"Hold on to them hats and glasses..."

"Hold on to them hats and glasses, cause this here's the wildest ride in the wilderness!" A classic line in the Disneyland history books to be sure. I mean, everyone who has been to Disneyland knows this line or at least the basics of it. It is a great intro for the mountain. But what waas here before, and what has happened to it since it opened? Good questions attentive reader! Lets find out shall we?

The Big Thunder we know today came from humble beginnings. Before the mountain was there, there was a ride that was called, "Mine Train Thru Natures Wonderland". Witch was basically a very slow version of Big Thunder except no hills, longer ride time, and a lot more encouragement from the park to actully ride the ride. This ride boasted many things to see, such as; The devil's paint pots, ol' "unfaithful", waterfalls in "every color of the rainbow" and "balenceing" rock canyon. This ride was fun for the first four or five times, then it was a waste of a good C ticket.

After a while it came time to replace this old ride. But what with? It had to be a "Frontier" themed ride. The idea for a mine train rollercoaster was already in motion for WDW. So they took that idea, and soon enough the imagineers were hard at work. Then they stopped to work on Pirates of the Caribbean at WDW, and then they worked some more. And stopped again for the building of Space Mountain at WDW. Then, finally, construction began on the Disneyland version and on September 2nd, 1979, it was officially opened to the public. Somthing intresting to note is that this ride was planned, drawn up, and layed out for WDW but was actually built in Disneyland first.

Remanants from the old mine train of the past can still be seen today, along the banks of the Rivers of America and in the actual ride at Disneyland. The small town at the end is a good example as are the many tunnels to the left of the mountain.

Now don't get me wrong, this new ride was excellent and brought the people flocking in like birds in the winter, but it got old super fast. Two rides was all it took to get kinda boring. Still fun, but not as fun as the first time. That may sounds kind of demanding, but this is Disneyland we are talking about, not some "other" amusement park. the ride kind of faded into the backround for long time. It was just sort of "that ride by the river thing". But then Disneyland did what they do best, they closed it for a long time. Then opened it with many improvements such as, new smooth track, new effects in the caves and also a slightly longer ride time. Usally when a ride is closed, it is getting a new coat of paint or soemthing, this was (in my opinion) a great redo for the ride and one of the parks best refurbs. Now this ride sits up witth the big guys. Everyone wants to ride it. if you don't, your a loser. We now arrive at the present, to the Big Thunder we know today. With its unforgettable sounds of whisles and scraping track, with its penny pools in the queue, and its goat. This ride now resides on the "calssics" list of Disneyland attractions, as it should be.

(sources: Wikipedia)