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Introduction.
The Orlando Space Mountain was the first one to open, and for many fans
it remains the standard. It is unique among the Space Mountains because
of its twisting layout and its single-rider seating configuration.
The Space Mountain concept actually
dates back to Walt's time; in the mid 1960's the plan was to create a
new corner of Tomorrowland at Disneyland, with a "SpacePort" theme. However,
the plans never took hold at Disneyland, and the Space Mountain ride would
first see its application in Florida (who needed an indoor ride). The
Spaceport idea involved part of the ride outdoors atop the mountain, then
diving into the blackness within. However, possibly due to the weather
conditions in Orlando, this idea never materialized.
There are two sides to Space Mountain,
of course. They are identical to each other, mirror images really, except
that one side is 10 feet longer to allow it to cross over the other side.
After Orlando's success, Disney
obviously didn't want to tinker with a working concept so all other Space
Mountains remained largely indoors. After 1995, Federal Express became
the sponsor to Space Mountain, and they installed a lobby for use by Fed-Ex
employees who were visitors to WDW -- you can come in here, relax, and
jump to the head of the line if you work for Fed-Ex.
The Orlando Space Mountain was the
world's first completely dark indoors coaster.
Walk Through the Queue.
You enter the queue in a airy, roomy chamber that has spires in the middle,
around which the line doubles back near the entrance to the room. On one
side is a large wall art of space-type artwork, and on the floor are odd,
futuristic-looking dark glass spheres. You pass from that room into the
first passage, which is a long straight tunnel inclined downward and lit
by red lights. After hitting the low point, the tunnel angles back upward,
this time illuminated by blue lights. Finally, you turn a corner - after
noticing the warning signs that this is a roller-coaster and thus not for
everyone - and enter the zigzag section, where the corridor widens and zigs
back and forth, amid colorful holograms inset into the walls of such things
as stars and planets. As this sections ends, you can view an Omega-side
rocket ready for launch on your right side, while on your left is the safety
video. Finally, then, you enter the main ride building.
As you enter the building, the lights
are dimmer because this is the actual giant room that also houses the
ride overhead, and you can hear it. You head toward the control tower,
which is directly in front of you and in the middle of the line so to
speak, and then you choose which side of the ride you wish to ride on.
To the left is the Alpha side, to the right is the Omega side, and they
split right at the control tower, currently labeled "FX-1 Control Station."
As you choose your side, you enter into the "outer space" area itself
- the loading area is part of the black, starry region that cars pass.
The queue in this area is fairly boring - the PeopleMover (Tomorrowland
Transportation Authority) passes through overhead, and you can view the
dreadful preshow video via several monitors.
This preshow, called the Space Mountain
TV (SMTV), is an ostensible broadcast from the future, mainly a news program
interspersed with comical commercials. Some of these commercials are for
actual products, such as the space-themed Fed-Ex ones - they are the sponsor
after all. Three notable things about the video: Charles Fleischer - the
voice of Roger Rabbitt - is a used satellite dealer in one commercial
(Crazy Larry); there is a hidden Mickey-shape in a different satellite
commercial (mouse ears on satellite provide for communication with earth);
and the liftoff sequence on one video is pulled directly from the liftoff
video seen in the former Disney attraction "Mission to Mars." Watch also
for the video scenes lifted from Disney's movie "The Black Hole" and from
the movie "Tron."
Finally you reach the boarding zone,
and you climb into rockets with 1-1-1 seating, with two rockets attached
for a total of six riders at a time. It is no accident that the seating
resembles Anaheim's Matterhorn bobsleds - remember this was to be Orlando's
version of the Matterhorn!
Mock Ride-Through. As you
know, there are two sides to Space Mountain. If you choose to go left at
the fork in the queue, you'll ride the "Alpha" side. The "Omega" side -
obviously the other one - is an identical but mirror image of the alpha
side, with ten extra straight feet added at one point to make the layout
work. You proceed to a couple of waiting areas once seated so they can check
seatbelts, then you launch downward and into a long straight tunnel, where
you accelerate. The tunnel pulses with strobe lights and rotating blue lights,
simulating a launch into space, then you emerge and begin to climb the lifthill.
You go up the same time as another rocket, and as you climb you pass underneath
the giant rocket ship that is a sister to the one at the Anaheim loading
dock. This one, however, was previously named XL-2000 and has been renamed
FX-2000 to honor the sponsor FedEx. There are a couple of (nonmoving) astronauts
in spacesuits walking along the underside of the ship, so they are upside
down!
At the top of the lifthill, the
rockets from either side make a sharp turn away from each other as the
ride begins. The ride building here has more "Space Cookies" than the
Anaheim version, simulating meteor showers, and there is no giant orange
globe or orb at the top. In contrast with the Anaheim version, which is
many turns and most of them right-hand turns, the Orlando version mixes
up the direction of travel frequently. There are fewer turns, but they
are sharp ones, and there are four or five drops of twenty feet, many
of them rather steep. There are only a few sharp turns at the base of
the ride, unlike Anaheim's.
The end of the ride is a letdown
in my book. You go through a brief "explosion" tunnel, where you travel
through a rotating barrel lit by pulsing red lights, and then inexplicably
return out to the darkness of "space!" to slow down. You then enter the
unload room, and after disembarking you return to the park via a moving
sidewalk. During this standup "ride" you travel past several scenes. You
go past scenes of robots delivering fanciful cargoes to other robots on
exotic planets, all courtesy of the FedEx sponsor of course. The moving
sidewalk ends after an uphill section, during which you can see yourself
captured by wall-mounted cameras. Smile!
Cast Member Comments.
Magus tells us that "There were fans a few years back that were placed
in front of some mist hoses to blow on you, but this was only on the main
lift and the fans were turned off permanently because of the alternate
problems we were having with the moisture on the track itself and also
on the ride sensors which tells us where the trains are at any given moment.
The speed of the trains is greatly affected by the weight of the train,
but it also has to do with the time of day. In the mornings, the trains
are what we call cold. The grease on the wheels is thick and looks like
play-doh or some type of black putty, during the day however, the trains
heat up and the grease gets thin like a water type lubricant causing the
trains to go much faster at night. The only exception to this rule is if
we have a breakdown which would cause all of the trains to become "cold"
again. As the trains heat up during the day, we raise the dispatch interval,
or "the time the train leaves the dispatch break and enters the 'gravity
area'". In the mornings, a train leaves the dispatch every 29 seconds and
has a complete running time of about 2:45. As the day goes on, we 'dial
down' the dispatch interval to 21 seconds and the trains make a complete
circuit in about two minutes a only about 20 or 21 seconds. The top speed
for the morning on average is about 25 mph where the top speed later on
in the day is anywhere between 29 and 32 depending as you said, on the weight
of the train."
Statistics
- first roller-coaster ride to occur
in perpetual darkness
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History.
Located in central Florida, Disney World receives too much annual rainfall
to justify outdoor roller coasters. Thus, the Florida needed a rollercoaster
which would have to be indoors and away from the weather, so designers melded
the idea of Disneyland's Matterhorn with the "Spaceport" concept described
below.
Originally, Space Mountain was sponsored by RCA. When exiting, you walked
past dioramas of "homes of tomorrow" in which people were using "advanced
technology" such as videodisc players and videophones. It was a classic
70's version of "the future." Over time, RCA replaced the videodisc player
with whatever they were trying to sell at the time. (Remember, when Disney
World first opened, almost every ride had a commercial sponsor, with some
type of advertising segment of the ride). Their show was called the Home
of Future Living.
Another thing is that our track is not black. True, the two tracks cross
each other in several places (four) and it looks like a huge massive maze
of steel, but the track itself is gray with red and yellow stripes located
at the sensor locations.