In this multi-part series, former Imagineer George McGinnis
and Bill Watkins share their memories of the design and construction of
Disneyland’s Space Mountain. To start from the beginning, see Part 1 (link)
and Part 2 (link).
After six months of concept work, the Architecture Department
was now going to produce construction drawings. This was also when my input
ended for the most part (this was probably the point when I started working
on robots for The Black Hole). I kept in touch with Glenn Durflinger,
the Project Architect responsible for turning my concept drawings and models
into production drawings.
The final concept package delivered to Architecture in October 1975 included
this Space Port elevation. Note the Control Room near the entrance and
the projection room and projection surface on the right. These went away
along with the gold anodized fuel tanks on the ceiling. John Hench removed
the fuel tanks, noting that people don’t spend much time looking at ceilings.
And I never missed them after opening. Elevation drawing by George McGinnis. Click image for larger version.
Glenn and his team did a great job adding detail that was not in the
model, and Glenn was good about listening to my show concerns. It disturbed
me a bit when the mountain plan layout was changed to place the exit by
the Starcade, rather than by the SpacePlace restaurant as I had conceived
it. Yes, it was important for guests to find the Starcade, but the restaurant,
in its dead-end location, would require the addition of signs to make
people aware of it. The restaurant did have the problem I anticipated.
At the relaunched Space Mountain, the entrance has been moved to the left
side so the guests walk right by the restaurant on their way in. Maybe
some people weren’t interested in lunch after Space Mountain and management
knew better than the concept person.
The third lift to the very top was to have a red nebula projected on
the cap of this conical structure. John Hench joined me to view the laser
show at Griffith Planetarium. When a beautiful red nebula appeared above,
the theater virtually went dark. This low-frequency, red-light effect
would be perfect for Lift #3—it would not light up the track below.
Unfortunately, the nebula that was created turned out to be multi-colored.
It was a major source of unneeded light and was eventually removed altogether
rather than corrected. So in my opinion the third lift lost a beautiful
planetarium effect.
A bulkhead above the queue in the redesigned Space Mountain pays tribute
to the late John Hench. Photo by Mark Goldhaber.
There are always changes to a concept, some for the good—although
the reasons for the changes are not always conveyed to those who came
before. This is not surprising, since it takes so many different talents
and disciplines to create a ride/show like Space Mountain.
Dark adaption is a basic problem with a dark ride show like Space Mountain.
If it is a slow day and bright outside and you are in your ride vehicle
in seconds, you see very little in the ride. It is the opposite at night
time—you see way too much. All the old light leak problems have been
solved with the relaunched Space Mountain at Disneyland. Time of day and
length of wait will still alter the show somewhat.
One of the light leaks detrimental to the ride experience came from a
row of windows open to the ride, so guests in the queue could see the
glowing vehicles roar by. This gave them another chance to find the “chicken
ramp.” The special effects in the ride provided some light to the
queue, but apparently it was not enough. After a period of time blue work
lights were turned on—not just for bright days, but permanently.
Now those on the ride could view the queue—not “good show”
when you’re “traveling light years from earth.” A better solution
may have been directional floor lights as used in theaters and aircraft.
The iridescent panels behind the ceiling louvers gave the Space Port its
dramatic low-key light. Note the work lights below the side wall panels
are not on. Photo courtesy of George McGinnis.
As I recall, the work lights were not used at first as seen in the photo
and they were gelled blue when they began using them. It could be that
the black light behind the ceiling louvers had degraded and were no longer
providing sufficient light. The use of the work lights greatly changed
the ambience. I was disappointed at this change and assumed operations
had made the decision for safety reasons. But judging from the light level
in show designer Luc Mayrand’s relaunched Space Port, the old level of
light was not the problem. Also, when visiting Tokyo Disneyland’s Space
Mountain in 1990, I found the Space Port black light ceiling louvers bright
as ever seven years after opening.
The Dexion/black light combination has been a favorite effect of mine
over several projects. First used in the load area of Walt Disney World’s
Space Mountain, then at Disneyland’s Space Mountain, and then the Horizons
pavilion load area. The last time I rode WDW’s Space Mountain, the effect
was very dim. I would like to know if the UV fluorescent tube loses its
ability to fluoresce the paint or vice-versa. Whatever the case, the slow
loss of the iridescent light may not have been noticed by maintenance
and this would create a lighting problem with the show.
The Roller Coaster Pro has a tour of the relaunched Space Mountain. Note
the ungelled work lights, evidently relegating them to true work lights
(link).
Other photos in the tour show off the Space Port’s “new” low
light level.
A flash-lit Reed McGinnis, my son, contrasts with the low light level
in the relaunched Space Port. Reed’s grown a bit since he was the model
for the Tommy animatronic figure floating in the Space Shuttle, Brava
Centauri arrival scene in the Horizons Pavilion. Photo by George McGinnis.
On opening day, 1977, one of the Mercury astronauts remarked to me that
there was something familiar about the Space Port. I guessed he was referring
either to the spaceship in Walt Disney World’s Space Mountain or to the
similarity in form to the ship in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Alastair Dallas, an architectural draftsman in Glenn Durflinger’s group,
wrote an article about Space Mountain for LaughingPlace (link).
In it, he commented about the influence he saw of 2001: A Space Odyssey
on Disney’s Space Mountains.
Alastair also indicated that Glenn Durflinger had a struggle with the
accountants to retain some original concepts. Lost was a two-sided control
room with animatronic figures visible from both the queue and the Space
Port. Also lost was the view into starry space with a sister ship projected
preparing to enter the Space Port when its large triangular doors would
open to let “our explorer” depart. This space was lost to the
electrical room and backlit metal panels perforated with small holes to
represent stars. The two items that were designed to say, “You are
starting your trip from Earth orbit” were lost. But we always comfort
ourselves by remembering that there is still plenty for the guests to
enjoy.
(Alastair Dallas said nice things about me, but I want to correct one
small matter. Alastair said he “understood I was very active with
my wife in various Christian youth organizations.” No, we were not,
but we did produce our very own “youth organization” in the
1970s. Their names are Shana, Reed, and Scott. All are involved in some
way with Christian work, so you were close, Alastair.)
The new vehicles no longer have a need for iridescent side panels since
there is no view into the ride for guests. Hong Kong Space Mountain vehicles
have different bodies, but used the same seat and speaker arrangement.
Photo courtesy of George McGinnis.
Tokyo Disneyland ride vehicles have the iridescent side panels that glow
and entertain the guests waiting in the queue. Photo courtesy of George
McGinnis.
There is a 30-foot difference in elevation between the entrance and the
point where you board your vehicle. As I said earlier, I thought the guest
would enjoy the air-conditioned comfort. There was another aspect that
I didn’t consider—the long walk between the entrance, where the glowing
“spaceships” were seen and the entrance to the Space Port where
more queue suddenly appeared. After opening I heard guests say, “Oh,
no! More queue. “ I tried to make it a good show all the way along,
but when outside queue stretched back to Main Street at opening time,
I could understand the shock.
The Space Mountain design for Disneyland has been reproduced now for
the third time. Tokyo Disneyland has an identical one and so does the
new Hong Kong Disneyland. I did the concept design for the original Disneyland
Space Mountain vehicle (Bob Gurr did the production design). In 2003,
I was asked to redesign the interior of the vehicles for the relaunch
of Space Mountain. Working with Disneyland engineer Frank Ruhfus, we integrated
the speakers into the seats, which lowered the vehicle’s center-of-gravity.
A lighter composite material was used to form the bodies, for the most
part preserving the original body’s design. The vehicles at Hong Kong
Disneyland have a new body design, but share the same redesigned seat,
bringing a better level of sound to the experience.
One half of a seat was sculpted, and then scanned in 3-D to create the
opposite seat. Once in the computer, other manipulations of form were
possible, such as routing out the seat pad indentation after the seat
pad was cast. Photo courtesy of George McGinnis.
A seat tool is machined from a foam material from the same computer scan.
George got to test his seat and found it comfortable. Smaller tweeters
are in evidence than on the original sculpting. Photo courtesy of George
McGinnis.
Concept: The finished vehicle with its integrated speakers is ready to roll and “rock.” Photo courtesy of George McGinnis.
Paris Space Mountain has the same 200-foot diameter building, but its queue and “lift” are on the exterior, giving room for a loop and a barrel roll in the ride. When riding Paris Space Mountain there is no thrilling awareness of being inverted, for we are pressed into our seats. The linear motor “blast off” from a Jules Verne period cannon is a thrill, but the anticipation built up by three lifts at Disneyland Space Mountain gives the guests an equal experience, especially since Luc Mayrand has redesigned the show.
Luc, the relaunched Space Mountain Show Designer, solved the “three lift” show challenges wonderfully with the assistance of Walt Disney Imagineering’s Research & Development Department. Lift #1 is a grand high-walled Launch Portal. The Meteor Shower show effect is replaced with a curved Strobe Tunnel, a replication of Walt Disney World’s Strobe Tunnel (link)
to which Tom Fitzgerald added ascending sound. I suspect Tom, an Imagineering
Vice President, is responsible for its addition to the Disneyland Space
Mountain.
The Space Mountain redesign team poses for a photo at the attraction’s
rededication ceremony. Photo by Frank Anzalone.
The big surprise Luc’s redesign gave me is the successful revolving tunnel
on Lift #2. I had read in the Los Angeles Times that the Imagineers
wanted to try the revolving tunnel illusion effect again. Ascending the
lift, the vehicle appears to turn on its side. I had to ride it again
immediately to analyze all I had experienced. To Lift #3 was added a logical
“countdown” to the drop into starry darkness. All along, the
themed musical score fit perfectly. The ride is now truly a dark ride
that works well, without the former light leaks. Of course, as I said,
time of day and length of wait will still alter the show.
Luc’s Space Port is also very dark. He has added what he described as
“flying buttresses” to the spaceship, which give it a different
visual dynamic: “wings” and a sci-fi look. The original elements
are there such as the Dexion louvered ceiling and walls and the gold anodized
“fuel” spheres. Selected lighting of certain elements has served
to give the area a new look. The lighting at the turnstiles adds an attractive
and colorful effect to the vehicle load position.
These elegantly designed appendages to the original spaceship changed
it from a 1970s concept to a Science Fiction version—2005 and beyond.
Photo courtesy of George McGinnis.
The brightly lit turnstiles give the Space Port a colorful center of interest.
Photo courtesy of George McGinnis.
As to the guests’ ride experience from the top, each time I ride (four
times now), I see special effects differently. Bill Watkins and I rode
together on opening day. His comment was, “I felt like the star effects
were in a tube.” I felt they were clumped here and there, with the
addition of colored stars. The red-lit rotating reentry tunnel has been
replaced with a spectacular reentry that I was told was developed for
Hong Kong’s Space Mountain.
Luc Mayrand, Show Designer 2005, takes Bill Watkins,Ride Designer 1975
and George McGinnis, Show Designer 1975, on their first ride on the new
Space Mountain. No, Bill isn’t bored or asleep, just looking down during
the flash. Photo courtesy of George McGinnis.
It definitely has the same smooth track layout that Bill Watkins designed—“10
pounds” of track that he stuffed into this “five pound”
building, preserving precious space in Tomorrowland. It’s as fast and
smooth as ever and—with the new show—will keep Space Mountain
Disney’s most popular ride. I would like to think that John and Walt are
somewhere agreeing that the relaunched Space Mountain is as good as ever
and wondering if Luc Mayrand has something in store for Walt Disney World’s
Space Mountain.
