Rising 183 feet above the futuristic Tomorrowland scenery, Space Mountain has taken millions of Magic Kingdom guests on a thrilling roller coaster ride through the cosmos since it opened at Walt Disney World Resort in 1975.
PRE-LAUNCH : As guests enter Space Mountain, they see windows that appear to look out into the universe, providing a sensation of walking through space and the anticipation of a spine-tingling adventure -- a dark ride through space.
BLASTOFF : Guests board six-passenger trains that rocket through tunnels of flickering neon lights, then begin a rapid descent along an intricate and dark track. The spatial-effects lighting, sprinkling the inner-heavens with galaxies of stars, darting meteors and glowing space vehicles, sets the stage for an adventure as close to a cosmic voyage as most people will ever experience.
HISTORY : Space Mountain originated in the early 1960s when Walt Disney conceived the idea of a high-speed thrill attraction based on the excitement of the Space Age.
BY THE NUMBERS : Space Mountain’s cone-shaped structure contains 4,508,500 cubic feet -- capable of holding a small skyscraper in its interior. The building has a base diameter of 300 feet and took two years to build. In basic structure, the mountain is composed of great ribbed slopes -- 72 massive pre-stressed concrete beams forming a gigantic sealed cone. Each of the 74-ton concrete beams was cast near the Space Mountain site and then hoisted into place by mammoth cranes to complete the cone. Each beam is 117 feet long and is 13 feet wide at the bottom and 4 feet wide at the top. Guests are amazed that the maximum speed is 28 mph, because the attraction delivers high-speed thrills.
GUEST TIPS : Space Mountain features Disney’s FASTPASS -- at no additional charge to park guests -- designed to reduce waiting at popular attractions in all four Walt Disney World theme parks . . . Guests must be at least 44 inches tall to experience Space Mountain.