Disneyland Skyway in Your Backyard?
I found these photos on Flickr. I have yet to find the story behind it other than this a fully-functioning model of a Skyway-type ride in this person's backyard in San Diego. Watch this thing in action here. This video clip takes you on the miniature ride. I imagine they strapped a digital camera to one of the gondolas.
Lesson learned: If Disney rips out your favorite ride and gives you really lame excuses as to why they did it, build your own version behind your house.
One time a buddy of mine and I saw Marty Sklar at Epcot. We went up to him and said, "we are backyard Imagineers". He looked at us like we were nuts and said, "never heard of that. What does that mean?"... "Uhhh well, you see, Marty, it's when kids like us make things at home that resemble what real Imagineers do in the parks." He had a look on his face like, "oh brother".
Reader Comments (9)
This is rad. At first look it just appears to be some paper thing but the video is clear, it's a hard core model. The little sky buckets are strong enough to carry little toys and stuff. RAD.
Watching that video brought me back to a happier Tomorrowland. I love on the video when you go past the poles you can hear and feel the skyway car go through the little track thing.. just like the real ride. The sound alone on this video makes me so happy. And the Skyway stations at the beginning and end.... FANTASTIC.
Good work dude, whoever you are.
I want a little PeopleMover in my backyard.
So you saw old Sklar at EPCOT and he blew you off? Did you ask him about how he threw the REAL EPCOT under the bus? Just sayin.
I want to talk to this guy or guys or whoever made this. Amazing thing. I want one.
Yeah, we met Marty and were all excited to have a meaningful conversation. He was nice but a little annoyed. He wasn't doing anything other than just standing there. He was welcoming, I guess, but not too keen on shooting the breeze with a couple of geeks.
I ended up working with him on a few things in my career. Very nice guy. Very knowledgeable. It was great to ask him about Walt. He had great stories and I regret not writing them down. A few times I'd ask him questions and he looked like he was thinking hard to remember stuff, as if it had been a long time he had thought of that.
He never did remember me from one project to the next and definitely didn't remember me from that time we mentioned "backyard Imagineering".
I'd love to see other things people have done similar to this. Send us photos if you have done somthin' cool like this.
Hello..This is my model VR101 Skyway.This is my lifetime tribute to A beloved attraction.My Skyway has been in operation since 2005.Runs every day,Full safety switches onthe towers and inside the stations.As of 2011 June,im replacing all of the old gondolas with new vacuum formed cars.The way I did the video of you riding it was i placed a camera inside one of the gondolas.If you want to learn more on the Disneyland Skyway as well as the remaing Vonroll skyrides,I run a group on facebook http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/home.php?sk=group_115004863923&ap=1 Thanks for all of the great comments..Robert
Can I have one? Show me how to make one