FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

Matterhorn Bobsleds

Image: DisneyAmerican Coaster Enthusiasts is an organization that celebrates exactly what you’d expect given the name: roller coasters. Over the years, they’ve rewarded a few fortunate rides with Coaster Landmark Awards. The lucky recipients are the coasters that have displayed technical wizardry and innovation.

Matterhorn Bobsleds earned its recognition for a simple reason. It’s the attraction that triggered the roller coaster obsession in our society. Almost 60 years ago, the Happiest Place on Earth unveiled its latest, greatest ride. It was a man-made mountain with a pair of twin coaster tracks.

On these tracks, parallel coaster carts would race to the bottom. It was the first tubular steel continuous track roller coaster ever built, at least as far as anyway knows. Simply stated, Matterhorn Bobsleds was the first true steel roller coaster, at least in the form we know today. It was a hallmark moment in theme park design, although a different Disney roller coaster would eventually surpass it.

Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress

Image: DisneySome of you reading this are likely confused right now. Diehard Disney aficionados, on the other hand, are nodding their heads knowingly. Carousel of Progress is one of those attractions that seems dated and cheesy to some. To those of us who live and breathe Disney, however, it’s a critical component in our love of the parks.

In the lead-up to the 1964 New York World’s Fair, Imagineers faced one staggering problem. They needed to control crowd throughput in an unknown environment. They needed to guarantee that they could satisfy a set number of customers at a set rate each hour/day. To achieve this seemingly impossible task, they had to invent something new.

Image: DisneyThat creation was a “carousel theater.” It’s a theater that quietly moves guests through four different quadrants at regular intervals. The open secret at Carousel of Progress is that the stage is stationary. It’s the fans who move. The stadium’s elegant design enables it to rotate at the end of each era during the show. Just as the name would indicate, it’s a carousel, albeit a slow one that only operates a few times during 15-minute show.

Carousel of Progress is also a masterful crowd control solution that has become the basis for many theme park attractions around the world. None of them employs a carousel per se, but the idea of continued throughput at regular intervals is one that you’ll see at any theme park. And Walt Disney himself invented it.

 
FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail

Add new comment

About Theme Park Tourist

Theme Park Tourist is one of the web’s leading sources of essential information and entertaining articles about theme parks in Orlando and beyond.

We are one of the world’s largest theme park guide sites, hosting detailed guides to more than 80 theme parks around the globe.

Find Out More About Us...

Plan Your Trip

Our theme park guides contain reviews and ratings of rides, restaurants and hotels at more than 80 theme parks worldwide.

You can even print them.

Start Planning Now...