Space Mountain
There are Space Mountain coasters at five of the six Disneyland-style parks. In order of opening, they are:
-
1975 - Space Mountain at the
Walt Disney World Resort - Magic Kingdom in Florida. The ride has two separate coaster
tracks, mirror images of each other. The narrow cars
only have room for one rider in each row. Each train only holds six riders. The coasters were built by
WED. It is the only version with two coasters.
-
1977 - Space Mountain at
Disneyland in California. Only one coaster resides
inside the building. The coaster was originally
designed by WED, and its track was built by
Arrow Development. The track and trains were
completely replaced in a major project spanning from 2003 to 2005. The new ride follows the same layout as the original coaster, but
the new track was manufactured by the Dynamic Structures company. Trains have two riders per row and 12 passengers per train. Speakers
on-board the cars play a musical soundtrack composed by Michael Giacchino. Several overlays have been used on the coaster since 2005, with new
music and sound effects being added to the ride. The overlays have gone along with name changes:
it was called Rockin' Space Mountain in 2006 and 2007, Space Mountain: Ghost Galaxy for many years around Halloween, and
the Star Wars-themed Hyperspace Mountain on and off from 2015 to 2020.
- 1983 - Space Mountain at
Tokyo Disneyland. The ride is a near duplicate of the one in California, but
lacks on-board audio. (For more information, keep clicking through these pictures.)
- 1995 - Space Mountain - De la terre á la lune at Disneyland Paris in France. Built by
Vekoma, the coaster has a launch and three inversions. The ride
became Space Mountain: Mission 2 in 2005 and Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain: Rebel Mission in 2017. It is the tallest and
fastest of these five rides, and is the only one where trains pass outside the mountain.
- 2005 - Space Mountain at Hong Kong Disneyland in China. Built by
Vekoma, it has 12 passengers per train, rows that seat two riders, and
an on-board sound system. The ride has had a Star Wars theme and has been called Hyperspace Mountain since 2016.
©2022 Joel A. Rogers.