The Disneyland Book of Secrets 2014: One Local's Unauthorized, Rapturous and Indispensable Guide to the Happiest Places on Earth (47 page)

A
fter a train pulls into the station, the occupants detrain and your loading gate swings open.  Step quickly into the empty train car row immediately ahead of you, and when all of you in the row are seated, pull down the lap bar.

Place any loose items in the mesh pouch directly in front of you.  No kidding.  This is the attraction whose
famous boarding statement warns riders to “Hang onto your hats and glasses, ‘cause this here’s the wildest ride in the wilderness!”  It
is
the wildest ride in
Frontierland
, and if you have hats or glasses or purses or anything you don’t want to lose, stow them in the mesh pouch or your securely fastened hip-pack.  (A sad sidebar: 
Dallas McKennon
, the versatile characert actor and
Disney
voice actor who delivers that famous warning, passed away on July 14, 2009.)

I’ve ridden this runaway mine train many a time wearing my glasses or sunglasse
s, and never lost them, but you never know.  Peaked caps are more likely to fly off than glasses, if a gust of air sweeps up under the bill. I always stow my hip-pack, since it contains my valuables.  If you don’t want to pull into the station after the ride and have to frantically tell a Cast Member “My wallet fell out near the possums, can you shut down the ride and search?” then your best bet is to secure your valuables before the train leaves the station!

As a general rule, y
ou shouldn’t keep wallets, keys, coins, or any other valuables loose in your pockets if you’re riding thrill rides; put those can’t-lose items in your secure pack or say goodbye to them!  They’ll slide out of your pockets while your vehicle is tilted to climb a steep hill, or fly out of your pockets while your vehicle is carving tight curves.

As a safety precaution before departure, a Cast Member will ask you to shake the
safety lap bar, demonstrating that you’ve lowered it and that it’s secure.  Then, abruptly, you’re off!

Your ride will only last three-
and-a-half minutes, but it’s so jam-packed with action and covers so much terrain, it feels longer.  It’s thrilling but nothing is
too
scary, so it’s good fun for Guests of all ages as long as they’re physically up to the ride.

You rocket out of the station from one of the two loading tracks and veer immediately into a pitch
black cavern.  Watch out for bats, with their blood-red eyes and flapping wings!  Make sure your own eyes are open to appreciate the rainbow glow and shimmer of the nearby mineral pools.  Your train climbs a steep grade and emerges from the cavern through a waterfall that’s sure to spray you a bit, but only a bit—it’s very refreshing on a hot summer day!  Hang on to your hats and glasses as you emerge into the daylight, ‘cause here comes the first of a series of wildly spiraling turns and dips!

It would
dilute the experience to detail every spoiler, second-by-second, but be ready to enjoy comical trackside critters, such as possums hanging from branches, slowly ambling turtles, hissing rattlesnakes, yipping coyotes, and a dynamite-chomping goat.  You’ll catch glimpses of these creatures as your train dashes pell-mell down the slopes or struggle up steep grades. When you see the dynamite-chewing goat, brace yourself, because it appears and bleats just before you plunge into the fastest and wildest whirls of the adventure.

Part of the fun of this coaster is that there
’s so much to see during the experience.  Your mine train moves at varying speeds, carefully designed by
Imagineer Tony Baxter
and his team, flying on the down slopes, slowing and seeming to strain during the climbs.

Clearances are
scrupulously measured to be safe, but it
looks
as if you’re going to whack your head on the beams, bridges, and rock outcroppings that you streak past.  This optical illusion (called a “head-chopper” effect), persists throughout the attraction and is one of its most impressive effects and a real testament to the
Imagineers
’ engineering prowess.  Although it seems that the frontier is whistling past a mere millimeter above your hairline, clearances are actually much more generous than they look.  That said, be sure to
always
keep “your hands, arms, feet, and legs inside” the coaster, and your head as well, and follow all safey instructions.  Never stand up in a coaster, and don’t lean out of the coaster on either side.

You
r train soars up breathtaking, majestic spires inspired by Bryce Canyon, Utah.  You inch through a mine shaft that shakes and trembles; large boulders quiver above you and give every appearance of being ready to tumble onto the train; the cave rumbles with the
basso profundo
tones of an earthquake.

Y
our adventure concludes with a splash through
Dinosaur Gap
, the pond below the ancient, excavated dinosaur bones, and then you pull into the train station safe and sound.

You
and your kids will probably want to ride again, immediately, and you should, because you see and experience something different each time, especially when you sit in different train cars.  The ride near the front is different, for example, than the ride near the tail-end of the train.  And the level of detail and the many sight gags built into
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
richly reward multiple journeys!

As delightful as this attraction is, this was the site of one of the few serious accidents in
Disneyland
’s
history.  In 2003, one of the
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
locomotives derailed, injuring multiple Guests in the following passenger cars, one fatally.

Disneyland
has an outstanding safety record, not only for a park of its size and age but held up against any park.  Most
Disneyland
accidents have been the result of Guests unbuckling safety belts, slipping out of harnesses or lap bars, entering restricted areas, or otherwise not following posted rules and requirements.

But a
fter a swift and thorough investigation of the 2003 derailment,
Disneyland
found the crash was due to maintenance procedures not being properly followed.  Corrective measures were taken.

One evening in November 2008
, the train I was riding in broke down literally as our journey ended and the train was pulling into the station.  Cast members immediately stopped all trains and turned on the attraction’s work lights (work lights are the bright lights by which Cast Members and Maintenance Crews can see the attraction’s features clearly at night,
not
the dim show lights that operate while the attraction is running).  Within minutes we were evacuated from the passenger cars.

My car, near the back of the train, had halted at a strange angle that left a
substantial gap between the car and the pedestrian walkway along the edge of the track.  A Cast Member helped me to alight and made sure I didn’t step into the gap.  Other Cast Members near the attraction exit gave evacuated Guests hand-written
FastPasses
that we could present either that evening or the next day at the attraction of our choice.

Hearing about accidents or being on an attraction when it experiences technical or mechanical problems can sometimes give one pause.  To ride or not to ride? 
Guests need to make their own personal, case-by-case decision.
Did You Know?
 
Disneyland
is such a compact park that many extremely different attractions are squashed against each other, but ingenious landscaping and architectural designs by the
Imagineers
brilliantly hide these tight squeezes.  Just as few Guests realize that their exotic cruise through the
Adventureland
jungles is transpiring mere feet from civilized
Main Street
, few Guests riding
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
suspect that at points in their journey they are a very weak stone’s throw from
Fantasyland
, and
Pinocchio’s Daring Adventure
in particular. 
Did You Also Know?
  If it feels like you’re going faster on
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
than on the
Matterhorn Bobsleds
, that’s because you are. The bobsleds top out at about 20 mph, depending on the total weight of the passengers, while the
Big Thunder
mine trains can hit around 30 mph.  That’s as fast as
Space Mountain
. 
Space Mountain
only
seems
faster than
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
, an intentional effect created with near-pitch darkness, steeper drops, and fans that drive air gusts past
Space Mountain
passengers.
Night Vision:
 
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
is a lot of fun in the daylight, but even more exhilarating at night.  The only light provided while you wait in the queue is generated by facsimiles of period lanterns, so you have terrific views of the ink black night sky and its glimmering stars.  This is the clear night sky, not obscured by bright city lights, the sky that the pioneers would’ve seen.  The windows of little
Rainbow Ridge
are lit with warm lantern light and in the dimness the piano music and corny jokes drifting out of the dance halls seem even more authentic.  There is a dreamy lyricism to the softly sung “Beautiful Dreamer” and “Good Night Ladies”.  Overall, there’s more of a sense of being immersed in the mining frontier of the old West than you experience during the daylight.  And because your pupils have expanded in the darkness, when your train rolls through the phosphorescent caverns their rainbow luminescence appears far more vivid and
magical
during a night ride than a daytime viewing. 
Fireworks Vision:
  If you time your ride right, you’ll be on your runaway mine train at about 9:25 pm, when the
Magical Fireworks
begin. 
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
’s route makes it a perfect spot to view the fireworks.  As your mine train hurtles up and down the canyons, brilliant fireworks burst in dazzling color above and below you.  It is one of the most beautiful park-in-the-dark thrills at
Disneyland
; every Guest
needs to experience it at least once. 
Goat Vision:
  There is
always
something new to learn about
Disneyland
.  In early 2012 I uncovered a reference to
BigThunder Mountain
’s “Goat Trick”.  What the heck is that?  Some Guests–and Cast Members–contend that if you turn in your seat to continue to stare at the dynamite-chewing goat
after
you pass it, you will feel as if you are being sucked into a vortex.  Could it be true?  My sister and I tested it immediately.  We have ridden
Big Thunder Mountain
an insane amount of times, so if turning to watch the goat after passing it created a sensation beyond the normal thrill, we knew we would notice it.  And did we ever!  If you turn in your seat (keeping all hands, arms, limbs, heads, etc.
inside
the train car at
all
times–
safety first!
), and continue to stare at the goat after you pass it, you will feel a giddy sensation, an intense drop in the pit of your stomach, well beyond the normal thrill you experience facing forward.  Next time you challenge
Big Thunder Mountain
, why not give the
Goat Trick
a try
?
 
Hidden Mickeys:
  There are two the author has personally confirmed for this attraction, one from
Hidden Mickey
guru
Steven M. Barrett
’s book
Disneyland’s Hidden Mickeys
.  He advised that during the course of the roller coaster ride, you one should look for three cog wheels, one large and two small, arranged to form a silhouette of
Mickey
’s head and ears.  He’s absolutely correct.  And there’s yet another set of
Hidden Mickey
s at
Big Thunder Mountain
, pointed out to me by my eagle-eyed younger sister, based on her reading of
Chris Strodder
’s
The Disneyland Encyclopedia
.  As you hurtle past a patch of cacti on one of your final whirls, try to find the cacti shaped suspiciously like the head and ears of everyone’s favorite cartoon mouse.  If the train’s just going too darn fast for you to do that, after you exit the attraction, swing by the patch of cacti near the
Kodak Picture Spot
along
Big Thunder Trail
, just to the northeast of the exit.  Once you know to look for that
Hidden Mickey
, you can’t miss it! 
FastPass:
  Yes.  This very popular attraction is linked to the
FastPass
system.  The
FastPass
dispenser is just southeast of the entrance gate, in
El Zocalo Park
.  Because it’s an efficiently loading attraction, even when lines look long (and on crowded days they can snake outside the entrance gate and wind up
Big Thunder Trail
) you’ll seldom wait longer than 30 minutes even without a
FastPass
.  Of course, in 2014 lines might be longer as guests queue to experience the attraction following its extensive refurbishment.  The
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
queue, with its sight gags and myriad period details, is entertaining and has a balance of sun and shade and water features that make for a fun wait. 
Kid’s Eye View:
  It’s the most awesome ride!  It’s fast but not too fast, and it’s really cool!  It has drops but not bad drops, they’re really fun drops.  When you first go on it, it’s the best, and at night it’s the best in the world, much like the
Matterhorn
. 
Teen’s Eye View:
  My second-favorite ride.  Even if your child is young, they still may enjoy the ride.  I remember riding it at the age of 7 and loving it!  It’s very fast.  It’s tons of fun.  It’s a wild ride, and I think most people will enjoy it very much.