Space Mountain is an outer space-themed indoor roller coaster in Tomorrowland located at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom theme park in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. The dark ride, which opened on January 15, 1975, is the original version of the iconic attraction that has since been replicated at other Disney theme park locations worldwide, with the exception of Shanghai Disneyland Resort. Space Mountain is one of the first computer operated roller coasters and is also the oldest operating roller coaster in the state of Florida. Walt Disney originally conceived the idea of a space-themed roller coaster for Disneyland following the success of Matterhorn Bobsleds in 1959. However, due to technological and spatial limitations, the concept was further developed and eventually became a part of Walt Disney World. RCA helped fund construction and sponsored the ride from 1975 to 1993. FedEx assumed sponsorship from 1994 to 2004. Space Mountain has undergone a number of changes since its opening, including new ride trains in 1989 and 2009, as well as incremental upgrades to incorporate modern roller coaster technology. It has also seen a number of cosmetic renovations to its entry, queue, and post-show elements, many of which were necessitated by changes in its corporate sponsorship over the years.
Original concept and design
The Space Mountain concept was a descendant of the first Disney "mountain" attraction, the Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland, which opened in 1959. The Matterhorn's success had convinced Walt Disney that thrilling rides did have a place in his park. In 1964, Walt first approached designer John Hench with his idea for a new attraction that would be the focal point of a renovated Tomorrowland planned for 1967. His "Space Port" would include a roller-coaster-style ride in the dark, with lighting and other special effects. Originally called "Space Voyage" with concept artwork by John Hench, Clem Hall, George McGinnis, and Herb Ryman. The attraction concept continued to be refined over the coming years by WED Enterprises, and in June 1966, the "Space Port" attraction was called "Space Mountain" for the first time. WED partnered with Arrow Development Company, the same company that had helped design the Matterhorn's roller coaster systems years before. The initial concept was to have four separate tracks, but the technology available at the time, combined with the amount of space required versus that which was available within Disneyland, made such a design impossible. It is commonly believed that WED had put aside the design of Space Mountain indefinitely after Walt Disney's death and revived the project after the Magic Kingdom's early success. However press releases, concept models, and preview brochures as early as 1969 feature Space Mountain as a headlining attraction coming to Walt Disney World. To help cover the cost of developing and building Space Mountain, Card Walker, the CEO of Walt Disney Productions, convinced RCA chairman Robert Sarnoff to sponsor the new attraction; RCA was contracted by Disney to provide the communications hardware for the Walt Disney World Resort, and their contract stated that if Disney presented an attraction of interest, RCA would provide $10 million to support it. The interior of the structure, the queue area, the tracks of the roller coaster, and the post-show each went through a large number of various design changes before the current layout was selected. Originally, the mountain was to be positioned in the southern portion of Tomorrowland, which would be where Disneyland would install their version of the ride in 1977. Instead, it was placed outside the park's perimeter berm, roughly due east of Cinderella Castle in Fantasyland, with a tunnel, called the "star corridor", under the Walt Disney World Railroad tracks installed for people to reach it, while Carousel of Progress opened in the originally planned location. This is contrary to the Disneyland counterpart, where people directly enter through the side of the building.
Ride experience
Queue After visitors enter the building, the queue opens into a large room filled with small, silver, ball-pit like balls. The room also contains a "star map". The line then dips into the "star tunnel", which takes guests under the Walt Disney World Railroad and into the cone containing the ride. At this point, the post-show tunnel is running parallel to the queue. The queue then begins to ascend to a second floor, and passes by "space windows" in the walls featuring planets, astronauts, and a model of the spaceship from the lift hill. The queue continues to turn until riders are deposited in the loading station. Previously, stand-by riders could participate in various 90-second long video games that were hosted by a robot that operates Space Mountain's mission control center. These games included blasting asteroids to clear a path for spaceships leaving the spaceport, sorting the lost and found items into the proper bins, and controlling spaceships that expand the spaceport. The screens that were used for these games now show images of space, and riders can play games using the Play Disney Parks app on their own devices. Guests are then deposited in the load area, where they can see guests aboard their trains departing every few seconds, all while mission control can be heard via speakers as they monitor spaceport activities. The queue splits up into lines for the two separate tracks: Alpha (left) and Omega (right). Both tracks are approximately 65 feet in height and are identical mirror images of one another.
Ride experience
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