Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Welcome, fellow travelers and historical enthusiasts, to the legendary Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Standing before you is a towering monument to both the romanticized American frontier and the golden age of theme park design. …

As we approach the entrance to the attraction, direct your attention to the lower elevations surrounding the mountain's base. Here lies the tragic, sunken ghost town of Tumbleweed. …

We have now crossed the threshold into the official queue area, which represents the abandoned headquarters and staging ground for the Big Thunder Mining Company. In two thousand thirteen, this queue underwent a significant…

We have arrived at the bustling loading station. This expansive, open air structure functions as the central dispatch point for the Big Thunder Mining Company. …

As the train rockets out of the loading station, we are immediately swallowed by the dark, gaping maw of the mountain's lower tunnels. The transition from the bright, glaring Florida sun to the pitch black, subterranean…

Bursting from the darkness of the cavern, the train is thrust back into the searing daylight, navigating a series of sweeping, banked turns that perfectly demonstrate the fluid dynamics of a steel track coaster. We hit a top…

The train violently banks left, plunging us back into the oppressive darkness of a deep, subterranean tunnel. We immediately catch the chain of the third and final lift hill. …

Having narrowly escaped the catastrophic explosion in the blasting zone, the train drops sharply into a rapid, sweeping right hand descent. We are careening down the lower slopes of the mountain, hurtling directly toward the…

As we disembark the heavy mine trains and walk back out into the sunlit pathways of Frontierland, we must take a moment to look back at the towering, silent peak of Big Thunder Mountain. It is an extraordinary achievement in the…