The Walt Disney Company and Disney engineers have been innovators and inventors since the beginning.

“it’s a small world” in Disneyland

Disneyland itself was the first theme park of its kind, a place where both adults and kids could go to have a magical time, and that was only the beginning. The Walt Disney Company has introduced rides and technology that had never been seen before, including the Matterhorn Bobsleds attraction. Now, two of the designers involved with making the attraction come to life are being inducted into a Hall of Fame!

The Matterhorn Bobsleds attraction opened on June 14th, 1959, and was the first roller coaster-type attraction in Disneyland. Not only that though, it was the very first tubular steel coaster in the WORLD! This design was something the world had never seen before, and now, two of the key designers of the iconic attraction, Karl Bacon and Ed Morgan, are being inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame posthumously.

Matterhorn Bobsleds

Both men, from Arrow Development, the company Disney hired to work with them to create multiple attractions for the park, engineered the idea behind the tubular steel coaster, which “set the standard for roller coaster design technology and paved the way for future innovations in the amusement park industry,” according to the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Karl Bacon passed away in 2008 at 98 years old, and Ed Morgan in 2009 at 93 years old.

©Disney

Arrow Development needed to get creative when it came to building the coaster — the attraction required two intertwining 80-foot-high steel roller coaster tracks, and Morgan and Bacon could not use conventional iron tracks due to their size. Instead, the duo developed tubular steel tracks that could be bent to the proper specifications.

Matterhorn

Walt Disney fell in love with the real Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps while he was filming Third Man on the Mountain, which was released in 1959, and it inspired him to add a similar attraction in Disneyland. According to the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Walt Disney wanted to create a ride that would make people “feel like they were racing down icy slopes in a bobsled,” which led to a 147-foot-high replica of the mountain, made of steel and concrete.

Matterhorn Bobsleds

The National Inventors Hall of Fame is honoring seventeen “innovation pioneers” this year, and the inventors’ creations range from cancer treatments to satellite-based imaging. The 2025 National Inventors Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be held at The Anthem in Washington, D.C., on May 8th. Congratulations to all the Inductees!

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