The Moonliner
Once upon a time, in a place called Tomorrowland, Disneyland guests could enter a ride called "Flight to the Moon," and simulate a ride in a moonliner, similar to a jetliner. A moonliner stood just outside the attraction, which opened in 1967. In 1975 it was replaced by a more advanced simulation, "Mission to Mars." No "marsliner," thank you. In both incarnations guests first walked past audioanimatronic engineers who presumably monitored and controlled the launch. Their spokesman was Tom Morrow, who has been reintroduced (without the previous subtlety regarding his name) as the robotic narrator for Innoventions.
This attraction ran until 1997, at which point it was hopelessly outdated by everything around it. During the "Imagination and Beyond" renovation of Tomorrowland, Mission to Mars and the also-defunct Space Place restaurant became Redd Rocket's Pizza Port, a cafeteria style restaurant with pizza, surprisingly good pasta, and a Tomorrowland-of-yesterday theme. On a platform beside Redd Rocket's Pizza Port stands the very moonliner that once graced Flight to the Moon, a clever Coke vendor cart underneath.
A postcard was sent to one of the Disneyland mailing lists just before the official reopening of Tomorrowland, featuring a paper moonliner for recipients to cut out and put together for themselves. This miniature image of the postcard links to an enlarged version of the moonliner for your printing and assembling pleasure. The other artwork and lovely green background have been removed to reduce download time.
