Matterhorn Bobsleds

Slide down Matterhorn Mountain on a daring bobsled run past icy slopes, through twisting caves, near plunging waterfalls, over stone bridges, and maybe even experience a thrilling encounter with the legendary abominable snowman. Conquer the perilous peaks of Matterhorn Mountain on a high-speed thrill ride that will throttle you through icy chutes, around perilous precipices and into the lair of the legendary abominable snowman! Climb steep mountain faces, plunge into creepy caves and rocket around twists and turns. Matterhorn Bobsleds is a thrilling roller-coaster-style attraction that will leave you yodeling with excitement!

Brace against the howling winds as you climb 80 feet into the air inside an icy cave. Take in the sweeping view at the summit and hang on, because the only way off this mountain is down! Careen around corners, plunge into shadowy caves, weave around mysteriously glowing ice crystals and splashdown in an alpine lake. But the real peril is not the snow or sleet. Prepare to come face-to-fang with the mountain's growling monster!

Attraction Experience

The ride consists of two separate tracks that run roughly parallel to each other for much of the ride, intertwining and eventually deviating from each other at the loading areas. They are the Fantasyland track and Tomorrowland track, named for the side of the mountain their associated loading line begins in. The vehicles hold up to four passengers each, seated single-file. After the 1978 upgrade, the individual vehicles were joined into pairs, increasing the capacity to eight riders. The safety restraints consist of a simple airline-style seatbelt. There are hand grips inside the cars, as well a handrail outside the shell of the vehicle.

The Matterhorn employs only one lift hill. Bobsleds ascend parallel to each other at the start of the ride, climbing past walls featuring snow-like special effects. The top of this lift hill constitutes the highest point of the ride itself, though the mountain continues upward for another couple of stories. The rest of the ride is an unpowered coast through the Matterhorn's many caverns and passageways.

The splash-down pools at the end of each track serve dual purposes. They not only cool off the braking fins mounted on the underside of the bobsleds, but the impact into the water itself acts as a braking mechanism. Because of their constant exposure to water, the fiberglass bodies are regularly waxed.

For many years, a basketball half-court existed inside the structure above the coaster, near the top of the mountain, where the mountain climbers could play between climbs. As internal access to the mountain was locked for safety reasons, the court was accessible only to the climbers. The court was relocated slightly during the installation of the Tinkerbell flight equipment prior to the 50th anniversary celebration; the hoop and playing area remain intact. There is a cast member break room inside the mountain at the base. The court was taken down in early 2001.

At the end of the attraction, guests hear the now-famous "Remain seated please; Permanecer sentados por favor" safety announcement; it is one of many recordings by the former "Voice of Disneyland," Jack Wagner. The recording was changed in 2005 to say "Remain seated with your seatbelt fastened; Permanecer sentados por favor." The changed English dialogue is still Jack Wagner, as it was borrowed from the attraction's breakdown announcement. This recording also introduces the Tomorrowland segment of the Remember... Dreams Come True fireworks show. The safety announcement was featured on the title track of the 1995 No Doubt album Tragic Kingdom, and the line was spoken by Barbie in the film Toy Story 2.

Touring Tips

• Fastpass is NOT available for this attraction, and the line can get quite long. The best time to ride is in the first hour after the park opens. Both sides usually have the same queue length.
• Since the queue wraps, single file around the Matterhorn, it frequently seems longer than it actually is. It should be noted that there are also two queues, each wrapping in different directions around the mountain. Waiting more than 30 minutes shouldn't be necessary except on the busiest days.
• This is a rough, jarring ride. Pregnant women and those with back and neck problems or other medical conditions should not ride.
• When you're high on the mountain you'll get brief views of Disneyland from up high - this is especially pretty at night.
• Some kids really like the Matterhorn Bobsleds and some don't - they may find the roaring of the Abominable Snowman to be scary. The seat configuration offers parents the opportunity to ride right with their child, who may find the physical contact reassuring.
• Riders sit in individual seats, so children will need to be comfortable sitting on their own in front or behind a parent. The abominable snowman appears during this ride and may be scary for especially young children. At times only his glowing red eyes are visible. We have found that it's best to prepare the children ahead of time by letting them know that they will see him.

Facts

• The Matterhorn Bobsleds or the Matterhorn is an attraction composed of two intertwining steel roller coasters, which opened in 1959 at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. It is modeled after the Matterhorn, a mountain in the Swiss Alps. It is the first tubular steel continuous track roller coaster ever constructed and thus an ACE (American Coaster Enthusiasts) Coaster Landmark.
• Choose one of 2 nearly identical bobsled runs: one on the Fantasyland side and another on the Tomorrowland side. Each run has a separate queue and during slower periods only a single track may be in operation. Both tracks are equally fun, but the Fantasyland track is slightly longer and features some sharper curves.
• Matterhorn Mountain certainly looks tall, partially due to the excellent use of the movie-set-inspired technique of forced perspective. However, the Disneyland Park mountain is exactly 100 times shorter than Switzerland's massive 14,700-foot-tall original.
• Now, Matterhorn Mountain sparkles! To mimic the snow patterns on Switzerland's original mountain, more than 800 gallons of paint have been used to create "heavier" snowfall on the northern side of Matterhorn Mountain and less snow on the granite-colored southern side. Realistic, yes - but not without a touch of magic. Using a new, environmentally friendly technique, glass beads have been fastened to the façade to reflect sunlight and glisten like actual snow. Also, more pine trees have been planted to add to the atmosphere.
• Located on the border between Tomorrowland and Fantasyland, it employs forced perspective to seem more impressively large. Throughout the day, climbers dressed in Swiss mountain-climbing garb may be seen scaling the peak, often accompanied by Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse and Goofy.
• The video game Epic Mickey has its own version of the Matterhorn named Mickeyjunk Mountain, where old Mickey memorabilia goes when it is forgotten.
• On June 29, 2011, Disney announced an adventure movie inspired by the Matterhorn ride with Jason Dean Hall attached to write the script. Justin Springer is producing the project, which originally had a working title as The Hill, and is now referred to as Untitled Explorers Project. The idea behind the project is to do a thrilling, fast-paced movie centering on five young adventure seekers who, for mysterious reasons, are called to the top of the mountain and encounter a Yeti on the journey down.
• Disneyland in California is the only Disney theme park with a Matterhorn Bobsled ride. The tracks of Space Mountain at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom were based on the designs of the Matterhorn but not identical to them. The Matterhorn's newer bobsleds, added in 1978, were based on the other ride's rockets, which had debuted in 1975. When Space Mountain was built at Disneyland, it was a completely new design with a single track and vehicles that seated riders side by side rather than behind one another.
• Disney's Animal Kingdom contains a roller coaster with a similar theme, Expedition Everest. It is a railway adventure to the top of an abstract version of the Himalayan mountain where riders encounter another fictional mountain beast, the Yeti.
• Matterhorn Mountain is 140 feet high. It's visible from the nearby freeway.
• A Disneyland icon since June 14, 1959, this was the first steel roller coaster in the world. The Matterhorn was part of the first major expansion to take place at Disneyland park since the park's debut in 1955. It opened along with the Disneyland Monorail and the Submarine Voyage.
• The Disneyland Matterhorn was built to 1/100th scale of the original Matterhorn, or 147 feet versus the 14,700 feet of the original. The Matterhorn has been the highest point in Disneyland park since 1959. It is the second-highest point in the Disneyland Resort, behind the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at Disney California Adventure park which stands 183 feet tall.
• The Disneyland Skyway used to pass through Matterhorn Mountain, but the openings have been closed up.
• Guests who look quickly while whizzing through the Matterhorn caverns may spot mountaineering supplies and other evidence of the Wells Expedition. These scenic details are a tribute to the late Frank Wells, who was president and Chief Operating Officer of The Walt Disney Company from 1984 until his death in 1994. Wells was an experienced mountain climber and skier.

History

During the construction of the park, dirt from the excavation of Sleeping Beauty Castle's moat was piled in an area between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. When the park opened, the area, dubbed Holiday Hill (and later Lookout Mountain), was improved with benches and pathways to encourage its use as a picnic area. After the opening of the Disneyland Skyway in 1956, Walt Disney conceived the idea of a toboggan ride on the mountain with real snow but the logistics caused vehement objections by Disneyland construction chief Joe Fowler. In this period the hill began to be known as Snow Hill. By now instead of picnicking, the hill had come to be used primarily as a nighttime lovers' lane, much to Disney's dismay. New wild mouse-style roller coasters got the attention of Disneyland executives who began to consider applying this emerging technology to the creation of a toboggan-themed coaster ride on an artificial mountain at the site. The structure was also intended to act as a decorative overlay to camouflage the central pylon of the Skyway. Use of the Matterhorn both in style and name grew from Disney's extended vacation in Switzerland while filming Third Man on the Mountain. He was impressed by the beauty of the real Matterhorn, and merged the toboggan ride concept with the thoughts of a bobsled coaster ride that would run around and through the structure. The peak was first shown in a conceptual drawing that was once on display at The Disney Gallery.

The view to the northwest shows a corner of the now-defunct Junior Autopia, which would be replaced by both the Matterhorn and the Submarine Voyage attraction the following year. One of three major new Tomorrowland attractions to open that year, the Matterhorn debuted on June 14, 1959. Built by coaster builder Arrow Development and WED Imagineering, it was the first tubular steel roller coaster in the world. It consisted of a wood and steel infrastructure surrounded by man-made rock.

Trees could be seen on its sides; by making the trees at higher altitudes smaller, the Imagineers used forced perspective to augment the mountain's height. Waterfalls cascaded down its sides and frequently sprayed riders. Inside was a large, open space through which the bobsleds traveled. The peak had numerous holes in its exterior through which the bobsleds exited and re-entered, though the space within was not elaborately themed, with the infrastructure being only minimally disguised as rock. The Skyway passed through the center of the mountain via a pair of holes on the Fantasyland and Tomorrowland sides. Skyway riders could see down into the Matterhorn's interior as they glided through.

In the early 1970s, the ride was officially made a part of Fantasyland, but this was merely a prelude to far more significant changes. In 1978, the Matterhorn received a major refurbishment. The Imagineers' biggest task was to break up the hollow interior space into a number of small, icy caves and tunnels with far more convincing theming. Some holes in the mountain's skin were filled in as well, including the two large openings at the top of the first lift hill that had allowed guests to briefly glimpse the entire southern part of the park.

Another major addition was the Abominable Snowman. The creature exists as three similar Audio-Animatronic figures that roar at the bobsledders; the first is visible from both tracks, while the other two are visible only from their respective tracks. Each track also features a pair of red eyes that glow in the dark shortly after the lift hill while its roar is heard. These roars can be heard from ground level as well, even over the (recorded) howling of the Alpine wind. The bobsleds themselves were also changed from the original flat, luge-like, multi-colored two-seaters to rounder, white cars decorated with orange and red stripes.

The Skyway continued to travel through the mountain for the next sixteen years, but its passageway was now enclosed in similarly themed ice caves. Following the closure of the Skyway in 1994, the cavernous holes through which the Skyway buckets had traveled were partially filled in. The holes in the Tomorrowland face remained mostly intact, and a grotto filled with glimmering crystals was installed nearby. An abandoned crate labeled "Wells Expedition" was also added as a tribute to Frank Wells, who had died earlier that year.

The bluish glow of the crystals is easily seen from the ground at night. It is also worth noting that the Matterhorn's external appearance has changed over time. The Matterhorn is painted a warmer gray than it once was, and the "snow" on its sides has become patchier, though the current paint job more closely replicates the sparse snow on the real Matterhorn's upper faces. With the exception of the aforementioned filling of certain holes, the actual external structure of the mountain remains largely unchanged from its original construction.

The Matterhorn temporarily closed on January 9, 2012 for a 6-month refurbishment. The mountain is being renovated by redoing the paint job throughout the outside of the mountain and some repairs on the inside. The vehicles will also be replaced to a single seater instead of the lap sitting, with three seats in each bobsled with two bobsleds linked together for a total of six guests. The new bobsleds were shown in red, blue, and green. The Matterhorn reopened on June 15, 2012.

Hidden Mickeys

• Concealed on the red & white crest/seal, placed directly on the ornate key, is a tiny Hidden Mickey in black paint. There are two versions of the key crest, one at the ride's main entrance and one in the Fantasyland-side queue. The little Hidden Mickey can only be found on the second crest, the one in the queue. A closer look at the red & white crest reveals the tiny Hidden Mickey in black paint. There are two versions of the key crest, one at the ride's main entrance and one in the Fantasyland-side queue. The little Hidden Mickey is only found on the second crest, the one in the queue on the right side.
• Occasionally a rope Hidden Mickey can be found in the Wells Expedition area inside the Matterhorn.