“We will go to the Moon, we will go to the planets, we will go to the stars; just as one goes today from Liverpool to New York, easily, quickly, surely, the oceans of space will soon be crossed like the oceans of the Moon!”
These words could easily be claimed by an aerospace engineer, but they actually belong to Michel Ardan, one of the heroes of the novel by Junes Verne entitled From the Earth to the Moon. While the Moon had not yet been reached in the story, the French adventurer already aspired to send travelers deeper into space!
Very much in the same spirit, Space Mountain: Mission 2 was imagined as a sequel to Space Mountain: From the Earth to the Moon. To make this second mission a reality, the Columbiad had to be recalibrated so that trains could be launched from the bottom of the cannon. By increasing the distance associated with the launch sequence, the rocket-shaped trains could now fly “beyond the Moon to the very edge of our universe” and encounter spectacular cosmic occurrences like comets and supernovas!
Officially opened on April 9th, 2005, Space Mountain: Mission 2 renewed Jules Verne’s dream by introducing a brand-new journey combining unique special effects with a thrilling futuristic soundtrack. This music actually inspired DJ Tiësto, who could not resist creating a remix during the concert celebrating the opening of the attraction.
Of course, the party didn’t stop there! The man behind the “Space Age” mix came back to Disneyland Paris just a few days later on April 16th for an exclusive event, foreshadowing the Electroland music festival which has been enlivening every summer at Walt Disney Studios Park since 2017.
But this is another story to be told…