Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

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Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is an attraction at the Disneyland, Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris theme parks.

The attraction first opened at Disneyland in 1979, with the Magic Kingdom's larger version opening in 1980. The other two versions are called simply Big Thunder Mountain; Tokyo Disneyland's version opened in 1987, and Disneyland Paris's opened in 1992. Hong Kong Disneyland does not have a Big Thunder Mountain Railroad attraction, or a Frontierland, for that matter.

The ride is a short, relatively mild indoor/outdoor roller coaster based on the concept of a runaway train careering through an abandoned mine complex. In contrast to Space Mountain, where the tracks are largely hidden from view, the thrills are meant to come from the perceived instability of the mine and its threats to collapse.

Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain's design is based on the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. All the other parks' versions are based on the rising buttes that are located in Utah/Arizona's Monument Valley.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was designed by Imagineer Tony Baxter and ride design engineer, Bill Watkins. The concept comes from Baxter's work on the runaway mine train segment of Marc Davis' Western River Expedition showroom, Thunder Mesa.

Attraction facts

Disneyland

The Bryce Canyon inspired Hoodoos of Thunder Mountain in Disneyland as seen from the Big Thunder Trail that passed behind Big Thunder Mountain.

Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain passes through a village reused from Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland, the attraction that prviously occupied the location.

• Grand opening: September 2, 1979
• Designers: WED Enterprises
• Manufacturer: WED Enterprises
• Vehicles: 7
• *Cars per train: 5
• *Guests per train: 30
• *Train names:
• **U.B. Bold
• **U.R. Daring
• **U.R. Courageous
• **I.M. Brave
• **I.B. Hearty
• **I.M. Fearless
• **I.M. Loco
• Length: 2671 ft (814 m)
• Height: 50 ft (15 m)
• Highest rock: 104 ft (32 m)
• Top speed: 28 mph (45 km/h)
• Ride duration: 3:15
• Height requirement: 40 in (1.02 m)
• Minimum Train Dispatch Interval: 42.5 seconds
• Ride system: PLC Controlled Roller Coaster

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride at the Magic Kingdom, December 2004.

Magic Kingdom

• Grand opening: November 15, 1980
• Designers: WED Enterprises
• Manufacturer: WED Enterprises
• Ride duration: 3:30
• Ride system: Steel - Sit Down
• Category: Mine Train
• Length: 2780'
• Speed: 36 mph
• Elements: 3 Lift hills
• Trains: 6 trains with 5 cars per train. Riders are arranged 2 across in 3 rows for a total of 30 riders per train.

Tokyo Disneyland

• Grand opening: July 4, 1987
• Designers: Walt Disney Imagineering
• Manufacturer: Vekoma
• Ride duration: 3:40
• Height requirement: 102 cm
• Ride system: Roller Coaster

Disneyland Park, Paris

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disneyland Paris showing the Monument Valley inspired scenery.

• Grand opening: April 12, 1992
• Designers: Walt Disney Imagineering
• Manufacturer: Vekoma
• Ride System: Roller Coaster
• Ride Model: Vekoma Custom MK-900 M
• Capacity: 2424 riders per hour (RPH)
• Length: 4921' 3"
• Height: 72' 2"
• Top Speed: 40.4 mph
• Ride Duration: 3:56
• Number of Trains: 5 trains with 5 cars per train
• Height requirement: 39 in (0.99 m)

Trivia

• The sound effects of the actual ride train going on the tracks were used in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) for the minecart sequence.
• At Disneyland, this attraction replaced the Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland. The town you pass through at the end of the ride was a part of that old attraction, and many of the animal animatronics throughout the attraction were originally from Nature's Wonderland.
• A guest, Marcelo Torres, was killed on the Disneyland incarnation in a derailment on September 2, 2003, purportedly as a result of neglected ride maintenance. Responsibility was eventually placed on Paul Pressler, the Disneyland Resort head of the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts division at the time, who was notorious for enforcing tough budget cuts. The court case surrounding this was settled out of court in 2005 and a scholarship fund was set up at a Southern California university in Torres' name.

External links

• The site http://www.mouseplanet.com/btmrr_accident/index.htm cites three accidents on this ride: the accident stated above and two other accidents. All of these accidents occurred within a ten-month period.
• [Disney Mountain Rides - Big Thunder Mountain Railroad]

Roller coasters at Walt Disney World
Barnstormer - Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - Expedition Everest - Primeval Whirl - Rock 'n' Roller Coaster - Space Mountain