First: yes, I have decided aural replicas of long-demolished Disneyland attractions qualify for installments of #SoundtrackSunday.
Second: no, this is not at all the correct recording for the picture disc you see here placed upon the back of a denim jacket I acquired sometime last year at the Magic Kingdom. The only related music available is a ragtime rendition of exit tune ‘Miracles from Molecules,’ another nifty ditty from the Sherman brothers but all wrong for this post. Koneko’s panting/churning industrialism better conjures the lusty sensations I attach to adolescent memories of ‘Adventure Thru Inner Space.’ His strangely seductive cut is so precisely titled (not ‘Adventures,’ not ‘Through,’ not just ‘Space’) that I wonder if he too enjoyed similarly lip-locked/body-smashed encounters. For those who weren’t teenagers at the Anaheim theme park between ’67 and ’85, well, you poor souls missed out on the most makeout-ready ride Disneyland ever created. Presented by Monsanto and bolstered by the first use of the Omnimover system — guests sat in ‘Atommobiles,’ two years later rebranded ‘Doom Buggies’ for the Haunted Mansion — the journey was akin to the ’66 flick ‘Fantastic Voyage’ with riders reduced to microscopic perspective. Neat. But the best thing about it, for those of us looking to swap saliva and cop feels, was that it instantly plunged passengers into prolonged darkness while Paul Frees’s distinctive voice explained how we were slowly expanding into the universe of a snowflake. Only brief parts of the trip were illuminated. Experienced riders (hi! the name’s Bonnie!) knew when to avoid being seen— even by the giant scientist’s eye scaring us sober again at ride’s end.
SoundtrackSunday 003:
‘Adventure Thru Inner Space’
Walt Disney Records, D23 exclusive, 2022
Ride run: August ’67 – September ’85
Replaced by Star Tours, January ‘87