Most of Space Mountain’s intimidation factor stems from the fact the ride is in the pitch dark.
Take the actual Space Mountain roller coaster and put it in the middle of an open theme park and, eh, no big deal.
This photo of Space Mountain with all the lights turned on is still fascinating. While the photo is proof the ride isn’t that spectacular — though back in it’s day it was probably bad ass — to see how clean and pristine the ride looks is really quite fascinating. It also explains why the ride is down so frequently. They probably spend hours polishing that shit with a billion tiny toothbrushes.
In related news, Space Mountain with the lights turned off looks like Ric Flair’s crotch. WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
[via Reddit]