Walt Disney World’s Space Mountain debuts on-ride (but off-board) music soundtrack

in Disney, Theme Parks, Walt Disney World

space mountain

Credit: Disney

Disney debuted a new musical soundtrack accompanying a trip aboard Space Mountain at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. It’s an addition that has been long-rumored, even before last year’s refurbishment, that has finally come to fruition.

Unlike other Space Mountain attractions in Disney theme parks around the world, the new music found aboard Orlando’s Space Mountain is not played via speakers on the ride cars themselves, but rather heard through speakers carefully placed along the ride’s track.

One early rider tells me that despite the fact that the new music is not played within the ride vehicles, it still does synchronize with the ride’s movements well and is similar in style to Disneyland’s current Space Mountain music in California, created by composer Michael Giacchino.

Update: The new music for Walt Disney World’s Space Mountain was composed by Mike Brassell, (TTA) and the Living with the Land attraction at Epcot. The new poster art seen here was created by Walt Disney Imagineering artist Josh Holtsclaw.

The new songs were reportedly created in three different sections and are subsequently played back via 60 new speakers, allowing riders along different parts of the ride track to hear different segments of the score, staying in time with the ride.

Update: Disney has released some official information regarding the addition of music to Orlando’s Space Mountain. They’re cleverly calling it “Starry-O-Phonic Sound” and have accompanied their announcement with the following note from the Space Mountain Project Team:

Today, Tomorrowland in Magic Kingdom park launches a new era ins Super Sonic Space Travel! Now all flights departing from Space Mountain will zoom across the galaxies in the new dimension of Starry-O-Phonic Sound!

Space was once a silent voice, but now, every twist and turn on your galactic journey will be accompanied by a zippy musical track, the whoosh of passing asteroids, and the rush of interstellar traffic, making your space voyage an all-encompassing cosmic joy-ride.

Space Mountain had a grand re-launch in November of 2009, but Starry-O-Phonic Sound is arriving a bit later, in the Summer of 2010. We needed the extra time to test every aspect of this hyperspace audio technology, without disrupting the continued on-time departures and arrivals of this busy space hub.

We hope you enjoy this new amenity, brought to you by Starport Seven-Five. The future of space travel is sounding better all the time!


Orlando’s Space Mountain originally opened in 1974 as the first roller coaster of its kind but has since become the last Space Mountain to receive a musical score. It reopened after a long refurbishment in November 2009 with enhancements to the queue, load area, and ride itself, but no music.

Here’s a video shot just after the November reopening (without the new music) showing the recent updates to the attraction:

Michael Giacchino’s score to Disneyland’s Space Mountain can be heard at home on the “Musical History of Disneyland” set, a collection of CDs highly-recommended to own for any Disney music fan.

View Comments (5)