Hang Onto Yer Hats n Glasses!

Welcome back everyone!  Thanks again for reading!


As you can tell from the title, we're going to be taking a little ride on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad!  So now then, hang onto yer hats n glasses, cause this here's the wildest ride in the wilderness!





The picture above is one of my FAVORITES that I've ever taken while riding Big Thunder!  Want to know my secret for taking pictures of this ride??  Here is it: hold the camera up in the air and hit the shutter!**  That's all there is to it!  Honestly, when you're moving that fast and on a bumpy coaster, there really is nothing to do but push the button and hope that you get a good shot.  In this instance, I got quite lucky and got a fantastic picture that makes it look like the mountain is moving and the train is standing still!


**Disclaimer: While using this photography method I always make sure to have my camera secured to myself in some way or another.  This time I had a sturdy camera strap wrapped around me so that in the rare chance that I would drop my camera, it would still be attached to me.  I do not recommend trying this technique if you don't have a reliable way to keep your camera attached to you!  Otherwise, if you accidentally drop your camera it may become a permanent fixture on BTMRR! :)

Me (right) and my friend Erin outside
Big Thunder on a cold November day!

Many people, when asked what their favorite Disney mountain is, will respond "Space Mountain!!"  Ask me this question and you'll get a different answer: BIG THUNDER!  All my life I've had a special love for Big Thunder and every time I ride it I go though with a huge smile on my face and my arms in the air!


Sadly, I don't remember the first time I rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, but I suspect it was sometime when I was a little girl just over 40 inches tall!  My parents were both huge Disneyland and roller coaster fans so as soon as I was tall enough to ride it I was on it in the front seat.


For those who enjoy this kind of thing (like me!) here's a little bit of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad history!


Big Thunder Mountain Railroad opened on September 2, 1979 in Frontierland at Disneyland park.  For those of you that know your Disney park history, that means it's actually younger than Space Mountain (1977), even though it's themed to look way older!  BTMRR is Disneyland's third mountain in a range of four, to be followed 10 years later by Splash Mountain.  The peak of the mountain stands approximately 104 feet tall and the coaster reaches speeds of 25 to 30 miles per hour.  The lead imagineer for this fantastic attraction was Tony Baxter (whom I got to meet!).  Big Thunder is set in an Old West town that was built to house the miners who were searching for gold in Big Thunder.  The only trouble is, they all left on a mine train one dark night and never came back...

One of my favorite stories from a ride on Big Thunder is one from a couple years back!  One of my good friends and I were at Disneyland riding Big Thunder and noticed the fact that our train was simply not yelling loud enough to properly ride the coaster.  (You GOTTA scream loud on Big Thunder!!)  We both decided we needed to yell loud enough to make up for our entire train and literally lost our voices doing so!  Makes me laugh every time I think about it!

This picture is from that "golden hour" at Disneyland where the sun casts beautiful gold colors on everything!  Big Thunder is one of my favorite things to photograph at this time of day because of the beautiful compliment between the colors!


Another lucky Big Thunder picture is this one:






That's what I call luck for me to get that one!  Here's another on-ride photo:

Where did I take this picture?  The second lift hill (where you go under the big wood structure)!  While going up if you look to the left and behind you a little this is the view you get!  In my opinion a cool view of this awesome ride!




Here's a couple more pictures to finish up!  As you probably noticed, I absolutely love photos of Big Thunder with movement and moving trains in them!  These two photos have just that in them!  The first photo with the train close-up was sort of an accident.  I had intended to take a picture of the train with no motion on it but had the settings wrong on my camera and this photo is the result of that!  The second photo I took while trying to get some extended shutter time shots of the coaster.  I thought making the mine train all blurred made it have a neat sense of speed down that hill as well as a little bit of mystery too!









Finally, I thought I'd leave you with this final picture of Big Thunder!  It's just the generic photo of the peak, but it's something that I can never get sick of seeing!  In my opinion, the beauty and fun of this attraction can't be beat!  So next time you travel to the Happiest Place on Earth, take a little trip back to the Old West and experience Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, you'll be glad you did! :)