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| Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Info Page |
| Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Disneyland (Anaheim, CA--Near Los Angeles) +Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom (Lake Buena Vista, FL--Near Orlando) +Tokyo Disneyland (Urayasu City, Japan--Near Tokyo) *Disneyland Paris (Marne La Valle, France--Near Paris) Designer: Walt Disney Imagineering of USA/*Vekoma Inernational of The Netherlands and Walt Disney Imagineering of USA/+Arrow Dynamics of USA and Walt Disney Imagineering of USA Type: Mine train coaster/*Launched mine train coaster Material: Steel I'm a coaster rider who happens to also be very into the "theme" at theme parks, something, oddly enough, most "theme" parks don't seem to be into at all. While often criticized by scholars and amusement park purists alike, it's important to understand that theming isn't really a desire to replace the "real" world. At its very core, theming has a sense of humor and a sense of fun. Rather than thinking that theming is trying to recreate the real old west, imagine that theming is imitating the imagined old west, or perhaps the movie western. Do that, and you'll totally understand what its' about. Disney, quite naturally understands theming rather well, and sometimes gets so carried away with theming that you can't possibly enjoy it all while riding. Big Thunder is an example of just that since many of the ride's details rush by while you're in the middle of laughing with little kids who are experiencing their first roller coaster and big kids that just like to laugh. It's fun in a purely fun sort of way and the painted rocks, flying bats (on strings no doubt), railroad ties (underneath the entire length of the track, which is a wonderful detail) and the little engines in front of the trains, make this the "cutest" roller coaster in the world. I've always claimed to like WDW's version better than Disneyland's, simply for the way it's positioned in the park. Disneyland's does allow for greater viewing from the walkways however. Disneyland's version is also shorter than the Florida version. There are also versions in Tokyo and Paris, with the Paris version designed by Dutch coaster firm, Vekoma. (The versions in Tokyo and Paris are both called Big Thunder Mountain, dropping the word "railroad.") *Just as a little trivia tid bit for you physical geographers (love the tid bits), the detailed rockwork of Disneyland's version is designed to look like Bryce Canyon, Utah, while the version in Florida's Magic Kingdom has rockwork (concrete, steel and loads of paint actually) that is set to look like Monument Valley, Utah. *Extra trivia bit: Big Thunder has several trains running in and around it. It must take a lot of guts to be a little train racing through the quaking, bat-filled Big Thunder Mountain, and that's evidenced in the names of the trains. Next time you board, look at the engine of your train for the name. The different train names are as follows (read the initials like words): U.R. Courageous I.M. Brave I.M. Bold U.R. Fearless I.B. Hearty U.R. Daring *Big Thunder Mountain Railroad has a long history, having been the modified surviving element of a multi-attraction mega-project called Thunder Mesa, planned for the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. Legendary imagineer, Marc Davis, worked long and hard on Thunder Mesa, the visual backdrop for Frontierland and home to several attractions, including hiking trails, a mule ride, a runaway mine train, and the Western River Expedition. The Western River Expedition was the Florida answer to Pirates of the Caribbean. It was originally thought that Florida, being so close to the Caribbean, wouldn't be interested in the Pirate attraction, so a similar dark ride adventure based on the American West was planned. It was lavish and probably the best attracting Disney ever designed, but costs (and complaining patrons that kept asking about the Pirate ride they'd heard of in California) kept it from happing. Pirates of the Caribbean was added to Adventureland in 1973 in a new sub-land called Caribbean Plaza, and Thunder Mesa died. Or did it? A few years later, Tony Baxter (the new hot shot imagineer that had a very turbulent, jealously-laden relationship with Marc Davis - who actually left Disney when Baxter was assigned the project) responded to the success of Space Mountain with another idea for a roller coaster. He took Davis's Thunder Mesa mine train idea and revved it up into a mine train coaster through Thunder Mountain. Disney brass loved the idea, and Disneyland's version opened in 1979, with the larger Florida version opening in 1980. See Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (California's version) Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (Florida's version) For information on the accident on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disneyland, see the following: Big Thunder updates on Mouse Planet Accident reports on Amusement Ride Accident Reports and News |