The Most Expensive Disneyland Mountain

Walt’s dream of Disneyland seemed far too gone for everyone around him; his animators, his bankers, and even his brother. But this wasn’t a foreign feeling to Walt, as his first featured animation (and the first one ever in the world), would be dubbed “Walt’s folly” before receiving rave reviews and becoming a major piece of history in the success of animation. Walt was not afraid of taking risks, even if it cost him. On September 26, 1953, Walt enlisted the help of Herb Ryman, one of his trusted animators, to spend the next 48 hours with him drawing every detail of a theme park that lived in Walt’s head. Herb captured every attraction, every building, every land… a sketch that would one day serve as the basis for the design of Disneyland California.

Construction for Disneyland began on July 16, 1954, and exactly one year and one day later, on July 17, 1955, the park opened. The park was built across 160 acres of land which previously housed orange groves. The time it took to build didn’t compare to the time it took Disney to get all of the permits, licenses, and funding to build the $17 million dollar park. With profits from his animation studio coming in, him and Roy approached ABC television network and pitched a television series idea about the building of Disneyland. After seeing the design plans for the park, ABC agreed to sign with Disney on March 29, 1954, and loaned them 4.5 million for a 1/3 ownership of the theme park. This was the beginning of Disney’s anthology television series, Walt Disney’s Disneyland from 1954-1958. As you can imagine, each attraction cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars, for the designs, parts, and labor that went into them. That can be said for the attractions that are built now too, with millions invested in them because of the cost of the new technology the park is using. The Disneyland mountains have always been a huge part of the park’s identity, and have been recreated and rebuilt in other Disney parks around the world. But what is the most expensive Disneyland California mountain?

#4. Matterhorn Bobsleds

In 1958, Walt Disney and his wife Lillian took a trip to Switzerland to observe the production of Third Man On the Mountain, a film that took place on the real Matterhorn mountain, about a son following in his late father’s footsteps to conquering the climb to the top of the mountain. After creating this live action film, it inspired Walt to bring the elements of natural architecture into his newly built theme park. Instead of ripping the Matterhorn mountain from its base and transporting it to Anaheim (which would have been impossible), Imagineers built their own version of the Matterhorn mountain out of steel rods and plywood rock. Disney Legend Bob Gurr recalled that it was one of the hardest projects he had ever worked on, combining the infrastructure of a mountain and the mechanics of a rollercoaster. In 1959, the Matterhorn cost $1.5 million to build, and adjusted for inflation in 2022, it would cost $14.9 million to build today.

Matterhorn Bobsleds. Image from: https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/571253533960746179/

#3. Big Thunder Mountain

Big Thunder Mountain was built at a time when Disneyland desperately needed more thrill rides to continue to attract crowds to the park. The old Frontierland included stagecoaches, wagons, cowboys, saloons, and while all very cool to be in a western town at the time, it wasn’t exciting the younger crowds as much as it did in the past. Before Big Thunder Mountain stood Mine Train Through Nature’s Wonderland, a Junge Cruise-esque ride that took you through Rainbow Ridge town, Beaver Valley, Bear Country, the Living Desert, and the Rainbow Caverns. It was an extremely detailed ride, but also a very tame one. The ride would close in 1977 to make room for the newest mountain on the block, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. In 1979, the attraction cost $17 million to build, and adjusted for inflation in 2022, it would cost $67 million to build today.

#2. Space Mountain

The 1970s was a decade focused on the space age, as the moon landing was the international news of 1969. This was also the age that the Star Wars phenomenon began. It was the perfect time to add the space age futuristic elements tot he park that Walt had always envisioned. Anytime you walked into a new land he wanted it to feel like you were completely transported to a different era, so this was the main goal to accomplish when the construction for Space Mountain in Disneyland began. The dark surroundings of the ride masked the heavy metal components, and the queue was filled with models, figures, and audio-animatronics to keep the experience alive. It was manufactured by Arrow Development. In 1977, Space Mountain cost $20 million to build, and adjusted for inflation in 2022, it would cost $95 million to build today.

Space Mountain construction. Image from: https://www.itsasmallworldblog.com/home/building-space-mountain

#1. Splash Mountain

A thrilling water ride was something Disneyland did not possess yet in the 1980s, and it started to make its way to the top of the priority list to design and build. A river raft concept was tossed around for a while, but Imagineer Tony Baxter ended up coming up with a better idea, drawing inspiration from the characters and music of Song of the South. The construction of the mountain would end up being the most expensive part of the process, making sure to build it in a way that would accommodate audio animatronics, a steel rollercoaster track, and 950,000 gallons of water. When they started to realize the ride was becoming way more costly than planned, they decided to shut down the America Sings attraction and remove over 100 audio animatronics from there and place them into Splash Mountain. The attraction took about a year to construct, and it was finally ready to be opened to the public on July 17th, 1989, as a part of Disneyland’s 34th anniversary. In 1989, the ride cost $75 million to build, and adjusted for inflation in 2022, it would cost $174 million to build today. For reference, the most expensive ride in Disneyland California right now is Radiator Springs Racers, which cost $200 million.