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Here’s to the future!

Image: Disney

Thanks to the magic of Moore’s Law, computers had caught up to the hefty demands of Hench and his team. Better yet, Magic Kingdom offered a ton more available land than Disneyland. Had Space Mountain debuted on the West Coast, it would have suffered from several limitations (perhaps ironically) involving lack of space. Imagineers had already cut the planned number of tracks from four to two for this reason.

The placement of Space Mountain at Magic Kingdom solved several issues simultaneously. A thrill ride appealed to the teenagers who kept the park in business. Since it was an original ride rather than recreation of an existing one at Disneyland, Walt Disney World differentiated itself a bit from the initial Disney theme park. And since the specs were finalized and carried Uncle Walt’s stamp of approval, most of the logistics were already in place. It was the perfect project for Magic Kingdom. All that Disney needed to do was finance it.

Oddly, that part proved the trickiest. Since the company was short on cash, choosing to construct any new attraction came with the opportunity cost of stopping another one from getting off the ground. Fortunately, Space Mountain had the blessing of everyone involved, which meant that it could start as soon as Disney had the financing. The eventual price tag for the attraction was $18 million, a million more than the cost of the entirety of Disneyland in 1955. Of course, that’s a bit misleading due to 20 years of inflation, but it’s a funny trivia note. One of the ways they could cut costs was by eliminating Arrow Development Company, instead manufacturing the entire mountain and accompanying track in-house.

Still, Disney’s theme parks didn’t have $18 million to spend in 1975. Rather than foot the entire bill themselves, Disney execs did what they do best. They found a sponsor for the project. They quickly locked in on RCA, a leading electronics company of the day. Disney sought a $10 million investment from them, but the courtship was shaky at best. People involved with the meetings later indicated that the head of RCA, Peter Sarnoff, had no idea who the Disney employees were or why they were pitching him. The general rule in business is that when a stranger asks you for $10 million, you say no.

After the first meeting was a total bust, Disney’s then-president, Card Walker, interceded. He was friends with Sarnoff, a man with one of the greatest nicknames in corporate history, the General. Walker persuaded the General to splurge on the $10 million in exchange for numerous tie-ins throughout the attraction. If you remember the oldest version of Space Mountain with its numerous, awkward RCA tie-ins, that’s the explanation. If so, memories of this song may still haunt your dreams. You can watch some video of the sponsor nonsense here. Warning: the song plays through this clip as well.

A star trek AND a voyage home

Image: Disney

With more than half of the $18 million outlay financed by RCA, Space Mountain was ready to deploy. Even in its earliest iteration, it featured a dazzling display of noises and sounds that fostered confusion. The explanation as you well know is that when you ride along the coast tracks, you’re oftentimes in the dark. It’s impossible to tell how fast you’re going or where you’re at in the ride unless you’ve been on Space Mountain numerous times before. That’s the joy of it, and the brilliance of the design is why the experience feels so hectic and kinetic. The shock is that Space Mountain “speeds” along at only 28 miles per hour, only a couple of miles an hour faster than the Barnstormer, a children’s ride at Magic Kingdom. Its G-force high point is 2.5, a trifle compared to many modern thrill rides. Simply by slotting Space Mountain in the dark, it seems so much faster and more explosive than it actually is.

The ride itself tells a clever story, even if you’ve never realized it. The story is also a bit different than originally intended. The prototype concept for Space Mountain was that you were an interstellar traveler seeking a return trip to Earth. Yes, it was a voyage home. Over time, that premise evolved since it wasn’t as exciting. Folks had never experienced space travel before. They wanted to explore the outer limits, not go back home.

What’s remained the same is that the line queue leads to a Space Port, a place where all riders prepare for their journeys, independent of their destinations. The modified premise is that you’re a traveler to parts unknown, presumably in the deepest realms of outer space. Either way, what matters is that you board a “rocket sled” at Space Port.

Then, you reach a seminal tunnel brimming with strobe lights. It’s the unforgettable moment of your journey. The sounds pulsate, signifying that your intergalactic vehicle is building up steam for its journey into the great unknown. Suddenly, you explode into blackness, simulating the chasm of outer space. The flashing lights and twists and turns of the ride identify that you’re not at Space Port any longer. Instead, you’re on your journey to the next destination, which of course happens to be another Space Port, but at least it’s a different one thousands of light years away.

Astronauts cruise Space Ports around the world

Image: Disney

After von Braun developed the relationship between NASA and Disney, the company has continued to include other space travelers in the development of their attractions. In the particular case of Space Mountain, former astronaut Gordon Cooper served as Vice President for Research and Development at the company. His tenure led to the attendance of six of the original members of the Mercury team during the debut of Space Mountain. The other one, Gus Grissom, had died in a fire in 1967. His wife still attended, though. Like von Braun, Cooper took tremendous pride in the accuracy of Space Mountain. He once bragged to People Magazine, "Space Mountain is about as close as you can safely get to actually being in space.”

The public quickly agreed. Space Mountain was instantly popular, a shock given its novelty. It was a stunningly unique ride as the first roller coaster taking place entirely in the dark, the first computer-controlled roller coaster, and the first indoor roller coaster. That was a lot for people to process. Hench once relayed an anecdote about his fear of the attraction’s reception. He worried when he witnessed a few early riders kissing the ground once they exited their rocket sled. He presumed they’d hated the ride and couldn’t wait to get out of there. To his surprise, they quickly alleviated his concerns when they started laughing uproariously. Like millions of riders after them, these early guinea pigs had fallen instantly in love with Space Mountain.

Once the numbers started proving that Space Mountain was a winner for Walt Disney World, it finally earned the greenlight to become a Disneyland attraction as well. The limited space available at Disney’s first theme park forced some concessions, though. Whereas the ride at Magic Kingdom resides in a faux-mountain 180 feet tall and 300 feet wide, the Disneyland structure is much smaller. Its specs are 118 feet by 200 feet. Its maximum speed is a bit higher at 32 miles per hour, though. This version of the attraction debuted barely two years after the original, which made it something of a novelty. Space Mountain was one of the first rides to debut at Magic Kingdom, making the Disneyland version more of a Walt Disney World West.

Over time, Disney would introduce other versions at Tokyo Disneyland, Hong Kong Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris. The only park that is an exception is Shanghai Disneyland. The park planners there chose to introduce TRON Lightcycle Power Run in lieu of a traditional Space Mountain attraction. Whether their version of Tomorrowland ever receives a version of Space Mountain remains to be seen.

Space Mountain is the end-all, be-all of indoor roller coasters. In the more than four decades since its introduction, a slew of imitators have popped up. All of them share the commonalities of indoor roller coasters that are also dark rides. The crucial difference is that all of them are pale copies of the spectacular original.

Simply stated, Space Mountain claims a status that no other theme park attraction in the world can match. Its record-setting achievements in ride design, its timeless popularity across generations, and its pop culture legacy all assure its prestige. All it needed to reach that level were an ex-patriate with a shaky war background, a visionary theme park icon, a few legendary Imagineers, and over a decade of Moore’s Law.

 
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