Jump aboard the mine train roller coaster that is located in Frontierland, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The story begins in the late 1800s when gold was discovered in the American Southwest. The town of Tumbleweed was thriving. What many didn’t know is the mountain was cursed. The desecration of the mountain caused a flash flood in Tumbleweed.
The trains were found to be possessed and running without crew. The Big Thunder Mountain Railroad allowed people to take rides in the possessed trains.
With many hold ups this great attraction opened in 1980.
So come ride the possessed trains and descend into the abandoned mine shaft. Watch out for the exploding dynamite and hold on as you ride through the ghost town of Tumbleweed.
Fun Facts:
- The name of the town varies from each ride in the different parks.
- In the California ride, the town is known as Rainbow Ridge. In the Florida version, the town is known as Tumbleweed
- The tragedy in California and Paris was an earthquake, the tragedy in Tokyo was a tsunami.
- The rocks are designed on the rising buttes in Arizona and Utah’s Monument Valley.
- Take a look at the rock formation and you may see a dinosaur skeleton and a cracked eggshell.
- The locomotive sounds are actually piped into the surrounding scenery to make it have a real effect to viewers watching from the platforms.
- You will hear a steam whistle sound but take a close look at the locomotives and you will notice there is no whistle displayed. These sounds are piped into the park.
- October 2016 Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, published a paper entitled, “Validation of a Functional Pyelocalyceal Renal Model for the Evaluation of Renal Calculi Passage While Riding a Roller Coaster.” Written by Dr. Wartinger found that patients passed kidney stones after riding Big Thunder Mountain railroad. The study concluded that nearly 70% of the time kidney stones were passed depending on which row the patient was in. Other roller coasters like Space Mountain and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster failed to do the same thing.
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad sits on 2.5 acres and is 25% larger than the Disneyland version.