17 September 2010

Tomorrowland Station MK-1

When Space Mountain reopened, under the guise of Starport Seven-Five, it brought with it a host of details the likes of which Space Mountain had never seen. From the post show luggage including references to Horizons to star maps charting distant spaceports of call with distinctly Disney names, there is a galaxy of details to discover. Perhaps some of my favorite details come from the departure board that greets guests immediately upon entering Starport Seven-Five. Here are the details from that board, we’ll talk more about them afterwards.ACTIVE LUNAR STATIONS
Peary Rocketport North
C-Ingenii-Wedport
Trnq-Armstrong Interplanetary
Clavius 2K1
Tycho Metro Port
Aitken Base-South
Copernicus Lab Complex
Verne Settlement Two-Eight


ACTIVE EARTH STATIONS
Tomorrowland Station MK-1
TL Space Station 77
Discovery Landing Station-Paris
Ashita Base-Tokyo
HK Spaceport E-Tkt


CONNECTING SYSTEMS FROM ALPHA CENTAURI A
Upsilon Andromedae
Gliese 876
Gliese 581
Mu Arae
Procyon
Sirius


CONNECTING SYSTEMS FROM ALPHA CENTAURI B
47 Ursae Majoris
Epsilon Eridani
14 Herculis
UX Tau A
Hydrus
Altair
Galaxy M39


BINARY STAR GATES
Sirius
Procyon
Epsilon Aurige


TERNARY STAR GATES
Polaris
Alpha Centauri
HD 188753


QUAD STATIONS
4 Centauri
Mizar
HD 98800


TRANSFER TO
Nu Scorii
Castor
ADS 9731
Cygnus


From CONNECTING SYSTEMS FROM ALPHA CENTAURI A up through TRANFER TO, all of the destinations listed are true astronomical bodies that have been identified. ACTIVE LUNAR STATIONS may use some creative licensing, but they are all based off of named areas of our moon. Perhaps my favorite quip here is Verne Settlement Two-Eight, which references the man with his head in the stars, Jules Verne, and the year he was born, 1828. The section entitled ACTIVE EARTH STATIONS, clearly alludes to the Space Mountains of the world. Tomorrowland Station MK-1, while now known as Spaceport Seven-Five, belongs to the Magic Kingdom. TL Space Station 77 uses the opening year of Space Mountain in Disneyland for its call sign. Discovery Landing Station-Paris suggests the name change from Tomorrowland to Discovery Landing in Disneyland Parc Paris, it is also worth noting that the original name of Paris’ Space Mountain was De la Terre à la Lune or From the Earth to the Moon. Ashita Base-Tokyo takes the Japanese word for Tomorrow to further connect this Space Mountain to its home in Tokyo Disneyland. HK Spaceport E-Tkt references the Hong Kong Disneyland version, which maintains usage of the old E-Ticket system.

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