It’s somewhat embarrassing. Sitting out in the open, a reminder of an idea that just did not work out. But yet, more folks on various Disney fan message boards want to see it brought back in some form.

I’m talking about? The Wedway Peoplemover. While it may be gone from Disneyland, it does still operate as the Tomorrowland Transit Authority in Florida’s Magic Kingdom as well as the Houston Intercontinental Airport (or the George Bush Intercontintental Airport if you prefer).

The logo for the Tomorrowland Transit Authority.

The Houston installation was the only practical application of the system outside of a Disney theme park, From Wikipedia, “An inter-terminal train outside of the sterile zone connects all five terminals and the airport hotel which can be accessed by all. This system is based on the WEDway PeopleMover technology.”

A major difference between Disneyland and Disneyworld was the propulsion system for the trains. Anaheim saw a Goodyear rubber tire motor system to push the trains along, while Orlando stepped into the future using a linear induction propulsion system.

Disneyland’s Peoplemover crossing the Submarine Voyage.

Let’s go along for a ride on Disneyland’s Peoplemover in this Youtube video clip:

In Anaheim, the future came in the form of the RocketRods.

Check out this page from VisionsFantastic for some great audio and video of the attraction’s glory days.

Depending on who tells the stories, the attraction was a problem from it’s first day to it’s last as the ride vehicles never seemed to be able to maintain proper separation - with resulting zone or block intrusions. That caused the attraction to shut down for safety to prevent collisions.

The opening day launch of Disneyland’s RocketRods.

Whatever the reason, the attraction closed and the track sits abandoned in place. And while bringing back the Peoplemover is  a sentiment favored by many fans, it is also rumored that the structure holding the track was damaged by the higher speed operations of the RocketRods versus the Peoplemover. So it is no easy fix there...

The RocketRods loading platform as seen at night.

But one of the things about Disney is that no idea is ever lost. And if the Peoplemover does return in some form, it will make plenty of new fans to go along with the ones it already has.