The Skyway, Mr. Toad's, and other missed attractions

[surferdave]

I miss Toon Town.

 

[MKFan-PR]

I miss Mr Toad, too. We loved joking around with our DD that my DW was doing the driving, and I nagged and complined about it all the way. DD always ended up in stitches! We always had to ride it a couple of times each trip.

 

[larryz]

I think the PeopleMover is far more unique in terms of design and enjoy it quite a bit. Itss capacity is many times that of the Skyway too.

It's a shame they didn't use the concept as it was designed -- a true people mover, from one place in the park to another, as actual transportation, like the Skyway. Imagine how effective TTA would have been as a point-to-point system ringing the park (or meandering through the attractions) going from Land to Land...

Sigh.

 

[larryz]

When did it switch from If You Had Wings to Dreamflight?

I think it was when Eastern Airlines went out of business...

 

[larryz]

I thought it was due to people spitting on/throwing things on the folks below?

I guess spitting could be classified as another method of exchanging body fluids...

 

[magicbob]

5. If You Had Wings
4. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
3. Alien Encounter
2. Horizons
1. 20K Leagues Under the Sea

 

[matt1979]

It's a shame they didn't use the concept as it was designed -- a true people mover, from one place in the park to another, as actual transportation, like the Skyway. Imagine how effective TTA would have been as a point-to-point system ringing the park (or meandering through the attractions) going from Land to Land...

Sigh.

Another reason I would've guessed the Skyway was more successful than the people mover...it actually took you from point A to point B.

 

[fla4fun]

I think it was when Eastern Airlines went out of business...

Actually, all they did was remove any Eastern logos, and change the name to If You Could Fly and it ran for a long time that way. It wasn't until Delta became the sponsor that it changed to Dreamflight. I preferred IYHW to Dreamflight though.

I miss Horizons most of all, but I also miss World of Motion and the original Imagination (and Image Works) as well as the Walter Cronkite verson of SSE, and the Skyway. Then there are attractions that I don't necessarily miss a lot, but wouldn't mind seeing/doing again, like the Swan Boats, The Timekeeper, and the Mickey Mouse Revue. I wasn't a big 20,000 Leagues fan, but that lagoon of bright aqua water really made that corner of the park attractive, and it was a great view on the Skyway as well.

If I had a time machine, I would take a vacation at WDW around 1990.

 

[ButterflyKisses77]

If I had a time machine, I would take a vacation at WDW around 1990.

I would too! But it would be at Disneyland. I was just watching an old video of the People Mover from 1990 and it made me miss it. :-( I was 13 at that time and those were my most nostalgic memories of Disneyland!

 

[OKWDVCMagic]

Yes, along with the classics being mentioned here this was one of my families favorite attractions. It was so creative and fun we truly miss this one

Just yesterday, I was thinking how much our family missed Cranium Command and I found this on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlwLkM0iGE0

Someone wrote an earlier post about if they had a time machine they would go back to 1990. My time travel machine would go back to Disney in 1999. My choice for 1999 was that it was the year that built the momentum to the Millennium celebration, 9/11 hadn't happened, I got picked to be a "actor" participant in the Indy Jones show and most importantly, my now almost 21 year old son was just six years old.

 

[Raenstoirm]

Another reason I would've guessed the Skyway was more successful than the people mover...it actually took you from point A to point B.

That is actually a negative for many guests. How do you transport your stroller? The train is transportation from one land to another, but if you have a disney stroller you gotta make the full loop to go back for it. We don't have kids yet, but that just seems like a real annoyance when I see parents struggling with them.

 

[SueM in MN]

I thought the skyway had to do with disability compliance because it was not handicap accessible and it was way too much money to make it so as there wasn't an easy fix?

That always gets brought up, but it's not true.
We rode the Skyway many times with our DD who can't walk or stand and needed to be lifted in. She was smaller and we were younger then, so the transfer was easier than it would be now, but it was not that difficult.

Besides being slow loading and low capacity, the Skyway needed a lot of CMs to operate. Not only for load and unload, but they had to do a fair amount of physical pushing and prodding of the tram cars at certain points to keep them going on the cable. There was a transfer around the Tomorrowland station that required the CMs to push the car up. I heard from CMs that it was a high back injury/strain attraction for CMs.

If accessibility was required, there would be a lot of attractions needing to close. Just in MK, these rides require a rider to be ambulatory, so are not accessible:
- People Mover
- Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse
- Peter Pan (moving walkway can only be stopped in emergency and there is very limited time for loading/unloading)
- Tom Sawyer's island

And, there are quite a few at MK that are accessible, but are such hard transfers that many with disabilities can't ride them. This includes things like Space Mountain, the Teacups, Pirates and Splash Mountain.

 

[JimS4210]

Definitely Mr. Toad for me (as you can tell from my signature!), but I also miss Horizons in Epcot.

Jim

 

[ariel326]

Epcot:
1. Horizons- hands down my favorite ride that is no longer there
2. Wonders of Life Pavilion
3. World of Motion

MK:
1. Mickeys' Toon Town

DHS:
I kind of miss it being MGM and the main thing you see down mainstreet is the Chinese Theatre, not the Sorcerers Hat.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

We lived in FL when we were little so I got to experience a lot of the 'classics'....

Snow White always scared m

Mr Toad scared my brothers

We all thought the Skyway and 20,000 Leagues were cool but the thing we miss most of all is

River Country!

 

[ellie05]

I thought it was due to people spitting on/throwing things on the folks below?

Tom Hanks said people were getting "busy" in the ride.

 

[Anonomom]

My trips to WDW as a kid were in the early '90s. I loved Body Wars and the sound effect show in MGM (the one with Martin Short). One of my favorite memories of my dad was him being chosen to do the foley effects at that show.

There was another show at MGM that I really remember liking -- maybe something to do with famous TV scenes? I remember it had the Lucy & Ethel in the candy factory scene, but I don't remember anything else about it.