Unpopular Opinion: “PeopleMover” is the BEST Ride at Disney World
While the “PeopleMover” sounds like it should be on an album with The Purple People Eater or the title of a bad sci-fi B-movie from the fifties and sixties, it is actually Disney World’s take on a mass-transit system! Unlike the crowded subways of NYC or the bustling London “Underground,” the PeopleMover is described by its patrons as leisurely. The narrator’s soothing voice even encourages you to sit back and relax. It provides a nice change of pace from the rat race (or should I say mouse race?) of the Magic Kingdom. It also offers the chance to observe the Kingdom from a new perspective.
Although a “leisurely” train ride might not sound like the most exciting attraction, the PeopleMover is actually full of intrigue. A ride on PeopleMover is not just a ride through Tomorrowland. It’s a journey through Disney history, scientific breakthroughs, and of course, a touch of magic. After you read this, you might just say, “Forget Space Mountain. I’m riding the PeopleMover again!”
Fords & Fair Lanes
The Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover, or just PeopleMover for short, was originally developed for the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair. The Ford Motor Company hired Disney to design the Ford Pavilion at the Fair. The combination of Ford’s flare – it introduced the Mustang here – and Disney magic made this particular pavilion the most popular one at the World’s Fair.1
The attraction was appropriately called “Magic Skyway.” Ford convertibles were placed on a conveyor-type track, making the cars the ride-vehicles themselves. This gave people a chance to test drive a Ford without having to put up with an annoying car salesperson! An actual Ford assembly line inspired the conveyor system in Detroit, which Walt Disney witnessed firsthand on a business trip.2 Even as he watched the steel skeletons trundle down the line to become real cars, Walt began engineering his own plan, thinking to himself how he could turn an assembly line into an incredible journey.
The conveyor system Walt and the Imagineers came up with would have electric motors that powered wheels embedded in a track. The wheels were placed every nine feet along the ride’s track, and as the wheels turned, they would make contact with masonite placed beneath the cars, pushing Ford Mustangs along their merry way. (Fun fact – masonite is a type of engineered wood!3 But maybe you already knew that?)
An EPCOT film quips that these new-fangled traffic lanes could be the way of the future – after all, even if a car’s motor went kaput, the motors and wheels in the road would keep the car moving. Goodbye traffic jams, hello fast lane!
Although this technology didn’t end up in the average street, it did end up in Disneyland. Walt passed away before it was installed, but he did get to ride a prototype – and I can only imagine the fun he had! Thankfully, the Imagineers remained true to his vision, even keeping Walt’s nickname for the project, “PeopleMover,” as part of the final name: WEDway PeopleMover.
(WED standing for Walter Elias Disney, of course!)
Goodyears in Disneyland
On July 2, 1967, the WEDway PeopleMover took off with its first official Disneyland passengers, carrying them over and around the New Tomorrowland, giving them a glimpse of the vast expanse of the park in store for them.4 This iteration of the PeopleMover was sponsored by Goodyear rather than Ford because Goodyear tires propelled the ride along. (Ford convertibles no longer served as the open-air train cars, either, instead having been replaced by tram-like cars.)
The Los Angeles Times featured a piece critiquing Goodyear as being double-minded – they were an automobile tire company promoting mass transportation through their sponsorship of PeopleMover! Russell DeYoung, chairman and chief executive of Goodyear, rebutted, “Goodyear is basically in the transportation business,” not just limited to tire sales for individual automobiles.5
Despite this elegant answer, Goodyear discontinued their sponsorship in 1981. (Though the ride remained in Disneyland until 1995.) Maybe the criticism finally got to them, or maybe they were just miffed that the PeopleMover opening in Disney World, Florida, wasn’t using Goodyear tires.
No – the Magic Kingdom PeopleMover wasn’t using tires at all!
Induction into the Magic Kingdom
The Imagineers had something else in mind for the PeopleMover of Disney World. After all, it was the transit system of Tomorrowland, the land of progress! So, they took a wild leap and eliminated tires and engines. Crazy, right? How can a train run without an engine?
The new PeopleMover, also called Tomorrowland Transit Authority, moved on a “linear induction” track where magnets pulled the cars.6 Because linear induction motors instead of engines powered it, the ride was, and still is, pollution-free! (So science, very wow!)
One can only imagine how impressed Walt would have been, especially as he was “a visionary futurist who enthusiastically embraced the new horizons offered by science and technology.”7 In that sense, the PeopleMover really encapsulates what Disney was all about – implementing new ideas, even when those ideas promoted new technologies that might have sounded impossible.8
The PeopleMover has remained the sentinel of these Tomorrowland values, circling its territory since 1975 and continuing to do so today!
Moving People, Making Memories
Although PeopleMover is rated as a “minor attraction” in the 2018 Disney World guidebook and has been called “boring” by some, I would argue that this is the opinion of an uneducated Disney fan.9 The enlightened Disney fan will concede the PeopleMover to be one of the best attractions in the park.
Don’t believe me? Take it up with the person who purchased vintage Disneyland PeopleMover cars for $471,500!10
It’s not just about owning a piece of memorabilia, though. Ask the folks who go to Disneyland, California, where they no longer have a PeopleMover, and they’ll tell you they want it back.11 Some even go so far as to say it was their favorite ride.12 Perhaps they are glancing back through rose-colored glasses, or maybe, in their deprived state, they’ve finally seen what has, for so long, been taken for granted about PeopleMover.
The PeopleMover in Orlando offers something no other ride does. It offers a chance to slow down and really see Disney World. It’s not just a look over the park, either. It’s an entirely unique perspective. The track of PeopleMover glides behind the scenes of Space Mountain and buzzes by a prototype of EPCOT, just to name a couple of exclusive sights.13 The ride’s duration is ten minutes – just long enough to offer a blissful escape from the go go go of the rest of the park. It’s also noteworthy because it’s the one ride that doesn’t require a Dramamine before getting on.
In all seriousness, the PeopleMover will remind you how to enjoy the simple pleasures – a cool breeze on a hot day, the intellectual stimulation of learning something new, or the pleasure of sitting down with your family and friends, to bond together through mutual marveling – which is, I believe, the real magic of coming to Disney World.
In a way, the PeopleMover is still an assembly line like the one Walt saw in Detroit, except instead of mass-producing cars, it is mass-producing memories.
Cover Image
Photo: Rain0975 via Flickr
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Additional Resources in Print
Sehlinger, Bob. “The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2018.” The Unofficial Guides. LaVergne: Unofficial Guides, 2017.
