Space Mountain (Disneyland)

Space Mountain is a roller coaster attraction located in Tomorrowland at Disneyland at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It opened on May 27, 1977, as the second incarnation of the Space Mountain concept, the first version having opened at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom in 1975. Unlike the Magic Kingdom version, Disneyland's version only features one track instead of two.

Many minor additions were made to the ride over the years, including a synchronized soundtrack performed by Dick Dale. On April 10, 2003, Space Mountain was suddenly closed for a long-rumored refurbishment, which included entirely replacing the roller coaster track and updating the effects and sound track. Space Mountain soft opened on July 1, 2005, and officially reopened two weeks later on July 15, two days before the 50th anniversary of Disneyland.

Seasonal overlays
Since Space Mountain's reopening in 2005, there have been two seasonal overlays of Space Mountain.

Rockin' Space Mountain
From January to April 2007, the Disneyland Resort held the "Rockin' Both Parks" promotion, in which Space Mountain and California Screamin' both had their soundtracks changed to songs by Red Hot Chili Peppers. While California Screamin' received no special effects and was unchanged other than the new soundtrack, Space Mountain had significant changes. LED concert lighting was added along the tracks of the ride, which made much of the track and interior of the mountain visible, in contrast to the almost-pitch darkness normally found in Space Mountain.

Red Hot Chili Peppers' 1989 cover of Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" was used for the ride, with an introduction by "Uncle Joe" Benson from 95.5 KLOS, a Los Angeles-based classic rock station formerly owned by Disney prior to ABC Radio's merger with Citadel Broadcasting. Rockin' Space Mountain is similar to Walt Disney Studios Park's Rock 'n' Roller Coaster avec Aerosmith at Disneyland Resort Paris, which features concert-like lighting effects rather than the cartoon-like Los Angeles freeway theme found in the original version at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

The Rockin' promotion did not return in 2008.

Space Mountain: Ghost Galaxy
Main article: Space Mountain: Ghost Galaxy 

For Disneyland's Halloween Time promotion in 2009, Space Mountain was converted to Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy, which had already been running at Hong Kong Disneyland's Haunted Halloween every year since 2007. Ghost Galaxy uses projections of an enormous ghost chasing riders throughout the mountain. This overlay was extremely popular with guests, and finding a wait time of 120 minutes or longer was not uncommon.

Hyperspace Mountain
On November 16, 2015, Space Mountain will be transformed into Hyperspace Mountain, a new seasonal overlay themed to Star Wars that places guests in the middle of an X-Wing starfighter battle, as part of the park's new annual Season of the Force promotion. An exact ending date has not been announced.

Changes after 2003-05 refurbishment

 * The queue line is dark red and the ride viewing windows have been removed.
 * The station is different from the old version.
 * There is a blue strobe tunnel that is almost the same as the Walt Disney World version but curved.
 * There is a spinning tunnel at the second lift hill.
 * At the end of the ride, there is a tunnel that has colorful stars rather than a reentry tunnel.
 * The red geodesic satellite has been replaced with an asteroid.
 * The stars etc. inside the building have been changed; in particular, the projection of a tumbling asteroid encountered upon first entering has been removed.