Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is also the name of the fictional rail line the roller coaster depicts.

The Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was founded in the old mining camp to allow wanderers to take rides on the possessed trains.

The station buildings on all four versions of the ride are themed to the appearance of a mining company office from the mid to late 19th century.

The rock work designs in the Disneyland version are based on the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah.

In the Florida, Tokyo and Paris versions of the ride, the rockwork designs are based on the rising buttes that are located in Arizona and at Monument Valley in Utah.

However, because the pavilion as a whole was deemed too expensive in light of the construction and 1973 opening of Pirates of the Caribbean, Baxter proposed severing the mine train and building it as a separate attraction.

[5] In 2024, the Walt Disney Company announced that the Magic Kingdom location was planned to close for a year-long renovation beginning on January 6, 2025.

[6][7] At Disneyland, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was built on the land the Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland used to occupy.

This is the village of Rainbow Ridge, which used to overlook the loading platform of the sedate Mine Train through Nature's Wonderland.

[8][9] The study also found that Space Mountain and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith failed to cause this result.

To better fit with the adjacent Fantasyland areas of the theme park, the original Walt Disney World design had to be replaced with something more appropriate for Disneyland.

The train then rises uphill and hits a trim brake, makes a right turn out of the tunnel, and climbs the second lift hill.

Leaving the helix, the train shoots through a small canyon, then drops down into a mining camp, where it hits another trim brake.

On January 7, 2013, the ride was closed for an extensive refurbishment that included a new track, trains, scenery, and new effects on the third lift hill.

Trains emerge from the tunnel and pass through the flooded town of Tumbleweed, running parallel to the Walt Disney World Railroad.

Leaving the helix, trains shoot up across a small hill, make a slight right turn, then drop through another tunnel and hit a trim brake.

Leaving the lift, trains emerge from the tunnel, crest a small rise, and drop to the left towards the Rivers of America.

Immediately upon leaving the station, trains dive into a tunnel that transports them under the Rivers of the Far West to the island where the ride is located.

As trains climb out of the darkness of the underwater tunnel, stalactites and stalagmites can be seen growing next to the track, along with several rainbow colored pools of water.

The trains run along the Rivers of the Far West, across the water from Phantom Manor (the park's version of The Haunted Mansion), then make a slight right hand turn and suddenly fall through a washed out section of the trestle.

A goat can be seen pulling on a shirt hanging on a clothesline to the riders' left, as the trains pass a parked steamroller and mine elevator, and travel under a water tower.

Coming out of the drop, the trains go over another rise, hitting a magnetic trim brake, and enter a 540 degree counterclockwise helix, passing over a broken trestle.

Trains then make a right hand turn on another trestle, enter a tunnel with signs warning of blasting over the portal, and climb the third lift hill.

The train crests a small hill, then drops to the left onto a straightaway alongside the river, speeding up as it enters the return tunnel.

The train encounters a swarm of bats in the tunnel as it makes another sharp counter-clockwise turnaround and goes down a steep drop to cross under the water.

Amber Templemore-Finlayson and Katie Ellwood, collectively known as "Bert & Bertie", will serve as co-directors after the pair impressed studio executives with their pitched approach to the property.

[23] In January 2013, ABC ordered a pilot based on the ride titled Big Thunder Mountain, but the idea was scrapped sometime after.

Phil, who self-proclaims to be king of the roller coasters, begins to feel even more queasy when riding Big Thunder, after he and Luke had exited Indiana Jones Adventure prior.

She falls in with a group of bandits seeking to undermine the authority of Barnabas and his corrupt foreman Willikers and put stolen wealth from the mountain to good use helping the townspeople of Rainbow Ridge.