On This Day In Disney History
Disneyland’s Space Mountain roller coaster opened 40 years ago today on May 27, 1977. I specify the attraction’s location at Disneyland because a seldom realized fact is that Space Mountain at Walt Disney World actually opened first just over two years prior. After the success of the attraction at WDW, Imagineers moved quickly to adapt the ride for Disneyland which had tighter space restrictions. The grand opening was a huge event that included six of the original seven Mercury astronauts as guests of honor including John Glenn and Alan Shepard. The reason the seventh astronaut, Gus Grissom, was not in attendance is that he had passed away ten years prior in the Apollo 1 fire tragedy.
Forty years later and Space Mountain continues to compete for the top spot on Disneyland’s most popular attraction list. In honor of this milestone anniversary, today’s
Souvenir Saturday allows you to bring Space Mountain home with you in the palm of your hand! I present to you the Space Mountain Metal Earth 3D Model Kit! This souvenir comes from an entire line of Disney Park icon and Star Wars ship models that are crafted out of sheets of shiny steel without the need for any type of glue. These model kits use a system of tabs and holes to assemble. I believe that it is required to have some tweezers or needle-nose pliers on hand to assist in the bending of the steel sheets. Also it would seem that a decent amount of patience is required although the finished product is well worth the work put in! While all the Metal Earth model kits are shiny metal, the shiny factor on the Space Mountain kit
specifically lends to a futuristic feel which is entirely appropriate in this case. The finished product is fairly small and appears to be between 2”-3” in diameter - literally fitting in the palm of your hand! These model kits can be purchased at Disneyland or Walt Disney World, and are also available in the Disney Store online shop. CLICK HERE to see all the different types of Metal Earth model kits available online! Also, the photos in this post are courtesy of disneystore.com.
