A 59 KB JPG of John on the Skyway Nov 9, 1994
Although the Monorail takes you to the Hotel, neither the Monorail nor the People Mover gives you any real transportation within the park. The only remaining rides which do that are the train and to a lesser extent the Main Street Vehicles and the Jolly Trolley. The Skyway used to be one way to get across the park quickly when a parade was going by. Now only the train can help you out there. The Skyway was cool in that respect because you could make a fairly big move through the park, rest your feet for a few minutes, and get a great view all at the same time.
Another facet of the Skyway was its privacy (well, semi-privacy anyway). Up in the sky buckets, you could neck with your girlfriend. It was as good a make out place as Adventure Through Inner Space and had a more romantic view at night. If you were cautious, you could pull off taking controlled substances in the Skyway, jadedly leaning down to take tokes off of a corncob pipe (bought on Main Street) full of sinsemilla. If you smoked a cigarette or a clove cig to cover the smell, the only person who'd know would be the people in the next bucket downwind if they were savvy.
The Skyway was a haven for bratty children. What more joy could an obnoxious youth find than beaning people with jujubes from the Skyway? Sure, you could do it from the People Mover, but it just goes in a circle, so ususally by the time you get back to unload, there's some Disney Cops waiting there with the person[s] you beaned. With the Skyway, it was a hit and run sorta deal. Toss the red-hots, and next thing you know, you're in Fantasyland making a quick getaway through the castle. It was a much more rare occasion to see some mismannered youths getting lectured in the Skyway docks than in the People Mover terminal.
On Disneyland's 25th anniversary (July 17th, 1980) they had a 25 hour party starting at midnight and ending at 1 AM on the 20th. I went for the whole thing. Needless to say, by the evening of the 19th, I was getting pretty tired. My girlfriend (at the time) Kelly and I were riding the Skyway to get from Tomorrowland to Fantasyland to meet some people, and the Main Street Electrical Parade was going on beneath us. Romantic? Probably, but at the time I was too tired to notice. So we're looking down on the parade and we see someone we know working the parade. Right then, there was a break in the music between sections so we both yelled, "MISSY" at the top of our lungs. Strangely enough, she heard us and turned around and waved at us and yelled back.
