During his 50-year career at Disneyland, Jimmie Payton was the first to climb Matterhorn mountain with Mickey Mouse and scaled the man-made peak more than 300 times — including during the 50th anniversary of the park when he planted a flag at the top.
Disneyland honored Payton and eight other employees this week for more than 50 years of service each with a ceremony in the Golden Horseshoe restaurant and a cavalcade along Main Street USA.
Payton got his start at Disneyland in 1973 as an atmosphere performer and stage production dancer.
Starting in the character department, the 19-year-old worked with some of the biggest names at Disneyland — including Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Dopey, Robin Hood, Mr. Smee and Scrooge McDuck.
SEE ALSO: Candlelight Processional returns to Disneyland for the holidays
At 4 feet, 9 inches tall, Payton was about the same height as Mickey Mouse and could even do the famous high-pitched falsetto of the Disney icon once voiced by Walt Disney himself.
The gym rat, rock climber and backpacker was a natural fit when Disneyland was looking for mountain climbers interested in conquering the 147-foot-tall Matterhorn Bobsleds attraction — a 1/100th scale replica of the 14,700-foot-tall original.
Disneyland had climbers ascend the peak when the world’s first modular steel roller coaster opened in 1959 — and off and on in the years that followed.
Payton became the first person to climb Disneyland’s Matterhorn with Mickey Mouse and went on to scramble up the mountain hundreds of times as the manager of the park’s 13-person climbing team in the 1980s and ‘90s.
The Matterhorn climbers developed a few regular show routes traversed by Mickey and Goofy while also carving out more than 30 alternate routes of differing difficulties while practicing on the mountain.
SEE ALSO: Disneyland diver finds lost wedding rings, tossed turkey legs and mysterious sunken head under the sea
Trekking up the…
Read the full article here
