Shooting Stars and Racing Rockets

In any of the parks or resorts of Walt Disney World things are always changing. If an attraction has been around for almost forty years it is bound to have seen a thing or two change, and I don’t just mean the wardrobe of the guests passing through its doors! Today we’re venturing back to 1978 and to the courtyard in front of Space Mountain.

The first thing to take note of is the skies above the entrance. The Skyway was running in these days and you can see a gondola coming into the station just out of frame on the right. Also in the skies about Space Mountain is the model rocket complete with four passengers in spacesuits, racing down the RCA pylon. Those are the big, obvious things to notice in this photograph, but let’s also take note of the smaller items.

An older version of Mickey Mouse is greeting guests out and about in front of Space Mountain. The photo is in black and white, but you can see the stripes of the original blue, white, and grey color exterior color scheme, though there would have been some bursts of yellow and orange as you move closer into the entrance. There is also the matter of the original font of the attraction’s signage, the old-school mouse-eared balloons, and even a Tomorrowland trash can.

There is always something changing, and there are always stories to find in the old photographs of Walt Disney World, even if it is just the wardrobe of the guests passing through! I mean, just look at some of those pants!