Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is a rollicking runaway train of a roller coaster that rushes through the gold-mining town of Tumbleweed in the Frontierland area at Magic Kingdom theme park. A ride on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad provides mild but wild thrills to those aboard?from big kids and teens to adults not up for the really big thrills found on the other 2 Magic Kingdom "mountain" attractions: Space Mountain and Splash Mountain.
But this ain't no kiddie coaster either. Climb aboard, partners, and you'll be warned to "hang onto your hats and glasses 'cause this here's the wildest ride in the wilderness." Listen to the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad wheels chug-chug, then ratchet and race across seemingly rickety tracks. Swoop around sweeping turns and tear up rolling hills that dip or drop into canyons and caverns, slip under a booming waterfall or swish through the ribs of a dinosaur skeleton.
Touring Tips
- For some added fun, take a ride in the daylight, then again under the night sky. You might catch something you didn't see or hear with each trip you take on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
- 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.
- See whether Splash Mountain or Big Thunder Mountain have the shorter stand by line. Get a FassPass for the one with the longest wait times and then ride the other one.
- Be prepared:, queues wind through an old windowless clapboard building and the heat can be quite stifling during the hot summer months.
- Thrill seekers will prefer riding in the back of the train as it is more exciting than in the front. You really have to pay attention or you may miss the great scenery and attention paid to detail like the skeleton of the dinosaur built into the mountain. This is one of the Magic Kingdom's major attractions and lineups can be quite lengthy.
Facts
- Big Thunder opened November 15, 1980.
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is also the name of the fictional rail line the roller coaster depicts.
- At the Magic Kingdom, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is almost a mirror image of the Disneyland version. The only differences are an enclosed loading station on a hillside, the replacement of Big Thunder with Tumbleweed, and an altered section of layout before the second lift hill.
- The names of the six trains are: U.B. Bold, U.R. Daring, U.R. Courageous, I.M. Brave, I.B. Hearty and I.M. Fearless.
- Genuine antique mining equipment can be found around the 2.5 acre attraction. These pieces were purchased at various auctions throughout the Southwest and include a double-stamp ore crusher, an ore-hauling wagon, and an old ball mill used to extract gold from ore.
History
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.
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.
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
- Three rusty gears laying on the grass as you reenter the station. There are the ones closest to the track.
- As you climb for the last drop, the shadows of boulders that appear to tumble down at you have a Mickey head among them.
- Look for the three cactii just outside the exit in the shape of a Hidden Mickey.