Space Mountain

A roller-coaster attraction that premiered at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom in 1975, Disneyland in 1977, Tokyo Disneyland in 1983, and Disneyland Paris in 1995, and became one of the parks' most popular rides. The Disneyland ride is notable in that it is the very first completely indoor, themed roller coaster with a syncronized sound track in America, when it received a soundtrack bt surf-guitar legend Dick Dale in 1998. The Space Mountain attraction at Disneyland Paris was the first in the world, when it opened in 1995 with a soundtrack.

Space Mountain is far more an immersive experience than simply a thrill ride, and while neither a fast nor a large coaster compared to ones you may find at the big amusement parks (such as those owned by Six Flags), Disney's imagineers fanatical attention to detail and keen understanding of showmanship makes this perhaps one of the most thrilling coasters ever built. At the time it opened, it was the most expensive roller coaster ever created, at a cost that even surpasses all of the original Disneyland adjusting for inflation.

Space Mountain is currently closed at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, as the roller coaster inside the mountain is being replaced with a completely new coaster, similar to the original.

Spoiler warning: Description of Disneyland's Space Mountain follows

After being seated in the car, riders are first brought to a control tower where they listen to a small warning spiel from two audio-animatronic figures, then the car turns sharply to the right and climbs a long tunnel filled with flickering lights and lasers. At the top, there's a slight calm before the drop as an unearthly theremin hums out the haunting, enigmatic melody to Carnival Of The Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns.

Suddenly, the car dives and the music changes to a hard-rocking Dick Dale surf guitar rendition of the song. Riders are thrown about in almost complete darkness, faint lighting hinting at the dense metal scaffolding that seems to fly within feet over the heads of the riders. The music builds as the car appears to be gaining speed around a large glowing yellow planet building up to a dramatic climax. The ride ends as the car takes a sudden right turn, and a less foreboding variation of the original theme is heard (Disney's form of a musical happy ending) as you pass through doors leading back into the loading dock.