Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is an attraction at Disneyland at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California; the Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida; Tokyo Disneyland Park at Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan; and Disneyland park at Disneyland Resort Paris.

The attraction first opened at Disneyland in 1979, with the Magic Kingdom's larger version opening in 1980. The other two versions are simply called Big Thunder Mountain: Tokyo Disneyland's version opened in 1983, and Disneyland Paris's opened in 1992. Hong Kong Disneyland will not have a Big Thunder Mountain Railroad attraction, or a Frontierland, for that matter.

The ride is a short, relatively mild indoor/outdoor roller coaster based on the concept of a runaway train careening through an abandoned mine complex. In contrast to Space Mountain, where the tracks are largely hidden from view, the thrills are meant to come from the perceived instability of the mine and its threats to collapse.

Big Thunder Mountain's design is based on the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah.

Trivia

The sound effects of the actual ride train going on the tracks were used in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom for the Minecar scene.