Specializing in Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Aulani, Disney Cruise Line, & Adventures By Disney
17/01/2025
🖤💛
𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐈𝐍 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘: 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐓 𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐍𝐄𝐘’𝐒 '𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐓' 𝐕𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐏𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐒𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐆𝐇
On this date in 1966, Walt Disney took an unpublicized flight from Burbank to Pittsburgh along with seven Disney engineers to check out Westinghouse Electric’s experimental automated transit system, better known to Pittsburghers as “Skybus”—an elevated, rubber-tire “people mover.” Westinghouse had a prototype at the South Park Fairgrounds from 1965 to 1971. Skybus was never adopted by Allegheny County (that’s another story), but its technology was later used in other cities and airports. (The only remaining Skybus vehicle has been restored and is on display at Alstom’s West Mifflin facility.) Walt wanted to explore if Skybus might work at the centerpiece of his “Florida Project,” EPCOT, the “Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.” Walt, the consummate salesman, was trying to get innovative companies excited to play a role in EPCOT.
Westinghouse rolled out the red carpet for Walt, and Walt was impressed with Westinghouse. He loved the driverless aspect of Skybus.
But something happened after the meetings that is almost jaw-dropping. Limousines chauffeured the Disney executives to their hotel in downtown Pittsburgh (Rick Sebak thinks it might have been the old Hilton at Gateway center). The following was related by Disney’s amusement park ride designer/guru, Bob Gurr, who was with Walt and the other engineers.
Walt walked into a shop in the hotel and saw that Disney merchandise was on display. But there was a problem: the Disney stuff was on the bottom shelf.
Walt turned to his engineers and said, “C’mon on, boys.” Then Walt and his men proceeded to move the Disney items to the top shelf, and the stuff on the top shelf to the bottom. According to Mr. Gurr, “a perturbed looking” salesclerk appeared and asked, “MAY I HELP YOU?”
Walt was unfazed. “Nope,” he said. “We’re almost done here.”
We’re not sure if the salesclerk ever learned who she was addressing, but can you imagine seeing the best known and most beloved CEO in America moving items around in your store? Bob Gurr, for one, said that it’s something he’d never forget.
Sadly, less than eleven months after his visit to Pittsburgh, Walt passed away. Without his genius, his company fell into creative free fall, and the EPCOT that eventually was built bore no resemblance to his grand vision for it. (And, no, EPCOT never got Skybus.)
With his passing, Walt Disney was lauded around the world as one of the towering cultural icons of the Twentieth Century. But for a few minutes on a cold day in Pittsburgh a few months earlier, Walt was concerned about just one thing: shelf placement of Disney merchandise in a hotel shop. He was, after all, the consummate salesman.
