The Evolution of Space Mountain

Space Mountain today is one of the most classic attractions at Magic Kingdom, having first opened in 1975, it was one of the park's first attractions and, in fact, its first roller coaster. Even more interesting is that, despite its age, the attraction remains very similar to its original incarnation, as most of the notable changes and updates the attraction has seen over the years have been due to its theming. and not really to the attraction itself, so in this video I wanted to talk a little bit about how the idea of ​​Space Mountain has changed since it first opened. as well as how the initial concept managed to evolve during its development, so to do that, let's take the story back to its beginnings, in the early 1960s, at Disneyland, at which point the park had been operating for almost a decade and While typically a 10 year span isn't that long in the life of a theme park, there was one area that was starting to show its age and, being Tomorrowland, the original Tomorrowland was famous for being one of the weakest areas in the park. park when strict budget cuts and a heavy reliance on corporate sponsors left Tomorrowland less of a vision of the future and more of a real-life commercial for companies like Monsanto and American Motors.

About five years later, Disneyland was much more established as a theme park, which prompted the push to reduce some of the messier areas of the original park, from there planning began for a complete overhaul of Tomorrowland, appropriately named new Tomorrowland. Very creative, this renovation would bring about a total redesign of the land and also give it some of its most famous extinct attractions. like the People Mover and adventures through inner

space

, but before either of those two ideas became a reality, the Imagineers had another idea for a completely different attraction, one that would turn out to be even more futuristic and innovative than they probably had. imagined before breaking new ground.

As the introduction of audio animatronics in the mid-60s, Disney was experimenting with things like attraction systems, one of which was a roller coaster, in partnership with the development company Aero, they ended up creating Disneyland's first thrill ride. In 1959, the Matterhorn sleds, which were a true milestone in time in terms of attraction technology essentially redefined what a roller coaster could be with its unprecedented level of theming because the attraction was clearly successful and given that success, Disney was now looking for a way to introduce a similar attraction somewhere else in the world. park and now in the proposed Tomorrowland overhaul project they had the perfect spot for a new e-ticket attraction, so development began on a

space

-themed steel roller coaster Matterhorn, initially called Spaceport.

Some of the first concepts for the attraction date back to 1965 in drawings by Imagineer John Hench. Here you can see an idea for the tall building's exterior attractions, almost like a circus tent, with multiple spiers coming out of the top. Over the next year or so, as the concepts were refined among other Imagineers, the idea was will now have four separate tracks that would enter and exit the building in the same way that the Matterhorn did with its Mountain, the building itself now also looks somewhat different, and new conceptual models began to be assembled by wet mute artist Sue Natsume in association.

Again, with the development company Arrow, the first versions of these models followed the original idea of ​​four tracks: those same tracks went outside the building on both sides and also on top, while the concept was interesting and would definitely have one in the Matterhorn, he said. Walt ultimately rejected this two-track only version, not only because the cost of such a massive ride would obviously be far beyond the budget they had, but he also thought that the immersion in a space-themed attraction would really be broken if it went to air. free. Instead, he wanted to treat it more like a dark ride where the simulated experience of space travel could be precisely controlled with effects like lighting and projections and with that the idea of ​​Space Mountain as we know it today was born, however, it would still be more than nine years before the final attraction opened and this was largely due to the technical problems they faced during its development.

One of the main reasons Disney even considered this attraction a good fit for Tomorrowland was because the attraction system itself would have been quite innovative. in many ways it was very comparable to the Matterhorn, the track rule now called space travel was going through a completely different development process, as some of you may know. John Hench, the imaginary man who crafted the attraction's first concept, was very much a futurist with a particular fascination with computers, the same fascination that would, of course, later lead to the heavily computer-focused nature of the Epcot Center years later in the 1980s, but in the mid-1960s, computers were still a very new thing, more in the realm of science fiction than science fiction.

In fact, he wanted to use the new technology at Disneyland and also make space travel unique since the Matterhorn. He wanted the ride to be completely computer-operated, resulting in an almost completely automated ride system, the first of its kind for any Disney park, but of course, if you want the attraction to be computer-operated, the track What you're building will need to be represented by computers so the system knows what things, like the ride's vehicles, are supposed to be doing and can shut down if something goes wrong. There was just one small problem: the fact that computers in 1966 simply didn't have the rendering power Disney needed to lay out the nearly 3,000 feet of track their concepts required to overcome that major technological hurdle was something only time could fix. and consider.

Back then, computer processing power was almost doubling annually. Henshin, the Imagineers chose to wait for technology to catch up with his ideas rather than scrap the idea. They are looking for a solution while waiting for the exterior of the building to evolve a little more as well. at first in some really strange and futuristic directions before becoming a simpler conical shape devised by George McGinnis, this idea was then further simplified when redrawn by Hench, who replaced most of these smaller details with just a few plates scattered everywhere, but time was rendered. Tracking attractions with a computer was more of a possibility in the late 60's.

Now we faced another problem due to the fact that Marlon had been updated with so many other new attractions over the last five years that there was almost no room left for space travel. As you can see, the original plans called for a lot of empty space, something they simply didn't have enough of. Now some new concepts were drawn up about how they could still take advantage of the ride, but amidst the increasing number of technical problems. Secondary things like Walt Disney's passing and Disney World opening just around the corner, the company was already sunk and the space travel concept was shelved, but as was the case with many of Disneyland's unused ideas, would unexpectedly resurface later, but this time for Disney.

Of all the Disneyland attractions that will be cloned and shipped to the East Coast, you might be surprised to know that some of that park's newest and most popular attractions were left out of the plans for Magic Kingdom, one of which is the Matterhorn from the beginning, Disney planned to bring the attraction back sometime after the park had opened, as it would have been one of the more expensive attractions to recreate, but with its 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea attraction taking up most of the available fantasy land space , they weren't going to be able to put it there and, given the attractions' distinctive Mountains theme, there weren't many other places in the park to put it, so the Imagineers decided to scrap the idea and instead bring back the ride concept. space, which would remain the same.

How exciting the Matterhorn was, but now they could put it in Tomorrowland, one of the few areas with enough space for an attraction of that scale. At this point in its development, most of the ideas for the actual trip were already thought out and drawn, e.g. The attractions that open the lightspeed tunnel had already been outlined by George McGinnis a few years earlier. The really interesting thing about that tunnel is that it was originally just a way to make the ride tracks fit at Disneyland when they were still trying to squeeze the ride in. There they needed a way to get the vehicles away from the loading area so they could turn them around and go up the elevator hill, all while fitting within the conical shape of the building, the idea of ​​having the lights and making it more like an actual elevator scene. trip didn't come until later and is believed to be at least somewhat inspired by a couple of scenes from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

McGinnis was also responsible for the designs in and around the Hill Elevator in this first piece of concept art. You can see that the attractions still had more than two tracks and also a few different pieces in the area, but they were eventually changed with the upside down astronauts that we ended up getting in the final version. Another major debate with an Imagineering around this time was over the exterior of the attractions, while in 1972 it was generally decided that the final design would resemble the cone shape of Henshin McGinnis. Disney also considered only a flat dome, instead asking here in a rendering by artist Klehm Hall, this was mainly because a simple dome would be more cost-effective and easier to build, but in the end Hench's idea won now without satellites with Everything from the construction of the rides to the track and even the decided set pieces, this is the only thing left to do to secure a corporate sponsor building. an attraction of this scale was not going to be cheap and considering the amount of money they had already invested in designing it, they wanted to offset as much of that construction cost as possible, so the Imagineers presented the idea of ​​always officially being called Space Mountain to RCA.

Those who agreed to sponsor it as long as they could also use it as a way to advertise Disney agreed and RCA contributed around 10 million dollars for the construction while the imaginary planned how they could use the attractions before and after the show to promote the company, but we will delve into that in a second construction on Space Mountain which officially began in early 1972, it took about two and a half years to fully complete construction, the attraction also brought some firsts for the company, for starters it was the first roller coaster that It was once built completely in-house, without partnering with development company Aero like they did on other attractions, plus it was also the first attraction to be built outside the park's berm, meaning that to get on the attraction you need to go beyond the marked perimeter of the park. next to the train track, so go under it in the queue, the

mountain

was also the largest building Disney had built since Cinderella's castle, which actually led them to put part of its base underground so as not to overshadow what was supposed to be the main icon of the park.

Also why the

mountain

is only 153 feet high, which is still about 30 feet shorter than the castle. As for the ride itself, it also did some new things. Space Mountain was the first fully covered roller coaster, which also allowed it to be the first to take. place in total darkness and this ended up being really beneficial in the long run, most people nowadays don't know that the rides still only have a top speed of 35 miles per hour, but since you can't know where you're going, it feels a lot faster, even the drops aren't as intense as they feel when you suddenly drop them, it's just that an element of darkness has been a crucial part of the travel experience for years and is one of the main reasons why it doesn't you can tell yourself.

We are on a very old and outdated roller coaster and finally, Space Mountain was the first roller coaster created and operated by computers using a one-of-a-kind system developed specifically for it. The attraction can send cars at the perfect interval, there is virtually no risk of them hitting each other, plus they can immediately close the attraction if even one of them is out of place, minimizing the element of human error in the operations of the attraction and making everything safer, a practicewhich remains in every thrill ride Disney has made since. Now, since the actual part of the Space Mountain tour hasn't really changed at all since it opened, we'll spend the rest of this video talking about the changes made, looking more specifically at the things you'd see and their entries and posts. -show that most of the changes are related to whoever was sponsoring the attraction at the time, so let's start with the attractions' original sponsor, RCA, as I said before, the company was originally incentivized to fund Space Mountain with the promise that they could use it to advertise and see. like it's quite difficult to advertise and the emptiness of space in total darkness, instead you would see all their stuff before and after the ride and this really had a big impact on the overall theme of the attractions when you would enter the building you would be greeted According to One of the first requests RCA made, the inclusion of their mascot Nipper, which is the dog sitting inside a flying saucer and listening to a phonograph, was originally inside the first room you enter or walk down a short ramp and back. .

Around Nipper was eventually removed sometime in the '90s, when Disney added a second ramp next to the original for people using the new fast-pass system, passing through what was called the Starr Corridor, but instead listening to the background music that sounds mysterious, we have In that area today you would hear the song Here's to the Future by RCA, a happy song with a retro sound that really seems taken from Tomorrowland of the 50s. On the sides of that corridor are You can see different scenes of spaceships and astronauts through these warped convex windows that would give the illusion of movement when walking through those same windows still exist today with only stars to look at and no other figures further up the tunnel some signs advertising different destinations in the space, but they were originally used to display various RCA products and services that would be changed periodically to show off their new releases.

Beyond that, these sloping floors would level out and you would be in the zigzag corridor with more of those convex windows to your right now showing different planets after that. You will find yourself in the main load again, all the curves you go through before boarding, after experiencing the ride you would exit through the afterlife house which was a series of different scenes with audio-animatronic characters in a house full of futuristic devices. that RCA would no doubt make it so that one day you would basically go through each of these scenes on a moving walkway or speed ramp until you returned to where the entrance of the attraction was and Tomorrowland, obviously, this whole part is very reminiscent of what is yet to come be. -Built Horizons attraction that could be found at Epcot Center in the early 80s and that was because Space Mountain masterminds Hench and McGinnis were also responsible for a good portion of the scenes in that attraction and this same later show It remained practically the same.

Until a renovation in 1985 replaced most of the domestic scenes with something called R and C A1 which focused more on the space travel aspect of the attraction. 1989 also brought a major overhaul to the ride system in the form of new three-person individual vehicles. seats and three individual lap bars for each of them, unlike the original two-seat vehicles, where you could do it with another person and use the seat belt. This change was also reflected in the attractions' signage which originally featured four astronauts in the vehicle. but now only featured three, with the exception of a quick rerouting of the post-show exit in 1992 through a gift shop, the attraction did not see another major update until RC discontinued its sponsorship in 1993 and Federal Express took over. its place a year later.

With the new sponsor, Disney added a new sign, redesigned the entrance, removed any mention of RCA in the queue, added some references to Federal Express, and redid the aftershow by replacing a couple of old scenes with scenes of packages being sent to through the galaxy via The Rays of Light weren't exactly realistic, but they fit the sci-fi theme of Tomorrowland from the '90s. Eventually, FedEx's sponsorship also expired in 2004. Disney removed all of its logos, but kept the old after-show scenes. Things stayed that way until a major renovation in 2009. That turned some of the FedEx additions into references for the now-gone horizons, so everything came full circle.

They also redesigned much of the tail. They added some interactive games that they got rid of in 2018. They created new music and put in a... set up the camera at the end of the Lightspeed tunnel now I'm not too sure, but I also think it was when Disney darkened the ceiling over the cue and made it became a permanent view of space, before it was just a window between you and the rest of the mountain, so if you look up you will be able to see the track, of course since the ride was in the dark you wouldn't see the track real, just the lights of passing vehicles, unless for some reason the working lights are bad like they were in this video finally, the most recent update in 2018 removed the moving walkway at the end of the ride with just a normal carpeted ramp due to the fact that the new walkway does not transport you like the speed ramp did and you have to climb it yourself.

Disney slows down the slope to make it less steep and puts in a new set of ramps at the other end that are very similar to the ones you go down in the first room in the queue. This brand new space is where the old one is located. Tomorrowland's arcade used to be connected to the gift shop and was closed in 2015, despite all the changes Space Mountain has gone through, the attraction still has a very distinctive vintage feel, which really helps it feel very Most unique for a Disney attraction. It's impossible to say for sure, I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility for the attraction to undergo another major renovation in the next 10 years, perhaps something along the lines of the general version of Disneyland seen in the mid-2000s, which gave it a complete look. new track and ride vehicles I don't think many Florida Space Mountain riders would disagree if you say that the ride could be a little smoother and that another ticketed attraction will soon open right next to Space Mountain that could finally give you the travel, relaxation, needs to be modernized and feel more like a contemporary attraction, whether or not a change like that is a good thing.

I'll leave it in your hands. I just hope Space Mountain sticks around in one form or another if not. for being a good attraction than just for the fact that it is a big part of Disney history, an attraction that broke many of the pre-established rules of roller coasters and became one of the most innovative and influential they have ever made. Disney, says everyone You know the best way to experience Space Mountain is by putting on one of the rockets, okay, come on, Cosmo, come on, you know, you can take off your helmet now, Dino.