the lack of them in that area.  According to the “Disney Food Blog”, getting into the Noodle Station can be a nightmare because of all of the private functions and things that are held there.  If memory serves me we’ve only eaten there a few times, and definitely not in the past few visits.

The other restaurants in Tomorrowland, “The Lunching Pad”, “Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe”, and “Auntie Gravity's Galactic Goodies” all provide the same kinds of food you can get elsewhere.  By adding in another restaurant to this corner of Tomorrowland, crowds will be drawn away from the other parts of the land helping with crowd control.

Now on to two of my favorite rides in the Magic Kingdom: the TTA and Space Mountain.
The TTA has been upgraded with some new LED lighting to add some cool visual effects (even in the daylight).  Here is a video of the testing of the lighting before it reopened and here are some pictures of the lighting after it opened.  The TTA is always a nice break from walking and a fun trip around Tomorrowland, and now with some different lighting perhaps a bit more exciting (pending the actual 100% working lights).
Space Mountain is rumored to be getting an interactive queue with some replacement of the track.  Space Mountain has always been a favorite attraction of mine and I have lots of memories of the ride (including the really odd SMTV televisions displaying “news from space”).  I hope the changes they are making to Space Mountain are as good as the ones to Spaceship Earth (another favorite of mine).