You’ve been taken to the moon and back on the Rocket to the Moon. Now, perhaps you’d like to pilot your own rocket. Climb into an Astro-Jet. You won’t break the sound barrier, but you will have fun circling around, while controlling the elevation of your craft with a small lever.

After your ride on the Astro-Jets, visit the adjacent Tomorrowland Flight Circle. Watch gasoline powered model airplanes, cars, and boats go around and around. You can hear their loud and annoying sound from all over Tomorrowland.

In Disneyland, the Astro-Jets opened in 1956. The attraction closed in 1966, to be replaced the following year by the Rocket Jets (1967-1997).

As part of the New Tomorrowland, Disneyland opened a new “circling rockets” attraction, the Astro Orbitor, in May 1998. It marks the entrance to Tomorrowland, just off Disneyland's central Plaza. As with the original Astro-Jets, the Astro Orbitor loads at ground level. The Astro Orbitor has golden circling planets and moons to make the ride more interesting to the riders, and to make the attraction a giant kinetic sculpture. Rather than looking “Space Age,” the Astro Orbitor has more of a 19th-century look.

Skyway to Fantasyland Rocket to the Moon Home

© 2007 Werner Weiss — Disclaimers, Copyright, and Trademarks

Updated September 21, 2006.

Photograph of the Astro-Jets by Charles R. Lympany, courtesy of Chris Taylor.
Photograph of the Astro Orbitor by Allen Huffman, 1998.