For
over twenty years, this chalet structure has loomed, off-limits to
guests and virtually unused, over the western end of Fantasyland:
However,
it seems it won't for much longer. The news recently broke that the
park had obtained a permit to demolish it. (Confusingly, the outer
wall has been repainted even more recently...but there are several
possible reasons for that.) Its removal will finally close the
curtain on the long career of the Skyway.
It's
a good time to reminisce.
But
here we hit a snag. The Skyway was an odd sort of attraction by
Disneyland standards—no characters or story, only incidental
theming. There wasn't even any recorded narration the way there
usually was and is with sightseeing/transportation rides such as the
Disneyland Railroad, Viewliner, or Monorail. The whole concept of the
Skyway was so straightforward—take a one-way trip from Fantasyland
to Tomorrowland or vice-versa, and get a bird's-eye view of both in
the process—that there may not be much anyone can add.
I'll
do my best anyway.
Honestly,
the Skyway is one of those things that was built because Walt found
out about something that made him go “Hey, neat!” and decide to
put one in his park, even if it didn't seamlessly fit the available
themes—a trait it shared with the
Matterhorn, and by no coincidence, since the Skyway was based on the
suspended trams that began to be used for transportation in the Alps
in the mid-Fifties. The connection between the two attractions really
cannot be overstated. Both grew out of things from Switzerland that
impressed Walt, and of course the Skyway passed through
the Matterhorn in both directions. The chalet in Fantasyland is a
sibling to the one that serves as the Matterhorn's queue bullpen, and
the resemblance was even closer in decades past, when escutcheons
representing the Swiss cantons decorated the Skyway structure, as
they still do at the Matterhorn:
And
like the Matterhorn, the Skyway straddled two vastly different
worlds: Fantasyland and Tomorrowland...or if you prefer, the Lore of
the Past vs. the Discoveries of the Future. (Or Magic vs. Science.*)
The Matterhorn stands on the border between the two lands; the Skyway
crossed it. There was probably no way to make it belong comfortably
to both, so it wound up, in various aspects, as a patchwork of the
two themes.
The
chalet and its associated features were and are pure Fantasyland.
Besides the overall architectural design of the chalet itself, which
sits firmly within the Old European motif that has come to dominate
the main part of the area, there were elements like the lettering on
the sign at the base of the steps leading up to the structure:
This
lettering style is not necessarily
Alpine, but it is rather medieval-esque. The same typeface was used
for an inscription in the chalet interior:
“Up
above the world you fly, like a tea-tray in the sky.”
It's
a cute sentiment concerning the nature of the ride, but fans of the
animated Alice in Wonderland
will recognize it as an excerpt from the Dormouse's poem, “Twinkle,
Twinkle, Little Bat.” This gave the Skyway a tie to the Alice
attractions at the other end of its Fantasyland leg.
And
then there's the interesting design on the exterior, an abstract
representation of the sky featuring the sun, moon, and zodiac wheel.
I don't know if this has its origins in any Alpine tradition, but I
think it gives the chalet a “wizard's tower vibe:
It
also reminds me of this clock near Snow White's Scary Adventures, for
another link between the Skyway chalet and other parts of
Fantasyland:
Photo credit: My sister
So
yeah, that's a whole lot of fantasy bound up in one structure. So how
about the Tomorrowland aspect of the ride? Was it symmetrical—that
is, was the Tomorrowland Skyway station as futuristic as the
Fantasyland one was/is fantastic?
Well...no.
In fact, it was almost depressingly utilitarian:
No
wild Googie architecture or cool outer space fonts here; it mostly
looked like something you'd see at any old airport or factory. I know
Disneyland was often strapped for resources in the early days, but
jeez! So what about the Skyway actually belonged to Tomorrowland?
The
concept.
Walt
didn't look at the trams in the Alps and see something whimsical out
of a storybook; he appreciated them for being a technological
solution to a problem people faced in their everyday lives—namely,
getting around in a mountain range without having to hike all the way
down one slope and up another. This is exactly the sort of thing
Tomorrowland was about in the Fifties and Sixties.
A
more intimate connection came in 1967. Two years earlier, the
original cylindrical gondolas (“buckets,” in the vernacular) had
been replaced with the boxier ones that remained in use for nearly
three decades:
Then
the PeopleMover was added to Tomorrowland, featuring little trains of
cars that were very similar to Skyway cabins in both size and
shape...and identical
in color, with a white roof, silvery posts and safety rails, and a
main body hue of red, yellow, aqua, or royal blue (the Skyway also
included orange):
This
was one of those little touches I always loved as a kid (and
obviously still do as an adult, or I wouldn't have brought it up). It
contributed a lot to Tomorrowland's sense of design unity to have
these features shared between rides.** But it made for a bit of an
odd sight over Fantasyland, and I think when I was small, I always
considered the Skyway to be, in essence, a Tomorrowland attraction
that only had a presence in Fantasyland because the other end had to
go somewhere.
So
from my perspective at least, it's ironic that the Fantasyland end is
what held on for over twenty years after the ride itself closed. All
things considered, I can't say I'll miss the chalet terribly—it's
not like I ever got to go up there once the Skyway ceased operations.
From what I understand, for the past several years, no one
has, except for rulebreakers and whoever's job it is to refill the
cat food.*** You can't even get a good view of it from the walkway
anymore.
As
for the Skyway itself...it won't be completely gone. There's still
the cool tribute inside the Matterhorn:
A
fitting resting place for the last remnants of this fondly remembered
ride.
*
One of the things Disneyland can teach us is that Magic and Science
are not really opposed. But that is, perhaps, a topic for another
post.
**
I was similarly enchanted by the fact that the Haunted Mansion and
Adventure
Thru InnerSpace used the exact same shape for their ride
vehicles.
***
No, literally—the only thing the chalet has been used for in some
time is a feeding station for the park's feral cats. It was a Cast
Member break room for a while, but I guess after a point it was
deemed unsafe for human use altogether.
Fossils and signs from history are stored in the rocks of the Earth so its imperative to understand how the Earth came about and understand that the world is dynamic and fluid. The world has undergone change constantly, for there wasn’t always seven continents.
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