5. It's a Small World

Walt Disney had already agreed to design and construct three attractions for the 1964/65 New York World's Fair when the Pepsi-Cola Company came knocking at his door. The firm was sponsoring the UNICEF pavilion, and wanted something special to anchor it. Despite his Imagineers' already-enormous workload, Walt agreed to take on the challenge. The resulting ride, It's a Small World, was a smash-hit. It was later moved to Disneyland, and clones have been built at the Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland.

The thing that most guests associate with It's a Small World is the painfully cutesy soundtrack that accompanies its simulated voyage around a world populated by dancing, singing dolls. But the real innovation was the creation of the ride's high-capacity ride system, which allows it process thousands of guests every hour. The system has been copied by dozens of rides all over the world, but perhaps most notably at Disneyland itself, where Pirates of the Caribbean was switched from a walkthrough to a boat ride after the success of It's a Small World.

4. Monorail

Walt Disney had seen a monorail system in action during a trip to Europe in 1958, and immediately put his Imagineers to work on a version of the German Alweg-style monorail on his return. He had chosen the Alweg system because it employed a unique straddle-beam track, a slender design that would allow the beam to blend perfectly with the surrounding landscape. He was also impressed by the combination of electric propulsion and rubber wheels on the beam, which enabled near-silent operation. Disney commissioned Alweg to design a beamway around Tomorrowland, but asked one of his own Imagineers, Bob Gurr, to redesign the trains to make them look more futuristic and attractive. When the ride opened on June 14, 1959, it was the first daily operating monorail system in the Western Hemisphere.

The ride offered a scenic overview of Tomorrowland - but Walt hoped that it would do much more than that. He was convinced that it could solve the growing transit problems in the world's cities, and invited numerous city transporation groups to ride it. He also extended Disneyland's version with a link to the Disneyland Hotel in 1961, turning it into a true transportation system. Ultimately, city authorities moved more slowly than Walt Disney. As they procrastinated over the installation of mass transit systems such as the monorail, cars increasingly became the de-facto method of transporation in many US cities. Years after Walt's death, Las Vegas did install a monorail system of its own - even employing some of Disney's old trains. Walt Disney World also has an extensive monorail system, just as Walt had hoped.

3. Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln

Arguably Disney's biggest contribution to theme park technology was the invention of audio-animatronics, which enable realistic "human" and other characters to bring scenes to life. The Imagineers had already made significant progress in this area by 1963, when Walt Disney decided to create an animated version of Abraham Lincoln for the Illinois pavilion at the 1964/65 New York's World's Fair.

Despite early malfunctions, the result wowed the crowds and a version was subsequently installed at Disneyland as Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. Remarkably, it is still there. These days, almost all Disney dark rides make use of audio-animatronics, as do rides from dozens of rival theme park operators. The Hall of Presidents at Disney's Magic Kingdom takes the premise of Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln a step further, featuring audio-animatronic versions of everyUS president to date.

2. Pirates of the Caribbean

A pirate-themed walkthrough attraction had been under consideration for some years at Disneyland during the 1960s, with construction beginning on a building in New Orleans Square to host it. Before his death, Walt Disney made a key decision: the ride would no longer be a walkthrough, but would now reuse a boat system, to allow for a much broader array of scenes and a high capacity. The success of It's a Small World played no small part in this decision. The original concept would have seen the pirates created in wax. However, the invention by Disney of audio-animatronics allowed them to be brought to life in scenes that went well beyond anything yet seen in a theme park attraction. There are dozens of rides that are inspired by Pirates of the Caribbean, including clones at other Disney parks and inferior copycats such as Pirate Adventure at Drayton Manor in the UK.

The ride, of course, also inspired a series of blockbuster movies. The success of these has seen the Disneyland and Magic Kingdom versions updated to feature characters from the films, but the Disneyland Paris version remains true to the original.

1. PeopleMover

Walt Disney longed for an overhead transportation system that could offer people a rapid overview of an area in a city. In 1964, he set Imagineer Bob Gurr to work on creating one. The result was the WEDWay, also known as the "PeopleMover". Walt hoped that it would be adopted by cities all over the world. The chief innovation of the WEDWay was that the vehicles never stopped moving. Instead, guests boarded via a circular moving walkway, which dramatically improved the loading speed when compared to a linear walkway. This was coupled with a set of small trains that were pushed along by rotating tires that were embedded in the track every nine feet, each with its own electric motor. The cars themselves did not have motors, and the breakdown of any of the spinning tires would not cause the entire system to break down. 

Walt hoped to bring representatives from cities and shopping malls to see the first WEDWay system once it opened as part of Disneyland's New Tomorrowland makeover in 1967. However, he died before he had the chance. Without Walt as a cheerleader, the system never caught on. However, it is still in use at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas. It was also updated in the 1970s for the Walt Disney World version, which employs linear induction motors to propel its vehicles.