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00:11A few years ago, most guests wandering near Casey Jr.'s Circus Train in Fantasyland
00:29were oblivious to the Alpine Chalet on a little hill half hidden among lush trees.
00:34This chalet was the old Fantasyland station of the extinct Skyway to Fantasyland Skyway to Tomorrowland attraction.
00:41Guests who never got to experience the Skyway may find it hard to appreciate its greatness,
00:46but great it was, especially back in the 1950s and 60s when cable-suspended gondolas
00:51were still a decade away from becoming ambiguous transit systems at ski resorts.
00:57Disneyland Souvenir Books claimed that the Skyway was the first elevated aerial tramway of its kind in the United States,
01:03though a larger and higher elevated aerial tramway, the Skyride,
01:08had operated at Chicago's Century of Progress Exposition in 1933.
01:13Like the PeopleMover and Monorail, the Skyway was an ambitious attempt to introduce efficient public transportation into Disneyland.
01:20Unlike any other attraction, the Skyway afforded guests a lingering view of Disneyland from high above the park.
01:26The attraction posters certainly emphasized the ride vista views, making it look as if guests were hundreds of feet aloft and rising on steeply pitched cables.
01:35While the ride was not quite that dramatic, the sight of Disneyland from five stories up in the air was even more breathtaking than it was at ground level,
01:44providing a full open-air view of the park's fast expanse.
01:48The Skyway to Fantasyland and the Skyway to Tomorrowland were really the same attraction, operating in opposite directions.
01:55Both skyways ran on the same cable, shared the same support towers, and both connected the same two stations in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland.
02:02The Fantasyland station had a Swiss theme, though the inscription on the building came from Alice in Wonderland.
02:07Up above the world you fly, like a tea tray in the sky, said the Dormouse.
02:12The futuristic station a quarter mile away, near Utopia, had a more spartan design.
02:17Guests rode in small red, blue, yellow, and green gondolas with flat roofs and no glass in the windows.
02:24Over the years, the design changed while the 1956 original were cylindrical and included only two individual patio-style chairs.
02:33By the mid-1960s, the gondolas were rectangular and contained benches for four passengers.
02:39In the early years, the ride could be taken for either a one-way pass or a seven-minute round trip,
02:44but in later decades, all trips were one-way only.
02:47The altitude varied depending on where the 42 gondolas dangled along their journey,
02:51but usually they averaged a height of between 40 and 60 feet.
02:55The central suspension tower, standing tall on the hill where the Matterhorn would be built, topped out at 85 feet.
03:01The Skyway was built especially for us in Switzerland, and so we designed this Swiss chalet for its Fantasyland terminal.
03:10For the Skyway's inauguration festivities, Swiss alpine dancers added color and gaiety to the happy occasion.
03:27Along the way, guests got incredible views of Tomorrowland and Fantasyland.
03:42Because it would block the Skyway's path, when built, the Matterhorn was erected in 1959 with a passageway running east-west through its center,
03:50enabling guests to make an exciting trip through the mountain's interior.
03:55Inside the mountain, guests witnessed bobsleds hurtling through the mountain on their angular tracks.
04:00Also on view below the Skyway was the Submarine Voyage, Alice in Wonderland, the Pirate Ship Restaurant, and Casey Jr. Circus Train.
04:09Stories of severe accidents and even deaths have long swirled around the Skyway.
04:14All of these rumors have been exaggerated, however, and none of them pertain to the reason the attraction finally closed in the fall of 1994.
04:21A more probable reason was the irresistible temptation for some guests to spit, litter, or pour beverages over the side of the gondolas onto visitors below.
04:30There was also the more serious possibility of an eventual calamity, plus the presence of the steel towers and cables in the charming, remodeled Fantasyland.
04:40After the Skyway's last celebratory run, with Mickey and Minnie aboard, the Matterhorn's hulls were sealed up, the Skyway towers removed, and the Tomorrowland station disappeared into memory.
04:51The Fantasyland Chalet was removed in 2016. The Skyway was simultaneously a mild sightseeing ride and a bit of a thrill ride.
05:01Some guests find it scary to be dangling from a slender cable high in the sky. The bucket sways back and forth whenever the cable goes over a support tower, causing occasional gasps from guests.
05:13The cable was 2400 feet long with 44 gondolas. The Skyway stations were equipped with a large, digital meter to gauge wind speed. It usually fluctuated between 0 and 3 knots. If the meter hit 12 knots, employees shut the ride down.
05:29For dangerous situations, in the mid-1970s, Disneyland installed speakers on the Skyway towers and microphones in the stations. By pressing the All Ride switch, operators could give announcements or warnings from on high.
05:43Hosts were to use the device for emergencies only, since upon hearing a deep voice suddenly resounding from the sky, guests typically froze in terror. As such, the device became known as the God switch.
05:55The drive mechanism was in the Fantasyland side, with a 35,000-pound ballast on the Tomorrowland side to keep the cable tight. The Skyway was built by Von Roll Ironworks of Bern, Switzerland.
06:07From Web Disneyland Dictionary 1968, from a modern station in Tomorrowland, the four passenger cars rise above the monorail station and submarine lagoon, drift through Matterhorn Mountain caverns with views of racing bobsleds, and emerge high above Alice in Wonderland's adventure.
06:24The pirate ship, the pirate ship, and other features of fantasy land. The 1,200-foot journey ends in a quaint Swiss chalet. There are 44 streamlined gondolas. Skyway is the first of its kind installed in the United States. It carries streamlined gondolas aloft on a moving cable for an unobstructed view of the Magic Kingdom 60 feet above ground level.
06:45Specs, capacity 2,500 per hour, capacity per gondola 4, cycle time 8 minutes 2 seconds, load time 9 seconds, unload time 7 seconds, trip time 3 minutes 30 seconds, trips per hour 312, distance travel to 1,155 feet, speed 3.8 miles per hour.
07:07Storage for the Skyway buckets.
07:19Inside the chalet after Skyway closed. This is the Skyway tower where the Matterhorn was to soon be built. Notice how they are supporting the tower. It looks pretty scary.
