Big Thunder Mountain

This here's the wildest ride in the wilderness!

Hang on to your hats and glasses, 'cause this here is the wildest ride in the wilderness! The disused Big Thunder Railroad has been fired up and kicked back into action, ready to welcome guests for a non-stop, high-speed tour of the magnificent mountain landscape.

After swooping underneath the Rivers of the Far West, you emerge on the island to discover the tunnel is being flooded with water, whilst the second is about to collapse and another is filled with bats! Will you make it up, over and around this legendary mountain in time?

  • Disney's FASTPASS available
  • Minimum height: 1.02 m (3' 4")
  • Physical restrictions
  • Don't miss this!

Wild runaway mine train ride around a spectacular western landscape with precarious drops and tunnels.

  • Opening Date

    12th April 1992

  • Attraction Type

    Roller coaster

  • Duration

    4 minutes

  • Capacity

    30 Guests per train,
    6 trains

  • Suitablility
    • Children 3-7
    • Children 8-12
    • Young Adults
    • Adults
    • Seniors

Trivia

  • This is the only Big Thunder Mountain to be situated on an island! The dramatic ochre mountain range of Big Thunder, which the main portion of the ride wraps itself around, is completely surrounded on all sides by the Rivers of the Far West, and circled by the boats of Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing and River Rogue Keelboats — a completely unique, spectacularly realistic set-up for the ride that is unique in the world of Disney parks!
  • The track is 1500 metres long with trains reaching a maximum speed of 50 kmph — although it may feel faster in the dark tunnels, with the shadows of bats flashing past! The ride was manufactured for Walt Disney Imagineering by Vekoma, a custom version of their MK-900M coaster model.
  • The original Big Thunder Mountain was the first major project of Tony Baxter, opening at Disneyland in California on 2nd September 1979. It opened in November the following year at Magic Kingdom in Florida and in 1987 at Tokyo Disneyland. For Disneyland Paris, the attraction was extensively re-engineered. Having been added at a later date to Frontierland at all the other parks, this was the first chance to incorporate the benefit of hindsight by placing the attraction at the heart of the land, providing a focal point and kinetic energy from all angles.

23,000 Litres of paint were used to give the mountain range its authentic ochre glow!

Tips

  • Although you might not be able to choose your seats (unless there's a quiet spell or an obliging Cast Member!), the best ride can be enjoyed at the back of the train, as you're pulled over each hill at speed by the carriages ahead. Nearer the front, you end up "hanging" over the hills and not enjoying quite as much momentum.
  • The on-ride photo camera is situted where the track dips into the Rivers of the Far West, opposite Phantom Manor. You'll know it's coming when you see the possums swinging from branches overhead!

Advice

  • Minimum height: 1.02 m (3' 4")
  • For safety, you should be in good health and free from high blood pressure, heart, back or neck problems, motion sickness or other conditions which could be aggravated by this adventure.
  • Expectant mothers and those wearing an orthopaedic device or surgical collar should not ride.
  • Transfer required. Must be accompanied in order to assist in transfer to the ride vehicles, which have low seats but a good amount of legroom.