Skyway (Disney)

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Skyway
Disneyland
Area Fantasyland, Tomorrowland
Status Closed
Soft opening date June 10, 1956
Opening date June 23, 1956
Closing date November 9, 1994
Magic Kingdom
Area Fantasyland, Tomorrowland
Status Closed
Opening date October 1, 1971
Closing date November 10, 1999
Tokyo Disneyland
Area Fantasyland, Tomorrowland
Status Closed
Opening date April 15, 1983
Closing date November 3, 1998
Replaced by Pooh's Hunny Hunt (Fantasyland station)
Stellar Sweets (Tomorrowland station)
General statistics
Attraction type Gondola lift
Manufacturer Von Roll Holding
Designer WED Enterprises
Model Vonroll Type 101 detachable monocable gondola lift
Height 60 ft (18 m)
Length 1,200 ft (370 m)
Speed 4 mph (6.4 km/h)
Vehicle type Gondola
Vehicles 42
Riders per vehicle 4
Duration 3:36
Required Ticket D (Disneyland)
D (Magic Kingdom)

The Skyway was a gondola lift attraction at Disneyland, at the Magic Kingdom, and at Tokyo Disneyland. Since all versions of this attraction took riders back and forth between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland, the route from Tomorrowland was called Skyway to Fantasyland, and the route from Fantasyland was called Skyway to Tomorrowland.

History

The Skyway at Disneyland opened on June 23, 1956. It was built by Von Roll, Ltd. based in Bern, Switzerland. It was the first Von Roll Type 101 aerial ropeway in the USA. Walt Disney Imagineering bought the ride from Switzerland. It was a 1947 Vonroll sidechair model. In 1959, a major renovation added The Submarine Voyage, the Disneyland Monorail, the Matterhorn (now a Fantasyland Attraction), and the Motor Boat Cruise, but when the Matterhorn was planned it was designed to be built right in the path of the Skyway, so without a single closure of the Skyway, the Matterhorn was built around the Skyway.

During the Fantasyland renovation at Disneyland in the early 1980s, the Skyway made only roundtrips from Tomorrowland.

The Disneyland Skyway was removed on November 9, 1994 due to stress cracks in the Matterhorn roller battery supports . At Disneyland, the Fantasyland Skyway station remains but is off limits to guests and completely empty (no machinery) and is mostly hidden by trees, it is slated though to be demolished soon due to pest infestations and a weakening structure, and the Tomorrowland Skyway station has been demolished. The holes in the Matterhorn were partially filled in and the Skyway supports were dismantled within weeks. The Skyway's operating budget was transferred to Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye. A tribute to the Skyway was added to the Matterhorn Bobsleds during that attraction's extensive refurbishment in 2015. Several wrecked Skyway buckets and Matterhorn Bobsled vehicles from the park's history appear just past the top of the lift hill, torn to shreds and abandoned by the attraction's Abominable Snowman.

In 1998, Tokyo Disneyland closed its Skyway. The Fantasyland station was removed to make room for Pooh's Hunny Hunt, while the Tomorrowland station was remodeled into a candy store.

At the Magic Kingdom, the Skyway was removed in 1999. The Tomorrowland station was demolished in the summer of 2009, while the Fantasyland station was used for stroller parking, but was demolished for a Tangled themed restroom area in 2012.

Gallery

  • Matterhorn Bobsleds and Skyway at Disneyland.jpg

    Matterhorn Bobsleds and the Skyway at Disneyland

  • Defunct Skyway station at Magic Kingdom.jpg

    The defunct Fantasyland station at the Magic Kingdom in 2008

  • The Skyway passing through the Matterhorn Bobsleds

  • Matterhorn Bobsleds and Skyway in 1979.jpg

    Skyway and Matterhorn Bobsleds in 1979

See also

References

External links

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