Space Mountain is an indoor, space-themed roller coaster in Tomorrowland at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Opened on May 27, 1977, it was the second roller coaster built at Disneyland, and was the second of the five versions of Space Mountain built by The Walt Disney Company. Its exterior façade is one of Disneyland's three "mountain" structures that serve as park landmarks.
Walt Disney originally conceived the idea of a space-themed roller coaster for Disneyland following the success of the Matterhorn Bobsleds, which opened in 1959. However, a number of factors including lack of available space, Walt Disney's death, and the Disney company's focus on building what would become Walt Disney World led to the project's postponement in the late 1960s. After the early success of the Magic Kingdom park at Walt Disney World, Disney revived the Space Mountain project and opened the first Space Mountain at the Magic Kingdom in 1975. Soon after, Disney began plans to build a smaller version of Space Mountain at Disneyland, and opened Disneyland's Space Mountain in 1977. The design of Disneyland's Space Mountain was replicated at Tokyo Disneyland in 1983 and Hong Kong Disneyland in 2005; the Tokyo version was significantly changed in 2006 to become more similar to the refurbished 2009 Magic Kingdom version.
Space Mountain has undergone a number of major upgrades and refurbishments over the years, including the addition of an onboard soundtrack in 1996, repainting of the exterior in 1997 and 2003, and a complete replacement of the original track and ride vehicles from 2003 to 2005. It has also been given a third roof up the mountain during late 2013 and early 2014. Every September and October during Halloween Time at Disneyland, starting in 2009 and ending in 2019, the dome was given projections for the Ghost Galaxy event. On November 16, 2015, Space Mountain was given a new overlay and theme in anticipation for Star Wars: The Force Awakens and redubbed "Hyperspace Mountain." Since then, the attraction has switched between the original and "Hyperspace Mountain" Star Wars theme several times.
History
Concept and Walt Disney World version
The early success of the Matterhorn Bobsleds – opened in 1959 – convinced Walt Disney that thrill rides did have a place in Disneyland. In 1964, Walt Disney first approached designer John Hench with an idea for an indoor dark roller coaster. The roller coaster's design evolved over the next couple of years, and the name "Space Mountain" was first used for the concept in June 1966. The design was later deemed impossible due to technological limitations as well as the limited space available at Disneyland. Walt Disney's death in December 1966 as well as the company's focus on the Disney World project led the company to shelve the Space Mountain project.
Like Disneyland, Magic Kingdom also lacked thrill rides at the time of its opening in 1971. However, the park became unexpectedly popular with teenagers and young adults and, as a result, Disney began plans to add thrill rides there as well. Designers determined that Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland lacked the necessary space to replicate Disneyland's Matterhorn, but noted a large amount of space available in Tomorrowland. This, coupled with advances in technology since the project was shelved, led Disney to revive the Space Mountain project. The original Space Mountain opened at Magic Kingdom in 1975, and its early success led Disney to revisit the idea of building Space Mountain at Disneyland. Disneyland's Space Mountain was designed by Bill Watkins of Walt Disney Imagineering, including a tubular steel track design awarded . Because of space limitations, the dual-track layout of Magic Kingdom's Space Mountain was not replicated at Disneyland, and a much smaller building was constructed.
Opening and early years The second Space Mountain opened in 1977, invigorating a decade-old Tomorrowland as Disneyland's second roller coaster. The $20 million complex opened May 27 including the roller coaster, 1,100-seat Space Stage, 670-seat Space Place restaurant, and the Starcade video arcade.
Six of the original seven Mercury astronauts attended Space Mountain's opening – Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, Sen. John Glenn, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Deke Slayton. The lone exception was Gus Grissom, who had died along with two other astronauts in a tragic launchpad fire ten years earlier. Largely due in part to the opening of Space Mountain, the Memorial Day day attendance record was set, with 185,500 guests over the three-day period.
The attraction continued operating without much change: sponsors would come and go, and various minor changes, including the addition of a Goodyear "Speed Ramp" (moving sidewalk) in the entrance, happened without fanfare. In 1995, FedEx became the official sponsor for the ride, sparking a number of significant alterations. The queue area was revamped with television monitors looping safety videos, the loading station had a new Audio-Animatronic robot FedEx worker, and other scenic areas were modeled to include FedEx trademarks.
Onboard Music Track In 1995, two Imagineers, composer Aarin Richard and Concept Development VP, Eddie Sotto, teamed up to create an onboard music track for the roller coaster. The creative vision was to fuse two iconic musical forms of the 1960s – sci-fi horror music and surf music – into a synchronized soundtrack experience. The first half of the ride's music was original score by Richard, composed in a sci-fi horror movie style, which began as the rockets left the station. After the vehicles crested the top hill, a surf-style adaptation of "Le Carnival Des Animaux: Aquarium" (The Carnival of the Animals), written by Camille Saint-Saëns was triggered as gravity pulled the vehicles downward through the curves and drops. As the rockets reentered the loading station, the score transitioned to a soft synthesized rendition of the Aquarium theme to concluded the experience.
Preliminary testing and compositional work was done through the early months of 1995. In July, the production moved into Studio A at the Imagineering facilities in Glendale, Ca. Numerous midi-sequenced synthesizers parts were transferred to a digital 32 track recorder to establish the structure for live drums, guitars and other parts to be added. Veteran Los Angeles session guitarist, Carl Verheyen, was hired to add the guitar melody and sweeteners to the track. Nearing completion, guest artist Dick Dale was hired to play his iconic guitar riffs on the Aquarium section of the music, also recorded at the Imagineering studio. Dale’s guitar contributions were then interspersed with Verheyen's work. For the final mix, the vehicle's custom speakers developed by Imagineering’s R & D department were brought into the studio. Sam Buckner was the in-house recording and mix engineer with Greg Lhotka assisting.
The downhill portion of the ride was gravity driven with speed variations up to 30 seconds due to the changes in track temperature and the guest load. To keep the music in sync, the music was broken into several sections, each with a musical sustain at its end to accommodate slower vehicle speeds. When the lead vehicle passed a specific point, the next section of music was triggered, creating a seamless soundtrack that could be variable in length. The ride reopened with music in November, 1995.
In 2005 the original music track was replaced with a new score by composer, Michael Giacchino.
Renovations In 1997, the exterior of the structure was painted in a green, gold, copper, and bronze, to match the recent facelift to Tomorrowland, and the Goodyear Speed Ramp was removed, but the main ride itself was unchanged (Space Mountain's changes were rather minor compared to other changes made in the 1997–1998 facelift).
Space Mountain closed suddenly on April 10, 2003, with an announcement that it would remain closed until Disneyland's 50th anniversary. Behind the scenes, the onboard audio system was making the trains much heavier, which caused the track and supports to become structurally compromised. As a result, the ride had become unstable and needed a complete track replacement. On June 25, 2005, Disneyland surprised its guests by announcing that the reopening of Space Mountain would open early on July 15, instead of the projected November date.
On July 15, 2005 (with "soft openings" starting July 1), only two days before Disneyland's official 50th Anniversary, Space Mountain reopened from a major refurbishment that started in April 2003. The mountain was restored to its original white. A re-opening ceremony was held that day which featured a guest speaker, Neil Armstrong, who received a plaque that read "Presented to Mr. Neil Armstrong for his courage and adventurous spirit that continues to inspire all mankind to reach for the stars". The plaque also features the Disney quote "It's kinda fun to do the impossible". The new Space Mountain featured new rocket sleds, new special effects and a storyline.
The completely rebuilt track is exactly the same layout as originally designed by Walt Disney Imagineer Bill Watkins in 1976. The only original track from the 1977 ride extends from the back end of the station, to the top of third lift, and the storage and spur tracks, as evidenced by the weld marks on these two track sections where the original and new tracks were joined together. The foundation was laid 30 feet deeper, and floor of the mountain was lowered about ten feet to make evacuation procedures easier, making the ride much safer than before. The rockets no longer glow in the dark. Before the major overhaul, Space Mountain's track was manufactured in-house. The new track was manufactured by Dynamic Structures.
In 2015, the ride was given a Star Wars overlay titled Hyperspace Mountain, which has come and gone over the years. Among the changes are that the ride vehicles are now referred to as "reconnaissance vessels", the setting being the planet Jakku from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and the pre-flight safety video featuring a briefing from Admiral Ackbar.
In December 2017, Space Mountain would receive a new single rider entrance.
In 2018, the regular queue line was extended into the upper level of the former Starcade, featuring a large futuristic space telescope on display amongst the Starcade's original 1977 murals.
On October 27, 2023, the attraction reopened after a nearly two month long refurbishment period with new interior visual effects and projection mapping on the exterior. From July 25 to September 21, 2025, the attraction's show building displayed a short projection show themed to the Fantastic Four, in conjunction with the release of the Marvel Cinematic Universe film The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
Experience