Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland Park is now closed for refurbishment, with construction walls surrounding the coaster.
Matterhorn Bobsleds Closed
The construction walls don’t block the whole mountain from view, of course, but they surround the land around the icon. The walls are beige with brown panels.
They stop at a fence next to the Monorail track, where scrim fills in the gap between the walls and rockwork. Disney has not announced any details of the refurbishment, but it will likely involve general maintenance. A reopening date wasn’t announced.
Several shield-shaped signs on the construction walls near the ride’s entrance include historical information about “Disneyland’s First Mountain.”
In 1958, the first sign explains, Walt Disney spent a week on location in Zermatt, Switzerland, during the filming of “Third Man on the Mountain.” Walt Disney Studios used the real-life Matterhorn as the mountain in the film, and Disney himself was taken with the mountain. He mailed a postcard of the Matterhorn to Imagineers telling them, “Build this!” The coaster opened the next year as part of the first major expansion to Disneyland Park, including Submarine Voyage, Fantasyland Autopia, and Disneyland Alweg-Monorail System.
Matterhorn Bobsleds was Disneyland’s first high-speed thrill ride and the first of a series of “mountain” attractions across the world that would eventually include Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. According to this sign, Matterhorn Bobsleds will reopen “later this fall.”
Although Disney had always intended to include the abominable snowman in the Matterhorn, the creature was not actually added until enhancements to the attraction in 1977-1978. Other updates included enclosing the lift tunnel and adding fog, ice caverns with glowing crystals, and Alpine wind. There were further updates to the ride in 1995 and 2015.
Matterhorn Bobsleds was not only Disney’s first roller-coaster, but it was also the first tubular steel coaster in the world. It has two “bobsled” runs, one on the Fantasyland side and one on the Tomorrowland side. The bobsled vehicles were redesigned in 2012. The mountain is about 1/100th the size of the real-life Swiss Matterhorn.
In the 1960s, the Matterhorn was topped with a giant Christmas star. Disney also previously had mountain climbers and Mickey Mouse climb the mountain.
Matterhorn Bobsleds is one of the few Disneyland rides that has not been recreated at any other Disney park. Watch our video of Matterhorn Bobsleds:
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