For as much as clones are derided around here, I'm constantly surprised to see how many people feel ALL Space Mountains must conform to their own personal favorite or else be branded "inferior."
Sure it's too bad Florida's rehab wasn't funded out of a bottomless bucket of money but everyone that thinks economic realities and cost cutting measures are new developments in the Disney company forgets that the supposedly "awesome" Disneyland Space Mountain existed for over 25 years as the half-sized, discount version of Florida's mountain. And in addition to being significantly smaller and less creatively designed, Disneyland's maintenance (or lack thereof) of their Space Mountain allowed it to almost reach the point of structural failure before it earned it's overhaul.
But since so much of the debate in the Anaheim vs. Orlando war revolves around accepting how much better the end result of DL's rehab was, I'm curious about a few things.
What was the total budget for DL's rehab? How much of the total budget was for the complete track replacement? And how much of its downtime was because it closed long before they were ready to actually start the rehab? I ask because it seems to me that if DL's mountain didn't actually need that total track replacement, their rehab would have been even cheaper and shorter than Florida's.
But beyond the track replacement, what exactly did the DL mountain get? Onboard soundtrack, yeah, I know about that. A whole lot of repainting in the queue and load area, and a new re-entry tunnel. What else?
It seems to me that Disneyland's Space Mountain rehab, other than addressing the required structural issues, primarily received just a repaint and a soundtrack. While Florida's mountain didn't get the (apparently crucial) onboard audio, the cosmetic upgrades, queue and load enhancements, and new postshow seem to actually surpass what DL's mountain received. I'm , because all anyone seems to focus on when explaining how great DL's really not trying to be a smart @$$, I honestly am curious about what else DL gotmountain is soundtrack, soundtrack, and more soundtrack.
Disneyland's Space Mountain closed in April 2003 a few months prior to the scheduled closing it just didnt open with the park one day and took the DL boards by storm. Thanks to in part the addition of the on-board soundtrack in 1996 added much weight and put to much stress on to and ageing 1977 track and some bad maintence thanks in part to Pressler/Harriss years though to Harriss she did start the "Project Sparkel". Lead to the need for a total track replacement. 2003 was also the Thunder accident in Sept. and Matterhorn would also go down for refurbishment in the same year. Thats 3 mountains down at once, for a complete rebuild, one on regular refurbishment and one closed for an tragic accident.
In total Disneyland's Space Mountain was closed for 28 months(if I did my math right:ROFLOL
April 2003 to July 2005, but it was suppose to re-main closed till November 2005 but thanks to Matt Ouimet it was pushed for summer opening which is why it was absent on May 5, 2005. Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters was also pushed for an earlier opening and opened in early March 05 with and offical opening on May 5, 2005.
But the push for an earlier opening also killed Rockit Mountain(yes that is its correct spelling) Also note that the Space Mountain sign has the ablity to change from Space to Rockit while Mountain has no change. The DL soundtracks selling the new Space Mountian track is also called "Space Mountain(New Daytime Track)
While Rockit Mountain never became a reality it lead to Rockin' Space Mountain first seen in May 2006 as part of Grad Nights with a soundtrack by Hoobastank. In January 2007 Disneyland brought out Rockin' Space Mountain again but with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Which also gave California Screamn' an overlay too as Rockin California Screamn'. The Rockn' Both Parks promo ended in late April 2007. And has never been heard of coming back again except for Grad Nights.
In 2009 the tech inside the mountain also came in handy for the layover of Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy. Which came from HKDL, this seems to be a new popular overlay for Halloween Time(which saw some great additions this year (Thank you MK for the Hallowishes soundtrack which you dont need to pay more to see at DL:wave
)
Anyways the Disneyland Space pretty much got a brand new track, new rockets with on-board audio, improved lift hills scenes, effects, longer re-entry tunnel, new exterior lighting with some storbes, the removeal of the 98 colors which I dont think were that bad, a separete loading area for guests needing assistances similar to what TSMM!s have as I think the rockets need to be dispatched in 14 second intervals, and probably most importantly brought up the safety of the ride and probably keeps it earthquake safe more than the old did. The ability for Disneylands to get overlays quickly I think is a big help from the on-board audio which also needed the new track to support the weight as well as the improved projectors and lighting inside the mountain they all add up in the end.
Oh and you cant not love the Ghost Galxy Projections
http://www.disneygeek.com/updates/disneyland_image.php?update_dir=2009_10_30&page_id=53&num_image=1
I think I got most of your questions no clue about the cost, I could be totally right or wrong on things but for the most part I believe its all true info:wave: hopefully someone else can come along and see how much of the info I posted is true.
I would have loved to see Magic Kingdoms get a huge rebuilt Space Mountain yea your not going have have Space for a while but in the end wouldnt it be worth it? It dosnt need to be the same as Disneylands it shouldnt be when I visit one park or the other I want a different experince than what Im used to.
