Flashback: Skyway

In the last post, you may have spotted the Skyway cab rising in front of Space Mountain. The Skyway attraction took its Guests on one-way trips between Tomorrowland and Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom, from 1971 to 1999. While Skyways also operated at Disneyland (passing through the open grottoes of the Matterhorn) and in Tokyo Disneyland, the Walt Disney World version was unique in that it was the only such attraction that made a 90° turn.

After traversing the skies over Tomorrowland, the cabs would come down closer to ground level at the edge of the Grand Prix Raceway (today's Tomorrowland Speedway). There, a switching station seamlessly transferred the cabs to another line, lifting them up again toward Fantasyland.

The photo below indicates where some of the towering Skyway pylons were located in Fantasyland. Although the resolution isn't the best, eagle eyes might also spot the old Fantasyland trash can designs, original blue and metal rental strollers, and the roof of the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea extended queue (at bottom right).

At the other end of the line, the Skyway cabs came down to a beautiful Swiss chalet before changing passengers and heading back out to Tomorrowland once again. Since the closing of the Skyway more than a decade ago, the Tomorrowland station and each of the pylons have all been removed. This chalet, though, can still be found on the western edge of Fantasyland, where today it provides a scenic backdrop for the stroller parking area near It's a Small World.

Many Disney Parks fans lament the loss of the Skyway. It was certainly a classic attraction, having originally debuted at Disneyland in 1956, and it offered spectacular views of sections of the park.

For my money, though, I was okay with the Skyway floating into history. While it may have been a unique attraction when Walt Disney added it to Disneyland in the '50s, decades later sky rides just like it had become commonplace in parks across the country. It also never quite worked for me as part of either a fairy tale village or futuristic setting.

As for those views, some were certainly magnificent. Guests aboard the Skyway were also treated, however, to looks at backstage areas and barren rooftops. From this vantage point, Mickey's PhilharMagic, for example (below), would look considerably less magical.

The Skyway was fun in its day, but as is often the case in the Disney Parks, the time came for a change. Even though Walt brought the Skyway to his park, he also introduced the idea of constant evolution:

"[Disneyland is] something that will never be finished. Something that I can keep developing, keep plussing and adding to. It's alive. It will be a live breathing thing that will need change. A picture is a thing, once you wrap it up and turn it over to Technicolor you're through. Snow White is a dead issue with me. A live picture I just finished, the one I wrapped up a few weeks ago, it's gone, I can't touch it. There's things in it I don't like; I can't do anything about it. I wanted something alive, something that could grow, something I could keep plussing with ideas; the Park is that."

- Walt Disney