July 1955 – September 1997
LOCATION
Tomorrowland – Circarama/Circle-Vision 360 was located right at the edge of the land, overlooking Main Street USA. Guests arriving through the main entrance to Tomorrowland found the theater on the left, across from the Monsanto Hall of Chemistry. The theater building is now part of Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters.
BACKGROUND
While most of early Tomorrowland celebrated technology and space exploration, one attraction used state-of-the-art technology to showcase present life in America, the birthplace of much of that innovation. Circarama was a show with a giant in-the-round theater, displaying massive images that put viewers right in the middle of scenes. The theater’s first, short-lived show was A Tour of the West, which highlighted scenes of the American west in the present and recent past.
The show went dark in 1960, to make room for Circarama’s most famous show: America the Beautiful. This patriotic film took audiences on a journey across different American landscapes. America the Beautiful was an incredible success, and quickly became one of Tomorrowland’s most popular attractions.
In 1967, Disney upgraded its in-the-round theater, and the bigger and better theater became known as Circle-Vision 360. With the new theater came an upgraded version of America the Beautiful, which remained in Tomorrowland until the attraction’s closure in 1997.
EXPERIENCE
Guests arrived in the theater to find 11 massive screens above them. The show displayed a panoramic film across all the screens, providing guests with a completely immersive experience. The America the Beautiful show covered many famous regions of the United States, including: Williamsburg, New York Harbor, Times Square, the Vermont woods, Detriot automobile manufacturing, Pittsburg steel mills, Oklahoma cowboys, Montana wheat farming, Utah copper mines, Hoover Dam, Monument Valley, The Grand Canyon, UCLA, San Francisco, theGolden Gate Bridge, and later, Cape Canaveral. The show used all of the screens to provide incredible detail for each scene, so guests could visit over and over and see something new each time.
CLOSURE
Circarama/Circle-Vision 360 met the same fate as virtually every other early Tomorrowland attraction. With constant innovation and newer and more exciting thrill rides in the land, older shows and walkthroughs just couldn’t keep up. Attendance steadily declined over the years, until the theater was no longer a highlight in Tomorrowland. So in 1997, Circle-Vision 360 finally closed its doors. Parts of the theater would be incorporated into the Rocket Rods preshow, and the entire building would later evolve into the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters attraction.
TRIVIA
Circarama is a reference to Cinerama, a three-projector system in some theaters that displayed ultra-large films.
The America the Beautiful show actually made its debut at the 1958 World’s Fair in Brussels.
I visited Disney world in February of 1980 and the one attraction l was most impressed with was the Circle vision experience. At that time it was a round-the-world trip starting across the Atlantic ocean , flying over the southwest coast of England, and continuing up to London, then across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and onto and across the US. I loved the all around vision, where you could turn around and see what’s behind, as if you were actually in the place. It was so amazing I went back again the same day. I never forgot the experience and would love to see something like that again.
This presentation had a BIG impact on me as a 7-8 year old! I definitely recall how the immersive experience piqued my sense of equilibrium and I had a disorienting sensation that caused me to cry out to my mom who took my hand and told me to just close my eyes. I said I thought the room was moving. She told me the room was not moving it only seemed like it. I tightly held my eyes shut to the end and never went in it again though we went to Disneyland every time relatives came to Huntington Beach on vacation. Much later I had a similar sensation in the Star Wars ride and that room WAS moving. As a young adult I again had to close my eyes. Oh, brother! Something about the visuals just tips my balance off. But I will say, the America the Beautiful film had awesome visuals…what little I saw of them.
I think it was sponsored in latter years by AT&T, and there were small rooms on the exterior walls with benches in them. The rooms had windows to gaze at the people walking by between this attraction and the Monsanto building while you used the pay phones that were flat to the wall and we’re amplified speakers – no handsets – which was oddly thrilling because everyone in the room could speak to the recipient. Ok, so what, but it was quite new back then!
I think I vaguely recall this showing from my childhood visits.