Why Disneyland was FORCED to REBUILD Space Mountain 

UPDATE: I changed this video's title because I feel it more accurately represents the video's content.

Shout outs to the engineer who said "This is not safe, we have to close it" and not succumbing to pressure from above to keep it going out of fear of losing business.

This video was reuploaded due to the Mandela Effect. For some reason, I distinctly remember Vekoma manufacturing the track for Space Mountain after it was redone. However, it was actually Dynamic Attractions. Some sources also say that they re-tracked most of the ride and not the whole thing.

I miss the glow in the dark rockets and the ride viewing room. Same thing in Florida. It was so retro and cool watching the rockets run around in the dark

"Brown Mountain" just might be one of the ugliest exterior re-themes ever in retrospect. The "oxidized copper" look just did not fit with the architectural style of California's Space Mountain at all. It's really no wonder they almost immediately reverted the exterior back to its original color when they started rebuilding the interior coaster in 2003.

Let's tell the truth: Even without the audio system, park guests are heavier today than they were in the 1970s.

The brown paint made Space Mountain look like Jabba's Palace. Maybe they Star Wars theme it.

I was a Disney Firefighter working the day the ride was shut down. The track was worked on every night by welders re-welding the track. During an engineer inspection it was discovered one of the main supports had moved from its base plate by about an inch. The engineer tasked with the inspection would not sign off on the inspection and ordered the ride to closed. The ride was completely gutted and dug about 20 feet deeper to accommodate the new track. Construction crews worked 24/7 to complete the ride for the 50th anniversary but missed the 50th by about 6 months. I watched the entire tear down and rebuild and have pictures of the project. Paul Presley was responsible for the complete refurbishment of Disneyland on stage and back stage. Before he arrived the previous presidents let the Park deteriorate to save money. Their motto was, `run it till it breaks’.

The fact that Disneyland wanted to update the trains but not the track makes clear that they should've thought thing trough before acting out on them, it was just lucky for them that they caught the wear and tear before anything serious happened.

I lived near Disneyland in the mid 90s; I remember being there the first day the new soundtrack was on the trains. It blew us all away. And then I was fortunate enough to be there on re-opening day in 2005 and heard the new soundtrack. While I missed the Dick Dale tune, the new music by Michael Giacchino worked very well with Space Mountain. The onboard audio just enhances the whole ride experience.

I was once on Space Mountain when something happened. The lights turned on, and our group slowly came to a stop. Space Mountain with lights on looks like a traveling carnival ride. It was underwhelming. This happened at the end of the ride, so we were on a flat stretch before the exit. It was terrifying hearing and seeing other cars still moving around above us.

I had zero clue this happened at Disneyland! They sure are good at covering their tracks!

Interesting. When I worked at WDW right when Space Mountain opened, a problem immediately developed - the curves weren't banked enough and the drops were too sudden and abrupt. The ride ended up being retracked, one side at a time, only a few months after opening. (I rode the original during cast member previous and was thrown around so much the seatbelt actually slid open!. I was like you're not seriously opening this ride like this!)

I think its so interesting how Disney is painted to be this perfect park where they never mess up, but in reality they screw up just as much as a Six Flags park or something.

While we’re still on the topic of bad ride makeovers, you should try a video on bad dark ride refurbs. There are many dark rides that have been butchered such as Epcot’s Journey into Imagination and Kennywood’s Old Mill and I’d love to see a video highlighting these mistakes.

The Dick Dale soundtrack was so fantastic. The otherworldly beginning through the lift hills was perfectly retro sci-fi sounding, and the little guitar flourishes that synced up with exciting moments of the ride were so great. Disneyland Space Mountain holds a special place in my heart along with that soundtrack. I've only been to Disneyland since they redid it, and I missed the nostalgic guitar tune even though the new soundtrack is good too.

I didn't realize Disneyland's space mountain had to be reconstructed because of severe damage from the heavy vehicles. At least on the plus side, it gave the ride special visuals and effects that Disney world s doesn't have.

6:50 The next update to space mountain in Disney World should have a soundtrack mixing an epic John Williams esque orchestra piece with the music of Florida natives Limp Bizkit.

I wonder if the rising weight of humans on the ride was also taxing the track as well. 🤔

I was in CA Disney in Feb. 2000 for a Make-A-Wish trip & even though it was freezing rain, I was thrilled & Space Mountain was my FAVORITE in the park, I rode it at least 6 times! Even if it was my only big trip, my only trip to a major theme park & my last trip to anything fun ever since, I LOVED it, and getting back on the plane home to Michigan was the hardest thing I've ever had to do (that's not health related)...

I hate Disney but I will give them credit. They fucked up and literally rebuilt it from scratch, that's pretty awesome

Just went on Space Mountain two weeks ago, and it was still out of this world! Glad to see that younger generations will be able to enjoy it as much as we did.

I loved riding space mountain in Disneyland Magic Kingdom, Florida in 2021! Covid seriously hit that Hour and a Half wait with a person testing a positive result😂! It was worth the wait because we saw a big Rollercoaster going off for test rides the entire wait time! Either way, it was a good ride with fun drops, twists and turns! And awesome video, thank you for all of those details!

Magic Key holder here. Space Mountain in Florida is basically Space Matterhorn. And speaking of Matterhorn, the last ride vehicle refurb gave it Space Matterhorn ride vehicles which hold just 3 per vehicle compared to the old 4 per vehicle where the plus was having your date in your lap. 😉 Finally, despite what one hears, Disney is very focused on safety. My daughter is an Imangineer and one reason both coast's Splash Mountains are closed for re-theming is because they were falling apart.

If you do another annoying park guests video, you should include the people that scream at the calm parts. While screaming on the ride when in full swing can be a bit annoying, I can't blame anyone for that. The people that scream at the top of their lungs when barely anything happens, like when the ride moves at all, or, in my case yesterday, AT THE WAITING AREA TO GET OFF. And you can tell it's not a thrill scream, but a scream just to annoy people. I'm not sure if they were in the first one, but they should be in one.

With these two videos, and Schaffrillas doing the Disney sequels, it feels like everyone seems to be focusing on the Disney Decade (of fail) and I'm all for it.

While the Dick Dale soundtrack was awesome, I also love the Giacchino version we have now.

I'm glad things happened the way they did, because the reimagined version is an absolute masterpiece

it isn't a TPC video without a reupload 😅

I never expected a Lulu reference from this channel. Very nice.

You should do a video on the evolution of ExtraTERRORestial Alien Encounter to Stitch's Great Escape.

Thanks for explaining this in detail. It seemed odd to rebuild the ride entirely, but makes sense due to the weight issue. In the early 2000's we were always excited when we would go over the 5600 lbs. and go left into the maintenance bay 😂

Yep! The ride was old too. People heavier + copper wiring in speakers are heavy,. Small World had to get a new trough. It was decades old. All that patching caused heavier boats at get stuck. I rides wear out due to near non stop running. Only 2-3 months refurb. Glad I got on new version.

I’ve got one Disney theme park ride failure: Superstar Limo, that infamous dark ride at Disney’s California Adventure that closed in 2002, 11 months after opening.

I distinctly remember the big red thing in the middle and was so sad when it was gone after the refurb.

Despite it not matching the rest of the land, I think Space Mountain actually looked good in that color scheme. Kinda reminds me of my favorite indoor coaster, SM: Mission 2.

How about a video on the Yeti animatronic from Expedition Everest?

I used to have recurring dreams about Disneyland and during the refurbishment in the early 2000s the ride would be closed in my dreams, too. How sad is that! Was lucky to go to the park for real on a school trip in 2006 when it was open again.

Now that Magic Kingdom has Tron open, I wonder if they would consider updating Space Mountain. It could really use a freshening up with some new tech!

I wanna see a video based on the original Euro-Disney & the Indiana Jones rollercoaster

Can you do videos on more Disney failures? I’d like to see a video on Enchanted Tiki Room: Under New Managament.

The Dick Dale soundtrack was the BEST Space Mountain, ever. Absolute perfection, synced with every twist and drop. Space Mountain with no surf guitar is just not a proper Space Mountain. It's just a sad shadow of its greatest glory. (Aerosmith wasn't too bad either, I guess.)

I believe that Disney also made a similar mistake when they discontinued the People Mover at Disneyland and made it into something else, but the track was not engineered to handle the added speed and load, so it started to fall apart. Disney has a history of doing things on the cheap as their ride systems wore out. Journey into Imagination with Figment and Dream Finder and the Universe of Energy at EPCOT comes to my mind.

I was working TL attractions when they shut her down. There were constant groans from the structure. Some of us called it Creak Mountain. So, when they shut her down, we were relieved since it seemed inevitable something would adversely happen involving guest safety. Nevertheless, it was harder to find hours with Rods and Space down for the count. Auto, Mono, Tours, Astro, and Honey were the only TL attractions available (Nemo and Buzz hadn't opened yet). It was a weird time for TL CMs, but offered some great memories with the back wall of Space being down and watching new track moving in. I loved working there; the most fun I had ever had at a job. Edit: Oh, and Thunder went down for a couple months during that time, too (fatal accident). So, for a time, two of the three coasters at DL were closed. We felt bad for guests.

I almost passed out on the Epcot NASA ride in 2002! I was so dizzy that I crawled to the grass and laid there for 45 minutes! Just horrible!

For July make your logo to support America like the American Flag.

You should do a video on the best fictional ride in TV show/movies and video games

I would love a video on how Disney mucked up the yeti and will never fix it and we a re stuck with disco yeti

Space mountain is 🔥. The soundtrack is AWESOME

I think you should do a video on the rise and fall of DisneyQuest and the failure of the NBA Experience at Disney Springs

Here in Australia, our rides and designs are incredibly out of date compared to the rest of the world. Seeing all these types of rides in other countries makes me want Disney to consider making a theme park here or even sponsor Warner Bros. Movie World/DreamWorld to make our attractions look more attractiony

Ghost Galaxy actually made a reference to this in one of the dome cycles, where the titular Galaxy trashed the dome

Crazy how Disneyland has 2 out of 3 Dynamic Attractions coasters now...

Paul pressler, did everything to ruin the USA Disney parks, was glad when he got fired.

good video, btw i'm at disneyland paris rn

I don’t believe Arrow was involved in either space mountain. RCDB explicitly states that they weren’t involved in the California version and they don’t credit Arrow for design or fabrication for the World version. However this is a fantastic video!

Flying Saucers/Luigi's Flying tires.

Who decided on the colour scheme for the refurbished space mountain? Looks like a mix of poo brown and sludge green

"More outhouse than outer space" is poetry!

I rode Space Mountain during Star Wars Night, kept my eyes shut the entire time

Welcome Back Space Travellers 🫡 👌

Did this video get reuploaded? It cut out while I was watching it and said it was unavailable.

It's a good day when Theme Park Crazy uploads!

Disney trying to re-theme a ride to make it more interesting made the ride self-destruct in a mere few years? I have two nickels.

Space Mountain's music is some of the hypest music I have ever heard. As someone who doesn't like roller coasters much with few exceptions, I wouldn't care half as much about Space Mountain if not for that soundtrack. If Disney doesn't make a movie for Space Mountain like they did for Jungle Cruise and Pirates, and/or doesn't include that music in it, I will be absolutely baffled and somewhat heartbroken. I even have an idea for what the story could be, and I would pitch it to them if I was any sort of filmmaker.

If the lights are on you can still see the old track on the final breakrun lol

Glad that they rebuilt it. Could have saved lives in the long term with rider weight increasing over the years.

can't wait till Disney Montana opens

Some ideas for next videos: 1. Tiki room under new management fire. 2. Big thunder mountain accident in 2003. 3. Skyway accidents in 1994 (Disneyland) and 1999 (Magic Kingdom). 4. Superstar Limo failed attraction. 5. The recent dragon fire in Fantasmic!

Hold up...SpacePort was canceled due to technical limitations at the time? Such as? They built Matterhorn so why not an indoor, outdoor space coaster that was similar even if bigger? I suspect the reasons it was canceled where business and not technical limitations.

I FINNA your videos all day err day

They may have saved it once already, but I think Ghost Galaxy needs a saving of its own.

7:02 I AM THE TABLE!!

Dick Dale worked on the soundtrack? He basically invented surf rock, wow! There isn't a single person out there who hasn't heard Misirlou. That's crazy that they got his help.

That was the quickest re-upload I've ever seen

this title has me wondering "how the fuck did DISNEY accidentally destroying a big name ride like Space Mountain?!" at least it wasn't any worse than 9 injuries, almost if someone had died on space mountain before they could rebuild, THAT would definitely result in a lawsuit

6:47 YES A LULU REFERENCE LMAOOOO

How was the People Mover expensive to operate? When I went on the Florida version I wished it went through the whole park with stops in every themed area with stations that reflect their areas.

Former Space Mountain CM here - RCA never sponsored Space Mountain at Disneyland, only the WDW MK version. Until the mid 90's when FedEx sponsored the ride, the ride had no sponsor. Also, they didn't make new trains in the mid 90s, they just added the speaker components to the original trains, which, besides the weight issue mentioned, was another problem and they weren't very reliable (when you rode it, you had about a 50/50 chance of the audio working.) Brand new trains with speakers were added for the 2005 version after the long rehab, opened during the Disneyland 50th Anniversary year.

Why was this reupload?

It's not a ride, but the worst Disneyland decision in my opinion was their attempt to reskin Tiki Room as Tiki Room: Under New Management.

Ha, I knew it! I predicted when watching the video that it was going to be the on-board audio, that caused extra weight on the trains and that’s compromised the structure of the ride, I totally call that!

Before Space Mountain closed for its rebuild, the coaster had become an extremely rough ride. Also, while the Dick Dale track was amazing, the audio on the trains frequently malfunctioned.

Space Mountain in California is the superior one. It is very smooth and modern. If you ever ride the one in Florida, have fun getting a sore neck from being thrashed around in those jerky, old ride vehicles and rough old track.

Dejavu...They did the same thing with People Mover with changing a heavier faster cart which damage the track. Disney never really learn from their mistake. If it aint broke, don't upgrade.

In 1995 opened the best version of Space Mountain in Paris. R.I.P. Now it’s the bad Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain…

This is borderline libel 😮. No where is it formally documented that there were structural issues. An audio system isn’t that heavy and would have 100% been factored into the construction of these new sled’s masses. Here is an important fact that the video omits: Hong Kong Disneyland’s Space mountain design and construction’s timeline is in lockstep with DLR’s Space Mountain’s overhaul. Disney was able to save money by replicating design and parts! If weight were a factor the added 100 lbs of average guest mass per car increase would demand a retrack of WDW…years ago. Hasn’t happened! In fact extra speaker mass was added to the ride frame when it had a refresh!

In the 1960s a land about the future had a ton of product placement? How prophetic.

“Paint scheme that was more outhouse than outer space”!!! Sick burn!!!🤪 accurate, tho! 😎

Paul Pressler nearly destroyed the Disney parks. He was the single worst thing to ever happen to the parks. Maintenance and "show" were disregarded to the point that everything started to fall apart. I’m amazed that there weren’t more deaths in the parks from failing rides. The new Space Mountain track at Disneyland is SO much better than the original. I wish they’d completely replace the track in Florida; I can’t ride SM in Florida anymore because of how rough the experience is. My back can’t take it. I have no problem at all on SM in California.

If I had a nickel for everytime Disney ruined a Tomorrowland attraction's structural integrity during the Paul Pressler era, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot but weird that it happened twice.

I do miss the OG soundtrack with Dick Dale’s guitar work. I think it was 1996 or 97 when I rode Space Mountain for the first time, and that soundtrack stood out along with the rocket trains glowing in the dark.

Well thank you for this..this is exactly what happened with Rocket Rods isn't it? I miss the People Mover

Anyone else part of the 5600# club? Before it closed, they were weighing cars to not exceed 5600 pounds. If you went over, you'd be sent to the left to the maintenance area and would be helped out of your rocket. Because thy were 'lightly' loading the trains up to the closure, this is why the lines were notably longer because they simply couldn't put 12 large adults into the cars without exceeding the weight limit.

So if the ride couldn’t support the speakers being added, what about how overweight most of us have become since 30 years ago? Are the rides able to support that added weight of today’s average person?

and per users comment on people mover, that is where disney DID screw up. The rocket cars were WAYYYYYY too heavy for the track and they essentially deteriorated the track so badly it was in danger of launch the rocket cars right off the track. since it was overhead of the main walk way, that would be a huge problem. you cant just re-theme the ride and call it good. it was toast and needed to be shut down.

I wanted to love the ride, I didn't; I hated it. This is the only roller coaster ride that I have been on that gave me an incredible neck crap. I believe it had more to do with anticipation and the non-intuitive ride feature; of not knowing when and where any change in direction was going to occur, and thereby, not relaxing but applying too much resistance on my shoulders and neck, causing neck strain. I often felt as if my head was going to crash into a few of the over-hang and side girders (often very close, nearby support structure) due to the very tight constraints and structure of the overall ride; the ride just made me feel very uncomfortable. Overall, it just didn't appeal to my sense of adventure on this roller coaster -- it seemed more of a hazard than fun.

The Hall of chemistry was fine. It eventually gave us Journey into interspace. The Hall of metal gave us a rocket that screamed and moaned in the sun all day long.

Amazing. This is the exact same thing that happened to Rocket Rods in California. In that case, they did not rebuild the ride and it remains abandoned. Thank goodness these crazy upgrades were avoided in Florida as both Space Mountain and the People Mover still operate to this very day. Another disaster for Disney was their water park they had to abandon due to disease I believe.

Nicely done! I was wondering what happened and why WDW's version is so different!