Flight to the Moon | Disney World

Flight to the Moon was a former attraction at  Magic Kingdom park at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. The attraction opened on December 24, 1971, at Magic Kingdom. It was part of Tomorrowland’s lineup and offered guests a simulated journey to the Moon and back.

The attraction used a theater-in-the-round format, where guests sat in a circular theater with a large dome-shaped screen overhead. The show featured a combination of live-action film and special effects to create the illusion of a space flight.

The experience began with a pre-show presentation where a host would introduce guests to the concept of space travel and the upcoming “flight” to the Moon. Afterward, guests would take their seats in the theater, and the main show would begin.

During the main show, guests would “take off” in a spacecraft and embark on a simulated journey to the Moon. The film projected on the dome screen showed the spacecraft traveling through space, passing planets and celestial bodies along the way. As the journey progressed, guests would eventually land on the Moon’s surface and experience the feeling of walking on its lunar landscape.

Flight to the Moon was a groundbreaking attraction for its time, as space travel and lunar exploration were major points of interest during the 1960s and 1970s. The attraction aimed to give guests a taste of the excitement and wonder of space exploration.

In 1975, the attraction was updated and renamed “Mission to Mars,” with a new storyline that took guests on a simulated trip to Mars instead of the Moon. The attraction continued to operate under this new theme until it closed permanently at Magic Kingdom in the mid-1990s.

While Flight to the Moon and Mission to Mars are no longer available at Disney parks, their legacy lives on as a representation of Disney’s efforts to explore the wonders of outer space and ignite guests’ imaginations about space travel.

Fun Facts

• Flight to the Moon was a Disneyland attraction that carried over to Disney World, but was somewhat outdated wen it debut in Orlando. Since man had already gone to the moon, the premise of the attraction was a bit off. This was why it was rethemed to Mission to Mars after just a few years.
• Flight to the Moon was a dark ride attraction that simulated a trip to the Moon.
• The attraction was based on the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, which was the first manned mission to land on the Moon.
• The attraction’s queue featured a number of interactive elements, such as a large spaceship model, and a number of Tomorrowland-themed posters and signs.
• The ride featured a number of different scenes, including a rocket launch, a journey through space, and a landing on the surface of the Moon.
• Flight to the Moon was one of the first attractions at Disney World to use the Omnimover ride system, which allows guests to board and disembark the ride vehicles while they are moving, allowing for a smoother and more efficient ride experience.
• The attraction was closed in 1975 and it was replaced by “Mission to Mars” which had a similar concept but it was more advanced and exciting.