Rocket Jets was an attraction in

Disneyland Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envisi ...

at the

Disneyland Resort The Disneyland Resort, commonly known as Disneyland, is an entertainment resort in Anaheim, California. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division and is home to two theme parks ( ...

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most ...

. This attraction opened in 1967 with the new Tomorrowland and closed in 1997 for the New Tomorrowland update in 1998. It was the third spinning rocket attraction in Tomorrowland and stood three stories above the ground. When Tomorrowland was redone for 1998, the Rocket Jets were replaced by a new attraction based on Orbitron at the entrance to Discoveryland in

Disneyland Park Paris Disneyland Park, originally Euro Disneyland Park, is a theme park found at Disneyland Paris in Marne-la-Vallée, France. The park opened on 12 April 1992 as the first of the two parks built at the resort. Designed and built by Walt Disney Ima ...

Observatron

The Rocket Jets remained in their place above the former PeopleMover station as the Observatron, a sculpture that was intended to spin and play music every fifteen minutes. There are only two tracks, from Space Mountain: De la Terre à la Lune (Space Mountain: From the Earth to the Moon) and

Le Visionarium ''The Timekeeper'' (also known as ''From Time to Time'' and ''Un Voyage à Travers le Temps'') was a 1992 Circle-Vision 360° film that was presented at three Disney parks around the world. It was the first Circle-Vision show that was arranged ...

(The Timekeeper), both of which are defunct Disneyland Paris attractions (De la Terre à la Lune is now Space Mountain: Mission 2, while The Timekeeper was also an attraction at the

Magic Kingdom Magic Kingdom Park, previously known as Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom (1971–1994) and The Magic Kingdom (1994–2017), is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando, Florida. Owned and operated by The ...

in Florida). The rockets were replaced by satellite dishes and the

Saturn V Saturn V is a retired American super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by NASA under the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon. The rocket was human-rated, with three stages, and powered with liquid fuel. It was flown from 1 ...

rocket in the center was replaced by a laser-beam. However, the Observatron often malfunctioned, as the machinery was built to operate more frequently and to carry the rockets, rather than the satellite dishes they were replaced with. It appeared to have mechanical issues, sometimes only playing music every 15 minutes, or not doing anything at all. In late 2006, the Observatron received much needed maintenance which allows the Observatron to now rotate every 15 minutes while playing its music as originally planned. As part of the maintenance, the old speakers were replaced with new ones and new speakers were added. Since this maintenance, the Observatron rarely breaks down and operates on a daily basis as intended. The Saturn V rocket that the rockets were attached to was sold on

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became ...

by Disney Auction in 2005. One remains on display, along with

Skyway A skyway, skybridge, skywalk, or sky walkway is an elevated type of pedway connecting two or more buildings in an urban area, or connecting elevated points within mountainous recreational zones. Urban skyways very often take the form of encl ...

gondolas, in "Little Green Men Store Command" with a space ranger design. During Disneyland's 50th anniversary, one of the satellite dishes was replaced by a 50 Mickey Mouse head.

In popular culture

The Rocket Jets appear in a scene from the Disney animated film ''

Meet the Robinsons ''Meet the Robinsons'' is a 2007 American computer-animated science-fiction comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 47th animated film produced by the studio, it is loosely based on the ...

'' alongside another Disneyland attraction, Space Mountain. The area they are shown in is known as "Todayland". The poster of the attraction appears as an easter egg in '' Monsters, Inc.'' on the kid

bedroom A bedroom or bedchamber is a room situated within a residential or accommodation unit characterised by its usage for sleeping and sexual activity. A typical western bedroom contains as bedroom furniture one or two beds (ranging from a crib fo ...

during the scene when

Mike Wazowski Michael "Mike" Wazowski is a fictional character who appears in Disney/ Pixar's Monsters Inc. franchise. He is a green one-eyed round monster with two arms, legs, and small horns. In the films, Mike is one of the two protagonists, alongside Jam ...

tries to make the kid laugh.

References

{{Disney rides Disneyland Former Walt Disney Parks and Resorts attractions Tomorrowland Rocket sculptures Space in amusement parks Amusement rides introduced in 1967 Amusement rides that closed in 1997 1967 establishments in California 1997 disestablishments in California Buildings and structures demolished in 1997 Demolished buildings and structures in California

Observatron

In popular culture

See also

References