The Matterhorn Bobsleds exists at Disneyland because of Walt Disney's personal fascination with Switzerland. While filming the 1959 movie Third Man on the Mountain in Zermatt, Walt fell in love with the iconic jagged peak and reportedly sent a postcard home to his Imagineers with the simple instruction: "Build This." Beyond his personal preference, the mountain served a functional purpose: it was designed to hide the unsightly support tower for the Skyway buckets that traveled between Tomorrowland and Fantasyland. Opened in 1959, the ride made history as the world's first tubular steel roller coaster, a revolutionary design that allowed for the smooth, banked turns we see in modern coasters today. It remains a unique landmark because it is a roughly 1/100th scale replica of the actual Swiss mountain, standing at 147 feet tall, and even contains a secret basketball court inside for Cast Members to use during breaks.