Flying Through Outer Space on Space Mountain
Written: May 01 '05 (Updated Oct 14 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Creative theme, fun ride, FASTPASS is available
Cons: Lines are usually long, a bit rattly
The Bottom Line: This is a wonderfully creative ride and a fun experience.
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| chelledun's Full Review: Space Mountain |
Space Mountain is one of the most popular and well known attractions at Walt Disney World. It is located in the Magic Kingdom in Tomorrowland, and is the first stop of the day for many, many visitors. Lines will develop quickly, and linger throughout the day. Either make this your very first stop when entering the park or pick up a FASTPASS early in the day to use later.
Getting Ready to Travel into Space
This attraction is located in a distinctive white, round, building with a needle projecting high above it. Walking through the futuristic streets of Tomorrowland really gets me in the mode for my space travel adventure. The queue is quite extensive, although it is hard to tell how long your wait is simply based on how far the line extends. Sometimes the internal queues are left empty to give the impression of a line at the end of the day, or early in the day to save people the trouble of walking back and forth through them when the line is not very long.
Once you enter the queue, you will walk through a series of “windows” with holographic planets and stars. After quite a long walk, you will reach a place where the queue splits to the right and left. There are two different sets of tracks on the coaster, and each offers a slightly different ride experience. I tend to prefer the left side, but that is possibly because often only the right is open when park traffic is not that high so the left seems to be a rare treat. Each side then has its own back and forth queue, and from my experience the wait from this point is about fifteen minutes if all the rows are open.
Above you at this time you will see a starry “sky”, and the occasional meteor rolling across it. A piece of trivia: I remember hearing somewhere from a park cast member that the meteors are actually images of chocolate chip cookies, which you can see if you look closely. You will also be able to hear the yelling and screaming of those riding the attraction, which can be overwhelming if you are already nervous about riding.
Time to Blast Off!
Riders board six person “space ships.” There are two cars with three seats each, and riders sit in single file. Just a warning, the front seat of each car has very limited space for your legs, so if you can have very long legs you may want to shuffle your party around and place a shorter person in the front to avoid being cramped. The very front seat, however, offers the best view and perception of flying through space. You will have a shoulder bar slid over your head and you’re off!
There is a hokey countdown sequence where you will see a control panel to your right with some very unrealistic mannequins. After climbing a small hill, you blast off into space. You can see stars all around you, and although you can dimly make out the tracks, the ride takes place entirely in the dark. Space Mountain offers lots of small dips and turns to keep riders entertained. The fact that the whole ride takes place in the dark makes the ride seem more exciting. After a couple minutes, you will zoom through a red tunnel which signals your return to the base.
When you disembark, you will take a moving sidewalk past some futuristic scenes and television monitors on which you can see yourself. If you rode the left side, you will get to see a few additional scenes of robots doing work around the house on a slightly longer ride out.
Who is this Attraction for?
You will see young children come off this attraction laughing and giggling. As roller coasters go, this is pretty tame compared to, for example, Rockin’ Roller Coaster at MGM Studios. There are no inversions, and no big drops. The dips and turns are pretty continuous, however, and the ride is a bit bumpy compared to some other coasters. My dad has a bad back and he can’t ride this attraction anymore because of the way it jerks back and forth. The darkness adds a bit of intensity too, although I would place the actual ride at the same level as Thunder Mountain Railroad. I encourage you to try this ride at least once, however. It is one of my favorite Disney attractions, and not to be missed.
Overall…
This attraction is pure Disney magic, and one of the best at any of the parks. By taking a simple concept of a roller coaster and putting in ‘space’, Disney has created a very special experience. Even if you aren’t normally a coaster person, I really think this is an attraction not to be missed.
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Recommended:
Yes
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