Disney Fans Get Rare Chance to Buy Ride Vehicles – For Thousands of Dollars

As Disney fans, we all try and incoporate Disney decor into our homes. 

From Walt Disney World cushions and Disneyland photo frames to Disney movie ornaments and Disney chaarcter bedding, there are many merchandise options available at Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and Disney Springs to put some magic into a house.

But what if you could actually have a ride vehicle from the Parks in your home? Well, some Disney fans got the chance of a lifetime at a unique auction this weekend.

Some lucky – and rich – Disney fans had their Disney Park dreams come true at the Heritage Auctions in Beverly Hills on Saturday, May 21.

The collection of about 45,000 items from across the Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resorts belongs to Scott Rummel, a voice actor from Orange County. It is unknown how Rummel acquired such a vast array of special theme park items, including attraction signage, artwork, lamps, and ride vehicles.

One Disney fan spent a whopping $162,000 on a used Original Skyway Gondola. According to the auction’s website, it is one of “the rarest Disney attraction vehicles to exist,” and “everything on it is original.” The Skyway gondola was built by a Swiss company and arrived at Disneyland Park in 1965, where it carried visitors for several decades and was also likely used at Walt Disney World.

“Making this piece even more special is the fact that the lights have been rewired to be functional!” the website adds.

Another Disney fan bought an entire ride vehicle from Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride for an incredible $87,000. The buggy from the beloved attraction dates back to 1993 and was “professionally restored and repainted with added features like spinning wheels and working headlights.”

“To say this is a rare piece would be a massive understatement,” the website says. “With a limited number of these vehicles ever made to begin with – only a handful ever made it to market. This is one of those rare pieces from Walt Disney World.”

A fixture in Fantasyland at Disney’s Magic Kingdom Park from opening day in 1971 until 1998, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride was based on the animated 1949 feature The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride was replaced by The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, but fans of the original attraction can visit the Mr. Toad statue in the pet cemetery at the exit to Liberty Square’s Haunted Mansion.

A special piece in the auction was an Autopia car “believed to be the single Autopia vehicle to ever come to auction with all original components present, including the chassis and tires (except for the engine, which was not allowed to be sold for safety reasons),” the website says. It sold Saturday for a crazy $180,000.

The car was first put into use at Disneyland in 1967, where it spent more than two decades. The front end of it was modeled after a Corvette Stingray, while an Opal GT inspired the back. The car still has “an original Autopia Mark VII insignia” on it, as well as “a plastic sign on the front rail reading ‘Do not bump car ahead, keep hands inside car.'”

Autopia is a race car track Disneyland attraction that has seen versions in Disneyland, Anaheim, Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland, the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World (as the Tomorrowland Speedway), and Tokyo Disneyland (as the Grand Circuit Raceway). The Disneyland Autopia is one of the few current attractions that opened with the Park on July 17, 1955.

Other pieces included Enchanted Tiki Room statues, Pirates of the Caribbean signs, Disneyland Park artwork, and old E-tickets.

We wish we had enough money to be able to purchase one of these rare Disney Park ride vehicles for our own homes!