Trivia / Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

• Market-Based Title: In an instance that overlaps with Officially Shortened Title, the title of the ride was shortened to just Big Thunder Mountain for the Tokyo and Paris versions.
• No Export for You: No two versions of the ride are the same. From the Disneyland version:
  • California has a unique Bryce Canyon hoodoo inspired geology, conceived with the close proximity to Fantasyland in mind to give it a "Rock Candy Mountain" look. Every other Big Thunder Mountain resembles Monument Valley more.
  • The track layout on the Magic Kingdom's version is an almost identical mirror-image of the Disneyland version, with one difference in the first section of the ride: instead of making a third U-turn after crossing under the second lift hill and drop, Florida does a three-quarter turn, making for a slightly longer track. Furthermore, the cave prior to the second lift hill on Disneyland's version is removed, and in its place is the flooded town of Tumbleweed, with trains traveling on banked track simulating an unstable trestle. Tumbleweed is the replacement for Rainbow Ridge, causing the final brake run to now be an expanded geyser field, in addition to the T-rex skeleton. California's version of the ride is the only version to have an outdoor station (owing to Southern California's fairly dry climate), while all other versions use indoor stations (owing to being in more rainy environments).
  • Tokyo's version draws from the Florida version. However, the pre-second lift hill cave from California is restored in place of Tumbleweed. And rather than cross back over the third lift hill drop, the track now makes a U-turn to the right, goes down a drop through the boneyard and geysers, then through another tunnel, then makes a right turn into the final brakes, passes in front of the station building, then reenters the station.
  • Paris's version uses the Florida version as a base, but is much different. Like Tokyo, the track makes a U-turn to the left after crossing under the second lift hill, then makes a slight right turn, then a left turn into the second lift hill. Instead of a cave, though, Paris has the trains travel along the Rivers of the Far West, then suddenly fall through a partially washed out trestle, before turning left onto the second lift hill. The third lift hill, while still depicting an earthquake (as originally designed), had gold rushing out of the ceiling as the trains crested the hill. But most importantly, the ride now takes place on an island in the middle of the Rivers of the Far West, and thus, trains travel through underwater tunnels to get to and from the station on the mainland. Paris's version also was built with more elaborate animatronics and scenery than the other versions (such as the donkeys and goat at the base of the second lift hill).
  • In 2014 and 2016, the California and Paris versions of the ride underwent refurbishments. Both received new mapping effects on the third lift hill to simulate blasting, and Paris also received California's rainbow caverns on its first lift hill.
• Prop Recycling: The Disneyland version of the ride reuses Audio Animatronics and the Rainbow Ridge set from the Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland ride.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The ride was originally meant to be cloned to Hong Kong Disneyland, but the plan was scrapped along with the entire idea of a Frontierland for the park. It later received a Spiritual Successor ride at the park, called Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars, which is essentially a mixture of elements between this ride, Grizzly River Run, and Expedition Everest.
  • In Florida, Marc Davis had originally had some massive plans for a giant western pavilion for Frontierland. Rather than Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, there was to be the Western River Expedition. This would've been a massive pavilion containing a boat ride, a runaway mine train coaster, hiking trails, a Pueblo Indian village, and a pack mule attraction. However, several things led to this massive project being scrapped:
    • Early visitors to the Magic Kingdom were upset that Pirates of the Caribbean wasn't included in the lineup, so getting a Florida version of Pirates up and running became top priority. Western River Expedition was seen to be a western themed version of Pirates.^note Imagineers originally had no plans to replicate Pirates of the Caribbean for the Magic Kingdom. At the time, it was believed by many Imagineers that Florida residents were too accustomed to pirates, as pirates are part of Florida's local legends and lore. Disney management thought that cowboys and Indians would be more surprising and exciting to Florida residents.
    • Phase II development of Tomorrowland was underway at this time (which added Space Mountain, Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress, the Rocket Jets, and the WEDWay PeopleMover). The construction of the Tomorrowland rides meant that money and resources couldn't be allocated to construction of attractions in other lands.
    • Ultimately, the Western River Expedition was scrapped and reduced to just the mine train, which became Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
    • Incidentally, while Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was being built, Marc Davis, desperate to save the boat ride, tried to compromise: the roller coaster could be built as long as a scaled down WRE with just the boat ride was built opposite the railroad tracks. Unfortunately, this didn't work, and Frontierland didn't get a water ride until Splash Mountain opened in 1992.
    • The Western River Expedition's unused concepts would resurface in 1992 when they were used as basis for Disneyland Paris's version of Frontierland. In particular, the land is themed as the town of Thunder Mesa, named in tribute to the WRE. 'Dry Gulch', which would have been a depiction of a wild mining town in the boat ride, would be incorporated into Phantom Manor as a ghost mining town called Phantom Canyon, including elements like a bank robber and cowardly sheriff engaging in a gunfight, as well as a showgirl and bartender at a saloon.
    • The original concept for the roller coaster portion initially included a part where the ride vehicle went backwards. This concept would later appear in the ride's Spiritual Successor Expedition Everest.
  • As told in a Podcast: The Ride episode Scriptwriter Dennis McNicholas wrote a script for a Big Thunder Mountain movie starring Robert Downey Jr. that ended up being killed off by the failure of The Lone Ranger. Said film was planned as the start of a Weird West reimagining of Frontierland, with a highlight of the script's climax being the spirits of the mountain using the tyrannosaurus skeleton as an instrument of revenge against the miners, still partially covered in rock matrix and petroglyphs.

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