- "Climb aboard 'n hang on for the wildest ride in the Wilderness!!"
- —Poster
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is a rollercoaster attraction found in the Frontierlands of various Disney Parks. The attraction has various story-connections to the Jungle Cruise.
History[]
Backstory[]
Big Thunder Mountain is a mountain range in Arizona which was sacred to a tribe of Shoshone peoples and said to hold the Spirit of Big Thunder. The land was stolen in the 19th century by the amoral Big Thunder Mining Company, lead by individuals such as the greedy Barnabas T. Bullion or evil murderer Henry Ravenswood. The company's activity in the mountain lead to the spirit causing accidents and natural disasters including an earthquake in 1860 which killed Henry, leaving him as a ghost in his mansion of Ravenswood Manor.
Around 1880, Bullion overhauled the Big Thunder Mining Company with assistance from his friend Jason Chandler of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers, despite Chandler's urges for Bullion to stop. The continued activity lead to earthquakes, accidents, flash-floods, and mining trains running on their own.
Development history[]
Summary[]
Jungle Cruise connections[]
Jungle Cruise[]
Outside of the Congo Base Camp in the Magic Kingdom's Jungle Cruise are crates of dynamite from the Lytum & Hyde Explosives Company, a fictional business originating from Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The Jungle Navigation Company's founder Dr. Albert Falls was a member of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers, the same secret-society as both Jason Chandler and Barnabas T. Bullion. Dr. Albert Falls and his family share their surname with Captain Rowan D. Falls, a suitor of Henry Ravenswood's daughter Mélanie who was then murdered by Henry.
Skipper Canteen[]
Within the secret meeting-room for the Society of Explorers and Adventurers is a map made by Jason Chandler along with one Captain Brieux labelled, "Legendary Flying Beasts of the Mekong Legendary Flying Beasts of the Mekong river and the surrounding territories". The crest used on Chandler and Brieux's map featured the tribal mask which used to adorn the Jungle Navigation Company's Amazon River Base. This crest also has the figureheads of the Plaza Swan Boats.
Tropical Hideaway[]
On the wall of commemorated S.E.A. member oars outside of the Enchanted Tiki Room is an oar with a plaque labelled, "B.T. Bullion, Colorado River, 1870", referencing Barnabas T. Bullion and another labelled, "J. Chandler, Elaho River, 1882" referencing Jason Chandler.
Rosita's cage
Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room[]
In the queue for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in the Magic Kingdom is a bird-cage labelled, "Rosita", referencing the Tiki Room's absentee Showgirl Bird who appears in Disneyland's Jungle Cruise and as Nilo Nemolato's pet in the Jungle Cruise film. Outside of the Enchanted Tiki Room in the Tropical Hideaway are aforementioned oars from Jason Chandler and Barnabas T. Bullion.
Other connections[]
Indiana Jones[]
Jason Chandler has a letter to Barnabas T. Bullion mentioning an adventure in El Dorado. In the S.E.A. mythos and Jungle Cruise lore, the Indiana Jones films are canonical and in said films, El Dorado was the city of Akator built by Interdimensional Beings.
Trivia[]
- Another Frontierland feature connected to the Jungle Cruise's lore is the Westward Ho Trading Company, a shop in Disneyland's Frontierland whose in-universe business employs the Jungle Navigation Company's services.