What Is 'Tomorrowland,' Exactly?

Just in case you don't have your tickets already, make a note of it now: Disney's Tomorrowland hits theaters Friday, and with visually stunning trailers driving its promotional campaign — not to mention George Clooney and Under the Dome's Britt Robertson leading the cast — this one's definitely not one to miss. However, while these details of the film sound great, they don't really explain what the land known as "Tomorrowland" is.

Director Brad Bird (the same guy who gave us The Incredibles, Iron Giant and Ratatouille) teamed up with Damon Lindeloff (the guy wrote the hit series LOST, HBO's The Leftovers and Star Trek Into Darkness) for an original sci-fi tale. All fans knew really going in, according to EW, was that the two were inspired by a mysterious box found in the Disney archives that included various items. It was this box that inspired them to imagine a world, a scientific utopia, if you will, that embodied these items. Of course, it's also based on the section of Disney World known as Tomorrowland, which houses the futuristic attractions of the theme park.

On the surface, based on the trailers, posters, images, and the like, Tomorrowland looks like a spin on the Walt Disney Pictures logo (i.e. the Cinderella castle), only a bit more high-tech. But, what is this "Tomorrowland," as we see it in the film, exactly? And, for that matter, where is it? Let's start with the basics.

What Is Tomorrowland?

In the film, Tomorrowland was established by the greatest scientific and creative minds of the world — like, Thomas Edison was one of the original founding fathers of this haven. Basically, it was a place for all these unique individuals to join together and "change the world," as Clooney's Frank tells us in the film. A place for these people to invent, paint, compose, create whatever their minds could think of. There's one crucial characteristic for those admitted: perseverance. It was essential that the inhabitants of Tomorrowland would never give up on their dreams.

To find new dreamers to join this community, the leader of Tomorrowland (played by Hugh Laurie), sent out "representatives," of sorts, to extend an invitation. This invitation is a pin that's unique to the individual and will only activate for him or her. When touched it shows the person a pre-recorded vision of Tomorrowland, inviting them to come along. That's the golden wheat field in which we see Robertson's character, Casey.

Where Is Tomorrowland?

Tomorrowland is a bit difficult to find if these people don't have one of these "representatives" guiding you and explaining the trippy vision they're seeing. Even if you were to follow the pin, you'd end up like Casey, wading through a pond of murky water in the middle of the night.

Tomorrowland is actually located in a parallel dimension. There used to be many ways to get there — portals scattered around the Earth — but, thanks to the events you'll learn about in the film, they were all shut down. Now there's only two ways: the first and easiest being opening a portal from Tomorrowland, and the second being the secret emergency entrance put in place by the founding fathers.

Tomorrowland hits theaters May 22.

Images: Walt Disney Pictures (2); Giphy (2)