The Space Mountain Homepage

Honest reviews, evaluations, and summaries, and links to the official websites for all Orlando attractions.

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Black Hole. Travels with movable fairs in Germany. The Black Hole is built by Zierer. It has the shape of one half of a ball. The station, lift hill and first drop are outside, the rest of the course is inside. Thanks to Stefan Michelfeit for the information!

Black Hole. Alton Towers (UK) also has a coaster named Black Hole; this one is a Schwarzkopf Jet Star coaster inside of a dark building. It was built in 1986 (i think) and was originally in a big green and yellow striped tent, part round like a circus tent then a big rectangular bit at the back. A few years ago when Oblivion (worlds first and only vertical drop coaster) opened they rethemed the area to be the 'X-Sector), so now it's a big navy-blue tent with a silver frame and flashing-red military style beacons, and a new entrance. From outside, where there is a small queue in a totally innappropriate garden, it looks brand new. You enter through a dark tunnel about 4 metres long. Inside you can tell they re-did the inside of this ride before the X-Sector theme, because it's a rip off of SM at Disneyland Paris! The loading area is tiny, you go down some stairs and get in a Matterhorn-type car, which looks a bit old and worn out. The big round tent is a bit wasted, just a huge unique spiral lift-hill with nice starry angelic music and ligthing effects. The rest of the ride is in very tight tunnels with lots of flashing lights. Thanks to Keith Payne for the info/opinions!

Chaos. At Opryland in Nashville, Tennessee. Built by Vekoma in the 1980s at a cost of $7 million, the ride was the country's longest coaster in terms of track length for a time, and featured a kinetic and downright odd mixture of clocks, fog, lasers, and starfields. It closed in 1997. For more history on Chaos, follow this link.

CyberSpace Mountain. At a DisneyQuest near you! DisneyQuest is a multi-story video game and simulator experience, for which you can spend all day and play endless games, but you have to pay $25 to gain admission! There are things such as virtual Jungle Cruise, and CyberSpace Mountain (hereafter called CSM). Of course, CSM isn't a ride exactly; you design your own ideal Space Mountain on a computer (it's easy, anybody can do this) and include whatever elements you like, including inversions, loops, corkscrews, whatever. You don't have to try to match the real Space Mountain - whichever one - and in fact it's more fun to create a different layout of a coaster in the dark! Anyone out there remember Disney's original "Coaster" program for the computer? This is a second-generation version of that. But wait, it gets better. After you're done, you upload it to the nearby simulator and then you ride the coaster you've just created, as if you were riding Star Tours! I didn't try CSM, but it's rumored to be the best part of DisneyQuest.

Disaster Transport. At Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. This is not a coaster technically, but a Space Mountain clone nonetheless. A bobsled ride in the dark, the Transport rips off Disney rides horribly. The queue is entirely indoors and is well air-conditioned, which makes the line well-received in the summer heat in Ohio. It begins with blacklights and quickly takes on the look of Star Tours with an overhead conveyer transporting spare parts. Up a few stairs and then you're in the loading dock (a really small and unthemed place). Then off you go! Up a lift hill that is somehow exposed to the outside heat, cuz it's a furnace in there - very uncomfortable. On that hill, they have the exact same rotating light scheme present at Orlando's and Anaheim's Space Mountain, a real cheesy rip-off. The bobsled follows a fairly linear track, with some turns and cheap inexpensive props as you zoom by. There's one dark section with some cool lighting effects that occur simultaneously with a big drop, but the ride as a whole is fairly boring. It's worth noting that the ride was constructed in 1985 as an outdoor bobsled coaster ("Avalanche Run") and the space theming was added for the 1990 season.

Euro-Sat. At the Europa-Park at Rust, which is a leading German Theme Park. It is a relative to the one at Nigloland (same building firm: Mack). It opened in 1989 and is integrated in a sort of a golf ball, so that it looks quite a bit like Epcot's Spaceship Earth on the outside. It's got a spiral lift and rides very rough and therefore it seems to be quite fast. Stefan Michelfeit, on his German-language website on themeparks, also provides some technical data. Apparently, this ride competes indirectly with Paris' Space Mountain and has a similar feel. It even has an onboard soundtrack like Space Mountain! Thanks to Stefan Langer for the images below (the first is from a brochure and thus copyright Mack, the second is Herr Langer's). Nils Kumrey counters that the ride is not that rough after all, and that the sound system is just uninspired techno in the first spiral.

Exterminator. Screamscape's Lance comments that this is an indoor version of a Reverchon Crazy Mouse coaster, which has the unique feature of spinning violently like a Tilt-A-Whirl at times when the spinning feature is activated on the track. (The final 60% of the ride allows the car to spin). It's not totally dark like space mountain however, this ride has it's own story. The cars look like giant purple mutant rats and there are a bunch of Exterminators with flame throwers out to get you. The queue is themed like a condemmed building's basement and you enter the dark tunnels of the ride and climb the lift hill, looking very much like it was a rat hole carved out of the rock itself. Passing an Exterminor on the way up, he makes the call for backup to his partners as he sees you, and the rest of the downhill portion of the ride is full of great effects and gags. This ride would do well inside of a Disney park.

Flashback. Believe it or not, Flashback (AKA the Intamin Space Diver) at Six Flags Magic Mountain (Valencia, California) was DESIGNED to be an indoor ride, in a darkened space even. Obviously it never made it there - the ride was built outdoors and remains there. It too has a reputation for painful rides. Ouch.

Gyrotron at Expo '67. Starting at the ground level the Gyrotron passenger was whisked high into a giant pyramid where conditions of outer space were simulated. By sight and sound, the illusion of an actual space voyage was created. Finally the vehicle plunged deep into the bowels of the earth and the passenger was confronted by a fantastic mechanical monster that rose from a fury of molten lava.
Did this ride, which must have started planning around the time Space Mountain Space Port at Disneyland was under consideration, steal ideas from Disney or vice versa? Were Imagineers involved with the Montreal Expo in '67? That answer is not known, but Disney had a highly visible presence in the '64 World's Fair - a place that spawned four Disneyland attractions - so it seems likely that at least some influence was shared.

The Lightning Bolt. At the MGM-Grand Adventures in Las Vegas; opened in 1994 as part of the Grand Adventures Theme Park expansion of the hotel. This ride, costing some three dollars per ride (unless you had the "ride all day" bracelet for $15), queued up without much theming. In fact, I barely remember it - I think it was dark and had some stairs at one point. Eventually you board the ride and it slowly climbs up a lifthill in darkness (there might have been effects as you climb up, and in fact I think there were, but I can't remember them). The ride itself wasn't bad actually - unlike the Anaheim Space Mountain, this one wasn't all right-hand turns; it mixed up the lefts and rights quite nicely. And it was much darker in there than in Anaheim; you couldn't see the track. There were some swoops, several sharp turns, maybe one drop. Then you go behind one wall and for the climax, "fly" over a lit model of the Las Vegas strip at night. Kinda boring conclusion. The ride was moved to an outdoor location in 1997 and expanded so it's twice the length it was before, but obviously it lost its status as a dark coaster then.

Mayan Mindbender. At Astroworld in Texas. Allen Huffman reports: "I rode this one in 94 or 95 (it was still newish). Themed to be a big temple, and NO effects inside. Nice "Indiana Jones" themeing but the coaster itself was tame (seemed like Gadgets-Go-Coaster) and although the lights dim and there is a scream as it takes off, the actual ride is indoors with no sounds or effects (at least when I rode it). Highlight was the fiber optic sign out front." Reader Dave adds: "If I remember correctly, this junior coaster was orignally installed at Boblo Island. There it was called "Nightmare."

Nightmare at Crakaxle Canyon. Another one of those Schwarzkopf Jet Star coasters was moved from Darien Lake to The Great Escape (NY) and put inside of a dark building.

The Outer Limits. At Paramount's King's Island in King's Mills, Ohio. This once-horrible ride has perhaps the best theming in the queue area I've ever seen. It's based on the new Outer Limits TV show and you enter the building through fences - the whole complex is themed as "Area 51," a top-secret government base housing an alien spacecraft. The switchbacks in the main waiting room have monitors over them displaying more of the story - the press has gotten wind of the government's secret. Near you during this part of the line is the alien craft itself in full-scale mockup - the line, in fact, leads directly up the ramp into the craft. You exit out the other side of the craft (made to look like more of the interior of course) and this is the loading dock, which is exquisitely decorated with bright, colorful lights yet remaining eerie and dark in places (cool architecture too). You board the ride - we rode in front - and you get catapult launched directly forward (not up or down yet at this point). This launch is definitely the highlight; you speed down a dark tunnel, then enter the ride building. You climb up the lift hill and it's all downhill from there (metaphorically and literally). The ride looks visually really cool: green and blue pencil-spotlights stationed on the floor of the building rotate like car-dealer-spotlights, otherwise the place is dark. And the track layout might have been a good idea on paper; left and right turns combine with high banks to make it interesting. The ride used to hurt your head due to over the shoulder restraints; they are gone now and the ride is wonderful! There is also another Outer Limits coaster (clone) at Paramounts Kings Dominion park in Virginia. It opened the same year.

Revolution. At Bobbijaan Land. This ride is unique for a couple of reasons, including a gigantic train of thirty cars and a planetarium-type screen at the top. Be sure to visit Marcus Sheen's Coaster Kingdom for more details! This photo - a cutaway of the very cool model of the coaster - comes from him.

Rock 'n Roller Coaster. This is Disney's second Space Mountain-type coaster. It's also from Vekoma. This is Disney's version of the Paramont Outer Limits coasters, but much improved. The layouts are similar, but the loops and track inside the spagetti bowl are totally different. 3 inversions, a flat LSM catapult launch, and onboard Aerosmith soundtrack through black-lit Hollywood props. Thanks to Lance for the description.

Runaway Mountain. At Six Flags in Arlington, Texas. Tom tells me that "I rode this ride and found it to be one of the best clones of Space Mountain in Texas. Six Flags really did well with this ride. You enter the ride on the outside of a building that resembles a cube shaped mountain. When you enter the loading dock you will see some "mine-train" type cars. You get in the car and it starts going up a hill into the building, only the riders can see what is to expect. You go up the hill thinking that you are going to drop, but instead you go to a sharp right turn then down a sudden drop, this ride is even BETTER AT NIGHT! It's really dark inside this building too. It's worth the wait, I went ont his ride twice and really had a great time. I would highly recommend people who haven't been on this ride, to ride it as soon as they can."

Skull Mountain. Lance tells us that this is "perhaps the best of the Six Flags "indoor" coaster attempts, this ride has a fun fake mountain theme with a large rock skull and waterfall exterior. Inside the queue looks like a rock tunnel as you enter the indoor station. The coaster goes up one lift to the 2nd level and outside passing behind the waterfall before turning back inside again and up into the darkness. The ride has an external jungle drum soundtrack queued to go off as the cars go up the 2nd dark lift and timed out pretty well with the end of the ride. It peaks as you drop down the first hill (in total darkness) which turns as it drops and gets damn near vertical at one point. Lots of great turns (both directions) bunny hops, and a decent track length. One of the best dark coasters around. (I believe the hardware is designed by Premier Rides)" Reader Dave adds: "If I remember correctly, the ride itself is basically a "Windstorm" coaster. The Windstorm was the last portable coaster design from SDC srl before they went out of business, and thanks to the results of that bankruptcy, Windstorms have been built by SDC, S&MC, Premier Rides, and Zamperla...and they're all the same. Indeed, Skull Mountain was built by Premier Rides."

Space Center. At the Phantasialand at Bruehl, near Cologne. It was also built by Vekoma (the builder of the DLP Space Mountain), in the year 1988. It's got three lifts and is not that fast but quite well themed. For further info, see the Phantasialand website. Thanks to Stefan Michelfeit for the information! The photos below are mine, however. I quite liked the ride... it's gentle, well-themed, with interesting turns in it.

Space Mountain. Not a misprint: one of the Space Mountain clones is a ride called "Space Mountain," to be found at Parque de diversiones Divertido, in Mexico! I have no other details for the ride, but it is an indoor steelie (by some reports, a Schwarzkopf Jumbo Jet) reaching 44 m.p.h. and a track of 2800 feet. The building is 191 x 101 x 56 feet.

Spatial Experience. At Nigloland in France, this clone apparently relies on a track layout and ride style similar to its Disneyland Paris competitor. It opened in 1998, just a few short years after "de la Terra a la Lune."

Star Chaser. At Kentucky Kingdom in Kentucky. Jeremy in Indiana reports: "It was basically Space Mountain w/ way less themeing. It was in the dark and it had a disco ball in the middle of the room with a light shinging on it to create stars. It was a very cheap ride and it looked as if it had been built in the 70's. It closed around 1994 years ago after some kids were hurt on it. Thank God. I always looked at it as a poor excuse for Space Mountain." Dave DiGiorgio reports that the former home of the StarChaser is now a Looney Tunes shop and he provides this description and the picture that follows: It was actually a Jet Star II coaster, a decedent of the popular Anton Schwarzkopf Jet Star rollercoaster. I have never ridden a Jet Star II but the Jet Star was basically a wild mouse type coaster with single car "trains" sitting four to a car, two per bucket seat (like a single matterhorn car). The rollercoaster was fun because it had many tight turns including many helixes. Kentucky Kingdom took this old rollercoaster and did something cool with it by putting it in the dark It's a real shame that it doesn't exist anymore... not because it was a good dark rollercoaster, but because it was a Jet Star II. It was replaced by a motion base theater that was showing Escape to Dino Island 1 when I was there.
Reader Dave adds: It just so happens that when the Starchaser (just a Jet Star II in a building with a disco ball on the floor at the back end) was removed from Kentucky Kingdom, it was relocated to Darien Lake, where it operated for two years as "Nightmare at Crackaxle Canyon" before being moved to The Great Escape where it is now, "Nightmare at Crackaxlee Canyon." So, just to expand your provenance a bit, Starchaser and Nightmare are not merely similar, they are, in fact, the same ride.

Starworld. Began life as the "Magic Mountain" in traveling fairs in Germany, this is little more than a glorified carnival dark ride that is also somehow a roller coaster. You can get the specifications by visiting this website on traveling coasters in Germany. In 1998 the ride was apparently renamed and rethemed as the Star World for Klaus Renoldi in München. Looking at the pic below, you can see that the theme is somehow related to George Lucas' Star Wars (see the droids and Millenium Falcon?)

These next pictures are courtesy of Stefan Michelfelt.

Turbine. At Walibi Waver in Belgium, this is a standard Schwarzkopf launch coaster, once named Sirocco. Gregory Costers tells us: "You get launched in 2.8 sec. at a speed of 80 km/hr right in a vertical loop, than straight up a spike, then the train travels backwards in the vertical loop, through the station, and up a spike on the other side.
In 1998 they enclosed the Sirocco and renamed it Turbine. Now they launch you in the dark with flashing lights into the loop, everything is enclosed except the 2 spikes because they are to high. The building looks like a hotel. The reason why they enclosed the coaster is because it makes a ton of noise.
The Turbine is a very good coaster but it is a very short but exciting ride of about 28 sec... Think Montezuma's Revenge at Knott's Berry Farm."

Vogel Rok. An indoor family coaster from Vekoma at Efteling in the Netherlands. It too has an on-board Disney-style soundtrack. Thanks to Screamscape's Lance for the info! And thanks to Jim de Vos for the following pictures:

X - No Way Out. Keith Payne tells us that it is "at Thorpe Park in the UK. It's in a big pink and blue pyramid with mist all around. You walk through a long confusing corridor which ironicly has Exit signs everywhere! This coaster is in complete darkness, with a very loud explosion soundtrack in the vehicle. It is quite fast and actually goes backwards rather than forwards! At the top of the ride you reach a flat bit where for no reason at all you just shake backwards and forwards for a bit. I think the coaster itself is a sort of powered mine-train type thing. Very confusing!"