News Disney Shares Early 1970s Photos of Space Mountain's Construction and Opening

[willtravel]

2026 should be the year SM and Spaceship Earth both get a major overhaul.

When I read something like this, the only thing that comes to my thoughts is RUT ROW.......

 

[WorldExplorer]

What a squandered opportunity to do something special for the fans.

Nowadays? You should feel special it's still there.

 

[Tha Realest]

And here I was thinking they were going to announce a big rehab for its 50th anniversary.. but no. It better get one soon, it's 16 years over due at this point, and then some.

Agree, but counterpoint: I’d prefer the current Powers That Be leave well enough alone instead of “plussing” existing attractions.

I remain firm in this view given the current state of TBA, and what they’ve done to DL Haunted Mansion so far. We’ll see what other “improvements” they’ve made to HM DL in a day or two.

Flawed and janky as it is, I really done want them touching SSE.

 

[bmr1591]

Space Mountain needs a retrack. I don't see them IPifying it. It's its own IP at this point.

 

[Raineman]

I posted this in another thread, but it fits here too.

 

[esskay]

When I read something like this, the only thing that comes to my thoughts is RUT ROW.......

To be clear I am only proposing retrack/repair, not a total replacement, SSE especially has a charm to it that shoudn't be touched, but it being constantly interrupted by a thud as you go over a dodgy bit of track isn't exactly great.

Fix the track, slap a new narrator on it, and replace the very dated "Welcome to the future" game and call it a day for another decade. Doesn't need masses of downtime to do this, the only part that requires a short closure is the track.

 

[Tha Realest]

Space Mountain needs a retrack. I don't see them IPifying it. It's its own IP at this point.

I agree, but will they be able to help themselves?

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Space Mountain needs a retrack. I don't see them IPifying it. It's its own IP at this point.

A Stitch retheme of Space Mountain was proposed years ago for Disneyland and more recently several other versions of Space Mountain have received Star Wars overlays, either temporarily or ongoing for years running now.

I don't think WDW's Space is above that, but its unique track(s) layout and lack of tech infrastructure makes it harder to implement such things thankfully.

 

[JackCH]

Also, Cosmic Rewind is already sort of a “Space Mountain 2.0” with IP… makes it even less necessary on Space.

 

[wdwmagic]

Space Mountain Soundscape Video Celebrates 50th Anniversary Across Disney Parks​

Space Mountain Soundscape Video Celebrates 50th Anniversary Across Disney Parks

Space Mountain Soundscape Video Celebrates 50th Anniversary Across Disney Parks

www.wdwmagic.com

 

[MK-fan]

Happy 50th anniversary to Space Mountain!!!! I’m kind of jealous that you guys have the OG Space Mountain but we’re kinda spoiled in that dept because we have the OG everything else lol. There are many reasons as to why Space Mountain didn’t appear at Disneyland in the late 60’s first. Space Mountain was originally supposed to debut with the New Tomorrowland in 1967 with the Flying Saucers located directly under it.

The reasons why we this didn’t end up happening were various ones. One being that the technology just wasn’t there, another was because the company had too much on it’s plate with other projects and WDW, another was because Walt passed on and they chose not to pursue it until later on in the future.

I attached a photo that shows a Fall/Winter Disneyland map from 1966 only a couple of months before Walt died which shows a plan to open the new Tomorrowland in two phases with the 2nd phase opening in 1968 with Space Mountain. I think Walt’s passing was primarily the reason why the company didn’t go forward but it’s crazy to think Disneyland could’ve gotten a Space Mountain as early as 1968.