Discoveryland: the retro-futuristic land

Discoveryland is one of the five lands of Disneyland Park, opened on 12 April 1992 along with the rest of the park. It is a reworking of the Tomorrowland concept found in Disney’s other castle parks. Its art direction was led by Tim Delaney, with science-fiction author Ray Bradbury advising on the overall atmosphere.

The land rests on two ideas: avoid constantly updating futuristic themes, and bring American science fiction back to its European roots. The Imagineers paid tribute to Jules Verne, Leonardo da Vinci and H. G. Wells. The architecture draws on the early industrial age of the nineteenth century, with iron, steam and early electricity as the main materials. The Cast Member costumes were designed to echo the style of the artists Moebius (Jean Giraud) and Enki Bilal. The original soundtrack was composed by David Tolly, with its tempo set to the movement of Orbitron.

Today the land has several main attractions: Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain (formerly Space Mountain: De la Terre à la Lune, inaugurated on 31 May 1995 by astronaut Buzz Aldrin and opened to the public on 1 June 1995), Orbitron (Machines Volantes), Autopia, Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast (since 2006), Star Tours: The Adventures Continue (refurbished in 2017), Les Mystères du Nautilus, Starport (meet Darth Vader) and Discoveryland Station on the Disneyland Railroad. Videopolis Theatre and Discoveryland Theatre round off the shows. Dining centres on Café Hyperion, whose name refers to Walt Disney’s first studio at 2719 Hyperion Avenue in Hollywood from 1926 to 1940, and which houses an airship from the film The Island at the Top of the World (1974). The Star Traders and Constellations shops make up the shopping.

The land presents itself as a retro-futuristic vision: the future as imagined by the great visionary inventors of the nineteenth century, especially Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, along with Leonardo da Vinci. Copper architecture, golden planets, exposed machinery and astrological symbols make up a setting found nowhere else in the Disney parks.

The common thread is scientific discovery and space exploration, from Jules Verne’s Nautilus (Les Mystères du Nautilus) to the galactic journeys of Star Wars (Hyperspace Mountain and Star Tours), by way of flying machines and imagined futures (Orbitron, Autopia).

The land in numbers, pulled together from across the site for a super quick visual summary.

The land opened with the park on 12 April 1992 with Star Tours, Orbitron, Autopia and the theatre showing Captain EO. Later, Space Mountain - De la Terre à la Lune was inaugurated on 31 May 1995 (at a gala with Buzz Aldrin) and opened to the public on 1 June 1995.

Les Mystères du Nautilus opened on 4 July 1994. Space Mountain was rethemed as Mission 2 in 2005, then as Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain on 7 May 2017. Star Tours became The Adventures Continue on 26 March 2017. Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast opened on 8 April 2006, on the site of Le Visionarium (an introductory attraction from 1992 about time travel, which closed in September 2004). Captain EO was replaced by Mickey’s PhilharMagic on 1 October 2018.

Captain EO was shown from 1992 to 1997, then from 2010 to 2015, taking turns with Honey, I Shrunk the Audience (1999-2010). The Pizza Planet restaurant ran from 1996 to 2016. Discoveryland Station did not exist when the park opened and was added in July 1993.

The original project, called Discovery Mountain, planned a much larger area themed on Jules Verne, linked to Videopolis by glass walkways, and you can still spot traces of them on the building’s front. A smaller version was chosen for financial reasons. The "DM" logo can still be found in several places around the land. Discoveryland itself was inspired by the Discovery Bay project dreamt up for Disneyland in California in the early 1980s.

To find out more: all the secrets and fun facts of Discoveryland

The land is the Paris version of Tomorrowland, found at Disneyland Anaheim (1955), Magic Kingdom in Orlando (1971) and Tokyo Disneyland (1983). What sets the Paris version apart is its retro-futuristic approach inspired by Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, found nowhere else in the world.