Today In Disney History ~ July 1st
The Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover, formerly known as the WEDWay PeopleMover from 1975 until 1994 and the Tomorrowland Transit Authority from 1994 until 2010, is a PeopleMover system in Tomorrowland in the Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort. Themed as an urban mass transit system of the future, the ride takes passengers on a tour around the second floor of many attractions in Tomorrowland. It is also the lone remaining Magic Kingdom attraction to still have corporate sponsorship as a result of Kodak ending its sponsorship with Mickey’s Philharmagic on December 31, 2012 (Happily Ever After, the nighttime projection and fireworks show at Cinderella Castle, is sponsored by PANDORA, but it is not considered an attraction.
The WEDWay PeopleMover opened on July 1, 1975, based on the PeopleMover attraction at Disneyland in California (WED for Walter Elias Disney). Because it did not utilize the propulsion system of rotating Goodyear tires used in the original, instead using linear synchronous motors, Goodyear opted not to sponsor the east coast version. The Edison Electric Institute was the original sponsor of the ride. Instead of an open track with covered cars, this ride was designed the opposite from the Disneyland version: open-air cars with a ceiling over the track. The original narration track was provided by longtime Disney voice, Jack Wagner. In June 1985, his narration was replaced by the voice of ORAC One – “The Commuter Computer”, which was used until June 11, 1994, when the attraction received a makeover for the New Tomorrowland. At that time the WEDWay Peoplemover passed through the attractions that occupied Tomorrowland during that time, including Mission to Mars, If You Had Wings, and others. Originally, the tunnel through the south show building (now home to Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin) had three windows; one and two on the trains’ right, three to the trains’ left. This building first housed If You Had Wings, and the windows were carefully placed to look down into the Mexico, Jamaica, and Trinidad show scenes in such a way as to hide all projectors, lights and other show support equipment. When If You Had Wings (renamed If You Could Fly) was closed in January 1989 and remodeled into Delta Dreamflight, the windows no longer lined up correctly with show scenes. The first window was replaced with backlit panels depicting the ride’s barnstormer scene. Window two looked into the Parisian Excursion scene, from a viewpoint which heavily distorted the tableau’s forced perspective. The third window would have had riders looking directly into an extremely bright light and so was completely obscured with plywood and black fabric.
Michele also contributes theme park news for Fox 35 Orlando 11pm news and on the radio on WDBO.
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