Speaking of crusades, our next expedition was to Big Thunder Mountain. There's a bit of a different backstory to this one than to Florida, but still involves mining and legendary spirits. Although, in this case, the backstory is very directly tied to Phantom Manor as well as the surrounding areas of Frontierland including the restaurants, shops, and the fort that is the entrance to Frontierland. I actually rather like that everything is tied together and as we waited in the queue, our daughter shared a lot of the backstory info that she had found online with us.
Again, queue is excellent and doesn't feel like quite so much of a mass of humanity squeezed into too small of a space. Not that the updates to the Big Thunder queue in WDW didn't help make it better, and this one does include a bit of that maze through the mining operation, but also is much more outside and with more diversions along the way!
Yes, that is already in the queue. For those who don't know, Paris' Big Thunder is on an island in the Rivers of America - much like Tom Sawyer Island at WDW. You actually board the train on the 'mainland' and then the beginning and end of the ride are tunnels under the river. But, back to that cool queue.
Lots of abandoned mining equipment along the path before you get into the building. Here's another view across to the island with the ride and also of the exit path.
You get a very nice view of the trains entering and exiting the load area as you wait.
And then somewhat similar things as the WDW queue once inside, but perhaps slightly less punny/gimmicky.
And, look who we found in one of the rooms!
Spooky, but fun! (be careful of making sure that there is a comma in that sentence because otherwise the meaning gets a little different)
No pictures from on the ride, sorry. We REALLY enjoyed it, though. In our opinion, vastly superior to the WDW version. Although a lot of it is very similar, it is definitely a bit longer, the tunnels are fun, and there are a few more (and better) effects in the mountain itself. Definitely a winner. And, since it had only just opened at 9:10am and we got in the queue just a couple minutes after that, we were off and heading back to Fantasyland at about 9:45am. See you there!
Okay, just a couple more pictures before we head to Fantasyland. These are actually from much later in the day and taken from near Phantom Manor, but to give you an idea of the watery portion of Big Thunder...
Here's right as the start of the train enters the splash zone.
And then about halfway through.
It might take a little bit of zooming in to really see what is going on there.
Again, queue is excellent and doesn't feel like quite so much of a mass of humanity squeezed into too small of a space. Not that the updates to the Big Thunder queue in WDW didn't help make it better, and this one does include a bit of that maze through the mining operation, but also is much more outside and with more diversions along the way!
Yes, that is already in the queue. For those who don't know, Paris' Big Thunder is on an island in the Rivers of America - much like Tom Sawyer Island at WDW. You actually board the train on the 'mainland' and then the beginning and end of the ride are tunnels under the river. But, back to that cool queue.
Lots of abandoned mining equipment along the path before you get into the building. Here's another view across to the island with the ride and also of the exit path.
You get a very nice view of the trains entering and exiting the load area as you wait.
And then somewhat similar things as the WDW queue once inside, but perhaps slightly less punny/gimmicky.
And, look who we found in one of the rooms!
Spooky, but fun! (be careful of making sure that there is a comma in that sentence because otherwise the meaning gets a little different)
No pictures from on the ride, sorry. We REALLY enjoyed it, though. In our opinion, vastly superior to the WDW version. Although a lot of it is very similar, it is definitely a bit longer, the tunnels are fun, and there are a few more (and better) effects in the mountain itself. Definitely a winner. And, since it had only just opened at 9:10am and we got in the queue just a couple minutes after that, we were off and heading back to Fantasyland at about 9:45am. See you there!
Okay, just a couple more pictures before we head to Fantasyland. These are actually from much later in the day and taken from near Phantom Manor, but to give you an idea of the watery portion of Big Thunder...
Here's right as the start of the train enters the splash zone.
And then about halfway through.
It might take a little bit of zooming in to really see what is going on there.
