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Tomorrowland Transit Authority |
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 The Tomorrowland Transit Authority, formerly known as the
WEDway PeopleMover, premiered in Disneyland on July 2, 1967, while the
Walt Disney World version didn't open until July 1, 1975. However, the
two attractions are somewhat different - The classic People
Mover became the Tomorrowland Transit Authority in 1994, incidentally
the same year that Disneyland's People Mover closed permanently.
- The
Tomorrowland Transit Authority takes you on a leisurely tour through
Tomorrowland, and actually passes through a number of attractions and
Mickey's Star Traders shop. HINT: If you ride this at the end of the
night as the park is about to close, you maybe lucky enough to see
Space Mountain with the work lights on!
- While Walt Disney
World's version of the PeopleMover is still operating, Disneyland's
version closed in 1995 and reopened as the Rocket Rods, a faster ride
that still uses the original WEDway track.
- In the
Disneyland version, the cars on the track don't have a motor in them -
the motors are on the track itself! About every nine feet apart along
the entire length of track are small Goodyear tires being turned by an
electric motor. As your vehicle passes over the tire, it is pushed
forward. The Walt Disney World version, though, uses a propulsion
method known as "linear induction." Here, rather than having motors
rotate tires that push your car, the cars are pulled by electromagnets
embedded in the track. The magnets attract and repel the vehicles in
order to move them along the track. This clean, quiet system was
developed in the early 1970's by MAPO, Disney's electrical engineering
group, and is also used at the Houston Intercontinental Airport
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