If you read my columns on a regular basis, you should already know that I’ve done a lot of research on the Walt Disney Imagineers. As I was pondering what to discuss this week, I thought it might be fun to share with you some of my favorite stories about the designs of some of the attractions in the Disney theme parks. If you’re a Disney aficionado as I am, you may have heard these stories before. If not, I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Matterhorn Bobsleds

Did you ever wonder how it came to be that at the end of the Matterhorn Bobsleds, your bobsled splashes down in a pool of water? I mean, that’s not something you would typically think of putting at the end of a coaster ride.

Now, the Matterhorn was the first coaster ride in the world to use steel tracks. Previously, all coasters tracks were made of wood. Were the Imagineers really that innovative that they also came up with this spectacularly delightful ending to the ride? Well… actually, the splashdown ending was added late into the construction of the ride.

As was typical of Walt Disney, he loved to try things out before they were actually ready. One day during the construction of the Matterhorn, Walt visited the park insisting that he get to test out the ride experience. The engineers on site told Walt that the ride wasn’t finished yet. The track had not been completed, and it would not really be safe for him to ride. Being the stubborn guy that he was, Walt insisted that he be able to ride. The majority of the track was finished, it was just the very end that had yet to be completed.

Since there was no convincing Walt otherwise, the engineers on site piled up a mountain of hay at the location where the track ended, and sent Walt on his way up the lift in a bobsled. Walt’s bobsled careened around the mountain, and eventually made it’s way to the end of the completed track, where it then slammed into the aforementioned pile of hay and came to a stop.

As the engineers feared the worst, Walt emerged totally delighted from the experience. He exclaimed that the ending was so much fun, that they really should find some way to incorporate that effect into the finished product. As it would turn out, designers came up with the “splash down” ending that has been in place ever since.

So, the next time you ride the Matterhorn and pass through the splash down ending, try to remember Walt riding the attraction and barreling into a pile of hay!

Splash Mountain

Speaking of splash downs, there’s another great story about when Splash Mountain was in development. For anyone who has experienced this attraction, you are aware that there are a few drops during the course of the ride. This story revolves around one in particular that I will call the “dip-drop.”

The design of Splash Mountain combines elements of a roller coaster with a typical flume ride. At certain portions of the ride, the “logs” actually lift out of the flume onto a steel track for the drops. This allows for a faster and smoother drop experience. The “dip-drop” comes in almost the dead center of the ride, just before you enter the “Laughing Place” scene. In this drop, you don’t just drop down. The track is actually more of a dip where you drop down and then come back up a bit.

If you are familiar with the layout of the attraction, you know that after this “dip-drop” the logs make a sharp right-hand turn. During initial testing of the attraction, Imagineers discovered that the logs were gaining too much momentum in the “dip-drop,” and as a result had too much speed going into this turn. They had to devise a way to slow down the logs or else smooth out the turn a bit.

Being the sharp guys and gals that they are, the Imagineers came up with a simple and cost-effective solution. If they placed just a small amount of water at the bottom of the dip, it might be just enough to slow the logs down as they hit the bottom of the dip so they could safely make the turn back at the top.

So, the Imagineers decided to test their theory. At first, they put just a few inches of water at the bottom. They then sent a log through to see what would happen. The log sped through the dip-drop, barely slowing down, and still had too much speed going into the turn. So, they decided to add a little more water. When again the logs were not slowing down, they decided to dramatically increase the amount of water in the bottom of the dip.

As fate would have it, the Imagineers working on this particular project were unaware that some top-level executives had arrived on the site and wanted to test ride the attraction. As the log full of executives approached the dip-drop portion of the ride, it lifted out of the flume and onto the steel track for the drop. As they careened down the drop, they were met with a very large splash of water that came over the sides of the log, drenching them. If that was not enough, the large addition of water at the bottom of the dip apparently did its job, as the log lost enough momentum to make it back up the other side of the dip. As a result, the log then rolled backwards into the dip again, producing a second large splash of water over the log, drenching the executives for a second time. Apparently it rolled back and forth a few more times before coming to a stop at the bottom of the dip. By this time, the Imagineers had fled the site so as not to lose their jobs…

In the end, the water in the bottom of the dip was deemed to be a poor solution, and designers eventually found a way to smooth out the turn and allow the logs to pass through at a faster speed.

Roger Rabbit’s Car-Toon Spin

My final story for today revolves around Disneyland’s Roger Rabbit ride in Toontown. (Get it? REVOLVES around…? Okay, if you haven’t been on this attraction, maybe you don’t get it…) Roger Rabbit’s Car-Toon Spin was took the classic dark ride that you would typically find in Fantasyland (Snow White’s Scary Adventures, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, etc.) but added a new twist. Instead of just experiencing the ride moving forward, the Imagineers thought it would be fun to allow the guests to rotate their vehicles 360 degrees while traveling through the scenes. This was also the predecessor to another popular “spin” attraction, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin.

But how is it that the Imagineers figured out how to make this work? No ride system like this had ever been created, so the designers had no idea what to expect. They needed to know what the ride experience would be like so that they could design the scenes accordingly. Where previously, lights and equipment could be hidden behind scenes, this time, they would have to be designed so that the show elements would still be hidden even if viewed from the opposite side. The Imagineers on this project finally came to the conclusion that they needed to conduct a real-life experiment to see just how this would all come together.

So, late one night after Disneyland had closed, the Imagineers drove down to Anaheim and setup their experiment. These Imagineers proceeded to remove one of the teacups from the Mad Tea Party attraction, and retrofitted it so it could be attached to the Omnimover ride system in the Haunted Mansion.

What followed next were several hours of a very unique ride experience. These Imagineers rode through the Haunted Mansion over and over and over, all the while spinning wildly in their teacup as they passed through each of the gloomy scenes. They found the experience to be so entertaining, that they knew they had a successful concept on their hands.

They then used this experience to create the new, one-of-a-kind ride experience that first premiered in the Roger Rabbit’s Car-Toon Spin attraction. That attraction was so popular that the ride system was later adapted for Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin attraction for Walt Disney World’s Tomorrowland, and now Buzz Lightyear attractions are currently in development for both Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland in California. But even still, I can’t imagine that any of these attractions would ever live up to the experience of riding through the Haunted Mansion in a teacup…

Well, that does it for this week. I hope you enjoyed these short stories from the hallowed walls of Walt Disney Imagineering. I know I always enjoy sharing them!

Until next week, I’ll see ya real soon!