My Ideal Disneyland Part 3

Moving on in Tomorrowland. So, have you ever walked into Tland and wondered what that archway track looking thing was above you? Well, I'll tell you. It is what remains of the ill-fated PeopleMover. This was also a pretty early ride, part of the '67 revamp of Tland. There's an article on it at Yesterland. There's more pics here. Apparently, the PM was an example of what the transportation would be like in Walt Disney's vision of the future, along with the monorail. He had a vision for a city that was never built. You've probably heard of it: EPCOT (there is an Epcot center in Florida but the actual city never came to fruition). You probably don't know this, but it stands for "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. Disney's "Progress City" model in the old Carousel of Progress was a sort of preview of EPCOT. PeopleMovers (or WEDway) in Epcot would eliminate the need for cars altogether, in theory. Here is a great article on the original concept of the EPCOT. Here's more. It's fascinating. Walt had so many ideas and goals that it just amazes me. Here's a vid:

There's a longer version on YouTube too if you wanna check it out.

Anyways, back to Disneyland. The PM lasted a really long time but was closed in '95 for reasons I don't know. It did, however lead to two deaths from people trying to jump between cars. I'd say 95% of Disney deaths are because people are STUPID. Those annoying safety spiels are there for a reason! (Although I rather enjoy the Haunted Mansion safety message because he says "and PLEASE...watch your children" and then he says it in Spanish and it sounds like 100 times scarier. I also love that in that ride, if you tug on the bar, it reprimands you. It's just funny.) Anyways, I'm guessing that they just figured that the PM was outdated and was boring for guests (it did only move at 2mph) and they had different ways to see Tland from above like the monorail and the Skyway, which closed in '94. But I do think that it offered an awesome view into rides. It went through a tunnel behind the Carousel of Progress/America Sings, through Circlevision, Star Tours, and Space Mountain. I personally never was able to go on the PM but wish I had the chance. i would have been 4 or 5 so I wouldn't remember it but I do have a pic of me on the monorail in about '94 where you can see the PM in the background. (I'd put it up but my scanner isn't working). So after the PM closed, imagineers tried to use the abandoned track with something faster and funner in '98. Props to them for trying but the new "Rocket Rods" attraction, although pretty popular when in use, soon went to "Yesterland." He's got a great article on it over there. Here's a summary: The Rocket Rods used the PM track and went through it in 3 minutes, when the PM had taken 16 minutes to go the same path. I've read that some of the problems with it were that it was too short for the wait time, it was too slow to be a thrill ride, but too fast to be a sight-seeing ride. It also had to slow down abruptly at the turns. This is because the turns were designed for a 2mph car and the track isn't banked, which basically meant that if the Rocket Rods didn't slow down, they'd fly right off the track. The constant slowing and speeding up again was not only annoying, but it was hard on the vehicles and track. It soon was broken down half the time. So, it was closed after only about 2 years of being opened, never fulfilling a 2001 reopen promise.

In my ideal dland, the poor abandoned PM track would be used with a fast ride like Rocket Rods but they need to bank those turns and make it better. Although I don't know if a three minute ride is worth it...maybe they should just put the PM back. I'm not sure. I just hate seeing those ghostly tracks and all that wasted space. I'll stop for now because this is a pretty long entry already. To be continued!