Space. Thunder. Splash. Separately these words have very little in common, but together they make up an epic mountain range found in Disney parks all over the world.
Space Mountain
All personal, prepare for launch! Space Mountain has been the most duplicated Disney roller coaster in the world. It can be found in five of the six Magic Kingdom style parks, having first opened in Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in 1975. Soon it opened in Disneyland in 1977 and was part of the opening day line-up at Tokyo Disneyland in 1983. In Disneyland Paris, Space Mountain opened in 1995 as Space Mountain: de la Terre à la Lune and then reopened in 2005 as Space Mountain: Mission 2. This indoor roller coaster was again an opening day attraction in Hong Kong Disneyland in 2005. In Magic Kingdom, Disneyland, Tokyo, and Hong Kong Space Mountain is located in Tomorrowland and in Paris it is in Discoveryland.
This is one attraction that has seen many overlays over the years including Rockin’ Space Mountain, Ghost Galaxy, and my absolute favourite – Hyperspace Mountain! This overlay has been in Disneyland in the past but is currently only in Paris and Hong Kong. Hyperspace Mountain is a Star Wars themed overlay where guests join the Rebel Alliance led by Admiral Ackbar in a battle over the planet Jakku.
Imagineer John Hench originally designed an indoor space themed roller coaster in the 1960s before the technology was available for such an attraction. This Space Voyage was going to have four entwining tracks. Once the technology finally caught up with the designs, Disney decided to build Space Mountain in the Magic Kingdom instead of Disneyland since there wasn’t a roller coaster there yet. When Space Mountain opened, it was the first roller coaster to be controlled by computers. Due to popularity, it was replicated in Disneyland, though the track layout is quite different due to space limitations (pun!). Astronauts attended the openings of Space Mountain in both Magic Kingdom and Disneyland with James Irwin of Apollo 15 riding as the first official passenger.
The launching areas of the different Space Mountains each have their own station name. In Magic Kingdom guests board in Starport Seven Five and in Disneyland it is Space Station 77. According to an information board in the queue of the Magic Kingdom Space Mountain, the other stations around the world are called: Ashita Base – Tokyo, Discovery Landing Station – Paris, and HK Spaceport E-TKT. (This one is my favourite. Get it? E-ticket!)
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Designed by Imagineer Tony Baxter, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad first opened in Disneyland in 1979, despite the Magic Kingdom version having been the first designed. This wild roller coaster then opened in Magic Kingdom in 1980. It was later built in Tokyo Disneyland in 1987 and opened with the rest of Disneyland Paris in 1992. In both Tokyo and Paris, the Railroad part of the name is dropped. Big Thunder Mountain is found in Frontierland in Disneyland, Magic Kingdom, and Paris and is in Westernland in Tokyo. After Space Mountain, this roller coaster was another early use of a computer controlled attraction. Inspiration for Big Thunder Mountain came from Marc Davis’ design of the never-realized Western River Expedition for Magic Kingdom.
Disneyland’s version replaced Mine Train through Nature’s Wonderland and many elements were reused for Big Thunder Mountain, including the name. Big Thunder was a waterfall along Nature’s Wonderland and the mining town name of Rainbow Ridge also came from the previous attraction. Many animal animatronics were reused as well. In Disneyland, the landscape of Big Thunder Mountain was based on the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah whereas the other three attractions were based on Monument Valley.
All four versions have the same basic backstory. Gold was discovered in the mountains of the American Southwest in the late 1800s and a mining town sprang up overnight. Unknown to the miners, the area was cursed and a natural disaster occurred as a result. In Disneyland and Disneyland Paris, Big Thunder Mountain experienced an earthquake, in Magic Kingdom a flash flood happened, and in Tokyo Disneyland there was a tsunami. The towns of Rainbow Ridge, Tumbleweed, and Thunder Mesa were quickly abandoned, but the trains still raced through the mountains on their own. Guests now board these ghost trains in the mining company’s office for the wildest ride in the wilderness!
The Paris version of Big Thunder Mountain is unique. Since it was the only Big Thunder Mountain to be designed during the planning of the entire park, it had the advantage of being the central point of Frontierland with the rest of the land developed around it. This is quite literal as Big Thunder Mountain is on an island in the middle of the Rivers of the Far West. The backstory of this Big Thunder Mountain is actually connected to the rest of Frontierland, including Phantom Manor’s spooky stories.
Some fun facts about the Disneyland version is that the barbershop quartet heard in the town of Rainbow Ridge near the end of the attraction uses songs recorded by the Dapper Dans of the late 1970s. The screeching sounds of the trains was recorded and used in the mine car chase scene of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984).
In Hong Kong Disneyland, a similar version of this attraction is called Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars (quite the mouthful to say!) It opened in 2012 along with the land of Grizzly Gulch. The landscape of Big Grizzly Mountain is based on the Sierra Nevada Mountains and parts of Yellowstone National Park. Even though the ride is more closely related to Big Thunder Mountain, it has the same Grizzly Peak as Grizzly River Run in Disney California Adventure. Grizzly Gulch is entirely themed as a gold rush town from the 1840s and the storyline of the attraction is that three resident bears – Rocky, Mother Lode, and Nugget – helped the original miners discover the gold. But the bears have been up to mischief ever since. Guests board the mine train and head for lucky number eight tunnel, but Rocky scratches his back on a track switch and sends the train down unlucky number four tunnel instead. The bears continue to cause all sorts of trouble for the trains including sending them backwards and setting off some dynamite!
Splash Mountain
A 52 foot drop down into the Briar Patch can only be found at Splash Mountain! First opening in Disneyland in 1989, Splash Mountain was soon replicated in both Magic Kingdom and Tokyo Disneyland in 1992. Splash Mountain can be found in Critter Country in Disneyland and Tokyo and in Frontierland right next to Big Thunder Mountain in Magic Kingdom.
In 1988, the America Sings attraction closed in Disneyland, displacing dozens of Marc Davis designed audio animatronics. Tony Baxter wanted to find a new home for these audio animatronics instead of throwing them away and at the same time was tasked with finding a way to drive traffic to the back corner Bear Country of Disneyland. Dick Nunis, then president of attractions, suggested a log flume E-ticket attraction to be built there, but the majority of Imagineers did not like this idea since a simple log flume was not ‘Disney’ enough. So all of these factors came together and Tony Baxter created Zip-a-Dee River Run, a log flume E-Ticket attraction themed to Disney’s 1946 Song of the South that reused the America Sings audio animatronics. Michael Eisner wanted the attraction to be themed to Touchstone’s first film Splash (1984), but a compromise was made and the name Splash would be used without the mermaids. New audio animatronics were created to feature Brer Fox, Brer Bear, and Brer Rabbit and Splash Mountain became home to over a hundred audio animatronics. Since so many critters were now featured in Bear Country, the name of the land was officially changed to Critter Country.
The logs in Disneyland’s version of Splash Mountain have single seats whereas both Magic Kingdom and Tokyo Disneyland are double seated. The Magic Kingdom and Tokyo Disneyland versions are mirror images of each other.
The Disney Mountains are some of the most iconic attractions in Disney history; I always make sure to conquer all three each trip! Which Mountain is your favourite?
Check out a previous post about the first Disney Mountain: The Matterhorn Bobsleds!
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