Space Mountain is a steel roller coaster attraction in Tomorrowland at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. After the success of the Magic Kingdom's Space Mountain, the Imagineers made plans to build another on the United States West Coast. The ride opened on May 27, 1977, ten years after the original plans were made, and after Walt Disney's death. Originally, Space Mountain did not have a Synchronized On-Board Audio Track (SOBAT), but after the completion and success of Space Mountain: De la Terre à la Lune at Disneyland Paris, a soundtrack arranged by Dick Dale was added to the ride in 1996, then a new soundtrack by Michael Giacchino added for the 2005 reconstruction.
Space Mountain opened in 1977, invigorating a decade-old Tomorrowland as Disneyland's second roller coaster. The idea for Anaheim's ride originated in the mid 1960s, during Walt Disney's lifetime, as a way to energize the aging Tomorrowland. The project was shelved until the success of Space Mountain in Florida. After two years of construction, the $20 million complex opened May 27 including the roller coaster, 1,100-seat Space Stage, 670-seat Space Place (fast food restaurant) and Starcade.
Six of the original seven Mercury astronauts attended Space Mountain's opening — Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, Sen. John Glenn, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Deke Slayton. The lone exception was Gus Grissom, who had died along with two other astronauts in a tragic launchpad fire ten years earlier. Largely due in part to the opening of Space Mountain, the Memorial Day day attendance record was set, with 185,500 guests over the three-day period. Space Mountain at Disneyland was designed by Bill Watkins of Walt Disney Imagineering. It was different from the WDW design because of space limitations.
