The first and most famous aerial carousel ride at a Disney park was Dumbo the Flying Elephant, which opened the same day that Disneyland Park in California was opened to the public. This ride was later duplicated in time for the opening of Magic Kingdom in 1971, and both versions of the ride are tremendously popular. The success of Dumbo the Flying Elephant prompted Disney to include a second aerial carousel ride at Disneyland, and later at Magic Kingdom. While nothing like flying cartoon elephants of Dumbo had ever been seen before, the flying rockets of the Astro Orbiter closely resembled similar rocket rides already seen around the world. However, the futuristic appearance of the ride made it a perfect fit in the world of Tomorrowland. You can control the flight of your rocket in the Astro Orbiter. The Astro Orbiter debuted at Magic Kingdom in 1974 under the name Star Jets, during a Tomorrowland expansion that also saw the arrival of Space Mountain. The ride sits on top of a platform in the middle of Tomorrowland, inside the loop of the Tomorrowland Transit Authority people mover attraction. The location and appearance of the ride both echoed its sister attraction at Disneyland, but the Disneyland Astro Obiter has since moved from its towering central location to ground level at the entrance of Tomorrowland. Magic Kingdom’s Astro Orbiter, on the other hand, remains the centerpiece of Florida’s Tomorrowland. The ride received its current name in 1994 during the renovation of Tomorrowland. Like the rest of the area, the attraction was refurbished and re-colored to resemble the comic book worlds of Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. This slightly cartoonish representation of the future is Disney’s nod to the fact that many of the futuristic ideas that the original Tomorrowland celebrated are now the ideas of today, or even yesterday. The line for the Astro Orbiter includes an elevator ride to the top of the Tomorrowland Transit Authority platform.
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