The future will soon arrive. The House of the Future is coming back to Disneyland, and this time around, Microsoft, HP and LifeWare will be paying the bills instead of Monsanto, which originally sponsored the first House of the Future (pictured above) at Disneyland from 1957 until 1967. Instead of re-hashing today's passé accoutrements such as a microwave oven, pushbutton speakerphone, electric toothbrush and a big-screen color TV shown in the original house depicting the year 1986, the new one will attempt to impress visitors with various home control devices, automagic lighting, thermostats, ubiquitous audio/video systems, computerized everything and touchscreens aplenty.

The latest House of the Future will cost $15 million, and have 5000 square feet of floor space. Inside will reside actors from an imaginary family, getting ready for a trip to China and enjoying a dwelling that's probably a few orders of magnitude smarter than they are. Heck, all Disney needed to do was replicate the gadgetry inside Bill Gates's vast mansion, and they'd be up to date. But then, that's the house of the present, isn't it? Well, not for the rest of us. You'll be able to gawk at all the futuristic falderal at Disneyland in Anaheim, California starting this May.

Press Release, via Gearlog