The year is 1959, and work on the Matterhorn Bobsleds was nearing completion.
It was time to start building the exterior rockwork of the mountain.
Imagineer Fred Joerger, who was head of the model-making department at WED,
was tasked with designing the incredible rockwork façade of the mountain. This was no easy job,
as making realistic looking rock was a challenge for anyone, because it involved amazing attention
to detail and great skills at sculpting, in order to make the structures look natural.
Fred was used to creating models, in fact many of his models became full sized structures at
Disneyland, but this was a mountain. He had helped with the design of Sweitzer Falls in
the Jungle Cruise and so began work building a model of the rockwork for the Matterhorn.
The result was nothing short of spectacular. To create the outer shell of the mountain,
the part which looks like rock, Imagineers employed a technique which was previously
used to build Sweitzer Falls in Adventureland just 4 years earlier. Steel rebar was bent and welded
into sections of mountain, from there a fine steel mesh was attached to the rebar. The sections were
then lifted up to the mountain, and installed working from the top, down to the bottom.
A special mix of concrete was sprayed onto the steel mesh which made the two materials act as
one rigid structure. From there the mountain was painted with a dark grey for the rocks,
and certain areas were carefully painted white for the snow. The finished product looked amazing
for its time, and even to this very day, Fred Joerger’s Matterhorn rockwork can still compete
with its more modern mountainous counterparts.
The project was going far over budget, and the
plans to install a few caverns were scrapped. The interior of the mountain would be left hollow,
but to ensure the steel wasn’t fully exposed, the beams were wrapped with canvas which
was painted in shades of icy blue and white, although…the result was not at all convincing.
Walt had Imagineers leave plenty of open areas in the rockwork for guests to peer out and see
the park, leaving the mountain with as many holes as a block of swiss cheese.
The Matterhorn Bobsleds was part of a major expansion of Tomorrowland which included
adding the Monorail and Submarine Voyage Thru Liquid Space. The Tomorrowland expansion was
touted as Disneyland’s grand re-opening and the three attractions were unveiled to the
public on June 14, 1959. Now, if you heard me say the Matterhorn was part of Tomorrowland,
you heard correctly. It wasn’t considered a Fantasyland ride until its major remodel in 1978.
Ride operators, mountain climbers, and even Tinkerbell herself, all had a place
inside the Matterhorn structure to relax and prepare for work. Walt hated to waste space,
and since the ride itself only reaches halfway up the mountain, there was a large space on
the upper level that would have otherwise been underutilized. They turned it into a type of break room.
In the 1960’s, one cast member even brought in a basketball hoop and installed it on one of
the beams, making a kind of miniature half-court so they could play on their breaks.
This led to the rumor that it’s up there because local building ordinances dictated that a structure
over a certain height could not be built unless it was for a sports venue.
Which is a rediculous notion.
There’s no basketball court up there. It’s a hoop and a half-oval crudely drawn on the floor.
Now I know I mentioned earlier that the Matterhorn is the world’s largest scale model…so I’ll take
moment to explain that. Walt wanted the Matterhorn replicated as closely as possible at Disneyland.
So, Imagineers made a model of the Swiss mountain, taking into consideration its most
prominent features, and then scaled the mountain down to 1/100th of its real size. And so, while
the mountain in the Swiss Alps measures 14,700 feet high…the one at Disneyland is only 147.
This means that if a six-foot-tall person were to be scaled down to match the Disney mountain,
they would stand 18.28 millimeters tall, or just under ¾ of an inch. To put that into perspective,
if you stood a US dime on its side, that’s roughly how tall you’d be standing next to it.
When the Matterhorn was approaching the end of its second decade, the park decided to
invest in a significant upgrade to the ride. In 1978, the attraction underwent a refurbishment,
enlarging the queue where riders lined up, as well as finally installing those caverns
that Walt wanted, which resulted in many of the mountains holes being patched up and enclosed.
Once again, Fred Joerger was brought in to design the beautiful icy interiors of the Matterhorn…
an artist, complimenting his earlier work with two decades of accrued knowledge since he last touched it.
These new icy interiors were made of 3 layers of plaster spread over steel mesh which was
attached to a web of shaped rebar, then mounted on steel framework supports. Fred Joerger explained,
"The renovation of our Matterhorn is just the completion of Walt's original idea…
…many of the Matterhorn's original plans were postponed. Because of the popularity of the
Matterhorn, it would have been difficult to close the attraction for re-construction before now.
But with Space Mountain entertaining guests who need a thrill experience,
we can finally finish most of Walt's original plan."
Fred Joerger retired the next year in 1979, leaving behind an expansive
legacy of models and designs for the company’s theme parks; projects too numerous to count.
Possibly the most iconic addition to the mountain in 1978 was the Abominable Snowman.
The Cast Members eventually nicknamed him Harold and he spent his days frightening the bobsledders as
they glided through his cave. Then just before the ride ends, you see him one last time.
There were three Snowmen built for the ride, the first is visible from both tracks towards
the start, but the last two are each seen from their own respective track.
What’s interesting was that only one of the three snowmen was built from scratch, the other two
were actually recycled animatronics from another Disneyland attraction. A year earlier in 1977,
Marc Davis was tasked with refurbishing the Jungle Cruise, back then, there was a scene that
depicted two gorillas that stood upright, and then raised their arms in protest at the passing boats.
These animals appeared unsettling to passengers, so Marc removed them, and when the Matterhorn team
caught wind of this, they saw an opportunity to repurpose them. They were given new white fur, new
body shape shells, and matching monster faces -of which were sculpted by Imagineer Blaine Gibson.
And speaking of bobsleds, to increase the ride’s capacity, this was the year the Matterhorn
received the tandem bobsleds. These bobsleds were white with a stripe design on the sides,
they were built so that two bobsleds were joined together. And since the seats themselves
were still tandem seats, that meant these tandem bobsleds had a capacity of 8 riders,
as opposed to a single bobsled of just 4.
During this refurbishment, Jack Wagner, who was known as the voice of Disneyland,
recorded his most iconic safety spiel:
“Remain seated please…permanecer sentados, por favor.”
The Matterhorn remained relatively untouched in the decades after,
and riders in the Skyway enjoyed traveling right through the center of the mountain.
Then, in 1994 two changes took place. The first was the addition of a new scene.
Imagineers added a place in the mountain where glowing crystals were seemingly discovered by
an expedition of trekkers. A supply box marked “Wells” gave a nod to the last
name of the Disney company president Frank Wells who tragically died earlier that year.
You see, Frank Wells had a dream of climbing the seven summits of the world. He made it
to six of the them. But that year, he went on a ski trip to Nevada, and his helicopter crashed.
The second change of 1994, came at the end of the year, when the Skyway was forever
dismantled after damages from the Northridge earthquake required expensive repairs.
After Disneyland celebrated its 55th anniversary in 2010,
Resort management had taken a hard look at the aging mountain.
After five decades without a major repaint, the mountain was starting to look a little…yellow!
The Matterhorn had received paint touchups every decade or so, mainly to the snow on top.
But meanwhile, the grey rockwork was left to bleach in the sunlight. Also, the tandem seats were no
longer considered safe, you see, guests had to share a seatbelt, a practice which didn’t actually
secure people in the bobsleds anyway. And guests often preferred being seated separately…
Which negated the capacity increase of 1978. Immediately the company assigned Imagineers
to the task of fixing up the Matterhorn. And in 2012, for the first time since its construction,
the mountain was covered from top to bottom in scaffolds. The old paint scheme was being
stripped off and replaced with a richer grey rock color to match the original Swiss Mountain.
With the new paint applied, they added highlighted touches to the rock to give the color scheme some depth.
The snow was entirely re-applied with a realistic touch…instead of patches
of white paint, this time the technique allowed for a wind-whipped snowy look.
The special paint that was applied had small beads of glass in it, the idea being that when the sun
reflected off of the beads, the snow would glisten realistically, and indeed it worked!
As for the inside of the Matterhorn, the caves were repainted, and some of the
track rails had extra support brackets welded in place to make it more rigid.
Harold the Abominable Snowman was given new white fur, and the crystals in the Wells expedition
had their lights fixed so they glowed colorfully once again using newly installed LED technology.
The mountain also got retrofitted with more catwalks and handrails to meet the stricter
CalOSHA standards that went in place in the early 2010’s, these standards were meant to make rides
like this one safer for both Cast Members and riders. It’s true that parts of the ride
lost their original aesthetics…but it’s a small price to pay, for safety.
Another safety feature that changed was Jack Wagner’s remain seated spiel at the loading area.
They replaced the original spiel, with a slightly longer one that he originally recorded specifically for breakdowns:
"Please remain seated with your seatbelt fastened, permanecer sentados, por favor."
The last addition to the 2012 refurbishment was a new series of bobsleds. These bobsleds were
still tandem, so they went through the ride two at a time, however the seats themselves
were designed for individuals. This meant there was room for three seats per bobsled,
making each train a full capacity of 6 people The new bobsleds looked great…
but an old issue arose upon their introduction…
you see…people had forgotten how uncomfortable the ride was due to its track design.
They assumed that the old bobsleds were the issue.
So when people got aboard the new bobsleds, they were surprised to see that the ride wasn’t any smoother.
There was an outcry by fans for Disney to fix the ride. The fix didn’t come until the year 2015, when the
park underwent project sparkle, to get everything ready for Disneyland’s 60th anniversary.
The bobsleds received padding to make the ride a little more bearable. And to appease the fans,
a new Abominable Snowman was installed. This one is arguably scarier and more animated.
The two Jungle Cruise gorilla Snowmen were presumably thrown away, but the original custom-built monster
that could be seen from both tracks, was saved by the Disney Archives team, and can now be found
on display in the queue of the Guardians of the Galaxy ride in Disney California Adventure.
They even added new screens to the chain lift area where you can see the snowman stalking you as you
climb higher and higher into the mountain. The new abominable snowman wasn’t the only addition.
The Well’s expedition scene from 1994, was replaced with a new one, where an assortment of old ride
vehicles and props had been collected by the snowman and stored here. This scene was also a bit
of a controversy, as the fans had felt it wasn’t right to remove the tribute to Frank Wells.
By the end of the next year, the wooden crate labeled “Wells” was added back in amongst the collection.
By 2018, it was time to refresh the bobsleds since they were looking a little worn out.
Meanwhile, the queue of the ride was expanded in the front. They added a new entrance structure,
and while its use is necessary to mark the ride entrance…
it also obstructs the view from the walkway, of the original Swiss-themed building.
In August of 2019, a chunk of the ride’s rockwork the size of a door had fallen from it.
This happened overnight, after park hours, and the damage was discovered during a routine pre-opening safety walk-through.
Water splash from the adjacent falls had corroded the steel mesh holding the concrete to the structure.
Over six decades of weather, seismic events,
and wear and tear have taken their toll...it makes one wonder, just how much longer can it last?
I know a few rollercoaster enthusiasts who feel that Matterhorn isn’t worth their time.
The ride has an average speed of 18 miles per hour, and there are no major drops,
corkscrews, loops or any of that other stuff that you see in modern rollercoasters nowadays.
And there’s a reason behind that. First, you’re on a toboggan, your vehicle shouldn’t do anything
a toboggan wouldn’t do. Disneyland is not an amusement park, you’re not here to ride the
biggest and scariest rides ever built…you’re here to be transported into another world,
a world of stories, of adventure, of good clean fun.
And the Matterhorn Bobsleds emulates that model very well.
I find it both fascinating and amusing to think that this attraction was dreamed up on a whim by Walt Disney,
with such an unassuming declaration on the back of a postcard.
And that the ride engineering was designed by a man whose education was in automobile body design,
and manufactured by a ride company that had never built a rollercoaster before,
but went on to become one of the world’s leading rollercoaster manufacturers…and all of this was
done to hide an ugly central tower to a ride that has been gone for over two and a half decades!
But I digress…The Matterhorn Bobsleds has become a Disneyland classic. It’s been the beacon that
greets us at the beginning of our Disneyland adventure,
and the final wave goodbye as we leave our beloved park.
Despite all of the new attractions added to the park over the decades,
the Matterhorn still towers over them all as the tallest structure in Disneyland…
because no Imagineer has had the heart to build anything that rivals the size of Walt’s beloved Swiss mountain.
The Matterhorn has become a monument of memories, of excitement,
of thrills…everyone remembers their first ride aboard this mountain…
it’s been with us locals most of our lives…and even when the day comes for it to be rebuilt or replaced…
it will still live on in our memory, forever standing…another icon, of Disneyland.