Space Mountain is open! We rode it yesterday!
[Note to non-Disneyphiles: Space Mountain is Disneyland's outer-space themed 'dark' roller coaster. The ride is totally enclosed and unlit, except for some 'stars' and such -- so what might be a thoroughly pedestrian coaster, were it outside in the daylight at some carnival (it only goes 32 mph), acquires a whole new dimension because you don't know what's happening. Unless you rode it over and over again as kids, like Shelby and me ...]
While running errands Thursday, I noticed a bus shelter ad that proclaimed "Space Mountain -- It's Back!" Being an up-to-date Disneyland guy, I knew that Space Mountain was scheduled to open from its over two-year-long refurbishment on July 15th, two weeks away. To promise people a blockbuster rollercoaster and then crush their hopes once they got to the park with the news that Space Mountain wasn't quite back -- Disney couldn't be that cruel, could they? And if Space Mountain was back now, we'd have a chance to ride it yesterday, our last chance until August 21st (our annual passports, since we're too cheap to pay for deluxe annual passports, aren't quite annual -- we're "blacked out" for Saturdays, major holidays, and most of the summer).
Checking the messageboards at mouseplanet.com seemed to indicate that Space Mountain was having a "soft" opening -- open to the public, but you're taking your chances on it being closed at any time. So, we decided to drive over and take a look. Posted waiting time at the entrance was 105 minutes, but we managed to get through the line and the ride in around 55 minutes -- comparable to the summertime Disneyland experiences of our youth.
And how was the "new" Space Mountain? They did a good job on the rehab of the ride building and the waiting area -- its previous very-1970s very-2001 appearance has been updated to a more-contemporary science-future look. The entry and exit tunnels -- your car gets 'launched' as you leave the waiting area, and then braked or decompressed or something as you leave 'space' and come back into the loading zone -- have had their special effects updated with all kinds of modern flashing-light technology. If playing 1980s-era Nintendo games on 20" TVs was enough to induce epilepsy in children, they'd better have a gurney or two off to the side of the unloading area, because the reentry is going to leave them flopping like fish.
As for the ride itself, nothing has changed. It took them two years to disassemble and remove the old roller coaster and put a brand-new one exactly like it in its place. The atmospherics are different: where everything used to be faintly lit by an orange 'satellite' in the center of the room, and the darkened line area used to have windows looking onto the ride, the new version is completely dark, except for the light of 'stars' projected around. There's supposed to be a rockin' new soundtrack to accompany your ride, but in one of those soft-opening glitches, our car was silent. Still, you'd think that they'd change around the track at least a little bit -- put in a new drop or a fillip here and here, to throw a bone to the SoCal residents and hardcore types. (Or throw in a loop or two, like Disneyland Paris' version of Space Mountain ...)
We'll have to come back in August for a second impression!
[You can compare and contrast my review with what Shelby had to say.]
Posted by Kevin at July 2, 2005 09:10 AMI'm glad to hear you guys at least had fun. :)
But don't you get resident passes for Disneyland? If you've been a Florida resident for God knows how many months (12, IIRC but I am not sure) you can get a resident pass for Disneyworld. There are a few restrictions (no holidays -- I really wouldn't want to be there on the 4th anyway -- and a few other things) but the only charge you ~$300 per adult for an annual pass. Well, that's plus parking, food, pictures, etc. but it's still a pretty good deal if you live in the area.
Cheers,
JJ
Hi JJ --
We do have the resident pass -- $149 pp (or $199 pp with parking included).
To get the summer, we could get the Deluxe Annual Passport ($209 pp/$258 pp with parking) -- then our blackout days would be limited to some Saturdays, very major holidays, and a week at Christmastime.
To get everything, we could get Premium Annual Passports -- $329 per person, which includes parking.
We like Disneyland, but paying the $119 (or $310) beyond what we already pay for the two of us is a bit too steep. It'd be nice to have the flexibility to go during the summer or holidays -- but given how crowded Disneyland already feels during most of our off-peak visits, I don't think we'd exercise the option to visit when the park is packed to its holiday-time max very often.
Our passes have made us spoiled -- if we want to ride something, and find that the wait is longer than forty-five minutes or so, we'll turn up our noses and go home, planning our comeback for another day/time that's not so crowded! :-)
Posted by: Kevin at July 3, 2005 12:26 AM