There’s a great big hunk of world down there with no fence around it – Lady and the Tramp
Before Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, the space was occupied by If you had wings, sponsored by Eastern Airlines. This ride, after viewing a preshow, took riders on a ‘take-off’ experience where the vehicle went out on an inclined plane and ‘flew’ past birds, other planes, and past different world locations that the airline flew to, all the while listening to the catchy them song. Eastern sponsored the ride until 1987, when it closed and the building sat empty until 1996 when Delta came into the picture.
Revamping the original ride, the Delta Dreamflight took riders through a boarding process, walking by the actual front-end nose and cockpit of a Delta 767. Guests stepped into a bright blue car to board their ‘flight’, entered a spinning, pop-up book style room that had a hot air balloon and other objects spinning by. The 2nd leg of the ‘flight’ took passengers through a crop field in the mid-west with biplanes, stunt planes, and barnstormers flying about them. The next scene was a screen with an aerial stuntman performing stunts while in the air.
In the next leg of the flight, passengers enter the propeller plane era. Passengers are swept away throughout Asia and Europe before ending with film of a plan taking off, flying through the clouds, and another pop-up book room with all of the Delta destinations spread out on pages. The ride closed in 1995. It reopened as Take Flight in 1996, but that ride only lasted until 1998.
Disney was looking for a way to promote their new movie, Toy Story, so 10 months after Take Flight closed, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin opened.
Do you remember If you had Wings or Dreamflight?
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