Is Disney botching one of its theme park lands by not bringing back a classic attraction?
Disneyland Park is home to some incredible attractions, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be better. It’s no secret that Disneyland’s Tomorrowland is divisive among the Disney fandom for just that — it feels incomplete and lacking. While it boasts absolute bangers like Space Mountain, you’d be forgiven for saying, “That’s it?” after noticing its stagnant development (ironic in a land inspired by the future) and defunct attractions. In fact, fans CANNOT get over one of its permanently closed rides and hope for its return consistently.
While the attraction is still very much alive and well at Magic Kingdom, Disneyland’s PeopleMover has been closed in Tomorrowland for nearly 30 years. Still, even after 30 years, people are clamoring for its return.
The PeopleMover opened in 1967 at Disneyland and was a transport ride where guests boarded small trains that rode along an elevated track, giving a “grand circle tour” of Tomorrowland. The ride’s vehicles always moved, and passengers boarded via a rotating platform. Riders were then treated to special audio, views, and interior looks at the Tomorrowland buildings.
Sounds familiar, right?
Since closing in August 1995, fans have been clamoring for its return — especially since much of the ride’s track infrastructure (including the loading station) is still intact. In fact, you can easily see PeopleMover track from the other Tomorrowland rides and the monorail. Portions of the track are still being maintained, and Disney has yet to completely give up on it.
So could it come back and, if so, when? Well, the answers are complicated.
Disney closed the ride in 1995 after then-Walt Disney Company CEO Michael Eisner and Disney Imagineers decided the ride had become outdated and lacked any sort of thrill. This decision also came on the heels of Euro Disney (now Disneyland Paris) being considered a failure.
Disney was looking to save money and scrap attractions, so the PeopleMover became a casualty. The ride had safety issues over the years, and Eisner and company were losing faith in the attraction — so it was eventually canned for the short-lived Rocket Rods ride.
So what now? In 2010 at D23’s Destination D event, then-Disneyland Resort President George Kalogridis said plans to bring back the attraction were in consideration, albeit in a different form, thanks to stricter regulations. He urged fans to be patient.
That was 15 years ago, and there has yet to be an update.
Disney has a few issues with defunct attractions in Tomorrowland. In 1977, the PeopleMover got “SuperSpeed Tunnel” addition located on the upper level of the Carousel of Progress Building, which was home to America Sings at the time. With the PeopleMover gone, this building eventually housed Innoventions, and then later Marvel and Star Wars exhibits. Now, it’s pretty much useless to general guests, and it’s likely Disney wants to rectify this first.
Could Disneyland put the PeopleMover back through this building? Sure, but they could also do something completely new, as well. Rumors have been swirling for years, and there isn’t a concrete answer to this question. At least not yet.
With the infrastructure and a lot of the track still remaining, sure, it would be easier for Disneyland to bring back the PeopleMover. Even with the stricter regulations, Disney could probably get it done.
If they decide to give in to fans’ demands and restore the PeopleMover in some form, it won’t be for a while, though. Disneyland is currently in the process of celebrating its 70th Anniversary and has already announced the start of some new projects that will most definitely take precedence.Â
With all that in mind, if Disneyland decides to bring back the PeopleMover, don’t expect an announcement until after the celebration dies down in the summer of 2026, when resort expansion projects will start to get very real.
In fact, don’t expect any announcement at all. If Disney were to announce the return of the PeopleMover, it would certainly be welcomed, but the Disneyland folks have been quiet on this front for nearly two decades — you can’t put any money in the bank. Still, we’ll continue to hope and pray this beloved attraction sees new life on the West Coast!
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Do you think Disneyland NEEDS to bring back the PeopleMover? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Why not build a stitch car ride instead of the people mover or maybe a meet the Robinsons time machine car ride. Also autopia should be rethemed into a maglev hovercar called stitches hover race. While Disneyland is at it build a treasure planet hoverboard simulator ride and a Wall-E simulator ride. Anyways that’s all I can think of.
Bring back the people mover.
They literally cant bring back People Mover unless they rework the entire land.
1) Rocket Rods damaged some of the foundations of the buildings it passed through.
2) To work on the track in general they’d need to close any attraction touching the rail, which is the entirety of Tomorrowland.
3) CA has a very active building code system that changes constantly. By CA law if you do any major renovation or changes to a building it must be brought up to the current building codes. If not its grandfathered into the code the building was under during the last renovation. So to bring back People Mover they’d need to update Buzz, Auto, Innoventions, Space, Tours, and the old People Mover hub. Which would basically be another TL referb.
Its not impossible that People Mover comes back but it would be such a high price that I couldn’t see them doing it unless they redo Tomorrowland.