Thunder aboard a runaway mine train on a fast-paced thrill ride through the barren landscape of the Old West. Get ready for the time of your life, because Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is "the wildest ride in the wilderness"! Twist through desert canyons, dash under creaking mine shafts and venture deep into pitch-black caverns overrun with screeching bats. Rumble past falling boulders, gushing waterfalls, playful wildlife and abandoned mining settlements, as you weave through burnt orange rock spires, arches, canyons and windswept gorges. Just when you think your adventure is at an end, an unseen force seems to push you forward up and over the next hill.
While you wait to board your train, your surroundings appear tranquil and picturesque, but you sense that something otherworldly is amiss. Folklore tells of mysterious rumblings and strange noises emanating from the depths of the 104-foot-tall Big Thunder Mountain. Iridescent stalagmites and stalactites pulsate with eerie light deep below ground. Native American tales claim that supernatural forces will unleash the power of thunder upon those who dare to remove gold from the mountain. Undaunted, the Big Thunder Mountain Mining Company has begun to mine the site. Reports claim that mine trains sometimes mysteriously depart the station without an engineer at the throttle - driven by unseen forces.
Although the details of the backstory vary from park to park, all follow the same general story arcs. Some time in the late 1800s, gold was discovered on Big Thunder Mountain in the American southwest. Overnight, the small mining town of Rainbow Ridges (at Disneyland), Tumbleweed (at the Magic Kingdom), or Thunder Mesa (at Disneyland Paris) became a thriving mining town. Mining was prosperous, and an extensive line of mine trains was set up to transport the ore. Unknown to the settlers, the Mountain was a sacred spot to local Native Americans and was cursed.
Before long, the settlers' desecration of the mountain caused a great tragedy, which, depending on the park, is usually depicted to be an earthquake (Disneyland Paris, Disneyland), a tsunami (Tokyo Disneyland), or a flash flood (Magic Kingdom), which befell the mines and town, and the town was abandoned. Some time later, the locomotives were found to be racing around the mountain on their own, without engineers or a crew. The Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was founded in the old mining camp to allow tourists to take rides on the possessed trains.
Keeping in time with the theme, the station buildings on all four versions of the ride are designed to look as though they are the abandoned offices of a mining company from the mid to late 19th century. The mountains themselves are themed to the red rock formations of the American Southwest. The rock work designs on Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad are based on the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah.
In the Magic Kingdom version of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and in the Tokyo and Paris versions, the rockwork designs are based on the rising buttes that are located in Utah and Arizona's Monument Valley. Special care was taken by the Imagineers to make it appear that the rocks were there originally, and the track was built around the rocks, unlike a number of earlier mine rides, which were built the other way around (by sculpting the rocks around the tracks). The action of the ride takes place completely in the sagging, rotting tunnels of the mountain. In contrast to most steel roller coasters, where the thrills come from the perception of flying through open air, the thrills on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad are meant to come from the perceived instability of the mine and its threats of collapse. Sound effects of a typical locomotive operation are piped into the surrounding scenery to add realism to guests viewing the ride from observation platforms, including the steam whistle sounding, even though there is no whistle displayed on the locomotives.
Ride Experience
Upon entering the attraction, the queue winds through a narrow rock wall and passing under the tracks. The surrounding walls were originally created from 100 tons of gold ore from Rosamond. Within this half of the queue, a series of Wild West themed features including a mining town (called "Big Thunder") and a water cranking machine. The mining town is the original location of the boarding area of the Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland. The queue goes up some stairs in a wooden shack and reaches the area where the riders board the trains. Leaving the outdoor loading station, riders enter a dark tunnel. The sounds of bats can be heard as the trains make a right hand turn and then a left hand turn before climbing the first lift hill. To the left of the trains, guests can view a series of rainbow colored caverns. These are also placed as a tribute to the Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland. At the top, the trains exit into the daylight and stayed slow at the drop before making a 180-degree turn drop to the right before leveling out into the left-hand turn, before making a small drop and climb, and then making another right-hand turn (passing under a tree with several opossums hanging from it). The trains then drop down into a cave (where two coyotes are howling on top of), rise up, hit a block brake, make a right-hand turn, exit the tunnel, and climb the second lift hill.
Warnings of blasting up ahead on the track can be seen by guests as the trains crest the second lift hill. Three desert tortoises and two rattlesnakes can also be seen alongside the lift hill. As the trains go slow and start to drop away to the right, an animatronic goat with a stick of dynamite in its mouth bleats at the passing guests and 2 skunks attempt to spray the passing guests. After descending this drop, the trains rise up into a 540-degree downhill helix to the right before passing over another hill, making a left-hand turn into a tunnel, and climbing the third lift hill. While climbing the third lift hill, the lighting lanterns swing, rocks start shaking, rocks about to fall down on the open track on the top of the basement, simulating an earthquake, and appearing ready to crush the riders.
At the top, the trains exit the lift hill, slow down, and drop away to the right into a short straightaway, making another right-hand turn into a short tunnel onto a trim brake bridge. After this bridge, riders drop away to the left, passing a T-Rex skeleton and splashing through Dinosaur Gap and geysers, as they rise up to the right into the final brake run. The trains pass by the buildings of Big Thunder before returning to the station.
Touring Tips
- This is a fairly smooth roller coaster - the experience is more of centrifugal force moving you from side-to-side rather than jarring turns or sudden drops. Still, you should be in good health and free from medical conditions that could be aggravated by the attraction. Pregnant women are advised not to ride.
- Apart from the roller coaster aspect there's nothing particularly dark or scary about Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and adventurous kids who are tall enough to ride seem to really enjoy it.
- The front of the train doesn't offer any better views than other seats on the coaster since there is an engine car in front.
- Riding in the back of the train gives you a bigger rush on the drops.
- To get a bigger rush on one of the biggest drops look for a goat chewing a piece of dynamite on the right hand side of the track. Keep your eye on the goat as you go down the drop to get a crazy feeling in your stomach.
- Use FASTPASS on this attraction! Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is one of the more popular rides in the park and using a FASTPASS will get cut your wait time down significantly.
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is a Fastpass attraction. But except on the busiest days the standby line is usually of manageable length and the queue moves quickly. If you're waiting for a Fastpass to become active consider taking a cruise on the Rivers of America on either the Mark Twain riverboat or the Sailing Ship Columbia.
- This is a must see! If you have limited time in the park make sure to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at least once. Understand there is a height requirement of 40? (102 cm) or taller. Those in your party not meeting the height requirement will have to pass this one by for their own safety.
- It might be tempting to hit this ride after Fantasmic! because of its close proximity. Just keep in mind that everyone else is thinking the same thing!
- Each of the 6 trains has an engine and 5 cars. For the "wildest ride" request a seat in the back rows. For tamer rides, request a seat in the front of the train.
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is beautiful at night; be sure and ride after dark if you have the chance. It also seems faster at night.
- Along the pathway between Frontierland and Fantasyland you'll find Big Thunder Ranch - this area includes a petting zoo and a kid's craft area.
Facts
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad debuted at Disneyland on September 2, 1979. It was built on the site of the "Rainbow Caverns Mine Train", which later became "Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland" before it was replaced by Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The buildings from the town of Rainbow Ridge are now part of Big Thunder town.
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (or for short Big Thunder Mountain) is an indoor/outdoor mine train roller coaster located in Frontierland at several Disneyland-style Disney Parks worldwide. Disneyland's version of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is the original version of the ride. The ride exists at Disneyland Park and the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World as Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and at Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Park (Paris) as Big Thunder Mountain. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is also the name of the fictional rail line the roller coaster depicts.
- Based on Bryce Canyon in Utah, the scenery captures the thrill, excitement and beauty of the rugged and untamed landscape of the American West.
- The miniature town of Big Thunder that you roll past at the end of the attraction predates Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Originally named Rainbow Ridge, the town is one of several repurposed elements from the Rainbow Caverns Mine Train (later called Mine Train through Nature's Wonderland) that transported Guests around Frontierland from 1956 to 1977.
- The names of the six trains are: U.R. Courageous, I.M. Brave, I.M. Bold, U.R. Fearless, I.B. Hearty, and U.R. Daring.
- There are a number of animatronic and audio animatronic animals throughout the attraction. Look for the dynamite-wielding mountain goat, the coyotes, skunks, opossums, and rattlesnakes. Genuine antique mining equipment can be found all around the attraction.
- The rocks in the "earthquake" tunnel used to appear to fall, but they have been replaced by glittering veins of gold.
- At Disneyland, a scaled-down western town sits adjacent to the queuing lines and tracks returning to station. A Western saloon, hotel, assayer's office and mercantile appear among the buildings. This is the village of Rainbow Ridge, which used to overlook the loading platform of the sedate Mine Train through Nature's Wonderland. Disneyland's version of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was built on the land the Mine Train used to occupy. Many of the animal animatronics throughout the attraction are animatronic animals from previous attraction.
- Unlike its clones, Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain is the only Big Thunder Mountain that loads and unloads park guests without a traditional station roof.
History
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was designed by Imagineer Tony Baxter and ride design engineer Bill Watkins. The concept came from Baxter's work on fellow Imagineer Marc Davis's concept for the Western River Expedition, a western-themed pavilion at the Magic Kingdom, designed to look like an enormous plateau and contain many rides, including a runaway mine train roller coaster. However, because the pavilion as a whole, was deemed too expensive in light of the 1973 construction and opening of Pirates of the Caribbean, Baxter proposed severing the mine train and building it as a separate attraction.
The Big Thunder Mountain Railroad project was put on hold again in 1974 as resources and personnel were being diverted to work on constructing Space Mountain over in Tomorrowland, but this delay may have ultimately produced a smoother ride as the use of computers in attraction design was just beginning when the project was resumed. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was one of the first Disney rides to utilize computer-aided design. The attraction first opened at Disneyland in 1979, with the Magic Kingdom's larger version in Florida opening in 1980. Tokyo Disneyland added its own version in 1987 and in 1992, Euro Disneyland (now named Disneyland Park) opened with Big Thunder Mountain as an opening day attraction.
Hidden Mickeys
- Along the Big Thunder Railroad tracks, there is a Hidden Mickey made up of three very large gears.