Mission To Mars
Guests were taken on a simulated trip to see the famous "red planet."
ID:
TMS-491
Dates Open:
Replaced By:
Land:
Photos:
Construction: 18
Onstage: 16
Backstage: 0
Articles:
23
Ride Layout:
Ride Duration:
15 minutes
Deaths Injuries:
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
USB Drive:
Video Length:
15:11
Video Excerpt:
Rumble Link:
Movie Tie-In:
Google Maps:
Wikipedia:
Patents:
SPECIFICATIONS
Trip Time:
15:00
TRIP TIME
From dispatch to unload.
Mission To Mars Photos:
Construction Photos
Once man landed on the moon in 1969 Disneyland Flight To The Moon attraction might as well been called flight to the
moon-dane. So Disneyland's designers did what NASA would eventually do target a new heavenly body thus in 1975 an upgraded
enlarged flight simulation attraction called Mission To Mars debuted in Flight To The Moon space next to Tomorrowland's
big Carousel theater.
Considering how different Mars is from the Moon the two flights were surprisingly similar the sponsor the McDonnell Douglas
Aerospace company hadn't changed and neither had the price both rides required a "D" ticket.
The pre-show Mission Control area for the Mars mission looked and operated the same way it had for the Moon flight overseeing
the mission controllers was Mr. Johnson no longer Tom Morrow from the lunar mission. A dignified mechanical scientist with a
headset glasses lab coat and a clipboard. Johnson discuss space travel and the Mars vehicle played the incoming bird gag that
Tom Morrow had used before the Moon Flight and then excused everyone for boarding.
As with the flight to the Moon over guests set in a circular theater and watch two screens one on the floor and one on the
ceiling that show them where they have been and where they were going. Small screens positioned around the edge of the theater
provide additional views of the 15-minute journey. After liftoff felt through the seats with a lowering and raising effect and
after the moon came into the view on the overhead screen a speedy jump through hyperspace brought the red planet quickly
into range camera probes beamed back surface details of the Martian canyons and mountains until a sudden meteor shower
impelled the main ship to dash back to Earth
23 Rides That Have Shut Down And The Surprising Reasons Why
Dateline: July 1, 2022
Status: Current
Source: insider.com
Rocket to the Moon closed and inspired several futuristic flight rides were equally unsuccessful.
Rocket to the Moon was a Disneyland opening day attraction in 1955 that placed guests in a giant rocket ship, or moonliner, standing in Tomorrowland. The futuristic simulation ride was sponsored by the now defunct airline TWA (Trans World Airline).
How Did Walt Disney Vision Of A Futuristic Metropolis Become A Quaint Symbol Of A Bygone Era
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Dateline: September 5, 2017
Status: Archive
Source: slate.com
When Disneyland opened its doors in Anaheim, California, on July 17, 1955, the word astronaut was not yet a household term. But a bright white rocketship towered over Tomorrowland (and, in fact, the entire park), poised to blast off into soon-to-be explored galaxies. Behind it stood a geometric space station, red letters over the entrance labeling it "Rocket To The Moon,"
Disney Getting Good At Recycling Movie Ideas From Disneyland Rides
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Dateline: April 19, 2017
Status: Archive
Source: Orange County Register
If Disney CEO Bob Iger ends up running for California governor - as has been rumored - I'm sure that the environment will stand atop his platform, because nobody in the entertainment business recycles more than Disney.
Animated movies becoming live action films, movies becoming theme park rides, theme park rides becoming movies. It's the Circle of Life, Hollywood
9 Extinct Disneyland Attractions You Probably Never Knew Existed
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Dateline: January 26, 2017
Status: Archive
Source: businessinsider.in
Over 60 years ago, Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California. In the decades since, Walt Disney's original theme park vision has undergone changes both big and small. Rides, attractions, and entire swaths of land have sometimes been overhauled or torn down to make way for modern amusements.
But thanks to documentaries and numerous Disney bloggers, we can still look
Todays Future
Dateline: January 9, 2017
Status: Current
Source: MickeyMousePark.com
During the rush of getting the Park constructed, "Tomorrowland" was the last land finished. Budget cuts didn't allow all of its attractions to be opened that first day. One of those cuts was to use the "Nautilus" sets from "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" as a walk-through. When it closed in 1966, the organ belonging to Captain Nemo was moved to the ballroom of the "Haunted
This Is How Disneyland Changed In The 1990s
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Dateline: July 15, 2016
Status: Archive
Source: Orange County Register
It was a "Fantasmic!" start for Disneyland in the 1990s, and the decade ended with a new Tomorrowland and the disappearance of the parking lot.
1990-92
Not much happened for the first two years in terms of changes or additions of new attractions until 1992. Mission to Mars had its last flight and was grounded. In New Orleans Square, something new was coming to
This Is How Disneyland Looked In The 1970s
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Dateline: July 14, 2016
Status: Archive
Source: Orange County Register
The seventies at Disneyland started with an invasion, then went into space, and ended with a wild ride in the frontier.
Unfortunately for Disneyland, the riots that had been happening in cities across America during the latter half of the sixties and some of the protesters turned their attention to Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom. On Aug. 6, 1970, the Yippies (an
Dangerous Disneyland Mental Fatigue Part 1
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Dateline: January 6, 2016
Status: Archive
Source: MickeyMousePark.com
Disneyland gets sued for injuries and deaths all of the time. Believe me, I get that accidents happen, but most of these tourists are simply victims of their own stupidity. Mild disclaimer: a few of these I've read about on only one site, so I'm not entirely sure they happened. Now, let's get down to business.
Matterhorn, Space, and Thunder Mountains are not most
One Reporter's Tortured Quest To Meet Disneyland's Anna And Elsa
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Dateline: April 25, 2014
Status: Archive
Source: Yahoo
Children, you have no idea what your parents endure to get you a little "Frozen."
Merchandise is scarce. Birthday parties with official tie-in decorations are nearly impossible to pull off. And the theme-park lines to meet Anna and Elsa, the sibling royals at the heart of the world's highest-ever-grossing animated movie, are long.
Very, very, very long.
I
Best Places To Eat At Disneyland
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Dateline: February 27, 2013
Status: Archive
Source: CBS
Disneyland may be where all childhood dreams come true, but Disneyland is also quickly becoming a foodie mecca as well. With a wide array of culinary pleasures to choose between, from carts to fine dining, here are our picks for best Disneyland eats.
On The Go
For a quick bite on the go without the muss and fuss of sitting to eat because you've got places to
Still Returning After 36 Years
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Dateline: September 3, 2012
Status: Archive
Source: Stuff.co.nz
Having first visited Disneyland as a 2-year-old, Fairfax journalist James Croot reflects after his recent sixth visit.
"To all who come to this happy place: Welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past, and here youth may savour the challenge and promise of the future."
Walter E Disney's words when he opened his theme park in
California vs. Blackpool: General
Dateline: September 1, 2011
Status: Current
Source: MickeyMousePark.com
Earlier in the year, I wrote an article for DLDHistory.com comparing the Alice in Wonderland ride in Disneyland to Alice's Wonderland at Pleasure Beach Blackpool (the most visited theme park in the United Kingdom).
As I have recently come back from a week's vacation in Blackpool (and seeing as my main article this month was shorter than usual) I thought I would
Bill Justice, Walt Disney Studios Animator Worked On Fantasia And Bambi
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Dateline: February 10, 2011
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Source: allaboutjazz.com
Bill Justice, a former Walt Disney Studios animator who worked on classics such as "Fantasia," "Bambi" and "Alice in Wonderland" and later joined Walt Disney Imagineering where he helped program Audio-Animatronics figures for attractions at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, died Thursday, a day after he turned 97.
Justice died of natural causes in a nursing home in
Finding Nemo, Not Memories
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Dateline: July 8, 2007
Status: Archive
Source: Dallas Morning News
Disneyland is well-known for its "Imagineers," the people who combine imagination and engineering to create the spectacular. Their most amazing work, of course, is seen in commercials for the "Happiest Place on Earth."
Ever notice how Disneyland isn't crowded in the commercials? With some serious Imagineering, and a few actors, the most-crowded place on Earth looks
Video Calling Lets You See The Big Picture
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Dateline: August 18, 2006
Status: Archive
Source: Tacoma Daily
I remember visiting Disneyland as a child and digging Tommorrowland. When I was older, not only could I expect the promise of taking a Flight to the Moon and partaking in a Mission to Mars, but I'd be using one of those spiffy video phones. Maybe some aspects of Tomorrowland should have found a home in Fantasyland, but I can now see who I'm talking to while they're in
Looking Back The Year In Tomorrow
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Dateline: January 2, 2004
Status: Archive
Source: Orange County Weekly
Was a time when Tomorrow was big. Back in the '60s and '70s, despite-or perhaps because of-Vietnam and nuclear missiles, Tomorrow was a good place to be. They even gave it a name: Tomorrowland. Unlike the rest of Disneyland's fluff, Tomorrowland had the feel of an exhibit, a place where we learned that the future would burst with helpful robots, time-saving products,
A Bear Necessity
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Dateline: January 27, 1999
Status: Archive
Source: Spectrum
The Country Bear Jamboree, a 17-minute show made up of more than 20 audio-animatronic bears, originally opened as an "E" ticket ride in Walt Disney World Florida, as one of the premier attractions for the park's opening in 1971. Just one short year later, it opened here in our very own Anaheim Disneyland, in Bear Country to be exact, on March 24, 1972. It's been there
An Old Favorite Goes Under
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Dateline: September 3, 1998
Status: Archive
Source: Los Angeles Times
In the 1960s, there was no Ariel. We had living mermaids who greeted you from the rocks of the Submarine Voyage lagoon at Disneyland in Anaheim. If you were lucky, one would swim over with her big fin and wave through a porthole.
With ride operators who resembled sailor boys, the attraction was very romantic - "Guys and Dolls" meets "Beach Blanket Bingo" - even
Disney Reinvents The Future
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Dateline: June 15, 1998
Status: Archive
Source: Forbes
For the third time in its history, Disneyland has opened a revamped Tomorrowland. Gone are the impersonal chrome and steel of the old structures,
along with the Mission to Mars ride, the PeopleMover and the Circle-Vision
theater. In their place, Disney has built a kinder, gentler tomorrow with
buildings decorated in lush jewel tones and gardens filled with fruit
Imagine This If You Can.
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Dateline: February 5, 1997
Status: Archive
Source: Orange County Register
From Glendale Disneyland's new Tomorrowland won't open until May 1998, but in a drab gray and beige industrial building in Glendale the project already is mostly complete.
The building is part of Walt Disney Co.'s Imagineering complex, where ideas are put to paper and then crafted into models of the company's future endeavors. The model for the rebuilt Tomorrowland
Saving Disney From Itself
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Dateline: January 1, 1997
Status: Archive
Source: Harpers
Friends, the past few months have been a mere exercise in what is about to become the largest online and public battle against Disneyland-specifically its managers, starting with Paul Pressler. He is the one who will be held responsible for the destruction of Disneyland as we know it and as Walt planned it. I write this with a very heavy heart. I do not want my playground
With The Future Set In 1986, Tomorrowland Had To Change
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Dateline: March 22, 1996
Status: Archive
Source: Orange County Register
In announcing a renovation of Disneyland's Tomorrowland, Walt Disney Co. imagineers acknowledged that men on the moon, home computers and time had caught up to the land, one of the five original areas in the 42-year-old-park.
When Disneyland opened, "1986 sounded very futuristic," said Tony Baxter, senior vice president-creative development for Disney's imagineering
California's Disneyland
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Dateline: February 1, 1980
Status: Archive
Source: Better Homes & Gardens
Disneyland, the country's first truly big-time theme park, is located 27 miles southeast of Los Angeles in Anaheim. When the park opened in 1955, Walt Disney promised it would get bigger and better. Well, Disneyland is celebrating its 25th birthday this year, with a spectacle of special happenings. In fact, you may want to check into what's on tap when and schedule your
Voices:
Mr. Johnson - George Walsh
Third Officer Collins - Pete Renoudet
Theater held over 100 guests
In the 1970's required a "D" ticket
From 1970's Attraction Showmanship:
Here, Tomorrowland guests visit Mission Control manned by nine audio-animatronic figures, board a special transport, "blast-off," narrowly escape a meteor shower, experience the sensation of "weightlessness" in outer space and view a Mars colony's activity while "orbiting" the red planet.
After a six minute pre-show, McDonnell Douglas Corporation presents an eighteen minute rocket ride.
Prior to 1975, this attraction was called the "Rocket to the Moon" and featured a simulated trip to our closest space neighbor.
From Steve Birnbaum brings you the best of Disneyland 1982:
Many times over the years Disneyland planners have been reminded of the difficulties of attempting to portray a future that persists in becoming the present. This attraction represents one of them: it was originally called Flight to the Moon. Still under the sponsorship of McDonnell Douglas, it offers some displays of model air- craft in the preshow area that are almost as interesting at least to frequent travelers as the show itself. Inside the attraction, the vibrating and heaving of the seats and the terrific roars and hisses that play over the big sound system are fine, but there is also something of the sensation of being inside a giant washing machine. Kids are inevitably delighted. Presented by McDonnell Douglas.
LOBBY AREA
Live person: Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention please? When we leave this area in a moment, be sure to take along all your belongings....... including, your imagination. Our Mission to Mars takes place sometime in the future, when a sightseeing trip to the red planet is a everyday adventure. When you enter, please use all three isles, keep your group together, and move as far toward the end as you can.
MISSION CONTROL
Live person: Ladies and gentlemen, this is our McDonald Douglas Mission Control room at Disneyland Spaceport. The Director of Operations has been expecting you, and while we are waiting for our flight to be called, he take a few minutes to describe what's going on.Excuse me? Mr. Johnson? All the passengers for Flight 2-95 are now in the boarding area.
Mr. Johnson: Thank you. Welcome to Mission Control, space travelers. The first part of your trip to Mars today will be directed thru this room, and so will your landing when you return to Earth.As you can see on the large screen behind me, we're keeping track of things on one of our many manned space stations now in orbit. While the small screens below show other activities being monitored by Mission Control. I'll have them repeated on the upper screen also.
Instrument: Capcon, this is instrumentation
Capcon: Roger, SPO, starting port records and TV video tape recorders.
Instrument: Wilco.
Mr. Johnson: Now on the large screen again, you see a scientist aboard the space station at the controls of a large telescope trained on the sun. This kind of solar research was begin back in the early 1970's by the Skylab astronauts. And time-lapses pictures from space like this revealing new facts on how the sun produces energy, which may help us solve some of our own energy problems on earth. This is a very interesting part of the station. Where special manufacturing processes are carried out under weightless conditions. Here you see a close up picture of a groove being melted in a stainless steel plate. Done in zero G conditions, this imparts a quality to the metal that we can't get under earth gravity.
Skylab 09: Ahh, Mission Control, this is Space Lab 0-9er, stand by for new video on B channel.
Mr. Johnson: Now to a onboard microscope and time-lapses camera, we can see the way crystals form in zero G.
Skylab 09: Ah, Capcon, this is Skylab 0-9er. Request you transmit this recording to crystallography lab console, over.
Capcon: 0-9er, this is Capcon, Roger your request. Relay coming up via Goldstein, Capcon out.
Mr. Johnson: These space-born crystals are so pure that they are going to bring revolutionize advances in electronics, which will benefit everyone of us. In fact, they're so....
Announcer 1: ATTENTION! CLEAR ALL CHANNELS, POSSIBLE EMERGENCY REENTRY!
sirens going off
Mr. Johnson: Oh, no. Not again.
Announcer 1: STAND BY! VIDEO SIGNAL COMING IN ON ALL CHANNELS!
Mr. Johnson: Just as I thought. Somehow, this silly bird trips the emergency system every time he comes in. And I think he knows the laugh's on us.
Live person: (Laughs) Well, Mr. Johnson. Would you show us what it is like for people in zero gravity? That would be very interesting.
Mr. Johnson: Of course, just a moment.(Talking to a tech behind him) Patch us into Skylab video net please.
Tech: Roger, Mission Control.
Mr. Johnson: There you see how easy it is, to get from one place to another. You simply float thru the air. That takes some getting use to.... But zero G has some other advantages too, like this for example. One man can easily handle heavy pieces of scientific equipment, that he couldn't even move under normal gravity. Astronauts quickly adapted to zero G, but over extended periods, regular exercise is absolutely vital. Here are some off duty crew members working out in the station's gymnasium.
GSC Medical: This is GSC medical, now being monitored on camera's 27. For this exercise period, all SEGs normal, Heartrate - 120+.
Mr. Johnson: It's fun, but it isn't always as easy at it looks as you can see.With a little practice thou, you can do tricks that would make circus acrobat turn green with envy.
Intercom-female: All personal, switch to number two for status check.
Intercom-male: Port communications is go.Globally communications is go.
Intercom-female: Instrumentation?
Intercom-male: Instrumentation is go.
Intercom-female: All ship status....
Announcer2: Disneyland flight 2-9er-5 to Mars is now ready for boarding at gate number three.
Intercom-male: Go
Intercom-female: SPO?
Intercom-male: Go
Mr. Johnson: Now on the large monitor, you see your spacecraft, waiting on the launch pad. Count down is in progress, and all systems are go. Have a good flight.
Live person: Thank you Mr. Johnson. Ladies and Gentlemen, please follow me to the boarding gate.
INSIDE THE SPACE SHIP
Live person: Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome aboard our McDonald Douglas DC-88 space liner for today’s Mission to Mars. The captain has asked that you remain in your seat at all times. And please, no smoking.
Mr. Collins: Attention please, folks, this is Third Officer Collins speaking, I'm your tour guide today and I'll be telling you about what is going on during the trip. Right now we're on final countdown, and you can watch our lift off on the lower screen in your cabin. I'll speak to you again when we're in space.
Captain: Mission Control, this is Mars 2-9er-5, ready for departure.
Mission Control: 2-9er-5 Roger, countdown is go in T minus 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, ignition.
Blast off sounds
Mission Control: Mars 2-9er-5, auto-control terminated, your cleared for hyperspace penetration. Good Luck!
Captain: 2-9er-5
Mr. Collins: Ladies and Gentlemen, we have just dropped our booster engines and in a moment we'll make what we call a hyperspace jump. This new method of space travel which enables us to cover enormous distances in seconds. On the side screens our ships computer has drawn a diagram of our solar system, and we'll tip it over and move in closer so you can see where we are going. You'll noticed that the orbital velocity of the planets is exaggerated, but as we approach the inner planets, you can see that they move at the proper relative speed. Earth and Mars are anywhere between 35 million to 240 million miles apart at times. Which use to make a trip to Mars pretty tricky. For example, space ships had to follow a curved path for about eight months to intercept Mars when it reached a certain spot. [Laughs] It was like trying to hit a golf ball in California hard enough and accurately enough to make it go thru one particular window on a train arriving in Florida that much later. Today it's much easier, we simply launch out into space, until we reach Mars Acquisition Velocity, or MAV. Then we generate a hyperspace field around us for a short time. When we switch it off, the space craft is approaching Mars. Back in the seventy's and eighty's, this would seem like science fiction, but today it's routine. And we...
Captain: Attention all stations, Hyperspace penetration now commencing. Secure all ship operations.
Hyperspace jump
Captain: All stations, we are now in normal space mode. Resume all operations.
Mr. Collins: Well, folks, a hyperspace jump is always *interesting*, to say the least, but we are back in the real universe again, and on the upper screen you can see Mars as it actually appears close-up. The dark markings were once thought to be vegetation but their are actually just large areas where rocky surface material has been swept clear of top soil by high winds. Mars does have a very thin atmosphere but it contains no oxygen. There is no liquid water at all and temperatures are far below zero over most of the planet.
Captain: Attention all stations, outer lock is now open. Standby to launch camera drones.
Mr. Collins: Those small unmanned rocket ships you see leaving us will shortly be sending back television pictures as they fly near the surface. But we will continue our view from orbit also. Thru telescopic lens, Mars looks even more barren. And there's definitely no signs it being inhabitant. As we now know, something once thought to existed on Mars turns out to only illusions, such as the famous Marsian canals. But it does has some natural features that are almost as amazing. For example, this gigantic rift in Mar's surface called Mariner Valley, is over three thousand miles long, ten times bigger than the Grand Canyon back home. And for a planet for only half the size of earth, that's pretty impressive. This superimposed outline of the United States will give you an idea of it's size. Here's a closer view of the rift that one of our camera craft is approaching. In a few seconds, we'll have the picture it's sending back so watch the side screens, please. There's the picture, our camera ship is down in the rift now. Seeing this close, it looks quite Earth-like, but it's hard to get the scale of things, the wall there is almost four miles high, and the floor is about fifty miles across at this point. Even those branch canyons you see are six or seven miles wide and go back as much as one hundred miles from the main rift. This is no little canal by any means. On the upper screen we are switching to what is literately the high point of Mars. Olympus Mans, the biggest volcano in the whole universe, as we far as we know now. It's 370 miles wide at the base and over 75,000 feet high at the top. Two and a half times more then Mt. Everest, the highest point on Earth. Now on the side screen, is the picture from our other ship as it approaches the top of the cone. In just a moment it will drop down in the caldara, and you can see how big it really is. On earth, the largest caldaras are up to ten miles across, but that's forty miles to the opposite rim. Olympus appears to be extinct now, but just imagine what it was like when that entire area was a sea of boiling lava. Scientists estimate that...
warning beeper goes on
Mr. Collins: Just a moment, please....
Operations: Space Con, we show lost of signal on remote two, impact count is raising.
Mr. Collins: Ladies and Gentlemen, Our camera ship has been knocked out of control by a shower of meteoritic particles, we may encounter the same conditions...
Sirens, flashing lights
Operations: Space Con, this is operations, we have damage to primary ACS.
Captain: Emergency, prepare for space warp.
Mr. Collins: Ladies and Gentlemen, we are returning to Earth immediately. Be prepared for another space jump.
Hyperspace jump
Captain: Mission Control, this is Mars 2-9er-5, we're terminating emergency space warp. Are we cleared straight in?
Mission Control: 2-9er-5, this is Mission Control, affirmative your last transmission. You are priority one for descent, auto control is lock on, and we are counting to retro fire.
Captain: 2-9er-5
Mr. Collins: Ah, Ladies and Gentlemen, Heh heh heh, As you can see, we'll be on the ground soon. Everything is all right now, but ah, that was a close call. Actually the chances are a million to one against meeting another emergency like that, so please fly with us another time. There's a lot more to see on Mars. Now, please stand by for touch down.
Live person: Ladies and Gentlemen, the outer locks are now open and you may leave the spacecraft. Thank you for flying McDonald Douglas today, and we hope to see you soon.
Then And Now
