Space Mountain, with the lights on

Originally published at: Space Mountain, with the lights on | Boing Boing

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The darkness is an integral part of the ride. I always get small children at the park howling with laughter when I tell them that a tall adult like myself never knows whether he’ll get his head knocked off by a girder.

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FWIW this video was from 1998 and almost the entire original track was replaced in a big 2003-2004 project. Not that it’s dramatically different, but there are some structural differences now.

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and the music now sounds stolen from the Incredibles!

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Obligatory…

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I rode through Disneyworld’s Space Mountain once with the lights on, around this era, late 90s. It broke down while we were on the initial lift section, so we had a pretty uncomfortable 30-45 minutes sitting there while they fixed whatever was going on. They then let us ride through but with full lights on.

It was honestly semi terrifying with the lights on, I’m a short person but that things weaves in and out of itself so much and so tightly that I felt the need to try and duck down constantly.

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I rode that Space Mountain as a kid in the 80’s and crouched down sideways in my seat the whole time. There was an urban myth going around that someone had their head chopped off by an overhead girder.

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With the lights on, the massive, cathedral-like space takes on a cool 1970’s dystopian sci-fi atmosphere. A good soundtrack for the illuminated ride would be…

The actual, dark ride soundtrack is nicely surf-rocky.

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I don’t know specifically about Disneyland Paris, but Disneyland Anaheim periodically gets the Hyperspace Mountain (Star Wars) overlay. I suspect that it’s the same at Paris, and the ride normally has a JV theme.

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I wonder if they’ve redone the layout, and how many times? When I first rode it back in the 80s, there was a small drop in the middle, maybe 20-30 feet. Not large, but in the dark, unexpected and just enough to surprise you. On this ride through, I didn’t see it.

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Elon Musk broke something, so I had to search out the youtube video.

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I was on the fast and furious cgi ride when it crashed (computers) and the lights came on so we could walk out. The best part was seeing the pepper’s ghost setup that was hidden so the roof of the ride car obscured it.

I wanted to post my footage but it is not worth having copywronglers breathing down my neck.

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image

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I also rode it in the '80s and mid-ride the lights briefly came on for no discernible reason. When I saw the next girder rushing toward me, that myth instantly popped to mind, but I was too busy being disappointed that the illusion of flying through space had been ruined to worry about whether I would keep my head.

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Sounds like a sexual practice/position popular with nerds.

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