Water Ball In Tomorrowland

[usschmidt]

What is the story behind that?

My girls gravitate towards it every single time we're near, but for the life of my I don't know why. Even I find myself wanting to touch it. It seems so very non-disney to me ... like it should be at a mall or something lol.

Thanks!

 

[marcemc]

My girls gravitate towards it every single time we're near, but for the life of my I don't know why.

My boys do the same, they can't resist it!

I don't know the story behind it and to be honest, for me, is just another way of getting park cooties! Yuck!

 

[usschmidt]

My boys do the same, they can't resist it!

I don't know the story behind it and to be honest, for me, is just another way of getting park cooties! Yuck!

I know what you mean! It's so hard for the girls to understand why I want them to wash their hands afterward ... it's water after all, mommy!

 

[Disney Dreams]

Sometimes, Buzz will be out there pushing the ball, playing with everyone. Fun times!

As for what it is - I have always thought it's supposed to be a planet.

 

[Disneylander55]

It's just a kinetic object for the area

 

[jory29]

I always think of Indiana Jones (and the rolling ball in the ride. )

I had not even thought of the gross germ factor in the kids touching that ball, but will certainly do so now!!

 

[pixiewings71]

Ehh, we just sanitize our hands after we play with it. We all really like it too, but we don't like it when there are tons of people over there. If it's too busy we just go back later.

 

[spacemermaid]

It does seem more like something that should be at a mall rather than at Disneyland . Then again, IMO, the "Tomorrowland '98" was a disaster, and the giant wet marble was a part of it.

I'm gonna go with Disney Dreams' theory that it's supposed to be a planet.

It used to have a "hopping fountain" (ie: jets of water that shot out in synch, that kids could play in) around it, but that was taken out in order to put seating around it instead. Which is good, because TL needed more places to be able to sit down, and also because...P.U.!!! That water smelled like the sewer, especially on a hot day

 

[benolathe]

Does anyone have a picture of the water ball?

 

[Jrsy Boy]

I read somewhere that, if the ball wasn't there, the water would shoot something like 200 feet straight up. That's how much pressure is allowing it to rotate.

 

[AmyPond]

We call it the "bacteria ball."

Our zoo has one too.

 

[usschmidt]

For me it's not so much the other people touching it, it's the water...what the heck is in it!

 

[SKWDW]

Does anyone have a picture of the water ball?

Ask and ye shall receive

 

[Judy from Boise]

I always thought of it as a physics display....along the lines of with a big enough fulcrum you could move a planet.......

 

[Disney Dreams]

A little Google searching and....

The area is called Cosmic Waves.

It used to have lots of fountains pop up and down squirting water and you could run in and out.

Here's a write-up I found from 1998 opening of the "New Tomorrowland":
"...new "Cosmic Waves" - an interactive 'wave maze' water fountain. I can tell this new future-fountain area will be a big hit with the summer crowd. The fountain's dancing water jets are programmed for different water release patterns. In the middle of this fountain is a two ton marble, approximately five foot in diameter, that is balanced on a pedestal. Water is released up the inside-middle of this pedestal and the water tension makes the heavy marble float ever so slightly. All it takes is a little push with the hand to start it spinning."

Seems a few years later the fountains were discontinued and the ball stayed.

ETA: Here's another photo from another site.

- Dreams

 

[skiingfast]

Isn't it nice to have a place to play in some water in DL? The alternative is Splash on the far side of the park.

 

[ORDisneyfans]

Thanks for the history! My girls also love it and we find it a nice place to take a break before or after Space Mountain.