The Matterhorn Star made its grand debut in 1961. Directed into place by Santa Claus himself, the star was supposed to light up the night sky and rotate atop the massive peak of the first Disney mountain. The star did light up, but to the chagrin of Walt Disney, it rarely rotated.
Each year, Walt would get the great minds at Imagineering to figure out a way to fix the star, but no solution lasted very long. In the mid-1970's, the star was retired allegedly due to DISNEYLAND's energy conservation efforts, but many longtime DISNEYLANDers felt its departure had more to do with budgets than electricity.
One exciting rumor states that this symbol of DISNEYLAND Christmas past will return in November 2015 to help celebrate the park's 60th Anniversary. If it does return, hopefully it will spin just like it did in Walt Disney's dreams.
