Mousekingdom Blog

One fifty year anniversary is reason to celebrate enough – but what to do if you got a triple of them? This is the question that Disneyland Anaheim is facing today, since today 50 years ago (on June 14, 1959) Disneyland celebrated the grand “re-opening” of Tomorrowland with three now classic signature attractions: the Monorail, the Submarine Voyage and the Matterhorn Bobsleds! Ok, I know, the Matterhorn Bobsleds are officialy considered to be a part of Fantasyland, nevertheless they were part of the grand Tomorrowland celebration in 1959 – and yes, I also know that the Submarine Voyage closed on September 7, 1998  and remained closed till it reopened on June 11, 2007 as “Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage”. The originally grey military style submarines are now bright yellow explorer submarines taking guests onto a deep sea dive into the world of Nemo and his friends, who are certainly encountered along the way. However, there are also carefully placed remnants of the original attraction which took guests on a deep sea journey under the everlasting ice shelfes.

The Matterhorn Bobsleds however, are what I would consider the most iconic attraction of the triple – the first thrill ride of Disneyland, the first ever tubular steel rolle coaster (i.e. coaster with tubular (round) steel pipes forming the track), the first fully themed indoor/outdoor coaster and the first roller coaster allowing multiple vehicles on the same track at the same time. Up till today the two different tracks in and around the 1/100th replica of the Matterhorn from Switzerland still entertains guests of all ages offering a unique thrill and in the meantime also an encounter with the Yeti (even so by far less smaller than the one that haunts the Expedition Everest attraction at WDW’s Animal Kingdom). The Matterhorn not only occupies a sweet spot in the memory of many Disney fans for being their first Disney coaster they rode on but also for the fact that it a signature attraction that never got replicated for any other Disney park. So the 147 feet structure (btw. the highest structure of the park and the first member of its mountain range) towers over no other Disney park.

The Matterhorn Bobsleds started a great tradition at the Disney themeparks of offering even the exciting thrills of huge steel coaster in a fully themed setting when other themed parks today still drop the themeing when construction coasters. So a hearty “HAPPY ANNIVERSARY” from everyone here at the Mousekingdom Blog to the Matterhorn Bobsleds, but also the Submarine Voyage and the Monorail…

As a side note for everyone interested in the history of Disneyland: 1959 was also the year the famous “E”-ticket was introduced – and certainly was required for the Matterhorn Bobsleds (as well as for the SF & D Railroad Trains, the Submarine Voyage, the Monorail, the Mine Train through Nature’s Wonderland, the pack Mules through Nature’s Wonderland as well as the Jungle Cruise).

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 14th, 2009 at 7:30 pm and is filed under Disney Theme Parks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.