this week in disney history

THIS WEEK IN DISNEY HISTORY
June 23, 1944 - The Disney short "Springtime for Pluto" is released.

June 23, 1956 - Disneyland's Skyway begins transporting Guests between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland.

June 23, 1963 - The Enchanted Tiki Room, the first attraction to feature Audio-Animatronics, opens in Disneyland.

I miss the skyway!

Huh, what happened to the skyway ??

I miss the original Submarine Voyage and the ride where they would shrink you to the size of an atom.

Actually I've never been to the Enchanted Tiki Room. Does that place still even exist ?

On 2009-06-24 22:12, JOHN-O wrote:
Huh, what happened to the skyway ??

I miss the original Submarine Voyage and the ride where they would shrink you to the size of an atom.

Actually I've never been to the Enchanted Tiki Room. Does that place still even exist ?

They took the Skyway out about 10 year back.
I think that somebody jumped out and killed themselves and the Family sued Disneyland, at least so I heard.

the Tiki Room is still there.
they remodeled it slightly and cleaned it up a few years back.
a Lady that did alot of the work on that, used to be here on TC.
and Disneyland has been selling alot of merch with the Tiki room theme to it.
look in market place for that stuff.

Jeff(bigtikidude)

On 2009-06-24 22:27, bigtikidude wrote:

On 2009-06-24 22:12, JOHN-O wrote:
Huh, what happened to the skyway ??

I miss the original Submarine Voyage and the ride where they would shrink you to the size of an atom.

Actually I've never been to the Enchanted Tiki Room. Does that place still even exist ?

They took the Skyway out about 10 year back.
I think that somebody jumped out and killed themselves and the Family sued Disneyland, at least so I heard.

Jeff(bigtikidude)

Actually it was removed because it wasn't cost efficient meaning that it took too many cast members to operate it.

There have been deaths on the People Mover but none on the Skyway-(at least that have ever been documented) There have been multiple deaths at Disneyland --as morbid as it is you can read about it here :

http://www.snopes.com/disney/parks/deaths.asp

[ Edited by: leleliz 2009-06-24 23:02 ]

On 2009-06-24 22:12, JOHN-O wrote:
Huh, what happened to the skyway ??

I miss the original Submarine Voyage and the ride where they would shrink you to the size of an atom.

Actually I've never been to the Enchanted Tiki Room. Does that place still even exist ?

I worked on the Submarine Voyage in 1990. That was a fun summer....

Hey... I worked subs in 91. Jungle in 90.

That was a great summer.... I still keep in touch with one friend that worked on Captain Eo during that time. That was my first real job.

Tikitatt

Those summers were the BEST! Seriously.

One of the guys in my apt complex worked subs in 90 - from Monterey (at the time). Chris something if I remember correctly.

I dated a girl that worked EO in 91... everybody sing now... "It's a small world after all..."

Watching Tinkerbell fly down that wire from the Matterhorn into Frontierland and splat into the matress.

I had to help rescue a disabled sub from the middle of the lagoon one day. I rode on the front of the sub out into the lagoon to get a rope on the back of the disabled sub so we could tow it back to the dock. People were lining the railing taking pictures like crazy.

I actually miss the subs.

Liz is partially right, the Skyway was closed based on how many cast members it took to operate, but only a few people know that there was two bigger deciding factor's for the attractions fate. ADA(American Disabilities Act) mandates required that all attractions be handicapped friendly, and building an elevator to accommmodate wheel chairs that would be non-obtrusive, just wasn't going to work with the current floorplans of both stations, not to mention the buckets themselves were not big enough to accommodate wheelchairs, so newer buckets would have had to be invented.

Secondly, guest's safety below was also a big deciding factor. Kids were becoming more rebellious, and really started to lose respect in the 80s and 90s. Where spitting from, yelling obscenities, throwing gum, pennies, popcorn and the 80 feet high club were a unruly normal behavior. Disney execs knew updating the ride would be more for less, and in November of 1994, the Sky Way in Disneyland was closed forever.

We have had two posters here that were veritable treasure troves of archaic Disney knowledge, Tangaroa, and I believe a poster who no longer is active, Satan's sin. If you search for their threads, you will find so much great stuff!

Whereas I don't have the pass anymore, I go to Downtown Disney every week. I am a Disney lurker, I guess!

Yesterland.com has a lot of great vintage pictures. I can't remember the name of my thread anymore, but I posted a youtube clip of a home movie some disney vacationers back in the 1950's . It was highly detailed, and showed what every land and a lot of the rides looked like in the really old days!

I am the proud owner of the "Adventure through innerspace" virtual ride through. A digital, computer version of what the ride looked like, from a rider's perspective. Very carefully recreated!
I also own some Disneyland treasures DVDs, which I strongly suggest people get if they love vintage disney as much as I do!

Ah, here it is!

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=31078&forum=13&hilite=Disney%20vintage%20home%20movie

Tom why arent you working at Disney? You are one of the most well informed people I have ever met on all things Disney--its awesome!

On 2009-06-25 10:29, KeithH wrote:
Those summers were the BEST! Seriously.

One of the guys in my apt complex worked subs in 90 - from Monterey (at the time). Chris something if I remember correctly.

I dated a girl that worked EO in 91... everybody sing now... "It's a small world after all..."

Watching Tinkerbell fly down that wire from the Matterhorn into Frontierland and splat into the matress.

I had to help rescue a disabled sub from the middle of the lagoon one day. I rode on the front of the sub out into the lagoon to get a rope on the back of the disabled sub so we could tow it back to the dock. People were lining the railing taking pictures like crazy.

I actually miss the subs.

If I remember correctly that would be a code 101... We used to play bumper subs in the caves. Sometimes when it was an employees last day that worked on the Utopia car ride they would sneak into the caves, jump on a sub then jump off at the end of the ride just after the waterfall.

Great times!

Tikitatt

I remember one of the skyway cabs or whatever they are called fell into the waters of the submarine ride.

I don't remember anything about one of the buckets falling into the subs lagoon - and couldn't find anything online.

There was a guy in 94 that claimed to have "fallen" out of his bucket but he later admitted he was trying to get out - and succeeded - landing in a planter.

Later that same year the skyway was shut down and dismantled.

Oh yeah... the code 101. I still have the 6-shot stuck in my head from the Jungle Cruise - kind of hard to fire the gun out of the sub. :) I wonder if I still have my documentation on the subs (I know I still have my old JC stuff).

[ Edited by: KeithH 2009-06-26 11:00 ]

Keith...The JC shots fired was pretty cool to learn about. 2 shots the norm, 3 shots and above meant trouble abroad and alerted dock workers and other boat operators that assistance is needed. I just don't remember the order of what each shot code is....
theres
one for unruly guests
one for medical attention
one for boat derailment
But in what order and which one am I forgetting?

Hmmm... going to have to dig into that wayback machine in my head here. Unfortunately, it is a bit rusty from all that rum.

2-shot was just the normal everyday "stop the hippos from charging the boat". Trivia note1: the blanks used for the regular shots were black and had less powder - causing the bang to not be as loud.

3-shot was a mechanical failure

4-shot was a medical or security problem

6-shot was a derailment - oops... I meant... well... um... Nothing to see here. Move along!

Trivia note2: the blanks used for the non-regular shots were red and had more powder - causing the bang to be much louder so that everyone on the jungle could hear there was a problem and hold their position for further instructions.

I got stuck behind a few 6-shots that summer. Imagine sitting on a boat, with 38 people, and a gun for an hour. Another skip came up behind and we entertained both boats. DAMN! I miss those days - I'll have to dig out a pic for the "Post pictures of Yourself when you were thin and good looking!".

I LOVE DISNEYLAND!

[ Edited by: KeithH 2009-06-26 12:47 ]

[ Edited by: KeithH 2009-06-26 20:18 ]

Did they give you guys on the JC a laminate wallet guide of codes, etc.? I had one on the Submarine Voyage but lost it. Only thing I have is my name badge. I wish I had kept everything. Oh well...

I am looking forward to my wife and I getting our season pass again.

Tikitatt

no... no cheat sheet of any kind. I just kept the paperwork - still can't believe I could find it.