Thursday, September 15, 2016

An In-depth Look at the WEDway PeopleMover

By Keith Mahne




In 1964, the first Disney designed PeopleMover system carried guests through the Ford pavilion at the New York World's Fair. Three years later, Disneyland inaugurated a similar system called the Goodyear PeopleMover which has carried countless numbers of people over millions of passenger miles before its unfortunate closer in 1995. The year 1975 brought the WEDway PeopleMover to Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom by utilizing a linear induction propulsion system to economically transport thousands of guests silently every day. The Community Transportation Services (CTS), a former subsidiary of Walt Disney Productions, was responsible for all the research, development, construction, testing and operation of transportation systems for the Disney Parks, including Walt Disney's planned Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT). In today's new article, thanks to a 1977 booklet created by the CTS, we will take an in-depth look at the WEDway PeopleMover, your quiet and carefree highway in the sky...




(Click on each scan to enlarge)



















For even more insight on the WEDway PeopleMover, take a look at this detailed assessment of Walt Disney World's PeopleMover system that was put together by SRI International, with the help of Community Transportation Services and MAPO Engineering (both former divisions of Walt Disney Productions), for the U.S. Department of Transportation in 1977 for possible use in cities across America...








If you haven't already, be sure not to miss our in-depth look at Walt Disney World's Original Monorail System by clicking HERE.






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Keith Michael Mahne is the owner and editor of Disney Avenue and the host of the Disney Avenue Podcast. He has made countless trips to the Walt Disney World resort since his first trip in 1989 at the age of four. Keith has a strong passion and respect for Walt Disney, the parks and resorts, and the men and women who help create them. He started Disney Avenue as a way to inform and entertain readers and to repay all those who make dreams come true everyday.

3 comments:

  1. Interesting stuff, but what I want to know is... how do they heat/cool Space Mountain effectively with the wide-open Peoplemover track running through it? And how do they keep birds out?

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  2. Is there any way that you could make this WED document downloadable? I click on each page, but I still cannot clearly read it's content.

    Thanks!

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  3. I worked for WED and CTS on the installation of the Houston Wedway PeopleMover. I was looking forward to installing systems in other airports and cities but unfortunately that never happened. I think the upfront cost of the monorail and PeopleMover could not compete with the cheaper yet higher maintenance cost systems.

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