Space Mountain is an outer space-themed indoor roller coaster in Tomorrowland located at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom theme park in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. The dark ride, which opened on January 15, 1975, is the original version of the iconic attraction that has since been replicated at other Disney theme park locations worldwide, with the exception of Shanghai Disneyland Resort. Space Mountain is one of the first computer operated roller coasters and is also the oldest operating roller coaster in the state of Florida.
Walt Disney originally conceived the idea of a space-themed roller coaster for Disneyland following the success of Matterhorn Bobsleds in 1959. However, due to technological and spatial limitations, the concept was further developed and eventually became a part of Walt Disney World. RCA helped fund construction and sponsored the ride from 1975 to 1993. FedEx assumed sponsorship from 1994 to 2004.
Space Mountain has undergone a number of changes since its opening, including new ride trains in 1989 and 2009, as well as incremental upgrades to incorporate modern roller coaster technology. It has also seen a number of cosmetic renovations to its entry, queue, and post-show elements, many of which were necessitated by changes in its corporate sponsorship over the years.
Original concept and design
The Space Mountain concept was a descendant of the first Disney "mountain" attraction, the Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland, which opened in 1959. The Matterhorn's success had convinced Walt Disney that thrilling rides did have a place in his park.Surrell, p. 37.
In 1964, Walt first approached designer John Hench with his idea for a new attraction that would be the focal point of a renovated Tomorrowland planned for 1967. His "Space Port" would include a roller-coaster-style ride in the dark, with lighting and other special effects. Originally called "Space Voyage" with concept artwork by John Hench, Clem Hall, George McGinnis, and Herb Ryman. The attraction concept continued to be refined over the coming years by WED Enterprises, and in June 1966, the "Space Port" attraction was called "Space Mountain" for the first time.Surrell, p. 38.
WED partnered with Arrow Development Company, the same company that had helped design the Matterhorn's roller coaster systems years before.Surrell, pp. 38–40. The initial concept was to have four separate tracks, but the technology available at the time, combined with the amount of space required versus that which was available within Disneyland, made such a design impossible. It is commonly believed that WED had put aside the design of Space Mountain indefinitely after Walt Disney's death and revived the project after the Magic Kingdom's early success.Surrell, p. 40–43. However press releases, concept models, and preview brochures as early as 1969 feature Space Mountain as a headlining attraction coming to Walt Disney World.
To help cover the cost of developing and building Space Mountain, Card Walker, the CEO of Walt Disney Productions, convinced RCA chairman Robert Sarnoff to sponsor the new attraction; RCA was contracted by Disney to provide the communications hardware for the Walt Disney World Resort, and their contract stated that if Disney presented an attraction of interest, RCA would provide $10 million to support it.Surrell, p. 43
The interior of the structure, the queue area, the tracks of the roller coaster, and the post-show each went through a large number of various design changes before the current layout was selected. Originally, the mountain was to be positioned in the southern portion of Tomorrowland, which would be where Disneyland would install their version of the ride in 1977. Instead, it was placed outside the park's perimeter berm, roughly due east of Cinderella Castle in Fantasyland, with a tunnel, called the "star corridor", under the Walt Disney World Railroad tracks installed for people to reach it, while Carousel of Progress opened in the originally planned location. This is contrary to the Disneyland counterpart, where people directly enter through the side of the building.
Ride experience
Queue After visitors enter the building, the queue opens into a large room filled with small, silver, ball-pit like balls. The room also contains a "star map". The line then dips into the "star tunnel", which takes guests under the Walt Disney World Railroad and into the cone containing the ride. At this point, the post-show tunnel is running parallel to the queue. The queue then begins to ascend to a second floor, and passes by "space windows" in the walls featuring planets, astronauts, and a model of the spaceship from the lift hill. The queue continues to turn until riders are deposited in the loading station. Previously, stand-by riders could participate in various 90-second long video games that were hosted by a robot that operates Space Mountain's mission control center. These games included blasting asteroids to clear a path for spaceships leaving the spaceport, sorting the lost and found items into the proper bins, and controlling spaceships that expand the spaceport. The screens that were used for these games now show images of space, and riders can play games using the Play Disney Parks app on their own devices.
Guests are then deposited in the load area, where they can see guests aboard their trains departing every few seconds, all while mission control can be heard via speakers as they monitor spaceport activities. The queue splits up into lines for the two separate tracks: Alpha (left) and Omega (right). Both tracks are approximately 65 feet in height and are identical mirror images of one another.
Ride experience
Visitors board the trains in the Starport: Seven Five, which is enclosed within the mountain itself. The cone is hollow and 300 ft in diameter, allowing waiting people aboard the PeopleMover to see many of the different effects used in the attraction.
As the trains leave the loading station, they make a 180 degree turn past the loading area, the queue, and the Mission Control booth, and stop at a holding brake, where they wait for the train in front to clear the block on the lift hill. After a few seconds, the holding brake is released and the trains roll down a drop into a strobe tunnel of pulsating blue lights, which flash at a gradually increasing frequency as the train progresses down the tunnel. A repetitive warping sound signifies an energy charge as the riders roll towards a blue orb (originally a mirror prior to 2009). At the far end of the tunnel, a field of stars appears as the blue strobe lights turn off. The train then makes a 180 degree turnaround and climbs the lift hill. During the turn, the on-ride photo is taken.
The lift hill is designed in the form of a launch bay and contains a large, narrow spaceship which was based on the Discovery One spaceship from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Full size figures of astronauts are suspended upside-down beneath the ship's engines to give the illusion of zero-gravity. As trains climb up the lift hill, projections of the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, stars, comets, meteors, asteroids and the Milky Way can be seen when looking past the lift hill bay's open ceiling. It is possible to make out trains climbing the lift hill on the other side and also rockets passing through on the side, as well as the trains of the PeopleMover passing between the two tracks. Once at the top, the trains then make a small and quick dip before plunging into numerous twists and turns as they travel around the mountain in near-complete darkness, including the coaster tracks' steepest drop of 39 degrees. The ride ends with the trains passing through a red and orange swirling wormhole, before hitting the final brake run and entering the unload station, located underneath the loading station. After unloading, trains then travel around a short turn and climb a short lift hill to return empty to the loading station.
Trains
The trains featured on the ride each consist of two rocket-shaped cars. Each car consists of three rows that seat one rider per row, resulting in a total capacity of six riders per train. From 1975 to 1989, the train cars featured two rows instead of three. Each row seated two riders in a configuration similar to the original trains used on the Matterhorn Bobsleds, where one passenger in each row sat in front of the other in a lap-seating configuration. The total capacity was previously eight riders per train.
The trains introduced in 1989 are cosmetically similar to the originals and still consisted of two cars joined together. The newer trains introduced the use of lap bars, with an early iteration using a horseshoe-shaped design. In 1998, an updated T-bar-shaped design for the restraints was introduced. The original color scheme of the trains was white, but in the 2009 refurbishment, the trains were modified with new seat fabric and repainted in a blue and gray color scheme.
Building characteristics and sponsorship
Sponsorship (1975–2004) From 1975 to 1993, Space Mountain was sponsored by RCA. The left entrance wall had the words "Space Mountain" displayed in bold, blue colored letters. The RCA logo was above this, and under the Space Mountain lettering was the slogan "A Journey Through Time and Space", beneath which was the phrase "presented by RCA".
The ceiling and flooring for the entrance building was done in reds, yellows, and oranges. A large white pylon structure had the RCA logo placed above it in three areas, and four passengers, dressed as astronauts, were placed in an original four seater vehicle, which was attached to the pylon. Below the pylon, in a planter was Space Mountain's dedication plaque which read: "ONE GIANT STEP... Dedicated to the men and women whose skills, sacrifice, courage and teamwork opened the door to the exploration of man's exciting new frontier...outer space. Because they dared to reach for the stars and the planets, man's knowledge of his universe, earth and himself has been greatly enriched. Presented by missile, space and range pioneers. January 15, 1975."
Inside, riders entered the spacious lobby, which did not feature the current mural of the Milky Way, but was simple black and blue walls with various yellow and orange angular designs. There were also floor to ceiling mirrors, support columns, and blue lighting under the floor. The floors themselves were made out of a combination of plastic and vinyl and featured black textured circles sticking out of the flooring. The rest of the inside of the structure, with the exception of the warning film, and the changes made to the vehicles, remains nearly the same from 1975.
For the first year or two of operation, a model of an RCA communications satellite was on display. After that, a flying saucer with RCA's Nipper mascot ("His Master's Voice") replaced the satellite.
In 1989 RCA had the entrance cosmetically refurbished. The entrance door now had a yellow and black pattern around it. The entrance walls were repainted with the 1975 white and blue color scheme, but with solid and different patterns. The roof was still the same blue and white, as was the roof border, a solid white, but the ceiling was now also a solid white. The left entrance wall still featured the RCA logo, but a new font was selected for the phrase "Space Mountain", still bold, but was more angular, and now colored white. This was reflected in the phrase underneath it, "A Journey Through Time and Space", and "presented by RCA" was not included in the 1989 refurbishment.