Space Mountain Turns 50 at Walt Disney World

It is the ride that started a movement… cavernous, mountainous buildings started to pop up at Disney Parks around the world after the original Space Mountain indoor dark roller coaster blasted riders off to space for the first time at Walt Disney World in Florida on January 15, 1975. Appropriate for a state synonymous with space travel.

Space Mountain set a record of ‘firsts’ in the industry. It was the world’s first indoor roller coaster in the dark – and fortunately for Florida, air conditioned as well. It was also the very first roller coaster to be controlled completely by a computer. This allowed for efficient operation and speedy dispatches.

The coaster was one of the last projects that Walt Disney himself worked on. Imagineers brought it to life just a few short years after Walt Disney World opened its gates in 1971.

It was one of the first coasters I ever rode.

I still remember… I was just a young’n, maybe 6 or 7 years old, on a family trip to the Vacation Kingdom. By this point, I was already a roller coaster veteran having ridden Corkscrew at Knott’s Berry Farm and Rebel Yell at Kings Dominion. The 80’s had very different safety standards.

I’ll never forget the thrill of racing through a completely dark space with no idea if your arms or head will get chopped of! I know that’s not the most magical story in the world, but it’s 100% why people have seen Space Mountain as a rite of passage. Until you’ve zipped along facing near-certain death (not really), you haven’t lived!

Space Mountain is the second-tallest attraction in Magic Kingdom at 183 feet. That’s just six feet shy of Cinderella’s Castle. It beckons to all explorers who enter Tomorrowland.

To help celebrate this momentous anniversary, Space Mountain will be bathed in golden light. The original grand opening was momentous in its own right with NASA astronauts, a 2,000-piece marching band, daytime fireworks, celebrities, a prime-time TV special and more. Astronaut Colonel James Irwin was the first official rider and said at the debut: “We astronauts are here today to salute all those who…permitted us to see the Earth as a precious blue jewel in the blackness of space. Now, all of us may enjoy this sense of wonder because of Walt Disney. Walt had a dream; today, we see the results of that dream.”