This view appears to show Space Mountain construction well-advanced on the mountain itself but still waiting particularly for the Columbiad cannon itself and final topping-out, since the largest crane is still in place.

The Imagineers likely thought they were onto a great idea when they installed the ‘Discovery Mountain’ entrance marquee well before the attraction itself was finished, allowing current park guests to learn the name. Little did they know, as the grand opening edged closer and the park’s marketing and operations teams came onboard, it would be dramatically re-christened back into the Space Mountain family (a sharper, more exciting name preferred by marketing), meaning the finished signage had to be reworked with the shorter name. The initials ‘DM’ still exist around the site and were maintained through the Mission 2 relaunch for posterity.

Tags  Construction • Discoveryland • Disneyland Park • Space Mountain