Lights On!!!

So during my down time at the utilidors I was thinking about little things in the kingdom you don’t see every day. I remembered one of my favorite times. My family was visiting the Kingdom during a summer vacation in the late 80s and we went on one of my go to rides the Tomorrowland Transit Authority (TTA), known then as the WedWay Peoplemover. I liked this ride for two things, first it never has big lines (unless it is raining), and B the TTA would go through the ride If You Had Wings (later Delta Dreamflight) which was sponsored by Eastern Airlines and my Dad worked for Eastern so it was like we owned part of it.

So we got on the TTA and started our ride towards the autopia tracks down on the ground. There is our first destination the Space Mountain A Journey Through Time and Space. This was always in the past kinda boring, the Space Mountain part was dark and all you really could see was the queue line and static sets….so we thought! Here comes the turn and then BOOM went our minds. It was not dark; the lights were on inside Space Mountain! This could not be real, this sort of thing cannot happen, this is awesome and only we (And everyone before and after us) have seen this. Space Mountain is a roller coaster, not a real space craft to the moon? How can this be I’ve been on there and it seemed huge and expansive and with the lights on it was small and diminutive. Now as our minds were blown we kept telling each other we needed to see it again.

We jibber jabbered about seeing it again so much we missed If You Had Wings and most of the rest of the ride. We saw it from what I remember a couple more times and thought it was the greatest thing ever. Looking back on it I feel silly but it was worth it because to this day I hold it as one of my favorite moments not only of Kingdom, but of my brothers. We have our own lives now and I am the only one that still thinks that the Magic Kingdom is just that: MAGIC! The great thing about memories is that you can relive them over and over. This is probably one of the last times that the family went down together. It is also the last time that ever happened to me. I hear it happens all the time because the TTA and Space Mountain systems are autonomous so if Space Mountain goes down TTA stays moving and vice versa.  I still love this ride and my wife rides it with me all the time so maybe one day. Until then I will keep making my TTA trips and trying to keep my wife’s hat on her head not on the awning near the beltway up to the TTA, but that is another story. Any ways it is time for me to get back to the utilidors. Until next time have a magical time.