My E-Ticket series is one of my favourites that I’ve done, as taking the time to research all of the attraction history has made me appreciate imagineers that much more. My main source of information has been the official E-Ticket magazines, which I picked up at the Walt Disney Family Museum. So far, I’ve covered the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Space Mountain. Today, we’re going to dive into one of Disney’s most ambitious projects: The Matterhorn Bobsleds.

“Holiday Hill”

After the successes of the first few years of Disneyland since its opening, Walt was looking to improve it in all ways possible. After taking various critiques and feedback from his guests, he began to make the changes he wanted to see in the park. One of his main concerns were the plots of land still in the park that hadn’t been fully developed or realized yet. There was a piece of land between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland that initially was meant to become its own land; Holidayland. Through 1955 to 1957, they just called this land “Holiday Hill”, but Walt was unhappy with what it had become. Walt’s first idea was to turn it into a tobogganing hill, where they would add fake snow and have guests slide down. Joe Fowler, a construction worker for Disney, explained that it would become too much to have to keep producing snow for the amount of land they needed it for.

Walt Disney in Switzerland

One of Walt’s favourite places to vacation was Switzerland. He was fascinated by the unique landscape and architecture, and wanted to incorporate it somehow into the park. The first sign of this is when they turned the Skyway station in Fantasyland into the Swiss Chalet station.

The Skyway station in Disneyland. Image from: https://www.yesterland.com/skywayfant.html

During a 1958 trip to Switzerland, Walt saw parts of the filming of the production Third Man On The Mountain, which focused on the real Matterhorn mountain in Switzerland. According to the Spring 2005 issue of the E-ticket magazine,

“ … he sent his Imagineering team a postcard of the Matterhorn with two words written on the back. “Build this!” was his message to the folks back home”.

Walt and Lillian in Switzerland. Image from: https://www.waltdisney.org/blog/new-heights-walt-and-third-man-mountain

Matterhorn Bobsleds Construction

Joe Fowler was in charge of the construction, Vic Greene was the art director, Karl Bacon and Ed Morgan were the ride engineers, and Bob Gurr was in charge of the track itself. Later in the project, Bill Evans was in charge of the landscaping around the mountain. Bob Gurr had previously recalled that it was one of the hardest projects he had ever worked on, as conceptualizing how the bobsled track would work was extremely difficult. The workers had never been tasked with a project like this.

The difference between the design of the Matterhorn and the design of a traditional rollercoaster was significant. The Matterhorn would have tubular track instead of regular flat track that rollercoasters tend to have. The Matterhorn would have two intertwining tracks instead of one. It would also be built within a large structure, the mountain, and still leave room for the Skyway to pass through it. The ride vehicles themselves would rely on gravity instead of being motorized, but they were so heavily attached to the track in so many ways that it would still remain safe.

American Bridge was the company responsible for the construction of the exterior of the mountain. They used steel members to secure the foundation of the shape of the mountain, and then plywood was added on top to begin the rock-like structure. Construction workers worked from top down, evening finishing off the top with snow before they began to install the ride system. To test it, they used sandbags, but eventually they did have to have a real person test the track out. Bob Gurr, being the designer of the track, had the honor of being the first person to ride the Matterhorn Bobsleds.

The Tallest Ride at Disneyland

Since 1959, the Matterhorn Bobsleds has remained the highest point in Disneyland and can be viewed along the Orange Country skyline. Although it stands tall, it is only 1/100 the size of the real Matterhorn mountain in Switzerland. Disneyland’s Matterhorn counts 14 stories high.

The landscaping job done by Bill Evans really makes the Matterhorn look even taller than it is, by adding trees that only go up to halfway up the mountain. This is another example of forced perspective that the park had previously used, including the forced perspective on Sleeping Beauty’s Castle.

The Matterhorn mountain in Switzerland. Image from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matterhorn

Matterhorn Bobsleds Opening Day

The Matterhorn was opened on June 14th, 1959, with a televised special on June 15th, 1959. Celebrities and other guests showed up to the park that day to celebrate all of the expansion projects Disney had been working on over the last 4 years. This was also the introduction to the E-tickets, as the highest the ticket book used to go was the D-tickets.

Members of the Sierra club were the first people to actually climb the exterior of the mountain on opening day. Once they got to the top, they waved the Swiss flag and the United States flag. As the climbers descended downward, Disneyland had traditional Swiss dancers perform a group dance at the bottom of the mountain.

The Matterhorn’s Yeti (Abominable Snowman)

In 1978, after almost 20 years of the ride being open, Disneyland made a few changes to it to keep it up to date and add the element of Fantasy into it. One of the most well known additions and most loved it the Yeti animatronic inside the ride. It has become a staple face of the attraction and wasn’t even there when it initially opened. Blaine Gibson was responsible for sculpting the face of the Abominable Snowman. He was also known for some of the Pirates animatronics, and the famous “Partners Statue” of Walt and Mickey. The yeti has been given the nickname “Harold”.

Harold the yeti in the Matterhorn Bobsleds. Image from: https://www.parkhoppr.com/the-history-of-the-matterhorn-at-disneyland/

The Matterhorn Bobsleds still stands tall today and is still one of the most popular thrill rides in the park. Although a little bumpy here and there, it has maintained its original charm that Walt was looking for in the very beginning. Let me know what other attractions you want to learn about in the comments below!

Reference List:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvdFTpEHWns

Janzen, Jack E. The "E" Ticket #42 Disneyland's Matterhorn Bobsleds. Vol. 42, 2005.