Image Via bearexposed [Flickr]

The Skyway

Most visitors to Disneyland before the mid-nineties will remember this attraction, even if they never rode it. After all, an aerial gondola ride that went through the Matterhorn was something that was pretty easy to remember. The ride was built in 1956 and while plenty of similar rides exist in parks around the country these days, at the time, it was the first aerial ropeway in the U.S. In fact, the Skyway was actually built before the Matterhorn, which had to be built around the pre-existing gondola ride.

While the ride was very popular in that it allowed guests to view the entire park from above, it was closed in 1994 because the Matterhorn battery supports started to show stress cracks. In addition, prior to the closing of the ride, someone jumped out and while he ended up OK, the incident was certainly not something Disney executives wanted to repeat. Fixing the machinery and updating the ride to become ADA compliant and safer would have been outrageously expensive, so the ride was closed all together.

The hole in the Matterhorn is now covered up and the Tomorrowland station has been torn down, but the Fantasyland station is still sitting around empty.

Image Via ATIS547 [Flickr]

Country Bear Jamboree

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m particularly sad this one is gone. Opened in 1972, the Country Bear Jamboree was a stage show performed by animatronic critters –mostly bears. The attraction was so popular, it even was given a special Christmas show to entertain guests and inspired a movie that was released in 2002. A year before the movie was released though, the attraction was removed to make room for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ride.

If you are hoping that the bears come back, there are rumors that the attraction may open at California Adventure sometime, but these stories have not been confirmed as of yet.

Image Via Loren Javier [Flickr]

Flying Saucers

This ride, built in 1961, sounds pretty fun as it’s a little like riding on an air hockey puck. Essentially, you got to play bumper cars on hover cars. The vehicles featured an air cushion that was pushed off the ground by forceful gusts of air from the surface under the cars and while the ride seemed to be pretty popular, it was too expensive to operate and only allowed a few guests to participate at a time. That’s why it was cut only five years later, only to be replaced by the Tomorrowland Stage.

If you’re cursing the Imagineers for removing such a cool ride before you got to experience it, there’s good news. This idea is going to be reworked to fit a Cars theme and Luigi’s Roamin’ Tires at California Adventure is all set to open in 2012.

Image Via arbyreed [Flickr]

Tomorrowland Boats and the Submarine Voyage

The Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage might be the current occupant of Tomorrowland’s Mermaid Lagoon, but it is the third incarnation of rides in the area. In fact, the first ride in the lagoon, Tomorrowland Boats, was actually the first permanent attraction to be removed from the park. Opening a little after opening day, then renamed and closed within a year, the boats suffered from unreliable engines that often left visitors stuck in the middle of the lagoon.

Of course, Disney wasn’t about to leave that space open long, so within a few years, the Submarine Voyage was opened to the public. The ride explored an undersea world filled with mermaids, a sea serpent and other realistic and imaginary marine life. The ride was a big enough deal that it was actually one of the first attractions to require an E ticket.

In the mid-sixties, the lagoon was even decked out with real women in mermaid costumes sitting on the rocks and periodically performing synchronized swimming routines. Unfortunately, a few gents actually tried swimming out to meet these mystical maidens and some of the mermaids raised health concerns related to being submerged in the dirty water on a daily basis, so the act only lasted a few years.

The Submarine Voyage lasted quite a while longer, but as rides began improving more and more, kids started to get bored with the attraction and the cost of upkeeping the vessels and underwater creatures just wasn’t worth the investment. The ride closed for good in 1998, with Disneyland president Paul Pressler promising a new attraction would be opened by 2003. Originally, the powers that be intended to create a ride based on the Disney film Atlantis, but when that movie bombed, the lagoon sat empty for years, until it was finally drained in 2005 for the creation of the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage.

Images Via Olivander and Tom Simpson [Flickr]

The PeopleMover and Rocket Rods

Opening in 1967, the PeopleMover was intended to show a futuristic alternative version of public transportation. The ride used a moving sidewalk to get people up to the right speed before they boarded open air cars that ran on a high track, allowing them to see the attractions of Tomorrowland.

When the ride was closed in 1995, it sat vacant for years before it was replaced with the Rocket Rods, which were Disney’s attempt at using the PeopleMover track for something else.

Essentially, the ride took a similar look at the area as the PeopleMover, only it raced through the track. Because Disney couldn’t find a sponsor for the ride though, they tried to keep costs down as much as possible, refusing to bank the corners, which resulted in the ride having to slow down drastically every time it turned. These sudden speed changes also led to problems with the computer system and the ride broke down just about every day. Within two years, the ride was scrapped and the track now sits empty. While there are rumors that the PeopleMover will return, Disney execs have stated that if they do, it will be a major investment on the company’s part because the ride will have to be revamped drastically to make it compliant with modern ADA and safety regulations.

Image Via Distraction Limited [Flickr]

The Mule Pack and Rainbow Caverns Mine Train

Here’s one I always thought sounded cool even though I never got to do it myself. The Mule Pack gave kids and adults a chance to ride real mules up the mountains, forests and deserts of Frontierland. When the Rainbow Caverns Mine Train ride opened in the space that is now Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, the mules and trains could operate the hillsides at the same time.

The mule ride was closed in 1973 though, and three years later, the train ride (renamed the Mine Train Through Nature’s Wonderland) was closed to make way for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. For more information on the transition, check out our Neatorama Facts about the ride.

Image Via fivequinns [Flickr]

Rocket to the Moon and Mission to Mars

Back in 1955, it was amazing to imagine man being able to actually travel to the moon, but the Rocket to the Moon attraction allowed guests to imagine flying in a rocket ship that was on its way to our nearest neighbor in the sky. The project was as realistic as Imagineers could hope at the time and they even worked with NASA to ensure it was as authentic as possible.

After we landed on the moon in 1969 though, the ride started seeming less and less exciting, so Disney refurbished the ride so the ultimate destination would now be Mars. Designers once again worked with NASA to ensure the attraction was realistic and the Mission to Mars opened to the public in 1975. By the nineties though, space exploration wasn’t nearly as far-fetched as it was in earlier decades, so the attraction was closed in 1992 to make way for an ambitious new Tomorrowland project that would include a number of exciting new rides. Unfortunately, Disneyland Paris started going into serious debt at the same time, so most of the Tomorrowland changes were canned permanently. The Mission to Mars building sat open until 1998 when it was opened as a restaurant, Redd Rockett’s Pizza Port –personally, I’d rather take a simulated trip to Mars than eat some subpar pizza.

Image Via bearexposed [Flickr]

Do any of you miss these long-gone attractions? And those of you who visit Disney World or the other parks, do you have any closed rides you were particularly fond of?

Sources: Wikipedia #1,#2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7

_____________________________

Disneyland fans! See more Neatorama Facts:

Neatorama Facts: Splash Mountain
Neatorama Facts: Haunted Mansion
Neatorama Facts: Sleeping Beauty Castle
Neatorama Facts: Pirates of the Caribbean
Neatorama Facts: The Jungle Cruise
Neatorama Facts: Space Mountain
Neatorama Facts: The Enchanted Tiki Room
Neatorama Facts: Christmas at Disneyland
Neatorama Facts: It’s a Small World
Neatorama Facts: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Neatorama Facts: Star Tours

When you talk about Star Tours nowadays, you have to distinguish between the new and improved version that just opened this year and the classic incarnation, which was first launched in 1987. Personally, I haven’t been on the new version and I’m sure many of you haven’t yet either, which is why it’s so exciting to read about. Of course, the classic ride was something all Disneyland lovers recall with fondness, so I’ll be sure to include plenty of info on that one as well, including the history of the ride itself.

Image via inturnaround [Flickr]

Creating A Ride That Occurs “A Long Time Ago, In A Galaxy Far, Far Away”

While Star Tours eventually became the first Disney ride based on a film the company had nothing to do with, it didn’t start out that way. Originally the ride was conceived to go along with the 1979 Disney film The Black Hole. The ride was intended to be an interactive simulator that allowed guests the opportunity to choose the car’s route, but because the project was going to be so expensive (ringing in at an estimated $50 million) and the film wasn’t a big success, the idea was quickly shelved.

Fortunately, rather than trashing the idea altogether, the company decided to partner with George Lucas, who was already working with them to produce Captain EO. Once everyone agreed to the idea, the Imagineers started work on the project by buying four military-grade flight simulators that cost $500,000 each and then they started designing the building and ride around their new toys.

While the Imagineers worked on the technical side of the project, Lucas and his team at Industrial Light & Magic worked on the film that would be played inside the simulators. Once the simulators and film were up to speed, a programmer then had to sit inside with a joystick to manually synchronize the vehicle’s movements to the action on screen.

By the time the project was completed in 1987, the ride cost a total of $32 million, which was almost twice the cost Disney paid to build the entire park back in 1955. To celebrate the official opening, and to help promote the new ride, the grand opening of Star Tours coincided with the park being left open for 60 straight hours starting on January 9, 1987 at 10 am.

Image via popculturegeek.com [Flickr]

The Story of A Classic

While the actual ride doesn’t start till you get on the simulators, you enter the story line as soon as you get to the inside queue area. Essentially, you are a tourist traveling through space to visit Endor. As you go through the line, you can see posters advertising different intergalactic destinations, along with animatronic characters who work at the space port and a life-size mock up of a StarSpeeder 3000 –the ship you are using to travel the galaxy.

If you paid attention in the line for the classic version of the ride, you’d notice a few Star Wars favorites, such as Admiral Ackbar, C3P0 and R2D2. The two famous robots were actually used in the film and C3P0 is even plated in gold, which Lucas chose because it was the only material that gave the right color he was looking for and it was guaranteed not to rust. Another fun distraction in the line was a recorded page for “Mr. Egroeg Sacul,” to meet his party at gate 2. If you ever wondered who the heck that is, try reading the name backwards –that’s right, it’s “George Lucas.”

Once you got near the front of the line, you’d be shown a quick safety video and then you would enter the flight simulator. As the doors closed, your pilot, RX-24, introduced himself and chattily told you that this would be his first flight. If you think this pilot sounded familiar, that’s because he’s voiced by Paul Reubens –aka Peewee Herman.

RX-24 screwed up before you even got out of the space station, sending the ship into a tunnel that led to a maintenance yard and almost getting everyone killed right away. He would then take a breath, put the ship into light speed and manage to overshoot his intended destination. Suddenly, the ship is inside of a comet cluster and RX-24 had to maneuver it out of a maze of tunnels inside of a giant comet in the belt. Upon exiting, he would then be captured by the tractor beam of a Star Destroyer.

A rebel X-wing fighter would save the ship by destroying the beam’s generator, but that also meant that the ship had to tag along in the battle while the rebels attempted to destroy a Death Star. The ship had to avoid attacks by the Empire and navigate through a complex maze of rubble before flying away when one of the rebels manages to destroy the Death Star. Finally, RX-24 would put the ship in light speed again and the ship would arrive at its intended destination, but not before almost crashing into a fuel truck before docking.

While the old ride was great, Disneyland has always been dedicated to updating its rides to keep the park feeling modern and to give the guests new experiences. With that in mind, the company worked with George Lucas again to renovate the ride. In celebration of the ride’s closing, Walt Disney World threw a huge celebration and at the end, they held a Star Tours shutdown ceremony where Boba Fett blew the ride up using a thermal detonator.

For those of you who can’t get enough of the classic, you can always take a trip to Disneyland Paris or Tokyo Disneyland, where there have been no announcements to update the rides as of yet.

Images via JoshMcConnell [Flickr] and Peter E. Lee [Flickr]

Enhancing An Already Great Time

Star Tours: The Adventure Continues takes place earlier in the time line of Star Wars. The original ride was set after Return of the Jedi, but the newer version takes place sometime between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. It is also majorly different in that it offers over 54 different possible experiences and the equipment used has all been improved –there’s now high-def video, a 3D high-def screen, an improved motion simulator and other new special effects.

The basic story of the ride remains the same, guests are space tourists on their way to a particular destination –but there are now multiple destinations available. Similarly, the queue also features the same animatronic Star Wars characters, only now there is also a discarded Captain RX-24 who periodically delivers lines from his prior role as your captain. The biggest change in the line area though is that there is now a mock security checkpoint where your luggage, cargo and self will be inspected –unlike a TSA checkpoint though, there are no nude body scanners and you can keep your shoes on.

Once you get through security, you’ll see a television monitor showing you C-3PO who has been trapped in the cockpit while trying to perform maintenance on the ship. You will then be seated and start the adventure, which will always involve delivering the Rebel spy (a randomly chosen member of the audience) to safety.

There are eleven segments of the film though and each segment has multiple options that the ride will select randomly. Ultimately, there are 54 different journeys available and that’s not including the bonus that you might be selected as the Rebel spy on your voyage. This means you can ride the attraction over and over without getting bored and if you have been on it a few times, you can even tell the queue operators which journeys you have been on to ensure you get the maximum variety for your trip.

Depending on your specific trip, you may or may not hear the newly recorded audio from famous cast members including Anthony Daniels as C-3P0, James Earl Jones as Darth Vader, Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca, Frank Oz as Yoda and Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia. All in all, the ride is even more tied in with the actual films than it used to be and the special effects and random ride options make it even more immersive than ever before.

Images via litlnemo [Flickr] and HarshLight [Flickr]

I’m waiting until the Fall to head back to Disneyland so I won’t have to deal with the heat and all the crowds, so I’m dying to ride the new Star Tours. Have any of you gotten to take a trip yet? If so, what did you think? Do you prefer the old version or the new one?

Sources: Wikipedia #1, #2, Little-Known Facts About Well-Known Places: Disneyland

_____________________________

Disneyland fans! See more Neatorama Facts:

Neatorama Facts: Haunted Mansion
Neatorama Facts: Sleeping Beauty Castle
Neatorama Facts: Pirates of the Caribbean
Neatorama Facts: The Jungle Cruise
Neatorama Facts: Space Mountain
Neatorama Facts: The Enchanted Tiki Room
Neatorama Facts: Christmas at Disneyland
Neatorama Facts: It’s a Small World
Neatorama Facts: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

The Enchanted Tiki Room is kind of like It’s A Small World –people either love it or hate it and no matter how you actually feel about it, you’re guaranteed to have the songs stuck in your head after you leave. Personally, I’m one of those people who loves the show–not least of all because it means getting to sit in a nice air conditioned room while eating pineapple soft serve while the temperature outside exceeds 90 degrees.

Image via CarterHawk [Wikipedia]

Dinner Theater Is For The Birds

When Walt originally started work on the Tiki Room, he envisioned it as a restaurant where guests would be entertained by animatronic birds performing for the diners. It was intended to share a kitchen with the Plaza Pavilion and Tahitian Terrace. Interestingly, now none of these locations operates as a restaurant, the Plaza Pavilion is now used as an Annual Passport processing center and the Tahitian Terrace is now Aladdin’s Oasis, which mostly serves as a meet and greet area for those looking to take pictures with Aladdin and Jasmine.

Image via Loren Javier [Flickr]

There are still aspects of the building that give away its original nature. For one, it is the only attraction to include its own restrooms. Another mark of the planned restaurant, the magic fountain in the center of the room was originally planned to be a coffee station –which is why there is a storage compartment build into the base.

Of course, Walt and his crew soon realized the property would be too popular and was too small to seat all of the people who would want to see the show. Rather than scrapping the idea, the design was altered to accommodate rows of benches for guests to sit and watch the show.

Entertaining Through Animatronics

The Tiki Room was the first Disney attraction to feature Audio-Animatronics and since it required the use of computers (the operations room is located under the attraction), this also meant that it was the first ride to offer air conditioning –a factor that has continued to add to its popularity during hot Southern California summers.

Image via Loren Javier [Wikipedia]

In order to make the birds look as realistic as possible, designers opted to use real feathers on their bodies. They didn’t think the feathers looked quite right on the bird’s chests through, so they continued to brainstorm on what to use until imaginer Harriet Burns had lunch with Walt one day. He was wearing a cashmere sweater and Harriet noticed that the fabric moved on his elbows the exact way the team had envisioned the bird’s chests to move.

When the attraction opened, the four host birds all had the same colored feathers, white, green, yellow and blue. But as time progressed, the designers decided that each bird’s coloring should represent his country of origin. Jose is red, white and green. Michael is white and green. Pierre is blue, white and red. And Fritz is black, red and white.

If you’ve ever wondered about the breakdown of birds to flowers to tiki carvings, there are over 150 animatronic “actors” in the show, including:

• 54 singing orchids
• 12 toucans
• 12 tiki drummers
• 8 macaws (including the four hosts)
• 7 bird of paradise flowers
• 6 cockatoos

Opening A Classic

Strangely, Walt decided to put ownership of the attraction under his own company, WED Enterprises, rather than the Walt Disney Company, which owned the rest of the park. This meant guests had to pay a small admission fee of $.75 when the ride opened in June of 1963.

When the attraction opened, Hawaii had only recently become a state and America was obsessed with anything featuring a tropical island theme. Unsurprisingly, the Tiki Room was an instant success. In fact, the show was so popular that crowds would block up the entire entrance of Adventureland just to catch  glimpse of the talking bird outside the attraction –he was soon removed.

Inside The Show

Image via Loren Javier [Flickr]

Before entering, guests are entertained by talking tiki statutes that each represent Polynesian gods. There is also a Dole-sponsored video about pineapples. Eventually, the doors open and you are invited inside. Once everyone is seated, the cast member taps on Jose’s perch with a bamboo cane and the show begins. While it is not common knowledge, the show doesn’t have to be started by a cast member, so if you ask if you can wake up Jose as the audience filters in, you just might get to kick off the festivities.

The show kicks off with a little banter and then the birds and flowers start to sing “The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room,” which was written by the Sherman Brothers, who also wrote a number of other Disney classics including “It’s A Small World,” “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” The fountain then opens up, revealing a chorus line of beautiful cockatoos, the birds then perform “Let’s All Sing Like The Birdies Sing.”

Image via Loren Javier [Flickr]

The next song is the “Hawaiian War Chant,” stars the tiki carvings who sing and play drums. Interestingly, the song wasn’t actually written as a war chant, but as a love song.

The chant suddenly results in thunder, lightning and rain appearing on the windows. The host birds promise to show guests a magic trick by making the audience “disappear.” While everyone leaves, they sing a modified version of Heigh-Ho, that exclaims, “Heigh ho, heigh ho, it’s out the door you go.”

Behind The Birds

If certain voices from the Tiki Room sound familiar, there’s a reason for that. Fritz and the Hawaiian god Tangaroa are both voiced by Thurl Ravenscroft –the same man who voiced Tony The Tiger, sang “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” and performed the lead vocals for “Grim Grinning Ghosts” in the Haunted Mansion.

As for some of the lesser known voice talents in the attraction, Jose is voiced by Wally Boag, who was the star actor in the Golden Horseshoe Revue all the way up until 1986. Boag also helped write a lot of the script for the Haunted Mansion. Wally was honored as a Disney Legend in 1995 and was even given his own window on Main Street that reads, “Theatrical Agency – Golden Vaudeville Routines – Wally Boag, Prop.”

Image via Loren Javier [Flickr]

Michael is voiced by Fulton Burley who also worked on the Golden Horseshoe Revue. Pierre was performed by Ernie Newton who also did the singing vocals for Boo-Boo Bear in “Hey There It’s Yogi Bear.” Most of the other bird’s vocals were done by Purvis Pullen, aka Dr. Horatio Q. Birdbath, who was best known for his work with the satirical band Spike Jones and his City Slickers.

The Benefits of Sponsorship

If you don’t like the idea of Disney attractions being sponsored, you may want to reconsider your position when it comes to The Tiki Room. While the original sponsor, United Airlines, didn’t do anything to particularly hurt or help the attraction, Dole did when it took over as a sponsor in 1976. Not only did Dole enhance the show by offering delicious pineapple treats like the Dole Whip (I personally consider these an important aspect of the entire experience), they also put a stipulation in their contract that the attraction remain unchanged. When you consider what happened to the other park’s Tiki Rooms, this can certainly be interpreted as a major victory for the attraction’s fans.

Changes At Other Parks

When the Magic Kingdom opened, they offered a show that was pretty much the exact same, only called the “Tropical Serenade.” This attraction was replaced in 1998 by The Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management). This new show started out similar to the original, but was soon interrupted by Iago from Aladdin –voiced by Gilbert Gottfried. Iago yells at the birds and insists they update their act when Zazu from the Lion King enters and tells him to leave the other birds alone and warns him against upsetting the tiki gods. Iago continues and then directly insults the gods, resulting in the tiki goddess Uh-Oa waking up and zapping him with her powers.

When a small fire broke out in the attraction on January 12 of this year, a number of Disney fans expressed the hope that the ride will be “under old management” when it reopens.

The Japanese version also started out like the original, but it was changed to have a Vegas-styled theme with Lounge-styled songs in 1999. Then in 2008 it was changed again, returning to a Hawaiian theme, but this time incorporating Stitch from Lilo and Stitch into the mix. I have to admit that as much as I hate the idea of changing these classic attractions, I’m a huge sucker for Stitch and really want to see this show.

Do you like the Tiki Room or do you find it a little too dull? Also, if you’ve been to the other versions of the attraction, what do you think about the modifications?

Sources: Wikipedia #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, Little Known Facts About Well Known Places: Disneyland

_____________________________

Disneyland fans! See more Neatorama Facts:

Neatorama Facts: Haunted Mansion

Neatorama Facts: Sleeping Beauty Castle

Neatorama Facts: Pirates of the Caribbean

Neatorama Facts: The Jungle Cruise

Neatorama Facts: Space Mountain

photo by Stacy Conradt

The ride is currently under major renovations at Disneyland, and while I admit it’s not one of my favorite rides, I was disappointed that my sister-in-law didn’t get to experience it on her first-ever Disney trip last month. And now, she may never get to experience the original World’s Fair version that has resided in Fantasyland for the past 40 years.

Disney says that the main change is a change of boats, but according to insiders in the know, it’s actually going to be much more. We’ll get to that in a second.

The original IASW is based on the idea of world peace. No, really. Walt Disney attended a conference held by President Eisenhower in 1956 about promoting world peace and cultural understanding through world travel. Inspired, Disney recruited Mary Blair to design the attraction, Marc and Alice Davis to design the scenes and the doll outfits respectively, and Joyce Carlson to design the dolls. At first, the ride included the national anthems of all of the different nations represented, but Disney decided he needed one uniting song. Robert and Richard Sherman wrote the now-famous tune and that was that.

photo from feministJulie on Flickr

A couple of quick facts:
• The attraction debuted at the 1964-65 World’s Fair in New York.
• Major themes of the boat ride include Europe, Asia, Africa, Central/South America, South Pacific Islands, the Finale and the Good-bye Scene.
• Throughout your 10.5 minute boat ride, you’ll hear the repetitive song in Spanish, French, and Japanese, to name a few.

And now the changes: The changes are going to see the rainforest scene – a really detailed, colorful and innovative representation of Mary Blair’s artwork – replaced with a massive “Hooray for the U.S.A.” scene. Right now, the only American characters represented are a cowboy and an Eskimo. This might seem like the U.S. isn’t very well represented, but when you consider that the point of the ride is to explore other cultures, it makes sense.

Another big change is that Disney is going to stick its characters in scenes where they “belong”. So you might see the Hunchback of Notre Dame in the France section, Simba and Rafiki in the African section and Ariel with the gurgling mermaids at the beginning of the ride (at Disneyland, not Disneyworld). Commercialism at its worst, I guess. I get that it’s Disney and its bread and butter is its characters, but the original IASW was not designed to sell Disney product. Walt himself commissioned it with the idea of promoting global understanding, not global marketing.

photo from Re-Imagineering
I guess I’m torn – I can understand the need to update and improve the ride, but maybe not to the lengths they are going. Can’t they up the America factor by adding a few more characters instead of destroying an entire classic scene? And what about subtly putting Disney character references into the ride instead of the actual characters themselves, which won’t match the dolls in the rest of the ride? For instance, make one of the French dolls wear the simplistic blue-and-white Belle dress and carry a book. Give one of the mermaids red hair. I think it can be done in a way that doesn’t rip the integrity of the original design away.

What do you guys think? Horrible updates, or is Small World long overdue for some modernization?

Some Disneyland attractions are classics and have been around forever – Dumbo, for instance, has been around almost since the beginning (the park opened on July 17, 1955 and Dumbo followed about a month later). Peter Pan’s Flight has been around since the beginning, and so has the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party (the teacups!) and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.

Other rides haven’t really stood up to the test of time, unfortunately, and those are the ones we’re going to take a look at.

Holidayland

photo from A History of Disney Theme Parks

You’re probably familiar with the different sections of Disneyland these days – Tomorrowland, Frontierland and Fantasyland, to name a few. But Holidayland? Yep. It opened on June 16, 1957, and was a nine-acre picnic area that was for… well… frolicking, basically. There were playgrounds, horseshoes, a baseball field, volleyball and the “world’s largest candy-striped circus tent” which stood where the Haunted Mansion is today. Pirates of the Caribbean takes up the spot where the baseball field used to be. It only lasted a few years – Holidayland closed in 1961 because it just didn’t fit in with the rest of the park (among other things like lack of shade).

The Viewliner

This miniature train has the dubious honor of being one of the shortest-lived rides to ever exist at Disneyland. It opened in June of 1957 and promptly closed in September 1958 when construction started on the Matterhorn and Submarine Voyage. There were two trains – one for Fantasyland and one for Tomorrowland – and the track ran a figure-eight through both of those areas. The tiny, sleek (for that time) train was supposed to represent the future of train travel. Eventually the monorail filled the void left by the Viewliner.

Monsanto House of the Future

picture from Apartment Therapy

I love those old ads from the 1950s that show “futuristic” kitchens cooking the meals all by themselves with “space-age” technology. That’s kind of what the Monsanto House of the Future was like. It was in operation from 1957 to 1967 and was a tour of a house in the year 1986. It’s laughable now, but the MIT-built house featured technology such as microwaves, which obviously did end up being invented. Just about everything about the house – including the exterior – was made out of plastic. You can still see the support pillars of Monsanto’s House of the Future in Neptune’s Grotto – they were rated for earthquakes and proved to be so sturdy that they were just about impossible to remove. Monsanto, by the way, is an agricultural biotechnology company (meaning they make herbicides and pesticides and the like).

Captain EO

picture from AlteredDreams

In the more recent past, we have Captain EO, which I vaguely remember from EPCOT. Captain EO was a 3-D movie starring, of course, Michael Jackson. And if you’re looking for more credentials than that (keep in mind MJ was HUGE at this point in time), it was directed by Francis Ford Coppola and executive produced by George Lucas. They also co-wrote the script with Rusty Lemorande.

Here’s the plot: Captain EO and his team are piloting a spaceship to deliver a gift to the evil Supreme Leader (Anjelica Huston). One of his shipmates is named Hooter, which seems like a huge oversight to me. Hooter is an elephant, not an owl as you might suspect. Well, the Supreme Leader isn’t exactly thrilled with the crew and orders them to be tortured. EO charms the Queen by singing her a song, but as soon as the music stops the spell breaks and she orders the crew to be captured again. EO uses his music to transform the evil guards into dancers who line up to dance behind him Thriller-zombie-style. EO eventually uses his powers to turn the Supreme Leader and her entire planet into things of beauty.
The 17-minute film cost somewhere between $17 and $30 million to make. Sounds like a lot, but when you consider than it ran for more than 10 years at Disneyland (1986 to 1997), maybe it’s not so bad. Then MJ went weird and Disney decided to pull the attraction and replace it with “Honey, I Shrunk the Audience”.

America Sings!

picture from Yesterland

Looking for a collection of animatronic swamp critters singing old Dixieland favorites and old folk tunes? Too bad you missed America Sings! Had you been at Disneyland sometime between June of 1974 and April of 1988, you could have witnessed geese singing “Camptown Races”, a dog singing “Home on the Range” a pink singing “Won’t You Come Home Bill Bailey?” and a crane and a rooster singing “Shake, Rattle and Roll”. A decent number of the characters appeared to be either quite intoxicated or at least trying their hardest to get there. It’s one of the few Disney attractions with characters actually drinking alcohol (Pirates of the Caribbean also comes to mind… rum anyone?). The building was used for offices for a while and eventually became home to Innoventions, which I believe is still there today. The swamp creatures, however, befriended Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox and Brer Bear and now reside happily at Splash Mountain.

Flying Saucers

Picture from Yesterland

High school physics students who participated in Hovercraft competitions, this one is for you. Basically, the Flying Saucers ride was Disney’s answer to bumper cars. When the ride starts, air would shoot up under the saucer and lift it up off the floor (just a little… we’re not talking feet here). Riders would have to tilt their bodies the way they wanted the saucer to go and were encouraged to bump into other guests. Alas, the saucers only lasted about five years in the mid 60s.

Those are just a few of the rides that are now defunct – things at all of the Disney parks are always changing. Even the old favorites get little updates every now and then. Do you have a favorite ride that is no longer in operation? I know a lot of people were upset when the Magic Kingdom’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea met its maker.