Space Mountain

“Space shuttle…you are clear for launch.”

After strapping yourself in your space shuttle, you are launched into a lighted tunnel, taken to the top of the lift hill, and set loose into the darkness on a thrill ride that uses its confined environment to its fullest potential. Stars flash by as you careen around tight bends and over sudden hills that go both up and down. You’re never exactly sure what may happen next since you’re speeding along through the blackness of space at a speed that seems quite fast, but really tops out at 27 mph, before making a booming reentry into our atmosphere and ending at the unload zone.

There are two different tracks available (Alpha and Omega); each is nearly the same length and have roughly the same path. Die hards will be more than happy to let you know which side they find to be the most thrilling so feel free to ask other guests for their opinions as you wait in the queue. The attraction celebrated it’s 50th anniversary in 2025.

Behind the Schemes:

Space Mountain was one of Walt’s late, great ideas that took much longer to come to fruition than most other attractions, but its popularity became so overwhelming that it can now be found – in various forms – at every Disney park in the world except for Shanghai Disneyland. Initially saddled with the mundane name Space Voyage, Disney once again hooked up with Arrow Development, the company who had created the tubular steel tracks for Disneyland’s Matterhorn Bobsleds and years of planning was underway.

The construction of Space Mountain was always a hurdle for Imagineers to clear due to the footprint being bisected by the Walt Disney World Railroad line, but using previous solutions from Disneyland, they arrived at the perfect solution by having the Space Mountain queue go under the track and rise back up on the other side. (This is the long-ramped tunnel that you must slog through before reaching the show station.) Atmospheric music composed by Michael Giacchino is piped in to help put guests in a spacey mood while waiting to ride.

Each car can hold six passengers, and the rows are set up in single-file formation which means that you get your own seat, and the bravest in your party can ride up front. Though there are many urban legends about injuries to riders, such as losing limbs or even their heads, these have proven to be just that – legends; however, due to the quick nature of this attraction’s twists and turns, it is imperative that you follow the oft-repeated reminder, “Keep your hands and arms inside the vehicle at all times.” Don’t become a statistic while showing off for your friends or your TikTok audience.

Space Mountain has seen many overhauls over the years. The walls once displayed outer space complete with stars, planets, and asteroids that looked suspiciously like chocolate chip cookies. These were removed and the queue area received a new covering that blocks the old display area, for better or for worse. It’s all a matter of opinion. 

Space Mountain has also seen an odd turnover of sponsors for the attraction. The original sponsor, RCA, made sense because they worked with Disney to provide communications equipment for the whole resort with a caveat that they would agree to contribute $10 million toward the creation of an attraction at some point. This sponsorship allowed the company to show off their emerging technologies for the workplace as well as home, so while there wasn’t a focus on outer space, there was a clear tie to what wonders tomorrow may hold. The second sponsor was FedEx and the tie-in really never made sense and finally ended in 2003-2004.

Reality Check:

The original plan was for Space Mountain to have four tracks running concurrently; however this was eventually dismissed as impractical and too costly.

Once the Magic Kingdom was open, it was full steam ahead to meet guests’ desires for more thrill rides, so construction on Space Mountain was approved and opened two years prior to Disneyland’s version.  For the looky-loos who want to see what the attraction looks like with the lights on inside, look no further than YouTube, or catch a glimpse occasionally aboard the Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover.

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