Space Mountain



Space Mountain is a popular indoor roller coaster ride at four Disney theme parks. The indoor design allows controlled lighting to selectively hide portions of the track. This greatly increases the element of surprise experienced by riders, which can compensate for the absence of some of the track elements typically required to make outdoor coasters exciting. At the time it opened, it was the most expensive roller coaster ever created, at a cost that even surpasses all of the original Disneyland adjusting for inflation.

Space Mountain premiered at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom in 1975, Disneyland in 1977, Tokyo Disneyland in 1983, and Disneyland Paris in 1995. Hong Kong Disneyland's Space Mountain will open in September 2005. When the Paris installation opened, it became the first completely indoor, themed roller coaster with a synchronized sound track. The Disneyland installation was upgraded in 1998, making it the first such ride in America. The layouts and soundtracks vary from installation to installation. For example, the Magic Kingdom version has two intertwined tracks. The Paris version features inversions.

Space Mountain at Disneyland
Space Mountain reopened July 15, 2005 after a two-year long refurbishment, but soft openings began on July 1, 2005; a day after a large Walt Disney Imagineering event for Imagineers' friends and families to ride the new Space Mountain.

After being seated in the car, riders are first brought to a control tower where they see one or two Disneyland cast members and they listen to a small recorded warning spiel. The car then turns sharply to the right and climbs a long tunnel filled with flickering lights and lasers. At the top, there's a slight calm before the drop as an unearthly theremin hums out the haunting, enigmatic melody to "Aquarium" from The Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns.

Suddenly, the car dives and the music changes to a hard-rocking Dick Dale surf guitar rendition of "Aquarium". Riders are thrown about in almost complete darkness, faint lighting hinting at the dense metal scaffolding that seems to fly within feet over the heads of the riders. The music builds as the car appears to be gaining speed around a large glowing orange satellite known as FX-1 (FX stood for FedEx, the attraction's sponsor), building up to a dramatic climax. The ride ends as the car takes a sudden right turn, and a less foreboding variation of the original theme is heard (Disney's form of a musical happy ending) as you pass through doors leading back into the loading dock.

Space Mountain today
On July 15, 2005, only two days before Disneyland's official 50th Anniversary, Space Mountain reopened from a major refurbishment that started in April, 2003. The new Space Mountain features new special effects, but the completely rebuilt track is the same layout.

After being seated in the roller coaster train ("rocket"), riders are first brought to a control tower where they see one or two Disneyland cast members and they listen to a small recorded warning spiel. The train then turns sharply to the right and climbs a long futuristic red tunnel. The train again makes a sharp right turn into a long blue tunnel with flashing lights all around the vehicle. After this tunnel, the train ascends up a long tunnel with projected stars and lasers rotating around (the "launch tunnel"). A galaxy is seen spinning in the distance before collapsing.

The train then travels around a large, dark spinning asteroid, then makes a small ascent while Mission Control counts down. At the end of the countdown, the train makes a sharp, steep left turn, sending the train into high speed. Riders are thrown about in almost complete darkness, faint lighting hinting at the dense metal scaffolding that seems to fly within feet over the heads of the riders. The ride ends as the car takes a sudden right turn, and Mission Control welcomes you back as you pass through doors leading back into the loading dock.

Rockin' Space Mountain
On January 3, 2007, a new seasonal overlay called Rockin' Space Mountain premiered alongside a similar overlay of California Screamin' as part of a Disneyland Resort promotion called "Rockin' Both Parks." The "Rockin'" version of Space Mountain is set to Red Hot Chili Peppers' 1989 song "Higher Ground" and the coaster's special effects are themed to that of a rock concert, using multicolored lighting and projections. Radio DJ Joe Benson, from the Disney-owned Los Angeles classic rock station 95.5 KLOS, provides an opening voiceover. The overlay ran until April 26.

Ghost Galaxy
Starting on September 25, 2007, the Hong Kong Disneyland version will get a seasonal overlay titled Ghost Galaxy as part of HKDL's Halloween events. This overlay will be in place until October 31st.