PeopleMover
From The Unofficial DisneyWiki
| PeopleMover | |
| Disneyland | |
| Land | Tomorrowland |
| Designer | WED Enterprises |
| Attraction type | People mover |
| Opening date | July 2, 1967 |
| Closing date | August 21, 1995 |
| Vehicle names | PeopleMover |
| Vehicle capacity | 16 |
| Cars per vehicle | 4 |
| Guests per car | 4 |
| Ride duration | 16 minutes |
| Maximum speed | 2 mph (3.2 km/h) |
| Sponsored by | Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company |
The PeopleMover was an attraction in Tomorrowland at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, and the WEDway PeopleMover at the Magic Kingdom in Lake Buena Vista, Florida as Tomorrowland Transit Authority.
The PeopleMover opened as part of New Tomorrowland in 1967. The attraction's vehicles were always in constant motion, and were accessible by a large turntable inside the station. The PeopleMover was presented by Goodyear. The trains were not powered by motors within themselves, but rather by rotating Goodyear tires embedded in the track, which the trains would pass over every nine feet. The cars were all red, blue, yellow, and green with white roofs until they were repainted all white with colored stripes in the 1980s. The PeopleMover closed in August 1995, and was replaced by Rocket Rods in 1998. It was sponsored by Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company for its entire run.
Contents |
[edit] SuperSpeed Tunnel
In 1977, the SuperSpeed Tunnel was added to the PeopleMover. It was located in the Carousel Building, then housing America Sings. Race cars were projected on the walls all around the trains. In 1982, the scenes were changed to clips from Tron's light cycle race scene, and the tunnel was renamed Tron SuperSpeed Tunnel. These were edited clips of World of Motion's SuperSpeed Tunnel movies designed to look like computer generations.
[edit] Deaths
The PeopleMover was always a popular attraction, despite the fact that it was unreliable, and took the lives of two guests, although the guests were at fault for jumping out of their cars, and were crushed by oncoming trains.
[edit] Future
For a short period of time after the inital ride closed, the small exterior section that ran out of the Magic Eye Theater made home to various Toy Story characters to help draw attention to the Toy Story Funhouse. These, and its respective attraction, were removed rather quickly, as the Funhouse was only a temporary attraction created to promote the then-new Toy Story film.
After the PeopleMover's ill-fated successor Rocket Rods closed in 2000, the PeopleMover/Rocket Rods tracks remained untouched until 2005, when the tracks were painted blue and silver for Tomorrowland's new paint scheme. This raised much hope from Disneyland fans, to know that Disneyland was still maintaining the tracks. Although many trees have taken over the tracks in the Autopia area, some have been recently cut away from the tracks.
Nearly nine years after the closure of Rocket Rods, still no replacement has been announced.
