1500th Post - It’s A Celebration, Pt. 7: Transportation

There is the famous quote by Walt about Disneyland in its infancy: “I just want it to look like nothing else in the world. And it should be surrounded by a train.”

Walt Disney loved a serious dose of nostalgia; Main Street U.S.A. and The Disneyland Railroad are living testimonies to this fact.



Let’s hop aboard The Ernest S. Marsh with Walt and take a vintage Grand Circle Tour around the park, shall we?



Get those windows exactly where you want them to be...it could get drafty here!



The original Santa Fe water tower in Frontierland and the depot based on the one from “So Dear To My Heart.” On the left, you can see the back of the Chicken Plantation Restaurant. Eventually, this station would be moved down a bit to make way for New Orleans Square.





The colorful Fantasyland Depot:



Look at these friendly engineers, parked at the Tomorrowland Depot:



If you think that Walt was stuck in the past, you are sorely mistaken. Walt was constantly on the lookout for the newest idea in transportation that could solve the world’s problems both economically and ecologically. Disneyland was his testing ground for many of these newfangled contraptions.

In 1956, he introduced The Skyway as a means of travel for guests between Fantasyland to Tomorrowland.





The Viewliner was Walt’s first attempt at a modern streamlined train, debuting in June 1957:





Not long after The Viewliner appeared, a Monorail in Germany caught Walt’s enthusiasm:



And that was all she wrote for The Viewliner. Plans were drawn up for The Monorail and The Viewliner was yesterday’s news.







For the New Tomorrowland of 1967, The PeopleMover was introduced at Disneyland. Constantly moving, it provided a way for guests to get an overview of the wonders of Tomorrowland.



The same concept of travel was utilized in both The Haunted Mansion and Adventures Thru Inner Space, where it was dubbed “The Omnimover.”

TRANSPORTATION TODAY: Sadly, The PeopleMover of 1967 was the last major form of new transportation that was introduced to Disneyland, unless you count the Jolly Trolley in Toon Town:



Not only were the Skyway and PeopleMover removed, but The Jolly Trolley eventually got bolted down to become merely a photo opportunity. Hey Imagineers, how about unbolting the Trolley and extending the route out of Toon Town, passing the Matterhorn, and stopping at Central Plaza? Currently, there is no transportation from Main Street to Toon Town, and this would sure help a number of families who are struggling with a ton-o-kids at their feet. Just a thought...

On the plus side, The PeopleMover is supposedly making a return to Tomorrowland. Here’s to hoping that the Imagineers take this opportunity to rethink that classic vehicle and update it into something that ignites the imaginations and hearts of guests from all over the world.

The public relations nightmare of the revamped Mark 7 Monorails of 2007 will hopefully show the importance of careful yet forward-thinking planning.



Speaking of The PeopleMover, Kevin Doherty was kind enough to share his recap and photos from the recent event at The Disneyland Hotel celebrating mechanical marvels:

“Disneyland (and, it seems the PeopleMover vehicles) will never be completed”

As I sit writing this installment (I thought it would be the last … maybe not) the event is done and the machines sit in the back yard, looking very cool. I’m told that they were the hit of the show. To get them there was…well, something else.



I was reminded by a friend that it’s like planning a wedding. You want everything to be perfect, but no matter how much time and planning you do, everything seems to fall apart and go wrong at the last minute. But—the big day comes, you see all the flaws…yet nobody else notices and everyone has a great time.

Same here. From running out of screws to the last batch of painted parts being done wrong to forever remaining “sticky” (seats no less) and worse, my wife went to emergency the afternoon before the event (she’s ok now)—everything went wrong. Did I mention that the weekend before, while screwing in a part, I pulled my elbow out? Hurt like heck and couldn’t use it for 2 weeks.

Despite the issues – I’m told by many that the units were a hit. My favorite moment was when Bob Gurr agreed to sign the inside “dash” of 10B. Very fun.



Many guests (there were about 500) took pictures and the most fun was seeing the smiles when they sat in them. I could tell they were remembering good times. I was impressed not only with the guests’ interest and the usual questions (“Will they ever bring the PeopleMovers back?” being the most discussed) but with the interest and conversations in the technical aspects. People really care about Bob Gurr’s wonderful engineering.

The copy of the control box that had decided to give me fits during testing, worked perfectly all night and was the center of many discussions. Bob even explained the purpose of the 101 – 102 switch, which I had installed but had no idea of the function.

My one error of the night? The MC for the event was Neil Patrick Harris. I remember him coming over a couple of times during breaks and once he politely asked if he could take pictures. I was so pre-occupied, I didn’t ask if he had questions and didn’t get a photo with him. Hope he doesn’t think I was being rude. I know he was truly interested.



We dismantled the units and display the next morning and transported 10B and 10C to their new home in our back yard (they look and feel so much better in the open than in a building). Jan (my wife) and I will again be able to sit and enjoy some wine while listening to Jack Wagner’ s “Go-Go-Goodyear” spiel. Wonder which unit we’ll enjoy more: 10B or 10C?

We’ll still need to disassemble them once again to fix the painted panels that aren’t right but that’s for next year – just before we put down the track for them to run on…and start the next project, a working Autopia vehicle…or maybe the Space Mountain car? On a track? Did you know Bob calculated the frame for stresses on this car?

Boy, I love this stuff—hope you do too.

For you nostalgia buffs, here’s a photo from Jason Schultz showing 2 PeopleMover vehicles and their short-lived replacement, The Rocket Rods.



View more Disneyland Railroad photos at my main website.

1500th Post - It’s A Celebration, Pt. 6: Tomorrowland

When it was first constructed, Tomorrowland was to be a showplace for all things of the future; a sort of World’s Fair for Technology that could teach and inspire future generations to reach beyond the norm. Because of time and money constraints, Tomorrowland ended up being a hodge-podge of sponsors and off-the-shelf rides. As the years went by and the success of the park solidified, Walt put his last bursts of energy into making Tomorrowland what he had originally intended it to be. To begin the post, I will show photos of the initial 1950’s version, which is full of nostalgic icons and retro fun. The irony of my first image and the trashcan marked “waste” is not lost on those who have visited the Tomorrowland of today.

This second image showed park guests what the future was all about: Space Travel and Sexy Chicks!



Even more iconic than the Clock of the World was The Moonliner, which towered above all of Tomorrowland and was visible from almost every part of the park.



Once inside the attraction building, guests could be dazzled by a simulated flight to the moon!



Today, I doubt that Americans would even change the channel from Snookie & The Situation to watch an astronaut on the moon. Oh how jaded we have become.

Some of those sponsored exhibits that I mentioned earlier included the Bathroom of Tomorrow by Crane (I can hear guests now, “But honey, I need a bathroom NOW!”). Once again, it’s up to the Sexy Chick to sell the plumbing fixtures.



The American Dairy Association had all kinds of fun gadgets to play with and even a space-age looking delivery man. It’s probably difficult for people of today to fathom that milk used to be delivered to your doorstep!





The Dutch Boy Paint Gallery was a swirl of color, allowing guests to play mix and match. If the combo that you picked was a stinker, you’d hear an unpleasant musical cadence!





Kaiser Aluminum, starring The Kaiser Aluminum Pig (aka KAP):





Monsanto must have had some money to burn; they had The Hall of Chemistry...





...and the still treasured House of the Future, which fought back valiantly when the wrecking ball came in 1967:







American Motors sponsored “Circarama”:



To fill in vacant space, Disney re-used their sets from “20,000 Leagues Under The Sea” and made an entire exhibit out of them:







It just wasn’t quite as impressive without the water!



Two other attractions added real excitement for guests. The Autopia gave young drivers the opportunity to see what it was like to drive on futuristic highway.



Kids who got out of line were promptly “pulled over”:



BUSTED!





The Astro Jets were an off-the-shelf type ride that were given the theme of space travel to make them seem a little more special:



As the years went by, Tomorrowland saw a few additions and upgrades. These included the Cox Flight Circle, where guests could watch demonstrations of model planes:



The mechanically-challenged Flying Saucers attraction:





The Art of Animation exhibit—not quite sure what this had to do with the future, but it was still popular for guests to thumb through old Disney cel art:



What Disney guest doesn’t know about The Submarine Voyage, with its exploration of liquid space?



Circarama gave way to “America The Beautiful,” spawning these two posters:







Although all of these things generate nostalgic and warm fuzzies, nothing seems to compare to “The New Tomorrowland” of 1967. Tomorrowland was practically scraped and burned to make way for the new vision of the future, and this time Walt was determined to do it right.





This was one of the last projects that Walt himself worked on. Footage exists of Walt walking through this section of the park, animatedly pointing out what he wanted fixed-changed-removed. Although his stature shows what physical condition he was in, Walt had lost nothing of his sharp mind nor forward-thinking ideas.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you The New Tomorrowland, circa 1967:







Check out some of these new exhibits that (even though now gone) still draw emotional reactions from those who recall them:

The Carousel of Progress:







Monsanto lost the House of the Future but came back to tout the miracles of molecules with Adventure Thru Inner Space:





The PeopleMover:





Even old favorites received the “plusing” that Walt was famous for. The Astro Jets became The Rocket Jets and were elevated to a platform that towered over Tomorrowland, making them a much more thrilling ride!



Rocket to the Moon morphed into Flight to the Moon:





TOMORROWLAND TODAY: This is the only land that really makes me sad. Walt’s 1967 mega-watt upgrade has deteriorated over the years and become a mere shadow of what it was intended to be. The Imagineers are aware of this, and there has been buzz for the last few years that an overhaul is needed. Although Buzz Lightyear...



and Star Tours...



and Space Mountain...



are super fun attractions, there is very little in Tomorrowland that stirs the imagination or the hope for a better Tomorrow. There was a flurry of excitement when it was announced a few years back that a “new” House of the Future was being built, but the flurry disappeared quickly when the final result was not much different from a Home Depot Showcase display.

With the amazing renovation of California Adventure, I choose to be hopeful that in the very near future, Tomorrowland will get the TLC that it deserves.

Next up: TRANSPORTATION! View more Disneyland Tomorrowland photos at my main website.