From MousePlanet.com: “The publicity for the revised Matterhorn centered around "something has gotten into the Matterhorn." The television commercial started with a fog-shrouded Matterhorn, and then it showed different glimpses of the new icy blue cave areas inside. "What's gotten into the Matterhorn at Disneyland? Glistening crystal ice caverns, howling winter storms… and something else." At this point you saw the two glowing eyes of the abominable snowman and heard his echoing growl. Then the commercial ended with a view of the Matterhorn through the fog again and the words, "The New Matterhorn…It could only happen at Disneyland.” Wouldn't it be cool to see this commercial?
It looks like the “New” Matterhorn took longer than expected. I’ve tried before to look into why there was a delay but I couldn’t find anything and I still can’t. I think the reason I can’t find anything on the web was explained very eloquently in a post at “Disneyland Nomenclature” (link). It’s all about “Folksonomies” (also known as collaborative tagging, social classification, social indexing, and social tagging). Apparently no one has tagged this subject.
To me there is a subtle irony with this ticket. Disneyland gave you this ticket because you (the guest) must have been expecting the New Matterhorn to be open (all those ads!). This ticket would “Admit One” to Disneyland. I guess the intent was that the Matterhorn would be open at a later date. But this ticket only gets you thru the front gate in 1978, you will still have to purchase an “E” ticket for the "New" Matterhorn!
The cover from the Fall/Winter 1978-79 guide book. The guide is effective September 10, 1978, The “New” Matterhorn must have been open for business by then. Check back this weekend for the entire guide book.
And last, I did make it to the Park today. It was a little cloudy but no rain and plenty of sunshine too. I found this neat little spot over by the lagoon, “Fantasyland” Autopia and the Matterhorn. I call this area “Three Fences” Check out the different styles! The left section is OLD and is only about 15 feet long, it's welded to a newer (late 90's?) black section. The green fence on the right looks 2007.
Come back this weekend; we'll have the Guide book above and more Knott's Maps!! And as promised on Monday's post (link) The Complete 1975/76 Knott's Souvenir Guide - this book is incredible!!
5 comments:
I didn't find anything on the Matterhorn taking longer than expected (in newspapers and other files I had around). It looked to be closed for nine months, reopening on May 27, 1978. A couple of possibilities: these were given to Guests who visited during the spring and thought it should be open (for whatever reason). Or they might have been given after it had reopened, but still had technical glitches that made it break down frequently. But that's speculation!
Oh, and if that photo is taken where I think it is, the black fence was probably installed in 1999/2000, when the Autopia tracks were combined.
The abominable snowman was an awesome addition to the Matterhorn! My niece was disappointed that the mountain was down for rehab during her only visit to the park, she is already a 'coaster fan, and wanted to see those glowing red eyes that I told her about.
I am absolutely blown away with your website. I have this recurring dream about DL's Matterhorn, and this post really rocks my world. Thanks.
Thanks Kelly - Welcome! I hope that recurring dream is a good one, my sons had nightmares about the Matterhorn, and he just recently is able to go on it again, from 5 to 12 years old he wouldn't go near it!
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