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Matterhorn Bobsleds
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The Matterhorn Bobsleds or the Matterhorn is an attraction made up of two intertwining steel roller coasters at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. It is based on the Matterhorn, a mountain in the Swiss Alps of over 14,000 feet (it's exactly 4,478 metres), which has been scaled back to 1/100-scale to fit in with the rest of Disneyland. It is the first tubular steel track roller coaster ever constructed and thus an ACE Coaster Landmark.
Located on the borderline between Tomorrowland and Fantasyland (see below), it employs forced perspective to seem more impressively large.
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Encyclopedia
The Matterhorn Bobsleds or the Matterhorn is an attraction made up of two intertwining steel roller coasters at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. It is based on the Matterhorn, a mountain in the Swiss Alps of over 14,000 feet (it's exactly 4,478 metres), which has been scaled back to 1/100-scale to fit in with the rest of Disneyland. It is the first tubular steel track roller coaster ever constructed and thus an ACE Coaster Landmark.
Located on the borderline between Tomorrowland and Fantasyland (see below), it employs forced perspective to seem more impressively large. Throughout the day, Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse and Goofy, aided by two climbers dressed as Swiss mountain climbers, may be seen scaling the supposedly arduous peak. The mountain climbers themselves can often be seen scaling the peak.
History
Walt Disney conceived the idea for the attraction when visiting Switzerland during filming of his film, Third Man on the Mountain. He was impressed by the beauty of the real Matterhorn, and had the thought of a bobsled ride at the recently opened Disneyland in California.
Originally intended as a decorative overlay for the central pylon of the Disneyland Skyway, the concept for the Matterhorn later evolved into a full-blown, separate attraction. The peak was first shown in a conceptual drawing that was once on display at The Disney Gallery. The view looking to the northwest shows a corner of the now-defunct Junior Autopia; both the Matterhorn and the Submarine Voyage attraction, which took the place of the Junior Autopia, opened the following year.
The attraction opened on June 14, 1959, as one of three new major attractions for Tomorrowland that year. Built by coaster builder Arrow Development and WED Imagineering, it was the first tubular steel roller coaster in the world. It consisted of a wood and steel infrastructure surrounded by manmade rock. Trees could be seen on its sides; by making the trees at higher altitudes smaller, the Imagineers used forced perspective to augment the mountain's height. Waterfalls cascaded down its sides and frequently sprayed riders. Inside was a large, open space through which the bobsleds traveled. Unlike the real Matterhorn, this peak had numerous holes in its shell through which the riders sometimes exited and re-entered. The space within was not elaborately themed, with the infrastructure being only minimally disguised as rock. The Skyway passed through the center of the mountain, traveling through one pair of holes to Fantasyland and through another to Tomorrowland. Riders could see down into the Matterhorn's interior as they glided through.
In the early 1970s, the ride was officially made a part of Fantasyland, but this was merely a prelude to far more significant changes. In 1978, the Matterhorn received a major refurbishment. The Imagineers' biggest task was to break up the interior space into a number of small, icy caves and tunnels with far more convincing theming. Some holes in the mountain's skin were filled in as well, including the two large openings at the top of the first lift hill. (These had allowed guests to briefly glimpse the entire southern part of the park.) Another major addition was the Abominable Snowman, a yeti by the name of Harold. Harold exists as three similar Audio-Animatronic figures that roar at the bobsledders; the first is visible from both tracks, while the other two are visible only from their respective tracks. Each track also features a pair of red eyes that glow in the dark shortly after the lift hill while Harold's roar is heard. These roars can be heard from ground level, even over the (recorded) howling of the Alpine wind. A complete change of the bobsleds was also effected – the original flat, luge-like, multi-colored 2-seaters were replaced by rounder, white cars with orange and red pinstripes.
The Skyway continued to travel through the mountain for the next sixteen years, but its passageway was now enclosed in similarly themed ice caves. Following the closure of the Skyway in 1994, the cavernous holes through which the Skyway buckets had traveled were partially filled in. The holes in the Tomorrowland face remained mostly intact, and a grotto filled with glimmering crystals was installed nearby. An abandoned crate labeled "Wells Expedition" was also added as a tribute to Frank Wells, who had died earlier that year. The bluish glow of the crystals is easily seen from the ground at night.
It is also worth noting that the Matterhorn's external appearance has changed over time. The Matterhorn is painted a warmer gray than it once was, and the "snow" on its sides has become patchier, though the current paint job more closely replicates the sparse snow on the real Matterhorn's upper faces. With the exception of the aforementioned filling of certain holes, the actual external structure of the mountain is largely unchanged.
The attraction
The ride consists of two separate tracks that run somewhat parallel to each other for much of the ride, intertwining and eventually deviating from each other at the loading areas. They are the Fantasyland track and Tomorrowland track, named based on which side of the mountain their associated loading line begins in. The vehicles are capable of holding up to four passengers each, sitting behind one another. After the 1978 upgrade, the individual vehicles were joined into pairs, increasing the capacity to eight riders. The safety restraints consist of a simple airline style seatbelt. There are hand grips inside the cars, as well a handrail outside the shell of the vehicle.
Only one lift hill is used in the entire ride. Bobsleds ascend parallel to each other at the start of the ride, climbing past walls that feature snow-like special effects. The top of this lift hill constitutes the highest point of the ride itself, though the mountain itself continues upward for another couple of stories. The rest of the ride is an unpowered coast through the Matterhorn's many caverns and passageways.
The splash-down pools at the end of each track serve dual purposes. They not only cool off the braking fins mounted on the underside of the bobsleds, but the impact into the water itself acts as a braking mechanism. Because of their constant exposure to water, the fiberglass bodies are regularly waxed.
There was a basketball half-court inside the structure above the coaster for a long time, near the top of the Matterhorn mountain. This court was really just a break room with a wooden floor where the mountain climbers can play basketball in between climbing sessions. It was not accessible to anyone else, as internal access to the mountain is locked for safety reasons. The court was removed during a recent renovation due to dry rot. There is another cast member break room inside the mountain at the base.
At the end of the attraction, guests hear the now-famous "Remain seated please; Permanecer sentados por favor" safety announcement; it is one of many recordings by the former Voice of Disneyland, Jack Wagner. The recording was recently changed in 2005 to say "Remain seated with your seatbelt fastened; Permanecer sentados por favor." The changed English dialogue is still Jack Wagner, as it was borrowed from the attraction's breakdown announcement. This recording also introduces the Tomorrowland segment of the Remember... Dreams Come True fireworks show. The safety announcement was featured on the title track of the 1995 No Doubt album Tragic Kingdom, and the line was spoken by Barbie in the film The ride's safety spiel is "For your safety, remain seated with your seat belts fastened, keeping your hands, arms, feet, and legs inside the bobsled. And be sure to watch your children. Auf Wiedersehen."
Other Disney parks
Disneyland in California is the only Disney theme park with a Matterhorn Bobsled ride.
The tracks of Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom Space Mountain were based on the designs of the Matterhorn. In fact, the Matterhorn's newer bobsleds which were added in 1978 were based on the other ride's rockets, which had debuted in 1975. However, the track designs are not identical. When Space Mountain was built at Disneyland, it was a completely new design with just one track and vehicles that seated riders side by side rather than behind one another.
For years, plans for a replica of the attraction at Walt Disney World were tossed around. The ride would have been located in a proposed Switzerland Pavilion at Epcot's World Showcase. Another possibility was a planned Mt. Fuji themed coaster for the Japan Pavilion. Sketches of the attraction have been presented to the public but, due to the difficulty in securing grants from a sponsor and respective countries, the ride was not built and plans were put on indefinite hold. Many have speculated that Expedition Everest, which opened at Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom in 2006, stemmed from the long-proposed Walt Disney World Matterhorn clone. The two have many similarities, such as a snowy mountain theme and an encounter with a mythological snow beast (the Matterhorn's Abominable Snowman, and Everest's Yeti). It therefore now seems extremely unlikely that any Matterhorn clone will ever be built at Walt Disney World, since it would risk being too similar to Everest.
Gallery
In popular culture
- When the Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, and his wife, Empress Farah Diba, visited Disneyland, they enjoyed the Matterhorn Bobsleds with Walt Disney and a Disneyland Ambassador, and it was filmed for Disney's weekly television show.
- In the music video for Randy Newman's "I Love LA" song, when the lyric "Look at that Mountain", a shot of the Matterhorn is shown.
- The Matterhorn was parodied in Timon and Pumbaa's Virtual Safari on The Lion King 1½.
- In the Adult Swim stop-motion animation program Robot Chicken, the Matterhorn is the location of a secret laboratory where Walt Disney is revived as a giant, mechanical spider that eats Cuban children.
- The film Scooby-Doo spoofs the name of the ride as Splatterhorn.
- In the film That Thing You Do!, the Bass Player joins up with some Marines on leave to go to Disneyland. When the rest of the band begins to wonder where the Bass Player has gone, we see him riding the Matterhorn Bobsleds with the Marines, Mickey Mouse, and Goofy.
- The Fall wrote a song called "Disney's Dream Debased" about the decapitation of Dolly Regina Young on the Matterhorn Bobsleds in 1984.
See also
External links
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