In my college days, I spent a lot of time on a website called Subsonic Radio; it still exists, but it's not as important today as it was then.
Once upon a time, it was one of the few places you could hear Disney parks streaming audio, from a massive library. There were ride throughs, ambient noise, extinct attractions, quality background music, and tons of incredibly obscure stuff. It functioned like a jukebox, where you would put in a request, and that would be added to the queue of audio that would play in the future. Sometimes it would be right away, sometimes you'd have to wait hours. I never had too much trouble listening to other people's selections, though; the site was the constant BGM of my dorm.
Eventually, two pieces of audio ended up being selected so often, however, that they had to be given their own 24/7 channel so other stuff could be played. One was Soarin', the ride where I focused my blog post on talking about the importance of music.
The other was Space Mountain's "Star Tunnel."
"Star Tunnel," while not emblematic specifically of the entire Space Mountain experience, in a way can be used to talk about what makes Space Mountain so special. It is unlike anything else anywhere, just so unique, surreal, and almost dreamlike. That's what Space is, but every step of the way it does that in a different way.
Part of why the Tomorrowland mountain ends up so high on this list is because it was a Walt Disney World original, something not every attraction above it can claim, though it wasn't supposed to be. Though he didn't survive to see it, this futuristic rollercoaster was an idea of Walt Disney himself, wanting to take the success of the Matterhorn and put it in the future. On his Carrollwood Pacific Railroad in his backyard, he had a more difficult s-curve tunnel installed, because he felt the darkness added excitement and mystery; now he wanted an entire rollercoaster like that. The legendary John Hench -- who had an incredible gift for including futurism in his work -- designed a spaceport with rocket ships flying around inside and out (and eventually just inside).
For a variety of reasons, Hench and Walt's awesome concept got pushed off to the back-burner, but was dusted off when the newly-opened Magic Kingdom needed a thrill ride. Ironically, pushing forward on Space meant Thunder Mesa -- and its accompanying mine train coaster -- was delayed, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad opened at Disneyland first instead while the space coaster originally meant for Disneyland was getting built.
A huge, stark-white, conical building with Hench's signature spires was built in the back of Tomorrowland to house the coaster, and still serves as the icon of the land and one of the signature designs of Walt Disney World. Inside that building, they did more than just build a rollercoaster. Almost every coaster at Walt Disney World does more to introduce thrills in its track layout and elements, but Space sits here as the most highly ranked coaster on property despite that. The attraction is far more than the sum of its parts, and a simplistic early-70s coaster track; it's an entire experience.
To be absolutely clear, "Star Tunnel" is a big part of why it sits here. I remember the main channel had bumpers -- like radio station identification -- and one of them started with "Star Tunnel," and every time I got excited that it was about to start playing, only to realize it was just a snippet. Again, the song is so beloved it forced the creation of its own channel because it's so popular.
The queue for Space is one of the most beautiful designs on property. It feels absolutely surreal and wonderous, like you are somehow able to just walk down a hallway and end up in space. It neither tries to overexplain that, nor try and hide it; it just is, living up to the "Fantasy" brand of its home park.
In a long, dark hallway, you look out windows on immaculate star fields, and planets and space stations created with Pepper's Ghost effects. They are not convincingly real, but more like charmingly surreal. There's beauty in their simplicity and heart; like you can feel the designers sincere hope in showing you something special. All set to one of the best songs anywhere in the parks.
For most of the ride's history, after that you stood in switchbacks gazing up at the stars, listening to the shouts of riders in the inky darkness. It was one of the most memorable experiences anywhere, while simultaneously being absolutely breathtaking. That has been replaced by wonderful murals of space above, which serve double-duty of making the ride inside even darker. Both have value, and I'm fortunate to have experienced both.
The ride itself is also something unique, not just for having two mirrored tracks to double capacity. As coasters get bigger and power powerful, there's something exhilarating about riding in Space Mountain's rocket ships. They are so small, so close to the track, that you feel somehow exposed; you can sense how close you are to the rails, and how little is between you and the outside. On most rollercoasters, you feel like you are sitting in a full piece of plastic and steel, meant to protect and insulate you. On Space, you feel like you are strapped into a vehicle that just barely exists -- like a boxcar instead of a family sedan. The thrill that comes from the unpredictability of the darkness is obvious -- and the Florida version makes the most of this with dips, hills, and turning both directions instead of just right over and over -- but there's more to what makes Space tick, even at just 28 miles per hour.
The kitschy sci-fi details add a ridiculous amount of allure on top of that, with so much unnecessary detail. You don't just get dispatched to a lift hill, you roll through some kind of light show. The lift hill takes you along a detailed Hench starship design, where you at once watch space walking astronauts and other riders zipping past, before cresting for an awesome shot of the projections on the ceiling. On your way out, you pass wonderfully detailed dioramas -- which have changed over the years -- of future living, in scenery that would belong in a quality dark ride.
Space is getting a ton of credit for being a trailblazer, as well. It was the first attraction designed by computers, and the first rollercoaster in the world controlled by computers. It is absolutely critical to the history of the theme park, and that's a big part of what we're doing on this list. Space Mountain was the promise of tomorrow, made reality, inside Tomorrowland itself. Not just ideas and themes, but practical application.
Its place in history doesn't mean it isn't still a wonderful experience, though, and that's what gets you to the seventh spot. To this day, the sheer whimsy, imagination, and excitement of Space Mountain shines through, and it remains like nothing else in this world or the next.
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