March 4, 2013

Attraction Series – Space Mountain!

Space Mountain is a unique attraction at Walt Disney World in that the attraction opened first at the Magic Kingdom in Florida, and then was installed at other Disney parks across the world!

Space Mountain opened on January 15, 1975 in Tomorrowland. Did you know that Space Mountain is considered to be built “outside” the park in that it is on the other side of the Walt Disney World Railroad tracks that serve as the perimeter of the park? Also, did you know that upon opening, the first sponsor of the attraction was RCA? Card Walker, the CEO of Walt Disney Productions, convinced RCA chairman Robert Sarnoff to sponsor the attraction. RCA had won the contract to provide the communications hardware for the resort, and their was a stipulation that if a big attraction was opened, RCA would contribute $10 Million dollars to sponsor it.

After Space Mountain opened and was a big success, it was opened in modified forms at Disneyland (May 27, 1977), Tokyo Disneyland (opening day, April 15, 1983), Disneyland Paris (June 1, 1995), and Hong Kong Disneyland (opening day, September 12, 2005).

One of the interesting things that I find fascinating about Space Mountain is the speed of the coaster. According to Disney Wiki, here are the speeds of each of the five versions of Space Mountain:

Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World: 30 MPH
Disneyland Resort, California: 32 MPH
Tokyo Disneyland: 32 MPH
Disneyland Paris: 47 MPH!
Hong Kong Disney: 32 MPH

So, in all of the versions, the one at the Magic Kingdom in WDW is the slowest. I don’t know about you, but I would love to try out the Disneyland Paris version at 47 MPH!

I hope you have enjoyed this look at Space Mountain! Until our trip last June, Space Mountain was one of those take it or leave it rides for me because Sophie doesn’t like it, and it seems so slow. But last year I rode it twice during our visit, the first time I though it was insane, but the second time I thought it was even faster! Thanks for stopping by! In closing, here is a picture I played around with a little bit — imagine if Space Mountain looked like this!