The world's first tubular steel roller coaster was inspired by a Swiss postcard
In short: When Walt Disney wanted a toboggan ride for his park, he sent a postcard of the Swiss Matterhorn to his architect with a simple command: Build this. The result was a pioneering steel coaster that used forced perspective to dominate the skyline and hid a secret basketball court inside.
Opened on June 14, 1959, at Disneyland in Anaheim, the Matterhorn Bobsleds was the first permanently installed tubular steel track roller coaster in the world. Its creation was a response to the popularity of wild mouse-style coasters and Walt Disney’s desire to transform a mound of dirt—left over from the excavation of Sleeping Beauty Castle’s moat—into an iconic attraction. The structure was designed by Imagineer Bob Gurr, who described the project as the most difficult of his career, and was built by Arrow Development and WED Imagineering.
The mountain was engineered to be more than just a ride; it served as a decorative cover for the central pylon of the park's Skyway. To give the structure a sense of scale, designers employed forced perspective, using smaller trees at higher altitudes to make the mountain appear taller than its actual size. The ride’s aesthetic was heavily influenced by the real Matterhorn, which Disney had observed while filming in Switzerland. By 1978, the interior was significantly updated to include icy tunnels, a crystal-filled grotto, and the Abominable Snowman, a character affectionately dubbed Harold by the Imagineers.
Beyond its technical innovations, the attraction holds a unique place in pop culture and park lore. For years, a basketball half-court was maintained inside the structure for use by the mountain climbers who performed on the exterior. The ride has also been the subject of significant safety scrutiny following fatal accidents in 1964 and 1984, which led to numerous modifications in vehicle design, restraint systems, and queue management. Despite these tragedies, the Matterhorn remains a central feature of the park, having undergone extensive renovations in 2012 and 2015 to modernize its animatronics and special effects while preserving its legacy as a landmark of amusement engineering.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Matterhorn Bobsleds
- Also: Wikidata — Matterhorn Bobsleds · CC0
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