From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Matterhorn Bobsleds
Poster for Matterhorn Bobsleds
Disneyland
Land	Fantasyland
Manufacturer	WED Enterprises, Arrow Dynamics
Attraction type	Roller Coaster
Theme	Switzerland Mountain
Opening date	June 14, 1959
Vehicle type	Bobsleds
Vehicle capacity	8
Cars per vehicle	2
Guests per car	4
Ride duration	2:07 & 2:26 minutes
Total height	147 ft (44.8 m)
Maximum speed	27 mph (43.5 km/h)
Height requirements	35" (89 cm)
Audio-animatronics	3
Length	2037 ft (620.8 m) & 2134 ft (650.4 m)
Ticket required	E
Cars per track	10
Maximum number of cars on track (not in load)	3
Sponsored by	None
Wheelchair accessible Must transfer from wheelchair

The Matterhorn Bobsleds or the Matterhorn is an attraction made up of two intertwining steel roller coasters at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. It is modeled after the Matterhorn, a mountain in the Swiss Alps of over 14,000 feet, 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.^[1]

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 hollow 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 Matterhorn

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 could 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 not removed during a recent renovation due to dry rot as previously reported. However the court was relocated slightly during the installation of the Tinkerbell flight equipment prior to the 50th anniversary celebration, the hoop and playing area remain intact. There is another cast member break room inside the mountain at the base.

Up close view of Matterhorn climbers

At the end of the attraction, guests hear the now-famous "Remain seated please; Permaneced 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; Permaneced 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 Toy Story 2. 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!"

Another variant goes,

"For your safety, remain seated with your seat belt fastened, keeping your hands, arms, feet, and legs inside ze bobsled. And please, watch your kids. Thank you!"

In the case that it is this second spiel, Auf Wiedersehen is said in the Spanish recording of the spiel, but if in the English recording, it isn't in the Spanish recording.

Deaths

There have been two deaths on the Matterhorn Bobsleds. Mark Maples, age 15, was killed on the Matterhorn in May 1964 when he unbuckled his seat belt and tried to stand up as the cart was approaching the peak of the mountain. He lost his balance and fell onto the tracks causing internal injuries killing him three days later. Dolly Regene Young, age 48, was killed on January 3, 1984 when she was catapulted from her cart and was hit by another bobsled on a different track.^[2][3]

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

1977 bobsleds	1983 bobsleds	2000 bobsleds	Yeti footprint near the bobsled ride
The Abominable Snowman

In popular culture

• When Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, the 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. [1]
• In the music video for Randy Newman's "I Love LA" song, during 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.
• In the HBO hit series Entourage, character Ari Gold tries to convince actor Vincent Chase to star in a film titled "Matterhorn," stating "It's 'Die Hard' at Disneyland." This is referenced in multiple seasons of the show.
• 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.
• In the sing along songs video Disneyland Fun, during "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah," Matterhorn Bobsleds was one of the rides the kids rode on.

See also

• List of current Disneyland attractions

References

External links

• RollerCoaster Database Images and stats
• Tourist video of riding the roller coaster
• Before-and-after comparison
• Disneyland Deaths
• Photos of the "old Matterhorn"
• "Third Man on the Mountain" at the Internet Movie Database
• photos of basketball court at top of structure
• Original D: Matterhorn Bobsleds - Attraction Video and Information.

Coordinates: 33°48′47″N 117°55′04″W / 33.81298°N 117.91791°W / 33.81298; -117.91791