MISSION TO MARS 35Th ANIVERSSARY MEGA POST #2
.........The MOON is OUT and MARS is in!!

this is the color artwork by Jim Michaelson (creator of the Disneyland Railroad 1977 attraction poster) and Rudy Lord. Below are the plans to make this sign, should you feel one might be needed at the entry of your home!

It seems that the standard 4'x8' board was common for "coming soon" attraction signs......AMERICA SINGS '74 used this same plan.

this TITAN III interplanetary Maned Mars explorer concept of the late 1960's seems to have been the inspiration for the DC-88 depicted on the "coming soon" sign, but has little resemblance to the final DC-88 SPACELINER shown in the attraction's launch screens, and as you rounded the boarding concourse. For a short time, a display of McDonnell-Douglas aircraft was shown in the loading que for "Mars".....from the earliest bi-plane to DC-10s...........and the final case was a model of the "current" DC-88 SPACELINER........a preview of the very one you would be riding to Mars in. I was unable to located the images of this model for this post......so I'll show it  another time. For now, it was very similar to this 1950's Moon rocket concept.

This concept is a beautiful......and very stylized rendering by famed designer John deCuir Sr. for the interior's color and arrangement of the passenger hold. Note that there is a pilot or captain visible inside the cabin with the passengers.....I wonder if there was consideration of another AA figure to be added of "3rd Officer Collins".......???

below is a concept also by John deCuir Sr. , not for Mission To Mars , but for Walt Disney World's Polynesian Village Resort.......done if a" Future-Tiki" design........tropical, yet very TOMORROWLOUNGE. I ran across it while looking for pieces to use for this post.

some graphic blueprints to label the sides of the DC-88. Did you know that those ships are Hydrogen powered??

Above you can see the passenger cabin flight status control panel. A neat detail.

In this inner cabin shot, you can see a sliver of the unique exit murals thru the unclosed "air-lock doors"

here's a rare view of one of those murals.......Both Disneyland and Walt Disney World featured these .

this detail of Tomorrowland 1977 by Clem Hall shows where Mission To Mars "fit's" in.

Here's the "blade" sign for Walt Disney World's Mission To Mars.........also turning 35 this year!

interesting to see the backside of the "departure" sign........is that Latin??

well, it looks like this MEGA post is going to be 4-5 parts...........so next time we will talk about "what to wear" to Mars...........and we will meet the entire staff of the Mission Control team!

Yes, March 21st will be the 35th Anniversary of Disneyland's Mission to Mars. This 70's favorite launched it's last DC88 SPACELINER to Mars on November 2, 1992. It seems this service could not compete with deregulation of Super-Space Service Travel compared to the budget third class service of companies like STAR TOURS......or the failed Teleportation Travel Service of XS-TECH a few years back .......a service once planned to come to Disneyland's Tomorrowland.


So get ready and zip -up your jumpsuits and join us for a multiple part journey to the "Mysterious Red Planet" aboard the McDonnell Douglas DC-88 SPACELINER!!

this sign is mounted on aluminum. It was used on the Walt Disney World Omnibus advertising panels. Walt Disney World began service to Mars on June 7, 1975. The writing on the backside says WED-Martin Marietta, 1 of 2.

even as a kid, I thought this planter was VERY "Jetson's"

I miss these types of exotic-astro gardens of 70's Tomorrowland

a graphic visualization of a Hyper-Space Jump!!

here you can see the McDonnell Douglas marquee has been removed as MARS service slowly comes to an end.

I wonder if pretzels will be served?.....................better get my "C" Coupon out..............

..........below we can see when the next Mars flight is......and then we can continue to the Lounge and Boarding Concourse...........today companies don't have these neat classy lounges......some make you walk right thru their repair hangers and droid maintenance bays : TACKY!!

what a great mural! Gets everyone excited to travel to Mars!

"FLIGHT 295 to Mars is ready for boarding!!"

Check back for my other MISSION TO MARS posts.....all thru March!....you'll even see concept art, and the sad final fate of the Mission To Mars attraction...............