Space Mountain
Space Mountain is the name of a space-themed indoor roller coaster attraction located at all five Magic Kingdom-style Disney Parks. Although all five versions of the attraction are different in nature, all have a similar domed exterior façade that is a landmark for the respective park. The first Space Mountain ride opened in 1975 at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, and similar attractions were then eventually built at the other Disney parks.
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Space Mountain (Disneyland)
Space Mountain is a space-themed indoor steel roller coaster in Tomorrowland at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Opened on May 27, 1977, it was the second roller coaster built at Disneyland, and was the second of the five versions of Space Mountain built by The Walt Disney Company. Its exterior façade is one of Disneyland's four "mountain" structures that serve as park landmarks.
Walt Disney originally conceived the idea of a space-themed roller coaster for Disneyland following the success of the Matterhorn Bobsleds, which opened in 1959. However, a number of factors including lack of available space, Walt Disney's death, and the Disney company's focus on building what would become Walt Disney World led to the project's postponement in the late 1960s. After the early success of the Magic Kingdom park at Walt Disney World, Disney revived the Space Mountain project and opened the first Space Mountain at the Magic Kingdom in 1975. Soon after, Disney began plans to build a smaller version of Space Mountain at Disneyland, and opened Disneyland's Space Mountain in 1977. The design of Disneyland's Space Mountain was replicated at Tokyo Disneyland in 1983 and Hong Kong Disneyland in 2005; the Tokyo version was significantly changed in 2006.
Space Mountain (Paris)
Space Mountain: Mission 2 is an enclosed roller coaster attraction in Discoveryland at Disneyland Paris themed around a journey into outer space. Originally themed around Jules Verne's classic 1865 novel From the Earth to the Moon, the attraction opened on June 1, 1995, three years after the opening of the park, as an intended revival of interest to draw more guests to the financially unstable European resort. Unlike other Space Mountains found around the world, this version has a steampunk-detailed appearance, with a huge dominating Columbiad Cannon and a plate-and-rivet exterior, in keeping with Discoveryland's retro-futuristic theme. It is the only Space Mountain to feature inversions and a section of the ride outside the mountain, that being the station and cannon. The attraction was also the first roller coaster to feature a Synchronized On-Board Audio Track (the first roller coaster to feature nonOn-Board audio was Chaos at Opryland USA Themepark). The audio track was written by Steven Bramson and was in keeping with the Victorian theme.
Space Mountain (Magic Kingdom)
Space Mountain is an indoor outer space-themed steel roller coaster at the Magic Kingdom theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Opened on January 15, 1975, Space Mountain is the oldest operating roller coaster in the state of Florida, and is the original version of the iconic attraction that has since been replicated at all of The Walt Disney Company's Magic Kingdom-style theme parks worldwide. RCA helped fund Space Mountain's construction and sponsored the ride from 1975 to 1993; FedEx sponsored Space Mountain from 1994 to 2004.
Walt Disney originally conceived the idea of a space-themed roller coaster for Disneyland following the success of the Matterhorn Bobsleds, which opened in 1959. However, a number of technological limitations and the Disney company's focus on building what would become Walt Disney World led to the project's postponement in the late 1960s. After the early success of the Magic Kingdom park in the early 1970s, the Disney company started looking to build its first thrill ride at the Magic Kingdom. Disney decided that a duplicate of Disneyland's Matterhorn was not feasible at the Magic Kingdom, and instead opted to re-visit the Space Mountain project. Advances in technology since the project's postponement made Space Mountain more feasible, and the ride opened in 1975.
Space Mountain (Tokyo Disneyland)
Space Mountain at Tokyo Disneyland opened with the park on April 15, 1983. It was the first version of Space Mountain to open concurrently with the park. As with the other Space Mountains, this version is also highly popular with young adults and roller coaster fans. Along with its Walt Disney World counterpart, it is currently one of the only Space Mountains without an on-board soundtrack.
Versions
1983-2006
From its opening in 1983 and until late 2006, Tokyo Disneyland's Space Mountain was an almost exact clone of Disneyland's Space Mountain as it had opened in 1977. Apart from some outside architectural elements (absence of the Space Stage and Peoplemover track) with the exception of both having the same shape and dimensions, the interior was the same, although there were some different effects (the tractor beam light on the second lift hill changed during the climb, and the re-entry effect was a blue hexagonal pattern). The track layouts, rocket designs, and original special effects and elements were the same as its Californian counterpart. Its Sponsor is Coca Cola and has its own pre-show.
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