Space Mountain (Former Sponsors)

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Space Mountain (Former Sponsors)

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RCA: Here's to the Future and You!

When Space Mountain opened in 1975, it was sponsored by RCA. As guests entered the attraction, they would hear an instrumental of "Here's to the Future" and see Nipper the RCA dog sitting in a spaceship. The saucer would slowly rotate and said "RCA Welcomes You to Space Mountain".

The exit speedramp back to Tomorrowland was known as the Home of Future Living until 1985. Various scenes of a family were shown interacting with technology such as televisions and video disc players. The "Here's to the Future" song was heard again but this time it had lyrics:

Here's to the future!

Here's to the future and you!

It's a world full of color, of perfect harmony.

A world full of music, a living melody.

The dreams of tomorrow are beginning today.

It's a world of discovery, the world of RCA.

There's knowledge and vision, of spaceships in flight.

Dimension in sound, achievements in sight.

So here's to the future, that's coming into view.

It's a world of living color and pleasure just for you.

RCA leads the way.

Leads the way.

RCA leads the way.

Leads the way.

After 1985, the postshow was known Planet RCA and then RYCA 1/Dream of a New World. As guests traveled past on the speedramp, they could view futuristic uses of electronics at home and the office, as well as see themselves on television monitors.

Space Mountain RCA Building New Tomorrows

(Photo courtesy of Ray McPartlin.)

Rocket Seating

Marcus Wright remembers the old seating configuration for Space Mountain: "Space Mountain used to have a different ride car configuration that was replaced somewhere around 1981(?). Instead of each car having three individual seats, the cars had two double seats with the front person sitting between the back person's legs. Each person was held in place with a flimsy safety belt instead of the bars used today."

RD Sussman adds to Marcus's recollections: "This is partially correct - yes, the original bobsled style cars were used (with seat belts) up into 1988/1989. In the rehab of 1988/89 the rockets were removed and replaced by the original U-bar lap bar systems and the seating to three seats in each half of the rockets. A later modification in 2009 during the extended rehab again changed the rockets to a T-Bar configuration.

I recall this vividly, as in August of 1989, my family returned to WDW and I made a bee-line to Space Mountain first thing, just to find the "new" rockets being different from the old ones. Space Mountain still rode as wonderful as it had 18 months previously, but with the lap restraints now taking the place of the seat belts.

I remember the old bobsled-rockets fondly, as they were nearly identical to the Matterhorn Bobsled "sleds"). For a 13 year old, they provided quite a thrill, as being small for my age meant you could slide around in the seats if you were seated alone! It was a magical experience and one that changed me for good as a long-term coaster enthusiast and one that cherishes the various Space Mountain(s) around the world.

Space Mountain Astronaut statue Walt Disney World Tomorrowland

(Photo courtesy of Brotherdave.)

FedEx: "In the Future Packages Will Be Sent By Beams of Light!"

Space Mountain was later sponsored by FedEx starting in 1993. The queue areas ran an entertaining loop that was supposedly Space Mountain Mission Control channel surfing on the Space Mountain satellite. Much of the news visuals consisted of z-grade science fiction movies and vintage space footage. Clips included:

A "UFO Network" promo for the TV show "My Favorite Earthling".

A home shopping channel clip of an alien hand modeling a ring. "And doesn't it look lovely on Sharon?"

Charles "Roger Rabbit" Fleischer appeared as Crazy Larry, a used spaceship and satellite salesman.

The Blast Off Channel. "All rockets, all the time"

The Pan Galactic News Network (PNN) "Give us 20 billion nanoseconds and we'll give you the galaxy!" (The network name may have been a reference to the Pan Galactic Pizza Port restaurant in Tokyo Disneyland's Tomorrowland). The newscasters were Pam Pulsar and Dirk Tachyon.

News included a story about "President Garco" (this was old footage from "The Wonderful World of Disney"), news about the first baby "goroxodon" born in captivity, footage of the Miss Supernova pageant, news that intergalactic vandals had struck on Venus ("defacing the surface of the planet Venus with a 7,000 mile W, or perhaps an M?"), and "historic" news of alien envoys landing on Earth. Wendy Beryllium then gave the traffic report, illustrated by clips of asteroids. A teaser for "brain food having startling side effects" was then shown.

A FedEx ad followed the news. "Trans Millennium guarantees your package on time or else-they feel really bad."

PNN then came back on and Ray Cathode gave an interplanetary fashion report, illustrated by footage of a 1960s futuristic fashion show.

Space Mountain Mission Control appeared again to apologize for "losing reception" and promising to find more news.

Another Crazy Larry ad appeared where he listed the satellites he had for sale. "Find me a better deal and I'll eat a meteor!"

An "SMTV" video was shown of "Ghost Riders in the Sky" by surfer guitarist Dick Dale and featuring NASA footage of astronauts.

Some rapid channel surfing then occurred which featured another Crazy Larry commercial, a commercial in an alien language for "aspirin free" headache medicine, another FedEx ad ("I used Ozone Express, they had a coupon."), and yet another Crazy Larry ad advertising "free floor mats" before landing back on the PNN.

The news discussed warring cyborgs on Neptune and plans announcing the Mall of Mars. Wendy Beryllium then gave a weather report. As the news went to a commercial, it was stated that XS Tech (The teleporting company from the Alien Encounter attraction) was the sponsor. Wendy then gave the extended forecast for the Earth, which concluded with a giant comet "smashing into Earth and extinguishing all life sometime in the next hundred million years." Pam then discussed a new law about pet owners having to clean up after their pets. The sports news featured the Lunar Olympics.

The Trans Millennium FedEx ad was then repeated, followed by a promo for a TV show called "Outer Space Bloopers". Crazy Larry came on yet again, this time shilling for weather satellites.

Space Mountain Mission Control then came on to say they would continue to scan for "up to the minute news broadcasts".

A parody of "Lifestyle of the Rich and Famous" was then shown.

SMTV then showed space footage set to "Bossa Supernova" by The Sun Spots.

Crazy Larry appeared yet again and said he had "27 convenient locations in the universe".

The TV then flipped the channel to a "robosize" show with "RU-XL". "Shake those servos".

A third FedEx ad was shown of an astronaut receiving a shipment containing a TV so he could watch a ballgame. "When you can't live without it, use FedEx."

The exit was redesigned as The FX-1 Teleport and showcased how packages would be sent in the future. It originally had narration that began: "In the future packages will be sent by beams of light!" Scientists were shown excavating dinosaur bones and beaming them to a lab staffed by a robot and the "Lab Retriever" (a robot dog) holding one of the bones in his mouth. The narration was removed once FedEx ceased sponsorship in 2003 and was replaced by an instrumental score while signs explained what was happening. The postshow was removed in 2009. The robot at the beginning of the exit was retained, as well as most of the actual set of the old postshow. Instead of packages being beamed to a lab, TV monitors now advertise planetary destinations. The old lab scene is now a fancy hotel with a robot waiter. In 2018 the speedramp was removed and guests now walk past the scenes and into the Tomorrowland Light & Power gift shop to exit.

A sign on the wall stated that "Teleportation units digitize and transmit fossils back to the lab."

Another sign says "The fossils arrive safely via the lab receiver."

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See ya real soon!