Hello Disney nerds! Today I am giving you 10 tips and hidden secrets inside the Magic Kingdom’s beloved Space Mountain. Yesterday I wrote a brief history about Disney’s first indoor roller coaster, but today I am going show you how to experience this attraction like a true Disney Pro! First of all, here are Five Fast Facts about the attraction itself in Florida:
Five Fast Facts:
– First opened on January 15th (That’s 41 years ago today!) 1975
– Space Mountain, along with Country Bear Jamboree, is one of the only attractions to premier in Florida first, as opposed to California, and be featured in other Disney parks around the world.
– The very top of the show building measures at 183 feet tall and the building’s diameter measures at 300 feet wide, making it the largest Space Mountain structure in the world.
– It is the only Space Mountain attraction to have two tracks.
– Both tracks measure up to 60 feet high, but the steepest drop is only 26 feet. The ride only reaches a top speed of 28/30 mph. It’s the fact that the ride is completely in the dark that gives the sensation you are traveling at light speed.
Five Touring Tips:
1.) ABSOLUTELY get a Fastpass + reservation if you intend to experience this attraction. No matter what time of year, this is the park’s most popular attraction. Because it is also an indoor attraction, Florida thunderstorms don’t inhibit the ride from closing down. So on a rainy day when everyone avoids the two mountains in Frontierland, this is the park’s only thrill attraction left.
2.) Hidden Easter Eggs: When you first enter the queue, before you reach the star tunnel, take a look at the attraction poster and logo. You will notice a sign that reads, Starport Seventy-Five. The 75 is in honor of the rides opening year, 1975.
3.) Hidden Easter Eggs: Also in the same room, keep your eyes peeled for a destination sign that reads ‘Active Earth Stations’. The five stations listed honor each Space Mountain in the world in the order they opened. They read as follows:
– Tomorrowland Station MK-1 (MK for Magic Kingdom and 1 because it was the first).
– TL Space Station 77 (Tomorrowland Space Station 1977, Disneyland opening year)
– Discovery Landing Station – Paris (Paris’s Tomorrowland is named Discoveryland)
– Ashita Base – Tokyo (Ashita means Tomorrow in Japanese)
– HK Spaceport E-TKT (HK = Hong Kong and this is a E-Ticket Attraction)
3.) Riding Tips: There are two tracks for this Space Mountain, the Alpha track on the left is for the standby queue and the Omega track on the left is for Fastpass + Reservations. If you want to experience a more thrilling ride, request to sit in the second car. You will get a ‘whiplash’ effect around the banked turns and drops.
4.) Post-Ride Hidden Easer Eggs: Just after you disembark from your space vehicle, and after you take a look at your silly on-ride photo, you will approach a moving walkway that takes you back to Tomorrowland with various show scenes. There are several nods to other Disney attractions. Right away in the first show scene you will find a robot sitting at a desk. On the far left side of the desk you will see a sign that reads ‘Open Sectors’ and ‘Closed Sectors’ with various codes. When decoded, you will notice that these are either newly added attractions or closed attractions at the Magic Kingdom. Here’s a list:
Open Sectors
– FL – MAWP (Fantasyland – Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh)
– AL – AFC (Adventureland – Aladdin’s Flying Carpets)
– FL – MPM (Fantasyland – Mickey’s PhilharMagic)
…….I’ll Let you guess the rest…..
– FRL – SM (Take a guess)
– TL – BLSRS (Hint: also in Tomorrowland)
– TL – MILFaFt (Good luck!)
Closed Sectors (Try and decode these!)
– FL – 20K
– FL – MTWR
– TL – SK2FL
– MSU – SB
– FL – MMR
– TL – M2M
5.) Post Ride Hidden Easter Eggs: Also while on the moving walkway, you will see a show scene that involves some luggage with special travel stickers on them with nods to now closed space related attractions. One sticker is actually a 1950s Disneyland attraction poster for Space Station X-1, check out yesterday’s post for an image. Another travel sticker reads ‘Mesa Verde’ which was one of the three destinations you could choose to travel to at the end of the Epcot fan favorite, Horizons.
