Skyway (Disney): Difference between revisions
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[[Category:Defunct attractions]] | [[Category:Defunct attractions]] | ||
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[[Category:Disneyland]] | [[Category:Disneyland Park]] | ||
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[[Category:1999 disestablishments in Florida]] | [[Category:1999 disestablishments in Florida]] | ||
Latest revision as of 10:45, 14 November 2026
| Skyway | |
|---|---|
| Park | Magic Kingdom |
| Land / area | Fantasyland (Magic Kingdom) and Tomorrowland (Magic Kingdom) |
| Type | Gondola lift |
| Opened | October 1, 1971 |
| Closed | November 10, 1999 |
| Designer | Walt Disney Imagineering
|
| Status | Closed |
Skyway was a gondola lift attraction that operated at Disneyland, Magic Kingdom and Tokyo Disneyland. At each park it carried guests in open, suspended cabins between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland, and was listed as two one-way attractions: Skyway to Fantasyland and Skyway to Tomorrowland. At Walt Disney World it was an opening-day attraction and, for twenty-eight years, one of the most visible sights in Magic Kingdom.
History
The first Skyway opened at Disneyland on June 23, 1956, built by the Swiss firm Von Roll and among the first lifts of its type in the United States. It quickly became a Disneyland landmark, and after the Matterhorn mountain opened in 1959, the California cabins passed through openings in that mountain on their journey between the lands.
A Florida version followed as part of Magic Kingdom's opening-day line-up on October 1, 1971. It had a Swiss-chalet Fantasyland station and a larger Tomorrowland station, and its route differed from California's: rather than running in a straight line, it made a distinct turn part-way across, passing over Fantasyland (Magic Kingdom) and the lagoon of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea before continuing towards Tomorrowland (Magic Kingdom). A third version operated at Tokyo Disneyland from that park's opening on April 15, 1983, until November 3, 1998.
Disneyland's Skyway closed on November 9, 1994. By then the lifts at all three parks faced the same pressures: they were labour-intensive to staff, carried few guests per hour compared with newer attractions, needed structural attention, and could not readily accommodate guests who could not transfer from a wheelchair.
Experience
Guests boarded a continuously moving, open-sided cabin, usually seating up to four, and were carried at a gentle pace well above the walkways. Round trips were not permitted: a ride ended at the opposite station, and guests who wished to return joined the queue in the other direction.
The appeal was the view rather than any show scenes. From the Magic Kingdom cabins, guests looked down on the Fantasyland rooftops, the submarine lagoon, and across towards Cinderella Castle and Space Mountain. The cabins swayed slightly as they passed over their support towers.
Closure and legacy
In February 1999, a cast member working on a platform at the Magic Kingdom Fantasyland station died after the ride was started while he was in the path of the moving cabins and he fell from a gondola he had grasped. The United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined Walt Disney World over a safety violation in that work area. Disney stated that the attraction's closure, which followed later that year, was not a result of the accident, and that a decision to retire the ride had already been under consideration.
The Magic Kingdom Skyway's last day of operation was November 9, 1999, and it closed permanently on November 10, 1999, exactly five years after the Disneyland version's final day. Its cables and towers were removed, but both stations survived for years: the Tomorrowland station was partly demolished in 2009 and its lower level became restrooms, while the Fantasyland chalet stood until 2011, when it was removed for a new rest area themed to Tangled.
The idea returned to Walt Disney World twenty years later in a different form. The Disney Skyliner, which opened in 2019, is a modern, enclosed gondola system carrying guests between parks and hotels rather than within a park. It is often described as the Skyway's spiritual successor, although it is a transport network rather than an attraction, with larger cabins and accessible loading.