It was replaced with a 16-elephant version in 1993, but without a fountain. Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World opened with a 10-elephant Dumbo spinner in 1971. The elephants at Disneyland fly above a doughnut-shaped pool of water with splashing fountains.ĭumbo is one of only a few rides that can be found at all of Disney’s Magic Kingdom-style parks around the world.Įven though Dumbo is essentially just a simple amusement park ride, there’s something very appealing about the friendly elephants-especially for young children.ĭumbo at Walt Disney World at its original locationĬlockwise Dumbo added at Walt Disney World There was still plenty of time to build a duplicate for Paris. The new Dumbo ride went to Anaheim, where it opened in November 1990.ĭisneyland now had a Dumbo ride with 60% more capacity. This time, the old Dumbo was grounded permanently.īut the accidents should not have happened at all.ĭisneyland needed a safe, reliable Dumbo attraction.ĭisney had a magnificent 16-elephant version of Dumbo ready for Euro Disneyland (now called Disneyland Paris), but that park would not open until 1992. The teenager suffered “minor bruises.” After being checked at Garden Grove Hospital, she returned to the park for the rest of the day. The family suffered “bruises and scrapes.” Dumbo reopened the next day.Ī year later, on April 1, 1990, one of the support arms collapsed, injuring a 13-year-old girl from Canada. On March 29, 1989, one of the fiberglass elephants partially separated from a support arm, injuring a Garden Grove couple and their 3-year-old daughter.
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The biggest change to Dumbo came in 1990, after two accidents. The cosmetically updated version of the original ride still had just 10 elephants, but the mechanism looked more like it does today. The big difference is the railing around the ride.įor the May 1983 opening of the New Fantasyland, the Dumbo ride moved to where Skull Rock Lagoon had been. The two similar photos above were taken by two different photographers from the Skyway ride. Truman didn’t want to be associated with a character related to the Republican party.”ĭumbo at its original location in DisneylandĪ similar, but somewhat later, view of Dumbo in Disneyland “When former President Harry Truman visited Disneyland Park in 1957, Dumbo was one of the few attractions he didn’t ride. The official Disneyland website used to include this bit of historic trivia about Dumbo the Flying Elephant: When the Dumbo ride first opened, it was located on the west side of Fantasyland. Model of Fantasyland of 1955 in The First 50 Magical Years exhibit So the pink elephants became gray and the one and only Dumbo became ten.” The book goes on to speculate, “Somewhere along the way, no doubt, Walt decided he’d rather have everyone riding the real Dumbo, not an alcohol-induced hallucination. The finest Disneyland history book, Disneyland: The Nickel Tour, by Bruce Gordon and David Mumford (Camphor Tree Publishers, 1995), provides an explanation: “Just as there is only one Mickey Mouse, there can be only one Dumbo, right?īecause this ride would have ten flying elephants, they would be the “Pink Elephants on Parade” from Dumbo’s intoxicated nightmare in the movie.“ The attraction was quickly reworked and managed to open August 16, 1955.Īrtwork in The First 50 Magical Years exhibit shows pink elephants.Įarly artwork showed pink elephants, not the familiar gray pachyderms.
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They weighed 700 pounds apiece-which is light for an elephant, but heavy for a flying elephant.
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The first batch of fiberglass elephants arrived about three weeks before the opening. Photo by Frank Taylor, courtesy of Chris TaylorĮach Dumbo wears a different color cap, but the elephants themselves are always gray, just like in the movie.ĭumbo Flying Elephants-also known as Dumbo the Flying Elephant or simply Dumbo-was supposed to be one of the attractions ready for Disneyland’s invitation-only opening on Jand for the public opening the next day. To be honest, the mechanisms never worked properly, so the ears on each Dumbo are stationary.īut that’s okay, because these elephants fly anyway.Īs you visit the park in different years, you’ll see different color schemes on the loading platform.Įventually, the ears became integral parts of the elephant, not inoperative hinged appendages.Įach elephant holds two guests-or three guests if some of them are small enough. The ears are supposed to move up and down. Hinged ears, close-up from the first photo It’s located in a dead-end corner of Yester-Fantasyland, right in front of the Fantasyland Theatre, near the Pirate Ship Restaurant. This ride is inspired by Walt Disney’s 1941 animated feature, Dumbo. Sure, you’ll still find a Dumbo the Flying Elephant ride at Disneyland-but the original Dumbo Flying Elephants ride is in Yesterland.