The Space Mountain
Roller Coaster

Originally conceived in the mid 1960s, the Space Mountain roller coaster finally opened on May 27, 1977, with six of the Mercury astronauts and Betty Grissom, wife of Gus Grissom, dedicating the new attraction in the Tomorrowland section of the theme park. Disneyland set an attendance record over the 3-day Memorial Day weekend. In fact, a whopping 185,500 people attended the park.

I was a kid growing up in Los Angeles when Space Mountain came to be and since the beginning, it's been one of the most popular rides at Disneyland. Even today, expect to wait for 45 minutes or an hour before riding (unless you use the handy Disney Fast Pass, of course!).

Because of the limited space available at Disneyland, this second roller coaster ride is smaller than the Space Mountain originally built in 1975 at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, but still packs a thrilling experience.

The idea for the Space Mountain roller coaster originally came from the highly popular Matterhorn Bobsled ride at Disneyland, but the plans were left on the table until after the first Space Mountain was completed in Orlando in 1975.

Costing an estimated $20 million dollars and taking two years to complete, this steel rail rollercoaster is contained inside a 118 foot tall, 200 foot wide building. To keep with the Tomorrowland theme and scale, part of the ride is actually 20 feet below the ground level.

In 1996, the ride's producer Eddie Sotto and composer Aarin Richard teamed up to add a music sound track with the speakers built into the ride's vehicle. The inspiration for the theme music is from Camille Saint-Saens' "Le Carnival Des Animaux: Aquarium" and from guitarist Dick Dale.

In April 2003, Space Mountain was closed for a major renovation and didn't reopen for two years. During that time, the entire track originally designed by Disney Imagineer Bill Watkins was replaced and an additional 30 feet of foundation was installed to make the ride safer and much smoother.

The Space Mountain roller coaster was re-opened to coincide with Disneyland's 50th anniversary in July 2005. New rocket sleds, cue line, special-effects lighting and music sound tracks were added. Astronaut Neil Armstrong was the guest speaker for the re-opening ceremonies.

With the new renovation of Space Mountain, Disneyland added "Rockin' Space Mountain" in which the special effects and music are changed at night to give a totally different theme to the ride.

Inside, the rider is dazzled by the sensation that they are leaving Earth Spaceport 77 and sent on an amazing journey to the outer reaches of space. Leaving the spaceport, you climb 75 feet to begin a 2 minute and 45 second journey along 3035 feet of steel rail track reaching speeds of 32 miles per hour at the fastest point. In the dark.

The dark interior of the ride allows for some very special lighting effects and projections of the sun, moon, space stations and other "Out Of This World" sights and sounds.

Because of the speed of the ride with twists, turns, dips and dives, riders who have medical conditions or are sensitive to flashing lights are advised not to ride Space Mountain. Expectant mothers and small children are also advised not to ride. There is a 40-inch height requirement for children.

Our five-year old son LOVES Space Mountain though I was worried he wouldn't. His little grin after his first ride couldn't have been any bigger! Serious thrills for any age.

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