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5 Forgotten Disneyland Attractions
Sunday, September 4th, 2011.
Well, maybe not everyone has forgotten about these Disneyland rides of the past. Walt Disney and his team of Imagineers were always looking for ways to keep Disneyland fresh and exciting, so it’s no surprise that quite a large number of rides and attractions have come and gone over the years. Here’s a small sampling of those that no longer exist, but have left an indelible mark on the park’s history.Flying Saucers
This long-lost Disneyland ride was basically a giant air hockey table. A large field of air jets provided the saucer shaped bumper cars with just enough lift to glide over the surface. Guests commanded their own saucer, which they could steer by shifting their weight. While the ride was a hit, it required continual maintenance and was expensive to operate. Furthermore, the Flying Saucers could only accommodate a relatively small number of guests compared to other rides in the park which were much more efficient in moving people through them. For these reasons, the ride was only in operation from 1961 to 1965. However, a similar ride will be opening in 2012. Luigi’s Flying Tires, part of the new Cars Land, will operate like the Flying Saucers, but presumably the Disney Imagineers have worked out the costly maintenance issues.
Midget Autopia
The title of this miniature car ride is quite telling of the times in which it was operating. Apparently the not-so-PC title referred to the size of the ride itself and not the size of the riders. The Midget Autopia was a version of Autopia for those too young to get behind the wheel on either the Autopia or Junior Autopia ride. Similar to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, the car moves along a track and the steering wheel only changes the orientation of the vehicle. Opened in 1957, the Midget Autopia was only around until 1966, when it was paved over to make way for It’s A Small World. Instead of scrapping the ride altogether, Walt Disney donated it to his home town of Marceline, Missouri, where it continued to operate for several years.
People Mover
The leisurely, 16-minute PeopleMover ride opened in 1967 and continued to wind its way through Tomorrowland until 1995. When it first opened as part of the New Tomorrowland, the scenic train ride was called the Goodyear PeopleMover, as Goodyear Tires was the ride’s sponsor until December 1981. Throughout nearly 30 years of operation, the scenery and attractions the ride passed through changed as the park dropped old ones and added new ones. Some of the attractions that riders of the PeopleMover glided over or through were The Adventure Thru Inner Space, the Character Shop, the Tomorrowland Stage, the Rocket Jets, the General Electric Carousel of Progress pavilion, the Submarine Voyage, and America The Beautiful Presented by the Bell System. Though the ride has been closed for over fifteen years, the tracks still hover above Tomorrowland. Walt Disney World in Florida, however, still has a similar ride in operation called the Tomorrowland Transit Authority.
Submarine Voyage
Now The Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, the original Submarine Voyage opened at Disneyland in 1959. The ride was inspired by the passage of the USS Nautilus under the North Pole the previous year. On the Submarine Voyage, riders would climb down into one of Disneyland’s fleet of seven submarines to undertake a similar voyage. This particular deep sea adventure would take travelers past giant clams, mermaids, sunken ships, Atlantis, bioluminescent fish, the polar ice cap, and finally, a giant cross-eyed sea monster, after which the captain decided it was time to return home. Though far from realistic looking, the ride was always popular until it closed in 1998 due to it’s high operational cost and low rider capacity.
Burning Settlers Cabin
This strange little scene is still visible from a number of Frontierland rides, but the story behind it has changed drastically over the years. The first Disneyland guests encountered a scene that definitely would not fly in today’s world. What they saw was a burning cabin in front of which a sprawled out settler lay with an arrow in his chest. At this time, visitors were told that an unfriendly Indian had shot the settler in the back and then torched his cabin. In the 1970s, this portrayal of Native Americans was recognized as offensive and blame for the settler’s misfortune shifted to river pirates. Still a somewhat morbid story, the 1980s saw the unlucky settler become a moonshiner whose still had exploded and, instead of lying there dead, he was just too drunk to get up. Then in the 90s, the settler had simply set his cabin on fire by accident and endangered the nest of an eagle who had recently moved in. While this attraction is a minor one, its history is quite interesting as a barometer of cultural sensitivity and the entertainment industry’s response to changing times.
