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Designer Times
Page 1 of 2

Designer Times is a continuing column by legendary Imagineer Bob Gurr on his experiences in the early days of Disneyland . If you missed any previous columns, click here for the list.

The Matterhorn and Submarine Lagoon

15. Four Big Projects - All at One Time - Everything at Once for 1959

By the spring of 1956, Walt had built his WED Enterprises into a pretty big design powerhouse. He was starting to have some very expansive ideas, even maybe worldwide. A number of WED folks were sent to see the 1958 Brussels World Fair to learn what's involved in really big projects in Europe, as if Disneyland wasn't big enough for us already. Well, maybe Disneyland wasn't yet big enough for Walt.

The area north of the original Tomorrowtand was stilt undeveloped, and the space reserved for Snow Mountain still was just a mound of dirt (with a small cannabis farm hidden in the trees by an enterprising soul). I was very busy by March 1958 on an all-new Autopia Car design when I heard that Walt had his key Disneyland planners hard at work on some massive new attraction, actually more like a whole new land.

Sure enough, it turned out to be a whole new Tomorrowland idea which steadily evolved thru the summer of 1958. Since we already had the lagoon left over from the ill-fated Phantom Boats, and the suggestion of a sub ride back in 1957, a Submarine Voyage was the first major element to start into design, along with a major re-work of Autopia.

A detailed story of the Submarine Voyage attraction appeared in the Fall 2000 issue number 34 of the E-Ticket Magazine. The Autopia ride would be doubled in size with a new loading area to be built in Fantasyland providing two separate intermingling roadways. And the Disneyland Autopia Operations Department wanted an all new car which would incorporate all their new ideas. So I was off on a mad design program to get this done in time for the planned Summer 1959 opening date.

When the Sub Project was launched on July 23rd, 1958. my boss. Roger Broggie, piled that job onto me. Roger and I went to San Francisco right away to see how an underwater cable drive might work to propel the subs. (fergit it!) 1 had no sooner finished the preliminary design for the subs when Roger piled on yet another new project!

Now Walt wanted a Matterhorn Bobsled Ride to finally bring to life the long planned Snow Mountain. Joe Fowler, head of all new construction had contracted Arrow Development in Mountain View, California to build the as yet undesigned ride. Both Arrow and the Disney Studio Machine shop started some ride design testing to find the best track arrangement. Walt gave me some bobsled photos to work from so I could design a bobsled body to fit on whatever track and chassis design that would be developed.