“Hold onto your hats an’ glasses, ’cause this here’s the wildest ride in the wilderness!”  Do those words sound familiar?  For those who have experienced Walt Disney World and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad these words will fill you with excitement.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is a rootin’ tootin’ good time and when in Magic Kingdom should be considered a must ride.  Not only is this a great roller coaster ride, it also tells a story.  (Maybe in another blog I’ll share some of the story) For now I’m going to share a few of the “fun facts” that you might not know about Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

During the 1984 movie “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” the sounds of the Big Thunder trains are used in the mine sequence.  I’ve seen this movie many times and never related that sound to a ride in Magic Kingdom.  I can’t wait to watch the movie again and listen for those train sounds.

Ever wonder where Disney gets their props?  Well for this attraction these props are real and were discovered in Old West ghost towns during the 1970’s.  The next time you’re going through the queue line, look for those real props and see what those old ghost towns were hiding from the past.

Big Thunder also holds a Disney first!  Something that as you can imagine really doesn’t happen too often.  This ride was the first Walt Disney World attraction that was designed with computers.  Where are all those computers you ask?  Well they are inside of the “mountain”.  I stress mountain only because it really isn’t a mountain.  In fact, it is cement and a wire-mesh skin over a concrete and steel frame.  Then it is painted to match the color of the rising buttes located in Utah and Arizona’s Mountain Valley.

The Disney Imagineers take great pride to ensure that attractions such as Big Thunder Mountain Railroad look as if they were in those exact areas.  This helps to enhance the visitors’ immersion into the ride.  Big Thunder is no exception and whether you’ve ridden it 100 times or you’ve never had the fun of experiencing a part of the Gold Rush story, let me know how I can help you take the wildest ride in the wilderness.

To Infinity and Beyond Travel – Traci