D23 has announced a special new event celebrating Space Mountain as a part of their Spotlight Series events, which will be taking place in Orlando for the first time.
D23 Spotlight Series Space Mountain and Beyond
A new post on the official D23 Fanclub website has announced the dates and information for their next D23 Spotlight Series in-person event. For the first time, the event will be taking place at the AMC Dine-In movie theater in Disney Springs and is scheduled for 11 a.m. on March 8, 2025.
The March event will be a panel discussing the history of Space Mountain, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. Space Mountain originally opened in Magic Kingdom on January 15, 1975.
The description for the event reads:
“All personnel, clear launch platform.” Get ready to blast off in a one-of-a-kind presentation celebrating Space Mountain, Walt Disney World’s first thrill ride! Join a panel of Imagineers to celebrate the Walt Disney World attraction’s 50th anniversary, along with exciting behind-the-scenes stories about other thrill attractions at Walt Disney World Resort!
Tickets for the in-person event are $29 ($26 plus a $3 handling fee per ticket). The person buying the ticket must be a D23 Gold Member, and each member is allowed to buy a second ticket for one non-member guest. Each ticket purchase will include:
- Access to a special presentation on Space Mountain, as well as other thrill attractions at Walt Disney World Resort, led by a panel of Walt Disney Imagineers
- One D23 Member-exclusive event gift
- One complimentary beverage
- One complimentary popcorn
Tickets for the Space Mountain and Beyond event will go on sale Friday, February 7 at 10 a.m. PT or 1 p.m. ET using a link in the D23 website.
Space Mountain 50th Anniversary
Disney celebrated Space Mountain’s anniversary date with a private ceremony involving Walt Disney World executives, characters, and fireworks. No guests were allowed to attend the ceremony, but a video was later posted on YouTube. The night of the attraction’s anniversary, the lights on the outside of the building were also changed to a bright gold color.
We hosted an in-park meetup on the date of Space Mountain’s 50th, which helped to kick off our special Promising Tomorrows event. Promising Tomorrows was a full series of in-person and livestreamed panels hosted by legendary Disney Imagineers including:
- Brock Thoman: Space Mountain – Walt Disney World
- Ron Carman: Space Mountain – Walt Disney World
- Paul Osterhout: New Tomorrowland – Walt Disney World
- Tim Delaney: Space Mountain De la Terre à la Lune – Disneyland Paris, Space Mountain – Hong Kong Disneyland, Space Mountain Complex – Disneyland Park
- Dan Molitor: ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – Walt Disney World
- Mike West: ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter – Walt Disney World
- Greg Kadorian: ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter, The Timekeeper – Walt Disney World, Space Mountain – Disneyland Park, Space Mountain – Hong Kong Disneyland
- Jim Mulder: Space Mountain De la Terre à la Lune – Disneyland Paris
- Eric Jacobson: New Tomorrowland – Walt Disney World
- Dave Inglish: Space Mountain, Carousel of Progress – Walt Disney World, Space Mountain – Disneyland Park, Space Mountain – Tokyo Disneyland
While our live event has now concluded, you can still purchase access to the complete videos of all the Promising Tomorrows panels on our official event website. All of the recordings will be available until February 28, 2025.
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