Howdy Folks! Nestled in our rustic Frontierland ya'll will find the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad! Now this railroad has a lot of history and stories behind it... but reader beware, this is a story of ghosts and curses so stop reading now if the title "U.R.Daring" doesn't fit your personality!
A long long time ago during the gold rush a mining town was built at the base of Big Thunder Mountain. So many people piled in with the high hopes of finding gold that the population reached 2,015 coyboy's and girls. But the Indians in the area (you can say Hi to them from the Disneyland train or the canoes) soon informed all of the inhabitants of the new town that they were living on top of an ancient Indian burial site and that they needed to move... asap.
Well I don't know if you've met any rustic miners before but they're pretty stubborn. So the good folk of the town stayed and kept looking for gold.
This didn't sit right with the Indians, and the spirits of their ancestors started to scare the people of the town away from the mines. Eventually people began to move away from the town, until the population dropped to the 38 people that live there today (if you look around while waiting in line you can actually spot the population sign).
Well these 38 inhabitants couldn't find any Gold and needed to make money somehow so they built the Railroad that would take guests on tours of the mountain. Sounds like a great idea right? It would have been if it wasn't for the not so happy Indians! They put a curse on the railroad as a final warning to the miners....
Part of the curse is that the train always leaves the station before the conductor can get on, which is why the ride never has a conductor...
Now a train without a conductor controlling it? That's one wild, crazy, fast ride and you better be bold, brave, courageous, daring, fearless or hearty to get on (these are the names of the trains).
When your on the ride you can see horse shoes above the track in some places. At the start they point up but they slowly start to tilt and eventually point down, like the miners luck.
Sounds pretty bad for the miners huh? Half way through the ride however, when everything seems to be at its worst and the walls are about to fall in on you, you can see gold nuggets falling from a crack in the mine above your head. (This is the happiest place on earth after all.)
Apparently that gold is enough to keep the train running because you can still catch a ride on it today! Disney has also kept to the trend of keeping really stubborn individuals in Frontierland by placing the Disney Pin traders pin trading location in Frontierland (seriously these people are extremely stubborn about which pins they will trade and which ones they wont, but the pins that they have are so rare and cool to look at you should definitely check it out, just don't like like you know what your talking about if you really don't. Trust me, they will know).
Well, that was the story of the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad! If you have a favorite ride or event in Disneyland that you would like me to find some information on/the story behind it go ahead and click the "message me" button and ask, or write in the comment box! I'm going to go hang out in the bay area part of Disney California Adventure (yes I admit that I'm a tad homesick) before visiting my roommate on the Nile river on the Jungle Cruise.
Have a magical day!
No comments:
Post a Comment