4 Florida Parks 12/14-12/17/18

I believe it has had the single row seating all the way since 1975.

Asking an "in the know" friend, the rockets went through a gradual replacement in the early 2000s. The new rockets do not have the red noise on the front, the 1989 models do. There was a time in the early 2000s where the 1989 models and current models ran simultaneously.

Oh yes, sorry. It’s never had side by side seating, but I meant the old rockets had more room in them. Two adults could fit in a seat fairly easily. Now it’s singles, or maybe an adult and a kid.

Since the first time I rode as a kid in 1997, it's always been one rider per seat with a lapbar regardless of rider size. Big Thunder Mountain, however, will let you cram as many in a row as you'd like.

My dad has a hazy memory of riding Space Mountain in 1979 (as an adult) with his then teenage brother and the two of them sharing a seat similar to a Huss Enterprise.

RCMAC said:

Oh yes, sorry. It’s never had side by side seating, but I meant the old rockets had more room in them. Two adults could fit in a seat fairly easily. Now it’s singles, or maybe an adult and a kid.

I remember this too; I think the rockets were configured with two seats, each could fit two people, one behind the other. At some point they switched from this 2x2 configuration to 3x1, but I don't remember when. It's been a while, though.

I could be wrong but I don't think the Florida version ever had side-by-side seating. MK's Space Mountain was designed like the Matterhorn Bobsleds- I don't think the clearances inside would allow for anything other than single seats arranged in rows. Since Disneyland already had the Matterhorn, I assumed that's why their Space Mountain is different.

Correct.

And I always presumed Disneyland went with side-by-side seating as a lesson learned. Mainly because it increased capacity and the Cali ride only had one track.

There are quite a few differences between the two versions, and that’s a little surprising to me. But on the other hand, that’s the case with most of the other attractions that appear at both parks. So maybe they consciously choose to make their clones not so clone-ish.

And naturally, debates rage over which park has the better version of each ride. I know I have my favorites between the two.

Isn't the Disneyland version considerably smaller (in footprint, anyway)? That seems to me to be the reason behind there being one track with higher capacity. Also seems Disney stuck with what they knew when creating WDW's first coaster- same type of ride as Matterhorn, complete with two tracks.

Just a rough measurement from Google Maps shows the circumference of WDW's building is around 330 feet and DLR is around 200 feet.

I appreciate the tips on the Sesame place platinum season pass. Nice TR. Good to get to chat with you. Some day our paths will cross and we can take a few laps together. Good dude Zoug.