Big Thunder Mountain 2021 by Martin

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
Surprised by the height difference between Anaheim and Orlando. 104 ft vs 197.5 ft.

Without seeing them side-by-side it's hard to tell the difference. Plus the Disneyland mountain by obscured by so many things like the queue and surrounding landscape.
 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
Surprised by the height difference between Anaheim and Orlando. 104 ft vs 197.5 ft.

Without seeing them side-by-side it's hard to tell the difference. Plus the Disneyland mountain by obscured by so many things like the queue and surrounding landscape.
As surprising is the highest point of the Paris version - which looks taller still - is shorter than Orlando. Despite the entire island section sitting higher than it does elsewhere. That’s the wonder of forced perspective.
 
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yensidtlaw1969

Well-Known Member
As surprising is the highest point of the Paris version - which looks taller still - is shorter than Orlando. Despite the entire island section sitting higher than it does elsewhere. That’s the wonder of forced perspective.
Do they measure from Sea Level when they say 197’ for Orlando? Because otherwise, it seems like the 189 foot Cinderella Castle would like a word . . .
5A80901F-8DDA-488D-A619-1AE5B9FDDF1E.jpeg
 

yensidtlaw1969

Well-Known Member
I know. I pulled the original blueprints as well as several company press releases to double check the figure. All say 197.5
Oh listen, I’m not knocking you at ALL, I know how thorough you are. I’ve just always found that number super suspect because it just doesn’t check out visually. Disney doesn’t seem to measure anything else the way they measure Big Thunder at MK, it’s very weird.
 

mergatroid

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Do they measure from Sea Level when they say 197’ for Orlando? Because otherwise, it seems like the 189 foot Cinderella Castle would like a word . . .
View attachment 553935
I know. I pulled the original blueprints as well as several company press releases to double check the figure. All say 197.5
When I google 'big thunder mountain orlando height' it says 32m (104.987 feet)? Are they including foundations etc when they say 197.5 ft?
 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
Oh listen, I’m not knocking you at ALL, I know how thorough you are. I’ve just always found that number super suspect because it just doesn’t check out visually. Disney doesn’t seem to measure anything else the way they measure Big Thunder at MK, it’s very weird.
No worries. I was surprised, hence my triple triple checking. Perhaps it’s foundations to tip or something, or the castle is measured from its Utilidor basement (at that point it’s the lowest tunnel section in the park and actually below real ground level)
 

Raineman

Well-Known Member
I will delve into this video when I get some time, and maybe the video addresses this, but I’ve always wanted to know-are the DL & WDW track layouts exact mirror copies of each other?
 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
I will delve into this video when I get some time, and maybe the video addresses this, but I’ve always wanted to know-are the DL & WDW track layouts exact mirror copies of each other?
Almost. I’m comparing each versions layout and differences in the edits. Anaheim was flipped horizontally from the original Orlando layout and then further tweaked to fit:

D21BFF63-214F-4ABB-BD51-5701E7304601.jpeg
 

yensidtlaw1969

Well-Known Member
No worries. I was surprised, hence my triple triple checking. Perhaps it’s foundations to tip or something, or the castle is measured from its Utilidor basement (at that point it’s the lowest tunnel section in the park and actually below real ground level)
I always laugh when people compare the heights of the Disney Castles and make it seem like WDW's dwarfs most of the others - when you don't count the Utilidor it's essentially comparable in height to Disneyland Paris'. Going by the height that's percievable to the guest from the park, they're nearly the same. Makes me wonder if Shanghai's is measured from the Moat or from deeper down.

Barely related, I remember a few years back when the regulations for counting the heights of Skyscrapers were changed to include sub-levels and things like that (since it's essentially the height of construction, instead of what's merely above ground), and all the sudden the height rankings of some of the tallest buildings in the world changed order overnight despite not having grown an inch!
 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
I always laugh when people compare the heights of the Disney Castles and make it seem like WDW's dwarfs most of the others - when you don't count the Utilidor it's essentially comparable in height to Disneyland Paris'. Going by the height that's percievable to the guest from the park, they're nearly the same. Makes me wonder if Shanghai's is measured from the Moat or from deeper down.

Barely related, I remember a few years back when the regulations for counting the heights of Skyscrapers were changed to include sub-levels and things like that (since it's essentially the height of construction, instead of what's merely above ground), and all the sudden the height rankings of some of the tallest buildings in the world changed order overnight despite not having grown an inch!

I did more digging going waaay back to the original BTM SOP. 197ft above sea level. All measurements I can find for the castle are based on basement foundation level.
 
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Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
I always laugh when people compare the heights of the Disney Castles and make it seem like WDW's dwarfs most of the others - when you don't count the Utilidor it's essentially comparable in height to Disneyland Paris'. Going by the height that's percievable to the guest from the park, they're nearly the same.

When you stand in the hub at DLP, the castle certainly does not look 20+ feet shorter. Ditto for Tokyo Disneyland which is essentially the same building, though side-by-side comparisons show the difference in the lower section...but it doesn't look like that much.

HKDL's new castle is bizarre. From some vantage points it look enormous in comparison to the other park buildings, but it looks much smaller up close when you can see how spindly the added turrets are and how they don't really fit with the original structure.
 

yensidtlaw1969

Well-Known Member
When you stand in the hub at DLP, the castle certainly does not look 20+ feet shorter. Ditto for Tokyo Disneyland which is essentially the same building, though side-by-side comparisons show the difference in the lower section...but it doesn't look like that much.

HKDL's new castle is bizarre. From some vantage points it look enormous in comparison to the other park buildings, but it looks much smaller up close when you can see how spindly the added turrets are and how they don't really fit with the original structure.
Right? There was a time that Disneyland's Castle was the only real outlier in terms of height - then Hong Kong joined it, and now Hong Kong left again.

Haven't seen Hong Kong's Castle in person, but I have wondered how it stacks up in the ranking now. It seems to be a *little* shorter than DLP, but all these castles make such a concerted effort to disguise anything that would tell how tall they really are that it's kind of a guess.
 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
View attachment 554193
Extensive Yoga practise allows me to ride backwards. There be camera's & speakers & lights & stuff.
And a cover on the B2 chain! I didn’t have room to cover the train barn spur - aside from the fact trains are moved by LIMs - but a change in elevation means the ride actually has a fourth chain lift backstage between the barn and the railroad crossing.

Something annoying about that photo is the clear to see junk bolted onto the shack. Even though it’s behind you they used to make some effort to minimise the impact (like the older fitting top right looking like a pipe)
 

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