Why Are There No Peoplemovers Outside of the Disney Parks?

Have you ever wondered why the only place you can ride a people mover is at Walt Disney World and nowhere else?

© Yesterday

If you’ve ever visited the Magic Kingdom’s Tomorrowland in Walt Disney World, chances are you’ve taken a “grand circle tour” on the Peoplemover. But have you ever wondered why you can only enjoy a ride like that at Disney?



The original Peoplemover opened in Disneyland in 1967 along with the refurbished New Tomorrowland, offering guests a leisurely 16-minute aerial tour of the land and its various attractions.



The ride was unique because the vehicles were constantly moving. This allowed it to offer a greater rider capacity than most other Disneyland attractions, carrying an estimated 4,885 passengers in one hour.



The Peoplemover continued to offer guests a “grand circle tour” of Tomorrowland until its closing in 1995. Following yet another refurbishment of the land in 1998, the ride re-opened as a new high speed attraction, Rocket Rods, which closed only two years later due to technical difficulties.



The good news? The Peoplemover continues to live on through its Walt Disney World counterpart, the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, which opened in 1975 and continues to operate to this day.



The bad news? The ride is the only one of its kind, as no other Tomorrowland in any other Disney park has a similar attraction.



Even more disappointing, very few systems like it exist outside of the parks, despite Walt Disney himself having high expectations for the Peoplemover as an overall concept.