Welcome to Space Mountain!
Space Mountain is amazing. I've said before that my favorite land in the Magic Kingdom is Tomorrowland, and Space Mountain is one of the reasons why. I'm not a huge roller-coaster person, but I love this ride! From the atmospheric Star Tunnel to the rocket through Outer Space, and then the futuristic post-show, there's really something special about Space Mountain.
Space Mountain opened in Tomorrowland on January 15, 1975. It's actually the oldest operating roller coaster in Florida, and it's popularity has inspired Disney to replicate the ride at every single Disney theme park in the world (Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, Tokyo Disney, Hong Kong Disneyland, and Shanghai Disney). However, Florida's version is the original. Disney Imagineers thought that something was missing from the park when it first opened: thrill rides. Originally, Imagineers wanted to build a Matterhorn similar to the one at Disneyland, but these plans were scrapped in favor of an outer space themed roller coaster. And thus, Space Mountain was born.
Here's a video for your viewing pleasure! Of course since the ride is in the dark, you can't see much of the actual ride, but the queue and post-show are shown really well in this video. (The quality's not the best, but there weren't many good walk-through videos of this ride. Sorry!)
Walking into Space Mountain, you enter the Space Station.
You're about to take a trip across the galaxy in your very own rocket! One thing I'd like to point out here is the music, which is absolutely atmospheric and amazing. I'm a big fan of area music loops, because it's amazing to me how music can really set the mood. While walking through the Space Station, there's star maps and windows looking out into space. This is called the Star Tunnel.
The queue may seem very long since in the video it's not very busy, but during peak season this ride can have wait times up to 2 or 3 hours. They really do need all that room for people to wait! This is also why they added interactive video games further on in the queue.
You're finally ready to board! You're warned that Space Mountain is a thrilling ride, and if you have existing medical conditions you might want to rethink riding. You walk a little farther on, and you can finally see your rockets! Notice the atmosphere in this huge loading room, doesn't it just totally set the mood for a futuristic space station?
Now you're in your rocket and on the move! Have fun! Most of the actual ride is in the dark so it's hard to see, but keep watching to see the post-show (or you can skip to 6:34 in the video)!
Unload from your rocket, and you are then transported back to Tomorrowland through the post-show. This consists of showing you a few futuristic locations you could possibly travel to. I really enjoy this part of the ride! But in the huge tunnel, you're projected onto green screens and shown in outer space locations, and when you arrive back into Tomorrowland, you're transported into a gift shop/arcade called the Tomorrowland Light & Power Plant. Now, wasn't that fun?
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