The Space Mountain Story

*NOTE* The following contains apocryphal rumors and has never been confirmed to me by anyone with any authority. :-)

Space Mountain originally opened in Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom on January 15, 1975 and was cloned to Disneyland in May 1977. The ride originally had no sound because to have really cool music during the ride, you need a really good sound system. In a stroke of luck, a really good sound system was developed for Disneyland-Paris' Space Mountain in 1995 and quickly cobbled onto the Disneyland cars (featuring really awesome music by surf-guitarist Dick Dale). So then things plug happily along for 8 years. Then one morning in April 2003 (the 10th to be specific), the mechanics inspecting Space Mountain, as they had every morning for the past 8 years, discovered a hairline fracture in the track and declared the ride unsafe for operation. Apparently, the really good sound system blaring the really awesome music unbalanced the cars as they rocketed down the track and that basically destroyed the track. Cynthia Harris (Disneyland President since 1999) and Paul Pressler (Chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts since 1998) hadn't really treated the parks with respect but were forced to shut down the ride and replace the track as it was (because they were cheap) no matter how long it took even though Disneyland's 50th anniversary was 2 years away. But it's not all bad news! They have since been replaced by people who do care about the park. Matt Ouimett was appointed as President of Disneyland and James (Jay) Rasulo was appointed as President of Parks and Resorts. And through some quick dealing by Matt and Jay, the ride opened again July 15th with an amazing ceremony (two days before the 50th birthday no less) with a ceremony featuring NEIL ARMSTRONG. Of course the track is the same as before (Cynthia and Paul locked in those plans), but the queue is much improved. You now stand in line until you are pretty much able to run through the tight hallways of Space Station 77 (get it?) (the only sad thing is no more cheesy TV... no more Glenn Shadix giving us fashion advice...no more Ghost Riders in the Sky...no more Crazy Larry!!!) all the way to the new and improved loading station. The overall experience really feels like you're on a space station and that's freaking awesome. Hooray! Also of note is the fact that the soundtrack for the ride was composed by everybody's favorite Pixar composer, Michael Giacchino (The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Star Trek, Up, John Carter, etc.).

On a side note, the failed painting of Tomorrowland included in the New Tomorrowland renovation of 1998 is giving way to a futuristic, pastel blue along with the original white spires of Space Mountain. Hooray!

The following are 3-D layouts created by Kevin O'Neal.