DL's Flying Saucers: Interesting Article in Filmax Magazine

[cfc]

The current issue of Filmfax Plus (Oct./Dec. 2005, no. 108) features a nice little article about the development and demise of a classic Disney attraction: "Disneyland's Flying Saucers: The Amazing Hovercraft Ride that Came and Went Like UFOs in the Night!" by Jack Hagerty.

 

Interesting stuff. Turns out that the Saucer ride was inspired by two things: 1) a proposal to replace one of DL's original attractions, the Phantom Boats, with a bumper boats ride (or "duck bumps") and 2) a one-man, gas-powered hovercraft that Bob Gurr (the man responsible for the Autopia and other DL vehicles) took for a thrilling test drive around the studio one day. While this vehicle was rejected as too dangerous for Disneyland, Walt Disney loved the idea of a flying saucers ride, which was opened to the public in 1961.

 

I won't summarize the whole article here, but it does provide some great pictures of the ride in operation (including two of Walt taking a test spin himself) and of the ride's mechanics. Guests loved the saucers, but they were a maintenance nightmare and were removed in 1966. The author also debunks one myth about the ride's demise--that Disney had used leftover valves meant for Jupiter missiles to provide the cushion of air the saucers floated on.

 

Check it out, if you can lay your hands on a copy of Filmfax.