Walt's first World Fair + Ford Motor Co.

[Yoop33]

If anyone Tivo'd or DVR'd the showing of Modern Marvels about Disney, replay it to about a 1/4 of the way through where they talked about the World Fair in NY. They show a couple major companies and one of them was Ford attached to an attraction that almost resembles TEST TRACK. I know I know there were no plans of this way back then but I thought it was kinda interesting that there might have been plans for an attraction sponsored by Ford.
Does anyone know what this was at the World Fair?

 

[mitchk]

I believe the Ford sponsored ride was The Magic Skyway, a journey through the history of humankind, from the primeval world to the spaceage and beyond, abroad "real" Ford convertible automobiles. I don't know what the attractions building looked like, but I think the WEDway people mover was also involved in the attraction. I read about it in a book I bought when I was at Disney World a few years ago

 

[Buford]

It was called Ford's Magic Skyway, and while it may look like Test Track, the ride was very much like the original World of Motion (animatronics/speed tunnels/futuristic postshow)! Many of the scenes in the Dinosaur scene in the UOE were derived from the Magic Skyway scenes (some of which ended up in the Disneyland railroad)!

Here are some links with photos:
http://nywf64.com/ford01.shtml (<-- browse this one, LOTS of info and photos!)
http://naid.sppsr.ucla.edu/ny64fair/map-docs/ford.htm

I think it would be really neat to have the chance to ride it again...this was really breakthrough technology for 1964!

EDIT! Mitch beat me to it. Here are some photos:

 

[brkgnews]

In addition to the great stuff that has been mentioned, I'll add in this...
It was not a fast-moving ride like test track. However, the concepts of this ride show nice parallels to test track, Universe of Energy (dinosaurs n' such), and the original WEDWay peoplemover at Disneyland. The original WEDWay there was powered not be linear induction motor magnets (as is WDW's Peoplemover), but rather by motors in the track with a standard wheel on them. The wheels rolled against the base of the peoplemover cars and propelled them forward. This technology was a direct result of the Ford attraction at NYWF64, where the exact same system was developed to propel the new Fords through the attraction. If you're interested in how all of these technologies mingle and interact, I'd suggest a phenomenal DVD from the Extinct Attractions Club...
http://www.extinct-attractions-club.com/New_TLAND5.HTML
It takes you all the way from early concept to the various permutations we know today.

 

[skipperg]

YIKES!

I am really old. I had the pleasure of riding it in the summer of 1964 and 65. Can't remember all the feautures but I always felt that some of the scenes in Universe of Energy were from it.

If my memory is correct Ford's Exhibit was from the past to the present (1964) and GM's was from the present (1964) to the future.

I'm not a 100% sure but I think "It's A Small World" was sponsored by Pepsi. I have an old 45 Record that is the sound track form "It's A Small World".

If there was one place other the WDW that I would ever want to revisit it would be the World's Fair. As a Kid I just didn't realize what I was getting to experience.

Joe

 

[TP2000]

All of those dinosaur animatronics from the Magic Skyway were packed up and shipped back to Disneyland where they were added alongside the Disneyland Railroad as the "Fantastic Primeval World" part of the train trip in 1966. The sight of animatronic dinosaurs was such a big deal at Disneyland in 1966 that hour long lines developed to ride the Disneyland Railroad just so people could see the dinosaurs shipped from the World's Fair.

The dinosaurs are still there at Disneyland today, in the same sets and doing the same stuff they originally did at the World's Fair for each passing train.

The Walt Disney World connection is that they named that spinning roller coaster in DAK's Dinorama "Primeval Whirl". That's a play on words of the Disneyland Railroad feature "Primeval World", which comes just after the trains pass through the Grand Canyon Diorama that was added in the late 1950's.

Bob Gurr, the Imagineer who engineered many of the ride systems currently at Disneyland and WDW, had a great interview a few years ago about his work on the Magic Skyway ride. It was really a nifty thing, and the Ford execs shelled out big bucks to create it just because it put every rider in the passenger seat of a real live Ford Motor Company convertible instead of just a plastic seat like the General Motors ride at the Fair did. But the ride system was very tempermental, and in the first few days of operation there were many crack-ups and fender benders as lighter cars would be propelled faster than heavier cars and they would crash into each other. After a few weeks, and endless body shop repairs done on sight by an army of Ford mechanics, they developed a system of pacing the cars. Bob Gurr had to come up with this whole complicated formula where a Mercury Monterey could never be in front of a Mustang, a Lincoln Continental always had to be behind a Galaxie 500 but never more than two cars away from a Ford Falcon, etc., etc.. It sounded like a real nightmare, but it sure was a clever way of selling the sponsors product while putting on a great show!

 

[Nemo14]

I remember going to that fair also with my jr.-sr. high school band. In fact as I recall, one of the parts to one of those Fords "fell" off while we were riding, and I kept it for the longest time as a souvenir. :lol:
BTW, you're correct about Small World also. That was the Pepsi Pavillion, and I believe it's the same building now used at DL.

 

[DizWhizKid]

The Disney Pavillions at the '64 worlds fair:

Magic Skyway -- sponsored by Ford
It's a Small World -- sponsored by Pepsi to benefit UNICEF
Progressland (became Carousel of Progress) -- sponsored by GE
Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln -- sponsored by the State of Illinois.

Part or all of these attractions made their way to Disneyland in some aspect.

 

[a2grafix]

Yup you are correct with the Disney-Ford connection and the World's Fair in NYC in the 1960s.

In fact over the Christmas weekend I was in Detroit and visited The Henry Ford Museum and took in the Disney exhibit (which will be on display for the remainer of this week through New Year's Day).

The Disney exhibit had a special World's Fair section and displayed many of those photos that were added to this thread. As well, Walt Disney was so enamoured with Greenfield Village and the museum that Ford put together that Disney wanted to duplicate it.

In the Disney exhibition at The Henry Ford there was a section on Disney's America that looked similar to Greenfeld Village. As well, Disney took elements of Greenfield Village and his own home town in Mosourri to create the template for Main Street USA.

I'm just amazed that Ford had a very tight working relationship with Disney as well as the Wright Brothers and Thomas A. Edison.