Why Disney’s Most Unique Space Mountain Disappeared after Just Ten Years

Since Space Mountain first opened at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in 1976, the indoor roller coaster-style attraction has become synonymous with Disney Parks. Versions of the ride have been built at every Disney destination in the world (except Shanghai, which got TRON: Lightcycle Power Run instead). However, while the Space Mountains in Anaheim, Tokyo, and Hong Kong are essentially the same experience as Orlando, Paris initially got something completely different.

This is the story of the how the European Resort got the most unique Space Mountain in the world — and why it only lasted a decade. 

©Disney

Disneyland Paris Origins

To understand how Paris got the Space Mountain it did, we have to go back to the park’s origins. The park, then known as Euro Disneyland, was designed by a team of second-generation Imagineers led by the legendary Tony Baxter. Instead of building a carbon copy mixture of Disneyland and Magic Kingdom, as had been done in Tokyo, Baxter and company chose to go in a different direction with the park. While similar in layout and land themes, Euro Disneyland would have a hyper-realistic attention to detail and story, linking the attractions within each land to a grander story and mythology.

Discoveryland

Of all the park’s lands, Euro Disneyland’s Tomorrowland was the most radically reinvented in the design process. Gone was the space-age, post-modern design of Anaheim, Orlando, and Tokyo, and its place was Discoveryland: a steampunk “future that never was” inspired by the writings of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. During this initial planning, the land’s main attraction was supposed to be a massive showcase attraction known as Discovery Mountain. 

The massive “mountain” was planned to house a full-scale version of Captain Nemo’s Nautilus submarine in a lagoon (complete with underwater restaurant), a clone of EPCOT’s Horizons attraction, a Disneyland Railroad station, a free fall tower themed to Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth, and most importantly a version of Space Mountain based upon Jules Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon. The multiple interconnected attractions housed in one themed-show building complex was reminiscent of Marc Davis’s legendary Thunder Mesa project, and, unfortunately would meet a similar fate.

Discovery Mountain Concept Art

As construction on the Paris Resort began in earnest, Discovery Mountain – and its astronomical budget – was one of the first things cut. Instead of being cancelled, the project was shifted to Phase 2 of the Resort, meaning that Disney planned to build it 3-5 years after the Resort opened to draw repeat visitors back and keep the park fresh. However, as we’ve seen before, pushing projects to Phase 2 only works if Phase 1 goes according to plan, and the opening of EuroDisneyland certainly didn’t go according to plan. 

The opening of EuroDisneyland was, to put it mildly, a disaster. Thousands of words could be dedicated to the reasons why (we dug into it here), but for our purposes, the short version is that an economic downturn combined with an overbuilt number of hotel rooms and hostility from many French citizens nearly doomed the Resort. Attendance was well below expectations, which in turn led to much lower than anticipated profits. Suffice to say, Disney desperately needed to save their new park, and they turned to Space Mountain to do so. Disney quickly green-lit the attraction in an attempt to revive the park’s fortunes. However, it wouldn’t be the originally planned Discovery Mountain, as everything except the coaster was cut.

Space Mountain Concept Art

While it wasn’t the massive complex that was initially planned, the version of Space Mountain (changed from Discovery Mountain just weeks before opening) that opened in Discoveryland was different than anything Disney had ever built before. For starters, it was a full-out, technologically advanced thrill ride. The coaster featured an uphill catapult that launched riders from 0 to 44 mph in 1.8 seconds, had three inversions, and boasted synced on-board audio — all firsts for a Disney attraction. The ride did not sacrifice story for thrills, however, as the entire coaster was meticulously themed to Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon (In fact, the attraction’s full official name at opening was Space Mountain: De la Terre à la Lune). 

Space Mountain in Disneyland Paris

These thematic details included a heavily themed queue which put guests in the Baltimore Gun Club, preparing to be launched in the organization’s “Columbiad Cannon” (the launch tunnel that catapults riders to begin the ride). During the attraction itself, guests sped through space past asteroid mining equipment and other space related props before reaching the moon (styled after the moon as seen in Georges Méliès’ 1902 movie adaptation of Verne’s novel) before returning to Earth. 

[Disney]
Space Mountain: De la Terre à la Lune was a massive success upon its opening in 1995. Not only was the attraction critically acclaimed, but it also helped save the Resort financially. It’s opening led to a profit of $22.8 million for the year, the first time the Resort was in the black in its history. For the next decade, the attraction remained the Resort’s signature E-Ticket attraction. However, in 2005 Disney once again needed to call upon Space Mountain to save the Resort financially, this time for the worse. 

After several years of relative financial stability, the Disneyland Paris Resort (as it was then known) was once again thrown into uncertainty thanks to the 2002 opening of the Walt Disney Studios Park. The second gate was not well-received, as the park was quite small with few attractions. Desperate to turn things back around with a big new attraction to draw in crowds without spending too much money, Disney decided to retheme Space Mountain. 

Mission 2

While they changed nothing structurally about the coaster, Disney removed nearly all of the Steampunk/Verne theming – and the attraction’s story along with it. The Victorian-era props were replaced with more modern designs, the moon at the ride’s climax became a supernova, and the story became a generic “trip to space” just like the other Space Mountains around the world. This version of the attraction was known as Space Mountain: Mission 2. 

While Mission 2 remained a popular E-Ticket ride, especially with thrill-seekers, many Disney fans missed the initial incarnation. When the coaster went down for a major refurb in 2017, some got their hopes up that the classic journey to the moon was returning. However, it wasn’t meant to be. Instead, the ride reopened as Hyperspace Mountain, themed to the Star Wars films. The attraction now features a queue and props themed to the film franchise, with almost no traces of the original Jules Verne theme remaining. 

[Disney]
For a decade, Disneyland Paris featured a Space Mountain that couldn’t be found anywhere else in the world. Space Mountain: De la Terre à la Lune was a masterpiece of  Imagineering, mixing thrills and story like few other attractions ever have.

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Did you have a chance to experience it during its all-too-short lifespan? Let us know in the comments below.

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12 Replies to “Why Disney’s Most Unique Space Mountain Disappeared after Just Ten Years”

  1. I am old enough to remember the first year of the Euro Disneyland opening, me and my sister were planning our only day in the park back in the summer of 1992. Following this, we were back again the first year of the Space Mountain opening, I still remember vividly how amazing it was to follow the details of the story of the ride.
    Went back again for Mission 2, a lot of the old decoration were removed but at least the cannon was still there and still as impressive.
    This year, for the 30th anniversary of the park, I was very sadden to discover the HyperSpace Mountain ride, almost everything has been removed from the old decoration, even the cannon isn’t active anymore. Worst of it, our ride got stuck barely 15 sec after the start and during the whole weekend, it did not run.
    I am very afraid that within the next 10 years the ride would be fully removed. A very sad for one of the most unique rides in Disney.

  2. I was at the opening when Space mountain at Disney paris first opened. My mum had won tickets. Together with a bus filled with winners, me and my mum went. However, only the winners (not their +1’s) could be on the “1st ride”. My mum doesn’t like rollercoasters and I was 10 or 11 so I wasn’t looking forward to spend a day at the park without my mum. So my mum gave her place for the 1st ride to the chauffeur driving our coach bus (he was so thrilled, the Dutch tv station who had organised the giving away of the tickets, even put the chauffeur in the front seat of the ride). My mum and I had an amazing weekend and we met celebs from all over Europe at the opening ceremony party (as a ten year old I was very impressed by them). So although I wasn’t on that 1st ride, I have lots of memories from that Jules Verne inspired ride. It was so much more detailed and intricate than the current version too.

  3. I was lucky enough to ride in 1997 while in college and studying abroad. Being from California and growing up at Disneyland, I could not wait to share how different and special this version was. I am glad to have experienced it but sad that it’s no longer.

  4. I visited Disneyland Paris in 2004, just before the refurbishments started. The Columbiad Cannon already had construction walls around it, but every other part of the mountain was intact. I absolutely LOVED De La Terre a la Lune! The music, the ride, the Jules Verne theming, the queue…everything was perfect. All these years later it’s still my favourite ride in ALL Disney parks I’ve visited (Paris, Orlando, Anaheim). I wish that, somehow, the original design would return and bring us the gorgeous themes that De La Terre a la Lune gave us.

  5. When I first spotted this coaster, I saw people screaming in the first shot uphill. I was puzzled, as in those days few coasters gave people reasons to scream in the beggining, let alone uphill! So, although my husband hates coasters and my son was too young to try, I was determined to checking it myself. In a break when the lines were short, I went by myself. When I was first shot up that tunnel with an astounding acceleration, I immediate realized why people screamed. I screamed too. And had a blast!

  6. Rode both the original & Mission 2 versions. The original was a sheer delight with outstanding theming inside & out. Mission 2 was fun, but it was a much rougher ride, especially the inversions.

  7. Great story on Space Mountain for Disneyland Paris. My family and I rode it in 2006 and we loved it! The ride was a little rougher than expected but still a great coaster. Felt like we were being shot out of a cannon which was so much fun!!!

    1. I love love love Disney I children were practically raise there! Sad that the cost of one ticket for one day times couple grandbabies later,still love Disney Bring some joy back make a cheap time for grannies and children

  8. Thanks so much for this story. I was lucky enough to go to (then) Euro Disneyland when it was the Jules Vern theme and had no idea it has changed until seeing this article. I have said many times that is was the best ride in all of the Disney Theme parks because it put everything into one ride, a great story, an original musical soundtrack that synced perfectly with the ride, and a unique theme that fit that Tomorrowland the best.