Space Mountain

Space Mountain is an attraction located in Tomorrowland

The idea for Space Mountain came from Walt Disney himself. After the successes of the Matterhorn attraction in Disneyland, Walt was convinced that "thrill-rides" had a place in his park. With this in mind, in 1964 Walt approached designer John Hench with an idea for a new Tomorrowland attraction. Walt called the idea the "Space Port", a roller coaster in the dark that would feature lighting and other special effects.

Concept art for the attraction was created by Hench, Clem Hall, George Mcginnis and Herb Ryman. The attraction's name was changed to "Space Voyage", and ideas for it continued to be refined. To help make the attraction a reality, WED partnered with the Arrow Development Company, who had helped design the Matterhorn. In June of 1966 WED employees voted, and decided to change the name to Space Mountain.

Plans for Space Mountain were put on hold indefinably in 1966. After Walt Disney's death, a new company wide focus was put on completing Walt Disney World. This, combined with the spacial and technological limitations of Disneyland made the construction of Space Mountain unfeasible.

Although the Space Mountain idea was dead in Disneyland, it soon found life in the newly constructed Walt Disney World. The popularity of the new park surpassed even Disney's expectations, and the new park proved to be extremely popular with teenagers and young adults. Almost as soon as the park opened plans were made for a new thrill ride.

Although Disney's first choice was a version of the Matterhorn, Walt Disney World's Fantasyland was not big enough to house the attraction. It was decided however, that Disney World's Tomorrowland would be big enough to house the tabled Space Mountain idea. With this in mind, Imagineers back to work on the development of the coaster. It was decided that instead of using the Arrow Development Company and their track ideas, Disney Imagineers would design the track themselves. The idea they came up with was to make the coaster a "pure gravity" ride. This meant that Space Mountain features no boosters or retarders.

One of the major contributing factors to the creation of Space Mountain was sponsorship. Disney gave RCA the opportunity to sponsor the attraction, which the chose to do. RCA payed 10 million dollars to help built Space Mountain. Because of this sponsorship the queue and post show were designed to feature RCA products.

The final design of the Space Mountain changed many times before the attraction was eventually built. The Designs the interior structure, queue and post show all changed various times before Space Mountain was built, The shape of Space Mountain was also a topic of debate amongst Disney Engineers. Some of the engineers wanted Space Mountain to look like a dome, while others wanted to use a "cone" shape. The cone shape idea eventually won out, and on January 15, 1975 Space Mountain officially opened.

When Space Mountain was built it was a technological marvel. The attraction was the first indoor roller coaster and also the first roller coaster to take place completely in the dark.

Space Mountain also has the distinction of being one of the largest buildings in Walt Disney World. At 183 feet tall, Space Mountain is just 6 feet shorter than Cinderella's Castle. The supports for Space Mountain are also unique, in that they are located on the outside of the building instead of the inside. This was done so that the inside roof would be flat, and projections would be able to be shown on it.

To create the illusion of stars above the riders, 20 mirrored balls are hit with a spotlight. When the light that reflects off the balls hits the roof, and gives the allusion of stars. Other projections include The "shooting stars" which are created by a moving spotlight, and the asteroids and galaxies which are created by dimmed down projectors.

Space Mountain has a total area of nearly In total the construction of Space Mountain required 4,000 pieces of steel, and 12,000 feet of electrical wire. Since every piece of steel had to be accessible by stairs, the inside of Space Mountain resembles a metallic maze.

Space Mountain is a roller coaster that allows guests to travel through space.

Original Preshow

From 1973 until 1994 Space Mountain was sponsored by RCA. Guests entered Space Mountain through an entrance building located in Tomorrowland. The Building had three large RCA logos as well as a original "four seat" ride vehicle encased in a clear case. Inside the vehicle sat a family. Before guests entered the "entrance portal", they would pass a large quote on the wall which read:

"ONE GIANT STEP... Dedicated to the men and women whose skills, sacrifice, courage and teamwork opened the door to the exploration of man's exciting new frontier...outer space. Because they dared to reach for the stars and the planets, man's knowledge of his universe, earth and himself has been greatly enriched. Presented by missile, space and range pioneers. January 15, 1975."

Just after entering the building, guests boarded a descending moving ramp. On the right side of the ramp, guests could see RCA's logo, Nipper the Fox Terrier inside a flying saucer. At this point in the attraction RCA's Space Mountain theme song- "Here's To The Future And You" began to play. Further down the ramp guests could look out convex windows and see the Star Corridors, a series different space themed displays. One display for example, showed an astronaut riding his moon buggy in space.

On the left hand side of the decention ramp, a series of RCA products were displayed. The reason for the descending ramp, was to take guests underneath the Walt Disney Railroad to the lot where Space Mountain is actually located.

After guests finished descending, they reached the "zig zag corridor". Here windows allowed guests to see out into space. Things that could be seen out the windows included:

• Asturnauts fixing a satellite

• Galaxies

• Planets

• Shooting Stars

• And finally, a family riding the Space Mountain ride vehicle in space.

After passing through the Zig Zag Corridor, guests finally reached the loading area. Here they watched a safety video featuring Asturnaut Gordon Cooper and then boarded either the Alpha or Omega track. Both of these tracks were identical except for the fact that Alpha track is ten feet longer.

Original Ride

Space Mountain begins with guests boarding their "rockets". The rockets then take off passing the Space Port queue and the Mission Control booth. The jets the go up a lift hill and down a small slope. This leads to a circular tunnel lined with blue lights. Here energy can be building up, and eventually propelling guests to the other end of the dome. Here, the rockets do a 180 degree turn and go up another lift hill. A mirror positioned at the end of the track, gives riders the allusion that they are about to collide with another rocket. If riders look up, they are able to see projections of Earth, stars, comets, meteors, and asteroids above them. This adds to the feeling that the rockets are indeed flying through space.

As the rockets continue on, they go down a quick dip and then a series of twists and turns. At this point in the attraction, the ride is taking place in almost complete darkness. In the dark, guests then fall down a 38 degree drop, the steepest in the attraction. Space Mountain ends with guests passing through a red, swirling wormhole before reaching the unloading area.

RCA Future Living

From 1973 until about 1985 Space's Mountains post show was known as the RCA Future Living. After unloading from their ride vehicles. guests board another moving ramp which took them up. On the right side of the ramp was guests began to see scenes of how future homes would look. The first scene depicted a father wearing a blue jumpsuit and lounging in his hair. In front of him was a TV the size of a briefcase which showed a female business associate of his. The man was able to conduct his business meeting while in the comfort of his own home. Continuing on guests saw a model of the house. All of the houses were shaped like hexagons, and each room was connected by stairways.

The next room that guests saw was the nursery. Here, while a baby stood in her crib, a clown with a camera was broadcasting her to the rest of the house. This allowed the parents to keep an eye on their baby even though they were not in the same room. Continuing on, guests passed the family room. Here a unidentified female could be seen taking a pottery lesson over her TV. She was able to talk and communicate with her professor who was being displayed. The next scene, showed a boy named Billy who was wearing an orange jumpsuit. He was standing outside of his house with a frog and a dog. Billy would talk into a camera on the outside of the house saying "Don't you like frogs Mrs. Brown?". The mother would then tell Billy that he would have to stay outside.

Going back inside the house, guests could see the recreation room. This room was located above the family room. Here a boy could be seen talking a ski lesson from the SelctaVision, while his younger brother built a model rocket using instructions from the TV. Next tot the recreation room was the kitchen. Where the mother of the house, and a neighbor sat in front of a large TV. In this room, the mother was shopping for dishes directly on the TV. In the corner of her TV screen, Billy could be seen, still pleading to come in. Moving on, guests would come across the teenage daughter's room. Here a teenager was watching a classic SelctaVision disc. While she was doing this she was on the phone with Judy, who she would always tell to come over. The final room of the house, was the entertainment room. This room housed the biggest TV in the post show, which was being watched by a young girl and boy.

After viewing the home of the future, guests would see various RCA products as the attractions theme song played again. Before exiting guests would get one final encounter with Billy, who was now holding a video camera and pointing it at the guests. A TV would show guests themselves (this was considered one of the highlights of the attraction). Finally, guests would arrive back in Tomorrowland having completed their journey into space.