Why is Matterhorn only at disneyland

[WebmasterMaryJo]

IMO any DL fan has to admit that MK does have some classics:

Carousel of Progress

Taken from DL to WDW (wish we had it back)

Swiss Family Treehouse

First at DL before it was changed

Country Bear Jamboree

First at DL before WDW

People Mover (TTA)

First at DL before WDW

Tom Sawyer Island (the original)

First at DL before WDW


I really don't want Mickey's Philharmagic to come to DLR - I like that there are some differences at both parks.

 

[jlmarr]

I have been to Magic Kingdom many times. Last year though I went to disneyland and saw the Matterhorn. I thought it couldn't be any fun or what not because they dont have it in Magic Kingdom, but boo was I wrong. Anyone know why they don't have it in Orlando?

My understanding is that the Cinderella castle is right below the limit of how tall you can build a structure in Florida without putting an airplane beacon on top of it. A same-sized Matterhorn right next to Cinderella Castle wouldn't look right. And building a MK Matterhorn scaled the same as the DL Matterhorn is to the Sleeping Beauty Castle would be extremely costly, beacon or not. Those are my guesses.

 

[Brian_WDW74]

Country Bear Jamboree

First at DL before WDW

Sorry, but this one isn't correct. Country Bear Jamboree opened with the Magic Kingdom on October 1, 1971. The Disneyland version didn't open until March 4, 1972.

 

[stacymomof2]

I've never been to WDW, but can I just say that the Matterhorn ROCKS

We LOVED it and were very lucky to be able to pretty much walk on both times we rode it (both sides!!)

One of these days, we'll have to head to WDW...but for now, we LOVE DL!

 

[S. S. Columbia]

... Carousel of Progress ... yawn after one visit ...

IMO the CoP is up there with the Enchanted Tiki Room, IASW, and Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.

 

[S. S. Columbia]

Why is the Matterhorn only at DL?

I agree with the other posters – they wanted to keep the parks different; a new Matterhorn for MK would have been expensive; and MK has the huge Cinderella Castle.

I just wanted to add:

When they built MK, they definitely had a limited budget. When MK opened, it didn't have Pirates of the Caribbean! The imagineers thought about including PotC, but they figured that building PotC would mean that five other attractions would not be built, and they didn't want to lose that much capacity in MK. (They also had plans to eventually build an E-ticket attraction in MK called "Western River Expedition," which was never built. It would have been a water ride with a Cowboys and Indians theme. Cowboys and Indians? Talk about being un-PC. )

But the guests had heard about PotC from Sunday night TV ("Wonderful World of Disney"), etc., and after MK opened the guests let it be known that they wanted a PotC. At MK, the imagineers didn't select the location for PotC until 6 months after MK opened, and it took another year and a half until PotC was opened.

FWIW, in '75 Space Mountain opened at MK, and the tracks of MK's SM were based on the designs of the Matterhorn. So DL has the Matterhorn, along with a better (updated) SM, and a better (longer) PotC ... and Indiana Jones, Finding Nemo submarines, Explorer Canoes, Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin, Mr. Toad, Alice in Wonderland, Casey Jr. Circus Train, Storybook Land, Sailing Ship Columbia, Golden Horseshoe show....

 

[aymekae]

I refuse to go on this ride again. I get thrown all over the cart and receive bruises on my hips, knees, and shoulders (of course, I do bruise easily, but that's not the point). The only enjoyable thing about this ride is the view, but it's not worth it for me. It is so old and jerky, and I'm glad they had the foresight not to build another one.

 

[ironpig70]

i'm out of my element here some of you folks are fanatical with disney trivia, facts and lore and fanatical in a good way.



i heard that the best gauge of an awsome theme park was wether it had a mountain in the middle or not thats all i need to here

 

[S. S. Columbia]

I refuse to go on this ride again. I get thrown all over the cart and receive bruises on my hips, knees, and shoulders (of course, I do bruise easily, but that's not the point). The only enjoyable thing about this ride is the view, but it's not worth it for me. It is so old and jerky, and I'm glad they had the foresight not to build another one.

Most guests can handle the Matterhorn, and they enjoy it, too.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1803879

 

[stopher1]

Matterhorn was built in the late 1950s and is the world's first steel-tubed rollercoaster. Apparently Walt hated how the sky lift tower was exposed and stood out in his park so on a trip to the Alps he realized he wanted a replica of the Matterhorn to give that area of the park some aesthetic value as it was just a dirt lot with a steel tower in the middle (to supoort the sky lift).

Matterhorn was probably never built in MK was that it is not a terribly efficient ride with getting enough people on it every hour and also the cost would have been huge to build the steel mountain again back in 1971 when MK opened. After that they just moved on to other attractions and parks and never got around to building one.

I like that Matterhorn is a one-off ride and I think DL up against MK, park to park (not including the other parks) MK has nothing on DL. DL has major things over MK but MK really has nothing over DL, all the advantages to MK are that it has more surrounding parks to visit.

There were several DL attractions that the then-current creative team of Imagineers decided NOT to duplicate in FL when planning WDW's MK (Pirates was another one since the Imagineers felt that being so close to the real Caribbean and pirate sites, guests wouldn't want to bother seeing pretend pirates while at the MK - and of course that ultimately proved a big mistake not having it there...so they had to hastily and somewhat shoddily (IMO) reproduce POTC in FL to appease the guests.

In the mid-80's, a few years after Epcot opened, there was a concept to resurrect the Matterhorn in WS when a Switzerland pavilion was being considered - but it was utimately tabled. Having the 'Horn only in DL definitely helps to add to the list of why DL is so special - and decidedly better than the sister parks. Some day, perhaps - possibly, the 'Horn will rise again somewhere else - but I don't believe it will happen.

It's true that EE in AK is very cool and awesome - but you can't beat the 'Horn for the various firsts that it accomplished as Doombugger pointed out. Plus consider the fact that it was designed by hand - without the aide of computers like coasters of the past 30 years - and WOW - what an amazing accomplishment it was/is.

 

[JenM]

WDW's answer to the Matterhorn, though, is their new ride at AK-Expedition Everest! That ride is so much more fun, anyway, than Matterhorn, imo. Matterhorn is a great icon, though-you just need a chiropractor when you get off!

I agree! I rode the Matterhorn 3 times during my first trip to DL this weekend and I loved it, but my first thought riding it was that it was a 50s version of Expedition Everest.

Indiana Jones is the exact same thing as Dinosaur...only Indy is WAY better.

Fantasmic in DL is great (I saw it twice)...but at least you can find a seat at the WDW version.

And DL has Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and an incredibly awesome updated Space Mountain. I couldn't believe how great that was.