Today In Disney History ~ June 23rd
From Wikipedia:
They Skyway was built by Von Roll, Ltd. based in Bern, Switzerland. It was the first Von Roll Type 101 aerial ropeway in the USA. Walt Disney Imagineering bought the ride from Switzerland. It was a 1947 Vonroll sidechair model. In 1959, a major renovation added The Submarine Voyage, the Disneyland Monorail, the Matterhorn (now a Fantasyland Attraction), and the Motor Boat Cruise, but when the Matterhorn was planned it was designed to be built right in the path of the Skyway, so without a single closure of the Skyway, the Matterhorn was built around the Skyway.
During the Fantasyland renovation at Disneyland in the mid-1980s, the Skyway made only roundtrips from Tomorrowland.
The Disneyland Skyway was removed on November 9, 1994 due to stress cracks in the Matterhorn roller battery supports and lack of ADA compliance. At Disneyland, the Fantasyland Skyway station remains but is off limits to guests and completely empty (no machinery) and is mostly hidden by trees, it is slated though to be demolished soon due to pest infestations and a weakening structure, and the Tomorrowland Skyway station has been demolished. The holes in the Matterhorn were partially filled in and the Skyway supports were dismantled within weeks. The Skyway’s operating budget was transferred to Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye. A tribute to the Skyway was added to the Matterhorn Bobsleds during that attraction’s extensive refurbishment in 2015. Several wrecked Skyway buckets and Matterhorn Bobsled vehicles from the park’s history appear just past the top of the lift hill, torn to shreds and abandoned by the attraction’s Abominable Snowman.
TMSM Today in Graphic by Sherry Rinaldi DeHart
Michele also contributes theme park news for Fox 35 Orlando 11pm news and on the radio on WDBO.
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