I grew up in Los Angeles, making Disneyland pretty accessible. I visited the Magic Kingdom about once a year until my teens, when it seemed no longer cool. But as a kid, I dazzled in the magic of princesses, the tiny, singing animatrons in It's a Small World and all the bumps and turns in Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. But, by far, my favorite part of the experience was in Tomorrowland.
4 Negative reactions to the Inside Out trailer that make sense
Tomorrowland was more than the domain of the Jetsons. It was a land that promised not only a better future, but my own personal amazing future where I didn't even need to walk anywhere because there was a PeopleMover that effortlessly transported me. There were spaceships with regular missions to Mars and, of course, the thrill of zooming through Space Mountain.
Beyond the things that our favorite mouse offered me, however, I believed I was growing up in a world without war, without disease, without all that dreaded conflict we see in the current headlines. I firmly believed that our technology would solve all these problems and more. Walt Disney, a man who had his own head preserved in a freezer after his death, made me think it was all true.
9 Exact times Pixar made us feel so many feelings and cry like a baby
That's why a massive wave of nostalgia hit me when I watched the Tomorrowland trailer. I remember the future being something to look forward to. Not the awful, dangerous labyrinth of Maze Runner. Not the stilted factions of Divergent. And certainly not precious teenagers killing each other to entertain the masses in The Hunger Games.
Lorde's Mockingjay track is fiery, bright and expectedly strange — listen
If you're like me, you've likely had enough of these dystopian worlds. I'm not saying a movie about the future should be devoid of conflict, nor am I expecting real life to be devoid of conflict, but it sure would be nice to see a world that Disney promised me as a little girl.
Tomorrowland stars George Clooney, Britt Robertson, Judy Greer and Hugh Laurie. It opens in theaters May 22, 2015.
Tomorrowland