Revamped Space Mountain doesn’t live up to hype
Featured, Matt Palm, Things to do — By Matt Palm on January 26, 2010 at 6:25 pm 
OK, I waited through all the holiday hoopla so I wouldn’t sound like the Grinch. And I even went back and rode the “improved” Space Mountain again — just to be sure I was giving it a fair shake.
And, well, I don’t get it. I know people who are rapturous about it: They say it’s darker, it’s scarier, it seems faster, it feels smoother.
But as someone who has ridden the Mountain at least 100 times over the years, I have to say the ride itself seemed exactly the same to me. Yes, they took out the nostalgic chocolate-chip-cookie-like planet effect, and added a Star Trek-like space station. But that wasn’t too big a thrill to me.
The video game in the queue was a lot of fun — and I don’t even like video games. But I enjoyed blasting the aliens (and getting my butt kicked by the 7-year-old next to me).
As for the rest of the standby queue, though, it’s still a long boring slog through the waiting area. A few signs, pretending you’re in a spaceport, don’t make it any better. And the final leg of the queue — behind a wall — seemed downright unfinished.
On the ride, the track was still bumpy and I could still see other parts of the track. The moving stars just didn’t do enough to disorient me.
I knew Orlando’s ride wasn’t getting the exciting music, as Disneyland’s ride has, because it would have meant getting all new cars. But I had hoped we could replicate Disneyland’s moving-star effect, which does leave me guessing where the next twists and turns will be.
Sorry, Disney, this time you disappointed me.
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Tags: attractions, Magic Kingdom, Matt Palm, Space Mountain, Tomorrowland
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24 Comments
I totally agree with you.
I agree with most of that, however, the increased darkness does freak me out a bit. I rode it on Sunday again, and yeah, not so thrilled with the revamp of the queue (though, goodness knows it desperately NEEDED it (or something, anyway)) And, also, they need to do something with that horribly dark section on the TTA too. It is darker than the ride in one spot. Not cool.
I totally agree also. My wife and I had been hearing about the “improvements” with hopeful skepticism, but when we finally went on the ride we were completely dissapointed. Not that it’s any worse than it was before, but its just not revamped. The night we rode it the ride had been down for repair and maybe a wrong light got left on but to both of us it seemed actually a little easier to see than before.
I understand that Disney World doesn’t want to close down one of its E-ticket attractions for a long period of time, but when you have a ride as great as its Disneyland counterpart then you have a certain level of modern that is expected. Disneyland has a few wind machines to make you appear to be going faster and it has A LOT more stars that truly hide the track. Those seem like two enhancements that could have been included without having to go back and change the track and still made the ride feel new. Overall this is one of those few extended refurbishments I feel does not deserve a passing grade becuase the improvements are not really improvements.
Hate to say it, but I gotta agree. Don’t know what Disney was thinking when they put SM down. It was a not what I was expecting And I would say that a majority of the folks on line did not even noticed the difference. Sorry Disney
New carpets, the old floating choc. chip cookie and half the ride closed down in spite of the 60 minute wait.While in line we were funneled to some back corridor where we expected somrthing new only to discover there was no a/c and we almost choked from the body odor of so many tourists.Didn’t seem to change at all for us.
Not to mention what the changes have done to the TTA. It used to be cool to see the starfield at the end of the tunnel, come out and see the glowing strips on the cars as they zipped about.
They need to go back and add lighting affects and some scenary to the never-ending black tunnel. As it is, it’s now a bore fest.
You are right about the TTA being a real bore. back in 1975, Before my very first ride on SM, I opted to preview it by riding the TTA. In fact there was a sign advising guests to preview SM first by riding on the People Mover. AKA the (WED WAY) back then.
If it was not for the scenic ride through SM, I would have chickened out and not ridden SM due to the uncertainly of surprises.
I was hopping that the inside of the rehabbed SM could be viewed from the TTA. Unfortunately, I was only able to get a 2 second peak at the starfield before going into a dark tunnel. Halfway around the tunnel I could here the sound of the vehicles but could not see them.
They need to reveal the starfield and put the glowing strips back on the rockets, to make SM more inviting!
I also was uncomfortable when walking behind what appeared an unfinished wall on the ALPHA side of the queue area. After an attraction host told me that the ride is now very dark, I opted not to ride. As the rehab ruined what used to be one of my favorite rides!
Disney never publicized that the attraction was getting an upgrade. This was all speculation on the fan sites. They took it down and completed the necessary repairs to keep the ride operational. There was no big fan-fare or advertising about a “New and Improved Space Mountain. People need to calm down…it was no different than a restaurant getting a needed rehab. Are you going to complain that The Crystal Palace isn’t as palatial as you expected after coming out of a rehab?
Typical high hype “low pixie dust” fluff from WDW. Start spending some real money to upgrade the parks PLEASE!
And thus a big shout-out to the MK’s Phil Holmes, who apparently prefers underwhelming guests with inferior attractions to taking them off-line for the amount of time needed for suitable refurbishments.
My daughter recently went to the Magic Kingdom with some friends and she was so excited to ride the new Space Mountain.
When she got home, she said just about everything you said.. she was not impressed all that much..
Oh well. At least they tried.
The Mountain is not yet complete; there’s a Phase 2 coming. An in-ride (but on-board) audio track is coming, along with the exit video screens, which will place guests in one of the four exit-ramp show scenes via green-screen technology (from what I understand). True, most of the refurbishment work was cosmetic, but we totally updated the ride system software to (hopefully) cut down on the breakdowns the attraction experienced pre-refurb. The ride itself (the tracks) was never meant to be redone. We enclosed the queue area to try and darken the ride, along with closing off most of the Tomorrowland Transit Authority track that passes through the Mountain.
>>An in-ride (but on-board) audio track is coming<<
That should say "but NOT on-board".
Completely agree. I rode it three times just to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. And that last part of the queue felt like I had been sent “backstage.” I was bewildered and underwhelmed.
I was so excited to ride the “revamped” space mountain. What a letdown. I didn’t notice any differences in the ride itself, and definitely don’t understand the last part of the queue when you’re behind the wall. I’ve never been letdown with disney rehabs before, but this is sadly one of them.
I too agree. I don’t need huge changes, but it seems Disney is just doing enough to get by lately.
ya know you dont have to go, you could stay home and watch some meanless reality tv or somthing like that. Get a life, its for amusement and I am sure. WDW is one of the best at that! Besides if its not broke dont fix it. I loved the old Space Mt. So I know I wont be dissapointed with a small change in the new one. If you dont like it dont Ride it!!!
The Indy 500 track should be remade for the movie Cars. The Indy track is stale. A CARS redo could bring it up to date.
DisneyLAND will always be better than DisneyWORLD .. all the good stuff in one place – no paying admission at 4 different parks ..
I’ve been to both parks and you’ve lost your ever-loving mind if you think Disneyland is better than Disney World. DL was dirty, old, small and crowded beyond anything I would ever want to experience again. I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but people don’t say, “I’m going to Disneyland anymore when they win something, they say I’m going to Disney World,” and for good reasons too. Oh and the Sleeping Beauty castle should be called Barbies dream castle…it’s that friggin’ small. I’ve never laughed so hard as when I got my first look at it.
I do have to say though that DW dropped the ball when refurbishing Space Mountain…very disappointing.
Gee I don’t know. I kind of liked it. The only thing was that it didn’t seem like a lot of change for being down for nine months.
i have always liked the space mountain in WDW. even though the revamp didn’t add many new elements, i am satisfied. I don’t want to see the ride completely change like disneyland’s. when i went on space mountain in DL, i was disappointed because the ride seemed to be VERY tame and have no drops! i also think the single person ride cars are very unique. the purpose of the different resorts are to introduce you to various versions of a ride. that’s what makes the same rides different and draws you to the various resorts
Rode it Monday..it WAS darker, and the new games to keep u busy in like were pretty good..but i was expecting much more
I see so many say upgrade and change the Magic Kingdom, well go to an amusement park then and find Sponge Bob or something. There is nothing like the classic Disney in the Magic Kingdom and I loved the old Space Mountain. Look at the butchery of the Tiki Room when the classic was greatest. Now there’s so much screaming and nasty that it’s not worth taking kids to see. Disneyworld is adding new all the time like the awesome coaster in Animal Kingdom, Aerosmith’s Rockin’ coaster, new Tower of Terror and so much more. Let the Magic Kingdom stay classic as Walt intended it to be. The old Space Mountain with it’s almost classic Wildmouse track is the best. The newer style track like the one in Disneyland just isn’t the same. Thanks for keeping the old track! We are heading there from California in the fall and were worried that the track had changed. Can’t wait to get on it as it was closed last year.