Disney Untangled - What Is That Place? Magic Kingdom

The Skyway

At one end of Fantasyland, past Peter Pan and It's A Small World, there is Stroller Parking. This particular Stroller Parking, unlike others which are little more than roped-off areas, is more decorated - a wooden archway, a brown Swiss-style house sitting above. It speaks of a hidden past.

Some distance away, in Tomorrowland near Space Mountain, another building sits, with a waterfall at one end and a canopied balcony above. Below it only houses bathrooms. Remnants of a space port perhaps? Some futuristic shuttle docking port for the Endor Express?

Both were the endpoints of the Magic Kingdom Skyway ride - a somewhat typical gondola ride travelling between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. Each gondola could hold a few people and gave a spectacular view of the Magic Kingdom. The Skyway would roughly follow the pathway through Fantasyland all the way to the Indy Speedway, and would turn at a tower in the middle of the speedway down to the Tommorrowland terminal.

Disneyland had a very similar ride, which actually passed through the Matterhorn. Both rides closed - Disneyland's in 1994, and the Magic Kingdom's in 1999 (it was open in April of that year, but closed sometime later). These two buildings are all that remains, and in almost 10 years sit unused and unchanged.

Update July 2009: It appears that it might soon be the end of the Tomorrowland Skyway building. Reports are surfacing that demolition of the building will begin soon, leaving a smaller building housing just the bathrooms...insiders say the new building will offer an "improved view" of Space Mountain.



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