Midway to Main Street | The Disneyland Monorail Opening: Nixon's Joyride @MidwaytoMainStreet | Uploaded November 2017 | Updated October 2024, 1 hour ago.
Did you know that in 1959, for just a few moments, Vice President Richard Nixon was whisked away from his secret service detail without any planning on the first ever passenger monorail in the US, and it all happened at Disneyland?
The Disneyland Story by Sam Gennawey
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It was a European vacation in 1958 in which Walt Disney first experienced a monorail. After seeing the vehicle produced by ALWEG, a German company, Walt decided that he wanted one of his own in Disneyland. Back in those days, Disney projects didnât undergo layers and layers of approvals and studies. If Walt had an idea he wanted worked on, thatâs all it took.
So Imagineering legend Bob Gurr headed over to Germany to study the ALWEG trains and start working on a unique version for Disney. It wasnât as simple as just buying their technology. Gurr found the ALWEG trains werenât that good looking and needed a new look. On top of that the plans for the Disneyland attraction would call for some tight turns and unusually steep inclines and declines. Lastly, Disney wanted to make sure the monorails were built with parts that could be sourced locally. They didnât necessarily want to wait for parts to be flown over from Germany whenever something broke down.
As a result, while ALWEG was still technically attributed with the final Monorail that would come to be, their actual involvement was pretty light. Much of the design was done by Disney. Still, ALWEG was involved enough that the attractions official name on opening day would be the âDisneyland ALWEG Monorail Systemâ. It would become the first passenger monorail system to operate daily in the Western hemisphere.
At $1.3 million dollars, the monorail system wasnât cheap. On top of that, it wasnât easy to build either. The weeks leading up to the opening of the attraction were plagued with technical problems and breakdowns. It was so bad that even up until the night before the debut of the attraction Bob Gurr and German engineer Konrad Deller were designing and building replacement parts for the system.
The following morning, on June 14th 1959, it was time for the Mark I Red Monorail to make itâs grand televised debut. Being the force behind the attraction, Gurr was given a last minute uniform and assigned to be the captain for Monorails maiden voyage. In preparation for the broadcast of the grand opening, he pulled the Monorail into the station and left it on so that the cab could remain air conditioned.
It was at that moment that Walt Disney, Vice President at the time Richard Nixon, his family, and his secret service detail showed up. Nixon and his family were going to be involved in the ribbon cutting ceremony. However before it all began, Walt started to show Nixon and his family the interior of the monorail. With it already powered up and running, it wasnât long before Walt told Gurr to give everyone a lap around the track, so he did⊠with the secret service left behind on the monorail platform.
Nixon found it amusing that they were able to ditch the secret service, but Gurr was a little stressed. He has just inadvertently kidnapped the vice president on a monorail that was giving him nothing but technical problems during the weeks prior. His main goal was to get the VP back to the station in one piece.
Luckily the trip around the track was uneventful and without any breakdowns. However any relief was short lived. According to Gurr, as they approached the station one of Nixonâs daughters asked if they could ride around one more time, to which Walt replied âBobby, give âem another ride.â So the monorail pulled into the station⊠and rolled right out again. The secret service agents ran alongside the monorail in a hope theyâd be able to jump on board, but with closed doors there wasnât any chance of that, so one more time the monorail pulled out with the agents left behind to watch.
The second lap would be as uneventful as the first, and luckily nobody would get in any trouble for the unexpected joyride. In fact, the biggest hiccup of the whole debut would be some trouble cutting the ceremonial ribbon, which was nothing a little ripping and a jump cut couldnât solve.
Later an engineer from ALWEG would highlight the absurdity of the situation. He pointed out that it took ALWEG seven years before theyâd feel comfortable putting the public on their trains. Yet Disney, in just six months time, built a monorail and put their nationâs Vice President on it for a few laps without the secret service.
Did you know that in 1959, for just a few moments, Vice President Richard Nixon was whisked away from his secret service detail without any planning on the first ever passenger monorail in the US, and it all happened at Disneyland?
The Disneyland Story by Sam Gennawey
đamzn.to/2AeBky7
New here? Be sure to subscribe!
đ·goo.gl/x17zTL
My Patreon!
â€patreon.com/RobPlays
My Disney Podcast!
đ§ttapodcast.com
Follow me on Twitter!
đ±Twitter.com/RobPlays
It was a European vacation in 1958 in which Walt Disney first experienced a monorail. After seeing the vehicle produced by ALWEG, a German company, Walt decided that he wanted one of his own in Disneyland. Back in those days, Disney projects didnât undergo layers and layers of approvals and studies. If Walt had an idea he wanted worked on, thatâs all it took.
So Imagineering legend Bob Gurr headed over to Germany to study the ALWEG trains and start working on a unique version for Disney. It wasnât as simple as just buying their technology. Gurr found the ALWEG trains werenât that good looking and needed a new look. On top of that the plans for the Disneyland attraction would call for some tight turns and unusually steep inclines and declines. Lastly, Disney wanted to make sure the monorails were built with parts that could be sourced locally. They didnât necessarily want to wait for parts to be flown over from Germany whenever something broke down.
As a result, while ALWEG was still technically attributed with the final Monorail that would come to be, their actual involvement was pretty light. Much of the design was done by Disney. Still, ALWEG was involved enough that the attractions official name on opening day would be the âDisneyland ALWEG Monorail Systemâ. It would become the first passenger monorail system to operate daily in the Western hemisphere.
At $1.3 million dollars, the monorail system wasnât cheap. On top of that, it wasnât easy to build either. The weeks leading up to the opening of the attraction were plagued with technical problems and breakdowns. It was so bad that even up until the night before the debut of the attraction Bob Gurr and German engineer Konrad Deller were designing and building replacement parts for the system.
The following morning, on June 14th 1959, it was time for the Mark I Red Monorail to make itâs grand televised debut. Being the force behind the attraction, Gurr was given a last minute uniform and assigned to be the captain for Monorails maiden voyage. In preparation for the broadcast of the grand opening, he pulled the Monorail into the station and left it on so that the cab could remain air conditioned.
It was at that moment that Walt Disney, Vice President at the time Richard Nixon, his family, and his secret service detail showed up. Nixon and his family were going to be involved in the ribbon cutting ceremony. However before it all began, Walt started to show Nixon and his family the interior of the monorail. With it already powered up and running, it wasnât long before Walt told Gurr to give everyone a lap around the track, so he did⊠with the secret service left behind on the monorail platform.
Nixon found it amusing that they were able to ditch the secret service, but Gurr was a little stressed. He has just inadvertently kidnapped the vice president on a monorail that was giving him nothing but technical problems during the weeks prior. His main goal was to get the VP back to the station in one piece.
Luckily the trip around the track was uneventful and without any breakdowns. However any relief was short lived. According to Gurr, as they approached the station one of Nixonâs daughters asked if they could ride around one more time, to which Walt replied âBobby, give âem another ride.â So the monorail pulled into the station⊠and rolled right out again. The secret service agents ran alongside the monorail in a hope theyâd be able to jump on board, but with closed doors there wasnât any chance of that, so one more time the monorail pulled out with the agents left behind to watch.
The second lap would be as uneventful as the first, and luckily nobody would get in any trouble for the unexpected joyride. In fact, the biggest hiccup of the whole debut would be some trouble cutting the ceremonial ribbon, which was nothing a little ripping and a jump cut couldnât solve.
Later an engineer from ALWEG would highlight the absurdity of the situation. He pointed out that it took ALWEG seven years before theyâd feel comfortable putting the public on their trains. Yet Disney, in just six months time, built a monorail and put their nationâs Vice President on it for a few laps without the secret service.
