The culmination of Space Mountain did not commence with the opening ceremonies in 1977…
nor with the first planning meeting of Walt’s in 1964…
nor with the lift-off of the Von Braun/Disney Rocket to the Moon in 1955…
No, the dream of exploring the Universe began centuries ago… with that first human glance up at the stars.
We at Disneyland have attempted to capture that eternal dream. And we hope that you, as our representatives, appreciate and understand that attempt.
When Disneyland was more than an amusement park.
Epic. I just imagined myself as a new hire, and I tell you, I would’ve been thrilled to read that as part of my employee orientation. This is definitely a peek behind the scenes that I never thought I’d see.
There’s always those stories of people who had the “privilege” to see a ride in its true nature whenever it broke down, ‘coz they’d have to turn on the lights and guide you safely from the tracks to an emergency exit. A co-worker of mine just the other day told me he experienced that when Space Mountain broke down once in the ’70s. Him and his sister were totally stoked to be led through the “control room” where there were panels of lit buttons and switches and a bunch of monitors, with some dood manning the controls.
As cool and mystical as it probably was back then, these days it’s all debunked with a few keystrokes and clicks on YouTube. These days, is anything a mystery anymore, for even a minute or two?