Mission to Mars was an attraction located in

Tomorrowland Tomorrowland is one of the many themed lands featured at all of the Magic Kingdom styled Disney theme parks around the world owned or licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Each version of the land is different and features numerous attractions t ...

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney in ...

and at

Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, th ...

Magic Kingdom Magic Kingdom Park, previously known as Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom (1971–1994) and The Magic Kingdom (1994–2017), is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando, Florida. Owned and operated by The W ...

. It originally opened as Rocket to the Moon at Disneyland in 1955, and as Flight to the Moon in Walt Disney World on Christmas Eve 1971, before it was retooled to the Mars version in 1975. It then closed down in 1992 and 1993, respectively. The attraction simulated taking guests on a space trip to the Moon or Mars. The attraction was adapted by Disney into a feature film in 2000.

History

The show was originally named Rocket to the Moon, and it opened in 1955 along with

. The ride was refurbished as Flight to the Moon in 1967. On March 21, 1975, the destination was changed to

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

because humans had already been to the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

. During that time, the attraction was considerably dated. The show was initially sponsored by

McDonnell-Douglas McDonnell Douglas was a major United States, American Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor, formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its o ...

. After sponsorship ended, logos referring to the company were removed from the attraction, but the outline of the stylized tail fin in the McDonnell-Douglas logo still remained part of the building's

façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a Loanword, loan word from the French language, French (), which means 'frontage' or 'face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often t ...

Alien Pizza Planet Alien Pizza Planet is a restaurant located in Tomorrowland#Disneyland (California), Tomorrowland at Disneyland! in Anaheim, California in the United States. The Atomic Age (design), Atomic Age-style restaurant opened as Redd Rockett's Pizza Port o ...

. After the show closed in 1992, McDonnell-Douglas merged with

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...

in August 1997 in a US $13 billion

stock swap In corporate finance a stock swap is the exchange of one equity-based asset for another, where, during the merger or acquisition, the swap provides an opportunity to pay with stock rather than with cash; see . Overview The acquiring company e ...

, with Boeing as the surviving company.

Show

The show was designed in cooperation with

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

and was basically a revised and updated version of the previous attraction Flight to the Moon. Guests would now be launched on a spacecraft into space and then approach the surface of the red planet Mars. Guests would first enter a viewing area known as ''Mission Control'', which was modeled after a typical mission control center with chairs and control panels for about ten seated Audio-Animatronic "technicians" whose backs were to the audience as they moved their heads and arms. Facing the audience was the Audio-Animatronic flight director Mr. Johnson. He would then talk and show film clips to explain how humans had made numerous advances in space travel and manufacturing in

microgravity The term micro-g environment (also μg, often referred to by the term microgravity) is more or less synonymous with the terms ''weightlessness'' and ''zero-g'', but emphasising that g-forces are never exactly zero—just very small (on the I ...

, and also learned how to deal with the effects of space. The lecture was interrupted once per show by an intruder alarm caused by a large bird crash-landing near the spacecraft launch pad. The voice of Mr. Johnson was provided by George Walsh, who also was the narrator on the television show

Gunsmoke ''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centers on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central character ...

as well as other Disney specials like ''Pacifically Peeking'', an episode of

Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color The Walt Disney Company has produced an anthology television series since 1954 under several titles and formats. The program's current title, ''The Wonderful World of Disney'', was used from 1969 to 1979 and again from 1991 to the present. The pr ...

and ''The Magic of Disneyland'' special. After the pre-show, guests would move on and finally board their spacecraft. Inside was a circular theater with stadium-like seating with circular flat screens on the ceiling and floor. During the mission, guests could look at the views from outside the spacecraft from either of these screens. There were also side screens that showed film clips or graphics. "Third Officer Collins", voiced by

Peter Renaday Peter Renaday is an American actor. His career spans several films and television shows. His major roles include Master Splinter in the ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'', as well as Abraham Lincoln in the Hall of Presidents, and Henry in Countr ...

, was the tour guide, and discussed the mission as the spacecraft explored space and Mars. Eventually, the ship was damaged, possibly by a volcanic eruption, and the ship had to quickly head back to Earth. The seats in the attraction would simulate the vibrations and

G-force The gravitational force equivalent, or, more commonly, g-force, is a measurement of the type of force per unit mass – typically acceleration – that causes a perception of weight, with a g-force of 1 g (not gram in mass measure ...

s from "Hyper-space" during take-offs and landings by filling up with compressed air. Finally, the spacecraft landed safely back on Earth and Officer Collins would then urge guests to return and visit again. As he explained, "there's a lot more to see on Mars".

Disneyland

The attraction closed at Disneyland on November 2, 1992, having first been removed from most visitor documentation by 1991. One reason behind the closure was that the controversial attraction

ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter The ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter (often abbreviated Alien Encounter) was a "theater-in-the-round" attraction located in the Tomorrowland section of the Magic Kingdom theme park at Walt Disney World Resort. A co-production between Walt Disne ...

was to open in the building as part of CEO Michael Eisner's ambitious "Disney Decade". Along with Alien Encounter,

The Timekeeper ''The Timekeeper'' (also known as ''From Time to Time'' and ''Un Voyage à Travers le Temps'') was a 1992 Circle-Vision 360° film that was presented at three Disney parks around the world. It was the first Circle-Vision show that was arranged ...

and "Plectu's Fantastic Galactic Revue" would have opened in the radical and richly detailed "Tomorrowland 2055" concept. However, the "Tomorrowland 2055" project was cancelled in early 1993 when

Disneyland Paris Disneyland Paris is an entertainment resort in Chessy, France, east of Paris. It encompasses two theme parks, resort hotels, Disney Nature Resorts, a shopping, dining and entertainment complex, and a golf course. Disneyland Park is the origin ...

became a failure. Michael Eisner started cutting costs around the company, and was not happy with the estimated cost of the Tomorrowland project, though he had liked the idea. Start of construction on Disneyland's New Tomorrowland was changed from Fall 1994 to Spring 1997, but Alien Encounter, The Timekeeper, and Plectu's Fantastic Galactic Revue never opened. In 1996, Mission to Mars was temporarily replaced with Toy Story Funhouse. The building remained unused until it officially reopened as a restaurant,

Redd Rockett's Pizza Port Alien Pizza Planet is a restaurant located in Tomorrowland at Disneyland! in Anaheim, California in the United States. The Atomic Age-style restaurant opened as Redd Rockett's Pizza Port on May 22, 1998, the same day as Astro Orbitor, Honey, I S ...

in Disneyland's New Tomorrowland on May 22, 1998.

Walt Disney World

Mission to Mars closed its doors at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, Florida on October 4, 1993. It re-opened on June 20, 1995 as

as part of the Magic Kingdom's New Tomorrowland, along with

. Alien Encounter closed in 2003 and was replaced by

Stitch's Great Escape! Stitch's Great Escape! was a " theater-in-the-round" attraction based on Disney's ''Lilo & Stitch'' franchise. A non-canon prequel to the original 2002 film that detailed Stitch's "first" prison escape, it was located in the Tomorrowland area ...

, which operated from 2004 to 2018 and re-tooled many of the elements from ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter in a more light and comical context. The space in the building where all such attractions operated in is currently unused for any attraction. A ride with a similar theme, Mission: Space, opened in 2003 at

Epcot Epcot, stylized in all uppercase as EPCOT, is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division. Inspired by an unreal ...

References

External links