We don’t usually cover Disneyland history around these parts, because so many others do it so much better than we possibly could. And, after all, what could I uncover than Bruce Gordon and David Mumford missed? But I found something cool that I have to share – I’m not usually intrigued by construction photos but there’s something about this one that grabs me:
That’s the PeopleMover loading station under construction in 1967 as part of that year’s “New Tomorrowland” project. It looks futuristic, even in this state, and kind of reminds me of LAX’s Theme Building. Anyway, neat picture. For my money, 1967’s New Tomorrowland is still the high water mark for all of the parks’ Tomorrowlands – it offered a coherent identity and the perfect mixture of fun and science fact that has been missing in subsequent versions.
The picture above comes from the July-August 1967 issue of U.S. Steel News. The original caption reads:
Disneyland Attraction – Located in the shadow of the Matterhorn (right) and a fairy-leap away from Sleeping Beauty Castle, another attraction for Disneyland is abuilding.
American Bridge Division fabricated and erected 190 tons of steel for a three-level station to serve the Goodyear People Mover located in Disneyland’s all-new “Tomorrowland” section.
U.S. Steel also fabricated and erected the 146-foot tall replica of the Matterhorn in 1959, which required 450 tons of steel – with no two structural shapes alike.
I’ve nothing else to say except that I’m going to try and use the word “abuilding” at least once daily.
As weird as it may sound, the Peoplemover is by far my favorite ride WDW. It’s really too bad they destroyed it at DL, though it’s a making a comeback, right?
And yeah, this does look exactly like LAX.
Thanks for sharing.
Ha – that’s funny, because the Peoplemover is my favorite too. We really dodged a bullet in that we still have it – sometimes neglect can be good. To think that we’re the only Disney park with a Peoplemover now! I know it might seem weird to some people but I could just ride it around and around and never get bored.
No one seems to know if Disneyland’s is coming back or not. The consensus seems to be that it’ll return in some format, but the big Tomorrowland rehab they’re planning has to wait for the financial crisis to ease up before it’s green-lit. I’ve heard an endless amount of rumors as to what the new ride will be themed to, but I think they’re all pretty much rumors. I just wish they’d made it a good old-fashioned Peoplemover, with no merchandising tie-in or gimmick. They need to get some motion back up on that empty track!