Yahoo Lifestyle Space Mountain turns 50: How Walt Disney’s ‘revolutionary idea’ keeps evolving
A Disney icon turns 50 years old on Wednesday.
Space Mountain debuted at Walt Disney World on Jan. 15, 1975.
“Like many great ideas, it came from the imagination of Walt Disney,” Steven Vagnini, content strategy manager for Walt Disney Archives, told USA TODAY.
“Walt first had the idea for a high-speed trip through space as part of a reimagining of (Disneyland’s) Tomorrowland that would have taken place in the 1960s,” he said. “This was a revolutionary idea.”
It was so far ahead of its time that it took years for the technology to catch up, to make it a reality.
As Space Mountain marks its 50th anniversary, here’s what Disney fans should know.
What is Space Mountain known for?
Space Mountain is known for hurtling guests through the dark, like rockets shooting through space. It was the first coaster experience to be fully enclosed and in the dark, according to Vagnini. It was also the first to be fully controlled by a computer, which was game-changing.
“This allowed us to have two totally separate ride paths through space. The zone systems allowed multiple rockets to allow guests to be transported through the cosmos at once,” he explained. “And the fact that it's all in the dark ... that adds to the thrill. You don't know if they're going to be going left or right or up or down.”
Space Mountain at Walt Disney World
Thrill was just what Disney World was looking for after opening in 1971. The following year, Imagineers revived Walt Disney’s idea for a Space Voyage, as Space Mountain.
On the ride’s opening day in 1975, Vagnini said one of its lead Imagineers, Disney Legend John Hench, watched the reactions of its first guests:
The vehicle comes to a stop, and, as he described it, there was dead silence. All of a sudden, one of the guests steps out of the vehicle. She kneels down and loudly kisses the carpet. John follows them. At the time, there was a moving ramp in the post-show area, and John listens in to the conversation. He hears them laughing. He hears them patting each other on the back. And John explained it this way: he realized these people had not felt so alive as they did in that moment, in years.
Space Mountain at Disneyland
With Space Mountain’s success at Disney World, Vagnini said it quickly became a priority to open one at Disneyland, where the idea began.
Disneyland’s Space Mountain opened in 1977, but it wasn’t a carbon copy. Among the differences, Vagnini noted that even including a portion of Disneyland’s ride that starts underground, Disney World’s 183-foot version is still taller. Disneyland uses one track instead of two, but its track is about 10% longer than Disney World’s track. Also, Disneyland’s ride cars seat two people side-by-side instead of only one-per-row at Disney World.
“We treat each attraction uniquely in every park it goes in,” Vagnini said. “It's not the exact same attraction, and it's certainly not the same experience.”
That’s true even in the same park.
“At Disneyland, in 2005 there was a major refurbishment, which totally enhanced the attraction with a brand-new musical score by Michael Giacchino,” Vagnini said. “A couple years later, we added (an) overlay called Rockin’ Space Mountain, which was a very unique take on Space Mountain at the time, featuring music by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. And then in 2009, Disneyland introduced Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy, which was a Halloween Time theme overlay that had premiered just a couple years earlier at Hong Kong Disneyland.”
Space Mountain at Tokyo Disneyland
The third Space Mountain opened at Tokyo Disneyland in 1983.
“This would mark the first time that Space Mountain opened in conjunction with the park’s opening as well,” Vagnini said. “The Tokyo version of the attraction would debut in a format that was more similar to the Disneyland version of the attraction.”
But it isn’t staying that way. Last summer, Tokyo’s version closed for a major reimagining of Tomorrowland. When it reopens in 2027, the rebuilt attraction will retain “the original concept as a thrilling indoor coaster that takes guests on a high-speed journey through space but will include enhanced performance and immersive special effects,” according to the official Disney Parks Blog. “These will give guests even more thrills throughout their journey and will provide a greater connection between Earth and the universe.”
Space Mountain at Disneyland Paris
In 1995, Disneyland Paris opened another take on Space Mountain in its Discoveryland, which Vagnini described as “not based so much on our current thinking about the future, but rather interpretations and visions of the future that were shared by legendary authors and science fiction writers.”
Space Mountain De la Terre à la Lune (From the Earth to the Moon) was inspired by Jules Verne’s book of the same name.
“In the story ‘From the Earth to the Moon,’ you have this idea of propulsion via a giant cannon out into space and eventually reaching the moon. And that drove the story of our Disneyland Paris attraction originally,” Vagnini said. “That would be a first for the themed entertainment industry, having this canon-style launch, this catapult system. Traditionally, our Space Mountain attractions featured the chain lift.”
He said the attraction was also the first Disney thrill ride, across parks, to debut onboard audio and the first to feature inversions, with three. Over the years, it’s evolved with new storylines and theming and is currently Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain.
Space Mountain at Hong Kong Disneyland
The fifth Space Mountain opened with Hong Kong Disneyland’s opening in 2005.
“That was the next version of Space Mountain, which today is known as Hyperspace Mountain, featuring a very special Star Wars experience all throughout,” Vagnini said.
The attraction’s webpage describes the experience as rocketing into a "raging dogfight between Rebel X-wing starfighters and Imperial TIE fighters.”
TRON at Shanghai Disneyland
Disney had something else in mind for Shanghai Disney Resort, which was designed to be, as Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger put it, “authentically Disney and distinctly Chinese.”
Instead of building another Space Mountain, Vagnini said, “The Imagineers kept going back to this idea of Shanghai being such a forward-looking city, one that is constantly evolving, and so the inspiration came to do something completely different ... And the idea of incorporating the stories of ‘Tron’ and ‘Tron: Legacy,’ which was our sequel released in the year 2010, was something top of mind and captivated the imagination of the designers and the Imagineers involved. And so the end result was a totally new experience for a totally new Tomorrowland.”
TRON Lightcycle Power Run opened with Shanghai Disney in 2016.
“The great story there, too, is that now we have TRON Lightcycle / Run at Walt Disney World, which opened here in 2023 as a neighbor to Space Mountain here at the Magic Kingdom, where Space Mountain debuted 50 years ago,” Vagnini added.
What age is Space Mountain appropriate for?
Disneyland and Walt Disney World’s websites describe the ride’s audience as kids, tweens, teens and adults. Disneyland’s version has a 40-inch minimum height requirement, while Disney World’s has a 44-inch height requirement.
“Some have called it a rite of passage,” Vagnini said of when guests are big enough or brave enough to ride. “We have multiple generations of guests now who have experienced Space Mountain and share it with their friends and their families. You know, you look at this attraction, it’s hard to believe it's 50 years because it is a classic attraction, and yet in so many ways, it is a timeless attraction.”
Space Mountain also remains among the most popular attractions across Disney parks.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Space Mountain at 50: History of a Disney icon
