Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
| Big Thunder Mountain Railroad | |
|---|---|
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Magic Kingdom
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| Disneyland | |
| Park section | Frontierland |
| Coordinates | 33°48′47″N 117°55′13″W / 33.8130°N 117.9204°W |
| Status | Operating |
| Opening date | September 2, 1979 |
| Replaced | Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland |
| Magic Kingdom | |
| Park section | Frontierland |
| Coordinates | 28°25′14″N 81°35′05″W / 28.4205°N 81.5848°W |
| Status | Operating |
| Opening date | November 15, 1980 |
| Tokyo Disneyland | |
| Park section | Westernland |
| Coordinates | 35°37′57″N 139°53′02″E / 35.6326°N 139.8839°E |
| Status | Operating |
| Opening date | July 4, 1987 |
| Disneyland Paris | |
| Park section | Frontierland |
| Coordinates | 48°52′15″N 2°46′32″E / 48.8707°N 2.7756°E |
| Status | Operating |
| Opening date | April 12, 1992 |
| General statistics | |
| Type | Steel – Mine Train |
| Designer | Walt Disney Imagineering |
| Model | Mine Train |
| Track layout | Custom |
| Lift/launch system | Chain lift hill |
| Speed | 36 mph (58 km/h) |
| Inversions | 0 |
| Duration | varies (about 3 minutes) |
| Height restriction | 40 in (102 cm) |
| Manufacturer |
Dynamic Structures (California) Arrow Dynamics (Florida) Vekoma (Tokyo, Paris) |
 Fastpass available |
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 FastPass+ available |
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 Must transfer from wheelchair |
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Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at RCDB Pictures of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at RCDB |
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Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is a mine train roller coaster located in Frontierland at several Disneyland-style Disney Parks worldwide. The ride exists at Disneyland Park (California) 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.
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, a small mining town became a thriving mining town (the name of the town varies from ride to ride. In the California ride, the town is known as Rainbow Ridge. In the Florida version, the town is known as Tumbleweed, and in Paris, the town is known as Thunder Mesa). 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 (in the Paris and California versions of the ride), a tsunami (in the Tokyo version of the ride), a flash flood (in the Florida version of the ride), 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.
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Wikipedia