Mickey and Flying Saucers, August 28, 1965
Today's post is a quick one! Let's start with this photo taken in front of the famous floral Mickey Mouse portrait, with Mickey himself and four cute kids. The two boys on the right are styling in their identical shirts and shorts, while the boy on the left assumes a more businesslike air with his white shirt and black leather shoes! The little girl exudes coolness with her hep shades.
For some reason I haven't found any good photos of the Flying Saucers recently, so I'm happy to be able to share this one. 
8 comments:
...and I'm happy to see it. :) Don't think I've seen the vents so well in any pics before. Hm! Wonder what could be done with the same concept today.
Flying Saucers, one of the greatest Disneyland rides of all time. It screamed, TOMORROWLAND !!!
Double Dittos on Chiana_Chat... Excellent detailing on the floor vents. I am certainly old enough to have seen and been on this ride, yet I don't recall it... and it has made a living void in my soul...
Mickey looked pretty good in 1965
love the saucers, too. heard tell on the DL Stories, Secrets, Magic dvd that someday they want to bring them back. wouldnt that be awesome!?!
Well, Bruce Gordon was right, they are coming back. They have evolved the technology and are building them very soon. Unfortunately, they are, like everything new, themed to a Pixar film, and will be installed as Luigi's Flying Tires in DCA's CarsLand.
I remember watching them build, and try to adjust the air flow, of the Saucer Ride. It took a long while, and they ran into many perplexing problems. Each vent was actually a pressure sensitive vent operated independently on negative barometric pressure when the saucer rode over them, thus letting in the air to raise the saucer platform. Compensating for the different weights of the riders was a major priority of the crew, and they were always trying to load each one equally. Getting ALL the vents calibrated was a nightmare and took several months, and each had to be adjusted from under the platform. At one point, the engineers were seriously thinking of abandoning the concept as unworkable. The thing that killed it was the high man-hours per flight time. It was a money pit, and never really came up to expectations. I hope the new one does.
Our flight circle was just to the right, and we would pass through those yellow and white gates on our way the the cafeteria, and I made many a phone call in those booths in the center. In those days it was only a dime.
Cox Pilot: Thanks for your comments. This is the first sensible explanation I have seen as to why the ride was not successful.
My parents took my brother and me to Disneyland in 1961. I was 10. Only two rides stand out in my memory - Flying Saucers and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. We rode them both over and over and over. I have home movies of it on old 16mm film. Thanks for the memories!
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